Cover Image: Lucky Luke: Swiss Bliss

Lucky Luke: Swiss Bliss

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Member Reviews

This one was super fun. I really enjoyed the illustrations in this one and I loved looking at them. I thought that they were super pretty and they really worked for me. Also, I really enjoyed the story in this one, it was really original and fun to read.

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Lucky Luke ha sbeen one of my favourute childhood characters and I was inetersted to see how the adult version of Lucky Luke would turn out to be. To my surprise the topic of "gay" was handled uite well without resorting to any crudeness. In this book , Lucky Luke is more like a side hero and we have the main storyteller who is a big fan of Lucky Luke and he tells the story of how Lucky Luke helped him realize that though he is called as a bad person becuase of who he is that does not make him a bad one and Lucky Luke knows that our main storyteller is a good person at heart .

Overall Rating 3.5 stars

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I received a copy of this graphic novel through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lucky Luke goes all Brokeback mountain in this graphic novel. I remember a bit about the original Lucky Luke stories from my childhood but not too much. I was too young to actually enjoy them and could probably use some memory refreshment. Still I’m quite sure that the original material wasn’t as queer.😂
It wasn’t too bad but it wasn’t anything overly great either. The art wasn’t really for me, I remember that I quite liked the look of the original graphic novel, so that’s sad….😔 Some scenes were funny but a lot of the jokes fell a bit flat. As a love story it was kinda sweet, even though very hairy…😃

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I feel that this is a more accurate portrayal of the old west that being said this is about homosexualality and the ways that it was is and could be dealt with

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Going into this book, I was unfamiliar with Lucky Luke, although I could tell it was a long running series from the past. This was an interesting comic, although not likely the best one for a newcomer to read just starting out with the story. I feel like had I read some of the older stuff, I could possibly get some of the jokes that the author is making, poking fun at the character. That is because, while not a parody, this Lucky Luke by Ralf König is apparently a way to tackle the topic of homosexuality in the vein of a cowboy story. It’s full of bigoted cowboys being idiots and Lucky Luke showing them that a real cowboy doesn’t waste tons of time with that stuff.

“Even a hero from the Far West needs a vacation from time to time, and looking after a few Swiss cows seems like the perfect opportunity for Lucky Luke. These milk cows happen to produce the precious substance necessary for the production of authentic Swiss chocolate! The West has just discovered cocoa, and chocolate should soon be a commodity in all mouths. And yet… between vicious autograph hounds, the chief of the Chicoree tribe, and two cowboys whose frustrated love leads to even more frustrating brawling, will Lucky Luke end up yearning for a reunion with the Daltons?”

At first I was worried this was going to be a bunch of gay jokes punching down to a marginalized people, but it’s luckily more camp than actual mean spirited content. The people making the jokes are obviously the villains in the story, and in the end love is the real hero. While you have guys referring to one of the cowboys as “a fruit” and lamenting “how many fruits there are nowadays”, you can see that the author is using this as satire to talk about how hopelessly regressive people are even in today’s society.

One can’t help but make connections to the Hollywood film Brokeback Mountain with this story, which I assume was intentional. It’s also somewhat of a discussion on belonging in what can be seen as a “macho profession” while being gay, as one of the main characters talks about how much he idolized Lucky Luke, and he led him to becoming the man he is. Having his hero step in and basically tell him that he is a good person, and help him find love was a cool touch. I could be reading into a silly book too much, but I felt it was interesting way to use the character.

Overall, I wasn’t expecting this book at all, and even though I’m not probably the target audience for this book it seems like a VERY interesting take on the character. Some people might be squeamish on the content, which is unfortunate considering the idea behind the book, so make sure you read up on what you are getting before you get mad. The book also has some less than stellar representations of Native Americans, but I can chalk that up to trying to capture the appearance of being a much older comic and using tropes from Western comics of upwards of 70 years ago. Overall enjoyable read despite my initial concern. Europe Comics picked a very interesting title in the series to release.

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What the heck was anyone thinking producing this? I nabbed this off NetGalley.com's page to review. I love the Lucky Luke series and the illustration work is outstanding, fun and a model of sequential storytelling. I figured I was about to dive into another great story. Instead, I found the pool not only empty, but full of nasty smelling mud.

The first pages caught me off guard with horrendous rendering, poor settings, bad dialogue and worse, a barely readable font. Was the font chosen so that folks couldn't read the lack of story, plot and the very ideals that make up a series that stretches back to 1946? This thing upends all that and is more a poorly thought out attempt at satire of the Lucky Luke series.

That is the trouble with NetGalley.com. There's no ability to pick up the book and flip a few pages. That or click on a couple pages of preview. It's a dice throw that I've mostly gotten snake eyes. If I could've seen a few pages, I would've never have followed through with this and other offerings on the site.

On the other hand, I do have still another example of rotten contemporary graphic storytelling to point to.

This frustrated me so, I went rummaging for a more recent Lucky Luke volume to take in before finishing this one. That brought me to 'Lucky Luke Saddles Up'. Read that and reviewed here. I then was aware that the effort is to trash the past Lucky Luke family, burn them to the ground and bury them all deep. This book is far worse than 'Saddle Up'. With this Europe Comics set off a nuclear device at the grave site.

As I have tried to read recently written non-fiction, fiction and, even, comics, I keep getting pounded by iron club moralists threatening I follow their viewpoints, these from the left. I'm finding this in most of the books I've read recently, that don't otherwise claim to be screaming preachy sermons at me. Reading Robert Kenndy's 'The Real Tony Fauci', I knew what I was getting into. That should not happen reading a cartoon book of 'Lucky Luke'.

A bit of inside knowledge woulda warned me. The creator of this 'Lucky Luke' volume, I looked into after, is a preacher of sexual behavior outside trying to produce a kid. He's written a bunch of it. Thus, again, Europe Comics is to blame for knowingly handed over the charred corpses of the 'Lucky Luke' family to one who would produce what this volume is.

Just to be be specific, there is no real story here, which isn't odd for a Lucky Luke entry. It's a non-stop rattling off various "Queen", "Straight", "B_ _ _ _ ", "Fruit", "Sitting Butch", etc. in the dialogue. Not to mention the harshest language I've read in a Lucky Luke. Does a character telling another character to "spread her thighs" belong in a Lucky Luke book?

There are also a bunch of sexual images drawn in from the shiny whatever-it-is on the seat of pants of one of the characters to hairy details of the characters that is not needed....Especially, as the person drawing otherwise lops off details for the style used.

The story is all sexual with heavy swipes at those of the homosexual side. even questioning the main character's sexuality. The writer's agenda was to have as many as possible thrown into certain groups of sexual wants. Again, not something that belongs in a Lucky Luke book and strays mightily from the past volumes.

Which brings up the warping of history, trying to claim Calamity Jane is a lesbian, which she wasn't. Also a photo tacked to the back of the book that is labeled as an example of homosexuality in the American West as compared to two guys shaking hands as friends....having me wonder if the writer sees all photos of hand shaking as something other than it is. Based on empirical evidence this writer has a hell of a chip on his shoulder.

Let me note that if this was a book found in a pornographic site, I should not be surprised at the contents. My review would be very different. In that this is part of a 75 year old, rather consistent series, this is about the worse to be expected and shame on Europe Comics setting this out and besmirching a solid series.
On a technical level, the two books mentioned caves the copyright side as one could now draw 'Lucky Lucy' with yellow shirt and straw in the teeth and Europe Comics would have trouble legally defending their legal ownership in court. Noted something similar with rash alterations of the Spirou character about a year ago.

Bottom line: I don't recommend this book. 0 out of ten points, or one Goodreads point, as Goodreads doesn't have a lesser way to grade.
I believe this is only the second time I've rated a volume this low.

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Thanks to netgalley.com and Europe Comics for the advance PDF file copy for my honest review.

Thought it had a western theme, but has no storyline, just plain dumb and kind of an insult to any Western genre fan.

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When I saw a graphic novel about Lucky Luke, I grabbed my hands on it as quickly as I possibly could without even reading synopsis of what the story is about.

In all honesty, I did not expect to see a story including a topic of being gay in Wild West. I think the idea is great as it awakes an awareness and teach younger readers of acceptance and tolerance. Illustrations were nice. Overall, it was an average novel.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Europe Comics for an electronic ARC in return for an honest review.

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Honestly the font was too small and the art wasn’t great tbh. I thought it was just gonna be enjoyable but instead it was a nightmare for me to read while trying to figure wtf was happening :/

Thanks anyways Netgalley and Publisher…

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I never thought I was going to read Ralf König and Lucky Luke together but strange thing happens.
As I love Ralf König comics and i love Lucky Luke I thoroughly enjoyed this book which is not intended for a children, i assume, but it's a different take on this comic hero.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Netgalley ARC Review
❗Spoiler-free❗

I picked this ARC because Lucky Luke was a big part of my childhood, so I jumped at the opportunity to read this graphic novel. As with most of my ARC comic/graphic novel reviews this will be short and to the point.

It was a cute little story. It really was. Not much in the way of suspence but still entertaining. I absolutely loved the mlm representation, I honestly did not expect to find a homosexual relationship between two men in a Western themed comic like this but I was happily surprised. It was very Broadback Mountain, I really liked it. It took a few pages to realise that this graphic novel isn't exactly suitable for children, though. It has nothing to do with the lgbtq+ representation, of course, that's natural and children need to be educated on that, but with the several cowboy-bathing scenes and the strange art when it came to the male genitals. That was a little weird 😬😬

Speaking of the art, aside from the strange shape of Lucky Luke's (and others') genitals through his pants (and onesee), it was pretty good. Lucky Luke, his horse, and the Dalton Brothers look exactly like I remember them from my childhood. It brought back a lot of happy memories and it was a nice throughback for me.


I would recommend this to fans Lucky Luke

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I'm not sure the world actually needed a Lucky Luke/Brokeback Mountain mashup, but here we have it. The story's pretty good, but I'm not fond of the art and the depiction of Native Americans comes off as a little, um, dated.

Received via NetGalley.

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I read this graphic novel in English.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. When I asked to read it, I admit I had no idea who Lucky Luke was, and I’m still not sure, even though I have read others mentioning childhood memories of the Cowboy hero. Apparently, he is a well-known figure created by Belgian cartoonist, Morris, in 1946. Lucky Luke is one of the best-known and best-selling comic series in Europe. It has been translated into 23 languages.  The series has also had adaptations in other media, such as animated films and television series, live-action films, video games, toys, and board games. As of 2021, all but one of the series' regular albums are available in English translation.

Well now, that’s pretty impressive, I have to say.

This particular graphic novel was done by German cartoonist Ralk Konig. In this version, Lucky Luke is in need of a vacation from his hero comics, a chance to lay low and be himself. He takes a job herding some unique cows. They produce the milk used to make the delicious Belgian chocolates and are on their way to Hershey, Pa to add to the newly discovered Cocoa and make chocolate a household item.

From there it turns into, Lucky Luke meets Brokeback Mountain. I enjoyed the representation of the two cowboys Lucky Luke was trying to help find their love. It was well done, non-offensive to LGBT+, in my opinion, and yes, tasteful. I think it even had a better ending than Brokeback Mountain because no one dies because they share “ a love that dare not speak its name.”

It may not be to everyone’s taste but definitely worth taking a chance on. The artwork is very good and very reminiscent of the way Sunday funnies were drawn back in the day.

Thanks to @Netgalley, Europe Comics, and Ralf Konig for this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

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This comic is Brokeback Mountain meets Lucky L:uke. It is an adaption of Luke Luke (not a parody), showing the Wild West being more inclusive than most people know. Drawing in the typical Ralf Konig style. A nice way to get the subject in the attention of the broader public.

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A Lucky Luke hommage by Ralf König, in his own style. I think it works very well, for example he gives Lucky Luke a fantastic annoyed facial expression.

Lucky Luke is on vacation and meets Bud and Terrence (european western movie watchers know the reference for sure). They have a complicated relationship. As a reader you also end up with a complicated relationship with those two, because they're retelling the story a few decades later.

That sadly is much of the main storyline in itself, it's not really full of suspense.

What works a lot better is the storyline about the Daltons, the long-time antagonists. My favorite character though is the autograph hunter for sure ;)

König makes a lot of other characters appear that we know from the original stories.

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I found the story boring, and couldn't understand anything. The drawings and colors felt dull. The speech bubbles were lousy and not catchy.

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I'm going to take full responsibility for the fact that I stepped into this story somewhat unaware of what I was reading. I jumped into it without reading the full description, which I'm sometimes bad about doing, so I didn't know what to expect, honestly. I saw "Lucky Luke" and, remembering my time watching the cartoons on television, I read only the first few lines of the description (my fault), and immediately downloaded it and settled in with the thought that I'd be reading, essentially, what I remembered from having watched the show.

This really wasn't the Lucky Luke that I expected, and maybe that's just because I'm incorrectly remembering everything from when I watched it before. I'm honestly not really sure where this fell flat, but I didn't expect the story that I got. The illustrations weren't bad, but the story's plot fell somewhat short of amazing (though it wasn't absolutely terrible).

I think that some people may really love this, but it just wasn't really me.

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Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Lucky Luke: Swiss Bliss by Ralf König is an adult graphic novel featuring gay cowboys. To be honest, I didn't see much of a plot, but according to the synopsis, the story revolves around Lucky Luke, who is on the hunt for Swiss cows that produce ingredients necessary for Swiss chocolate. Other characters include "the chief of the Chicoree tribe, and two cowboys whose frustrated love leads to even more frustrating brawling."

Overall, Lucky Luke: Swiss Bliss is a semi-interesting look into the lives of little-known characters in the time of the Wild West. I do commend the creator for portraying a more diverse Wild West. At the same time, the art style felt too cartoonish and childish to me. The portrayal of Native Americans was also offensive and dated. I know that the creator is an experienced cartoonist and has many fans. For me, personally, though, this book just did not appeal to me. If you're intrigued by the description, you can check out this book, which is available now.

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