René Goscinny (14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a
French
comics editor and writer, who is best known internationally for the
comic book Astérix, which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and for
his work on the comic series Lucky Luke with Morris
(considered the series' golden age) and Iznogoud with Jean Tabary.
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| Goscinny was born 90 years ago. |
Lucky Luke is a humorous comics series
created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Various writers scripted the
series starting in 1955, beginning with French writer René Goscinny. French
artist Achdé has continued the series as artist since Morris's death in 2001.
The series takes place in the American
Old West and features the titular Lucky Luke, a cowboy known as the "man
who shoots faster than his shadow", accompanied by his horse Jolly Jumper
and in many stories a dog named Rantanplan. Lucky Luke is charged with
restoring justice to the Far West by chasing down bandits, the most famous of
whom are the Dalton Brothers. The stories are filled with humouristic elements
parodying the Western genre.
Oumpah-pah le Peau-Rouge (Ompa-pa the
Redskin) is a comics series created by comics artist Albert Uderzo and comics
author René Goscinny, best known as the creators of Asterix the Gaul. The
series first appeared in the weekly Tintin magazine in 1958 though it remained
serialised for a relatively short time. The stories were published in book form
by Lombard and Dargaud starting in 1961. In 1995, the series was reissued by
Albert Uderzo's own publishing house, Les Éditions Albert-René.
The series features the adventures of
Ompa-pa (Oumpah-pah in French) (the name referring to a waltz), a Native
American of the Flatfeet tribe, and his friend, the French officer Hubert
Brussels Sprout (Hubert de la Pâte Feuilletée in French which translates as
Hubert of Puff pastry), whom Ompa-pa calls Two-scalp, a reference to his wig.
The series is set in the eighteenth
century during the age of French colonization in America. Ompa-pa is strong and
quick, and loves to eat pemmican. He is an honest and trustworthy brave whose
simple heroism is comparable to that of the more famous Asterix, whom Uderzo
and Goscinny later created. Hubert Brussels Sprout, whom the Flatfeet initially
hold as a prisoner, subsequently serves as a mediator between the Europeans and
the Native Americans, and is also an ally against the tribe known as the
Sockitoomee, the sworn enemies of the Flatfeet.
