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Beer strike in the Wild West: Lucky Luke meets Karl Marx and the Daltons

28.6.2024

Translation: machine translated

The brewers of New Munich are on strike and the town in the Wild West is in turmoil. In the midst of the chaos, Lucky Luke, the famous comic cowboy, has to deal with the consequences of the labour dispute in his 102nd adventure. And the Daltons also get heavily involved.

It's boiling in the Wild West: the beer brewers in New Munich have stopped working and the "liquid gold" is no longer flowing. An absolute disaster for all saloon owners and every cowboy. Every cowboy? No, not every cowboy. Lucky Luke, who shoots faster than his shadow, doesn't drink alcohol. Nevertheless, in "Last Round for the Daltons", the 102nd adventure in the cult comic series, he has to deal with the consequences of this labour dispute.

The comic will be available in softcover from 5 November and in hardcover from 12 November. The recommended retail price for the comic will be €7.99 or CHF 15.90 in softcover and €14.00 or CHF 19.90 in hardcover. I don't yet know whether it will be available to buy here.

Author Jul and illustrator Achdé take the Lonesome Cowboy into unfamiliar territory in their fifth Lucky Luke adventure together. Instead of saving the Pony Express, recapturing escaped criminals or duelling with Billy the Kid, this time Lucky Luke has to mediate between striking brewers and the brewery owners.

Inspiration for the beer strike in the Wild West

The inspiration for this story comes from the famous social philosopher Karl Marx, whose teachings reached the Wild West and motivated the brewers to take industrial action.

At the centre of Marx's critique of capitalism was the exploitation of the workforce. He argued that workers were dispossessed in the capitalist system because they did not receive the full value of their labour in the form of wages. The value of their labour was determined by the goods they produced, but they only received a wage that covered the cost of their reproduction - i.e. the cost of food, housing and clothing. The difference between the value of their labour and the wages they receive, the so-called surplus value, is appropriated by the capitalists. This appropriation of surplus value leads to growing inequality between workers and capitalists. The working class is becoming poorer, while the bourgeoisie is becoming richer. According to Marx, this contradiction intensified over time and inevitably led to a class struggle.

However, it is not just the strike that is causing a stir in the Wild West. The notorious Dalton brothers are also getting involved once again, making Lucky Luke's task even more difficult.

The Dalton brothers are probably Lucky Luke's best-known adversaries. The four brothers - Joe, William, Jack and Averell - are notorious bandits who wreak havoc in the Wild West. Unlike the real-life Dalton brothers, who died in a failed bank robbery in Coffeyville in 1883, the fictional Daltons live on in the Lucky Luke comics and animations. Although they are always unsuccessful in their crimes, they provide plenty of entertainment with their clumsiness and incorrigible optimism.

Why I'm looking forward to the new adventure

As a Lucky Luke reader since childhood, I'm looking forward to a new adventure. Even though I still have to catch up on some of the last comics, the stories with the Daltons are among my favourite adventures. In particular, the multi-faceted relationship and contrast between Joe and Averell always makes me laugh. Joe is the leader of the gang. He is the smallest and most intelligent of the four brothers, but also very impulsive and hot-tempered. Averell, on the other hand, is simple-minded, good-natured and gullible. These differences often lead to misunderstandings and arguments. Nevertheless, they always stick together as brothers in the end.

The teased topics of industrial action, strikebreakers and work-life balance also pick me up. They are modern and will hopefully be dealt with in an interesting but humorous way.

If you're interested in any of the previous Lucky Luke adventures, you can find here to find some of the old comics or even larger collected editions.