Review by Frank Plowright

With the publication of Rin Tin Can’s Ark coinciding with its simultaneous release across Europe in 2022, Cinebook achieved the milestone of translating all 82 Lucky Luke albums for the English market. Considering English editions of a European icon had been sporadic and infrequent until Cinebook launched their company with Billy the Kid in 2006, it’s an achievement worth recognising and giving thanks for.

Achdé has been the artist of choice on Lucky Luke since Morris’ death, and seems to have now settled on Jul (Julien Berjeaut) as his regular collaborator, this being their fourth consecutive story. Artistically Achdé acknowledges his style as owing a debt to Morris, but is now developing his own version of Luke. This looks back to Morris’ early depictions, as it’s a rare panel where Luke has eyes instead of dots, but otherwise you’d have a hard time differentiating a page drawn by Achdé from one drawn by Luke’s creator. They’re similarly busy, take a middle distance viewpoint, and make good use of silhouettes. However, although not as bad as the racial caricatures of old, is there really a need for a Chinese gunman to be drawn with prominent front teeth in a couple of panels?

Jul’s plot concerns Ovid Byrde, considerably ahead of the times in the Wild West in wanting to prevent cruelty to animals, with the sample art showing some of the non-human tenants populating his farm. Among them is Rin Tin Can, prison guard dog best known for constantly letting the Daltons escape then failing to track them. For once, however, he manages a good turn, and that leads to bandit Tuco Maizal offering protection and to find homes for the stray animals. There is no literal ark, but plenty of good jokes, and Jul also manages to repurpose the Native Americans who so often feature in Lucky Luke.

Comic historians are inevitably going to rank any Lucky Luke album against Goscinny and Morris at their peak, and Rin Tin Can’s Ark isn’t that. However, Goscinny and Morris didn’t produce their Lucky Luke stories for comics historians, they produced them for kids, and on that score this hits most of the marks. The plot works and has some clever foreshadowing, the joke ratio is high, the illustration is great and there’s a one hell of a shock near the end. The fun is most definitely there to be had.