Review by Ian Keogh
Untamed is a jaw-dropper. Creator Blutch’s reputation is as a real graphic novel heavyweight, working on erudite projects. However, a dark sense of humour is occasionally apparent, and Christian Hincker did take his alias from a character in The Bluecoats. For Untamed Blutch ramps that humour up and applies more than a sprinkling of classic farce for a note perfect Lucky Luke story. It works both as a loving homage and a slight peek behind the curtain as it considers the social consequences of jailing small time criminals.
Every European comic creator grew up reading Lucky Luke, and given his chance on the franchise Blutch designs the book as if part of the regular series with a few small modifications. The tagline accompanying Luke’s perennial back cover illustration of Luke shooting faster than his own shadow, for instance, has been altered to “The Man Who Shot a Hole in the Fence”. However, Blutch resists the obvious route of also including the Daltons and Rin Tin Can. He creates his own cast around the formula of Luke being constantly pulled from one place to the next to deal with crafty criminals and the failings of incompetents.
When Luke turns up at the Sheriff’s with Rufus Kinker the bounty is only $5, but the impact is Rufus’ younger brother and sister now left without a guardian. It’s up to Luke to look after them until he can locate their parents. They’re a deliberately appalling pair. Rose is aggressive and manipulative while Casper is simple, constantly hungry and refers to himself in the third person. What appears to be randomly generated personalities for comic effect actually play into a smartly conceived set of circumstances toward the end.
Blutch modifies his usually expressionistic art to mimic the storytelling of Morris, Luke’s creator, yet the intention isn’t slavish line perfect simulation, but an individual approximation of style and staging. While the pages may be drawn a little more loosely, the attention to detail is there, the personalities are apparent, and Blutch’s bar fight is a delight.
As stated on the cover, this is a homage, but not one most creators could pull off as successfully.
