44 - Bonhomme

Bonhomme MATTHIEU BONHOMME LUCKY LUKE (AS SEEN BY...) Lucky Luke's Long March, Lucky Comics 2026 Original artwork no. 57. Signed. India ink on paper 35 × 50.1 cm (13.78 × 19.72 in.) What other word but “magnificent” could describe this panel, built around a feast of contrasts? Lucky Luke, betrayed by Johnson, finds himself at the mercy of Ronald Cramp’s gang. He faces ghostly figures that are every bit as unsettling as the creatures Bob Morane encountered in *The Eyes of the Fog*. To heighten their eerie nature, Matthieu Bonhomme chose not to show their faces. The contrast between the immaculate white of the snow and the darkness of the characters lends the whole scene an almost fantastical atmosphere. The less clearly he can make out his adversaries, the more Lucky Luke’s emotion shines through, as seen in the close-ups in panels 5, 7, and 9. “I wanted these characters to be entities—dangerous beings in white collars, sort of like ghosts from hell wearing bowler hats and carrying sawed-off shotguns. I had to draw their shapes, fill them in with black, and then draw the snowflakes drifting past them. In panel 8, the lamp shining on the villain makes him look even more demonic.” M.B.