| “ | The varmint is trying to steal the location of my project from me! But he doesn't know me, Mr. Luke: That island will be home to my prison! Not that ruinous statue celebrating some fanciful notion of "Liberty"! | „ |
| ~ Abraham Locker angrily telling Luke that the island will have his prison and not the Statue of Liberty. |
| “ | Any...Anything you want, Lucky Luke... | „ |
| ~ Abraham Locker's last words before being sent to Alcatraz for his crimes. |
Abraham Locker is the main antagonist of the Lucky Luke comic A Cowboy in Paris.
He is the warden of the Cross Junction Penitentiary who plans to make a high-security prison on the New York Bay in order to have no more criminals escape from it. However, when he realizes that Auguste Bartholdi plans to build the Statue of Liberty on an island around Manhattan, he gets furious as he doesn't want a "ruinous statue celebrating some fanciful notion of Liberty" instead of his prison. In order to stop Auguste from doing so, he pays several henchmen to destroy the statue and ruin his project so his prison could be built. Eventually, he is defeated by Lucky Luke and arrested for his crimes.
Biography[]
Abraham Locker is first seen when Lucky Luke is dragging the Daltons inside the Cross Junction Penitentiary to have them locked up. After a strict inspection, Abraham introduces himself as the warden of the penitentiary and apologizes for what happened earlier, as the prison's rules were very strict. Going inside his office, he reveals to Luke how he is fascinated with penitentiary architecture, even to the point of writing a book about the many types of bars and barriers through several ages. He then states that the prison's escape rate is very low, even him doesn't leave that much. However, the prison he is in is only a mere start for his biggest project, a high-security prison on the New York Bay, so prisoners would never be able to escape due to the feelings of always being watched. In the meantime, he also gives food to Papillon, his pet canary, and even introduces him to Luke, saying that he has a ball chained to his leg and keeps him in the safe every day so he would escape.
Afterwards, he tells Luke that once his prison will be built, he will no longer have to waste his time pursuing bandits and instead focus on his real job, a cattle driver. However, he is then told that someone is planning to build a statue on the island of Manhattan (which is also where Lokcer plans to build his new prison), which makes him angry as he doesn't want the island to be taken over by a "ruinous statue celebrating Liberty". Luke attempts to dissuade him by saying that since America is a big country, he could build his prison elsewhere, but Locker refuses, accidentaly freeing Papillon from his cage and fleeing through the window. As Luke leaves, Locker attempts to catch Papillon.
He then pays several henchmen to stop Auguste's tour, but most of them are thwarted by Luke. The first henchmen he comes across is Harvey and an unnamed accomplice, who covered Auguste in feathers and tar to get him out of Riverbank, the town where he was about to propose his project. Arriving in the saloon, Harvey is quickly defeated by Luke's fast shooting skills and humiliated. After this, a grand gala about the statue is organized, which makes Locker furious as he thinks that they are making the destruction of the prison a national day. Sending an unnamed henchman tasked with blowing up the statue, he has him check if everybody is inside the saloon so he would not get caught. Unfortunately, he is quickly caught by Luke, who is on top of the statue, causing him to lift his dynamite in the air as a sign of liberty.
Later at night, he has two bandits to rob the money Auguste had gained from the Liberty-themed rodeo he organized in Abilene, but they are also thwarted by Luke, who shoots them away. Back at the prison, Locker is told by one of his guards that the triumphant tour's success even led to several people from other countries, even Mexicans, to admire the statue, which Locker doesn't like and wishes a border to once be built between both countries. The tour has also generated several offers from miners, black people and Arkansas Ranchers in honour of Liberty, which makes Locker have a breakdown, saying that the craze for superior values is enough for despair in the Wild West. He then hears the prisoners singing a performance to support the statue, also showing that the project's success also had influenced them.
The next day, Locker is informed by Schutz, one of his guards, that Auguste and Lucky Luke are going to escort the Statue of Liberty from France to the United States, but he tells him to not believe the press, as no statue will be crossing the Atlantic. To do so, he has a henchman cause a fire on the boat to destroy every part of the statue, which also seemed to kill both Auguste and Lucky Luke, though they were revealed to have survived. Locker is irritated by the failure and asks Schutz to send a telegram to their contact in Paris. There, one of his men snuck inside the Statue of Liberty and blew up a part of her face, leading to it being covered by a large blanket (similar to how bandits wear bandanas to hide their identity). Later that night, Luke finds the same criminal who damaged the statue and shoots the statue's finger he was standing on, causing him to fall down through several shafts and on Jolly Jumper, who throws him on the ground, injuring him seriously as he is then arrested by the French police.
Once the statue is finally brought to New York, Luke decides to face Locker one final time to put an end to his plans. Injuring his guards in anger, Luke breaks down the door to Locker's office and grabs him, furiously screaming that he is a dangerous maniac and could have gave him a good beating for his actions. He then warns Locker that if he ever tries to plot against Auguste to build his prison, he would be locked in prison himself. As Luke violently shuts the door, Locker is frightened by Luke's shadow on the wall. He is later demoted from his position and arrested, sent to the Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco for his crimes.
Trivia[]
- His book, 50 Shades of Gratings, is a reference to the Fifty Shades of Grey saga.
- His plan of building a wall between his country and the Mexicans is a reference to Donald Trump.
Gallery[]
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 Villains
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Dalton Family Other Outlaws Comics Movies The New Adventures of Lucky Luke Kid Lucky | ||