| “ | I waited here, my old good friends. To attack this stage, i swore to the end. And i got you with the hood, it's too bad i'm too good... | „ |
| ~ Black Bart's poem while he was attacking Hank's stagecoach. |
Charles Bolles, also known as Black Bart, is a major antagonist in the 1968 Lucky Luke comic book, The Stagecoach.
He is a former school teacher who was in a class of undisciplined students, giving him a hard time to deal with their antics. During his job, he also saw multiple stagecoaches passing by his school. Eventually, stealing Terence's rifle, he goes on to start his criminal career by disguising himself as a white, hooded figure. During the journey towards San Francisco, he confronts Lucky Luke, Hank and the other passengers and attempts to rob them of their gold, but once he realizes that what was inside the safe was just rocks, he was tricked and forced to retreat into the distance, not to be seen again until he was identified by a laundry label.
He is based on the real-life outlaw of the same name.
Appearance[]
During most of his screen-time, he is seen wearing white clothes and a white ghost-like hood to cover his true identity. However, his true identity can be seen twice, once during Hank's explanation of him to Lucky Luke and once near the end of the story, where he is revealed to be a timid man with black hair at the sides of his head and wearing round glasses.
Biography[]
Black Bart is first mentioned by Hank when he was telling Lucky Luke that they are in the area that he operates. He then explains the backstory of Black Bart, who used to be a school teacher with an undisciplined class. When Terence nearly shot him with a rifle, he confiscated it from him. During his teaching, he notices multiple stagecoaches passing by the school, later leading him to start his career as an outlaw by robbing 27 stagecoaches with the confiscated rifle. With his identity hidden, all that is known of him is that he always signs his crimes with little poems he leaves inside the empty safes.
While they were travelling to Sacremento, Lucky Luke is met face to face to what seems to be Black Bart. However, he notices that what was in front of him was just a fake one, as there was nothing but a scarecrow that had Black Bart's outfit. It is at this point that the real Black Bart orders Lucky Luke to drop his gun and put his hands up. Jeremiah Fallings, a photograph and one of the stagecoach's passengers, politely asks Black Bart if he could take a picture of him. Bart agrees, but in condition that he doesn't do any tricks. Bart then orders the driver, Hank, to open the safe and throw the bags of gold out, only to realize that what was in the safe was only just rocks, shocking him. Hank then tosses a rock right in front of him, distracting him as he is disarmed by Luke, causing him to retreat in the distance, unable to be caught due to his speed.
Fortunately, thanks to Jeremiah taking a photo of him, Luke notices the laundry label inside the jacket, which would allow the authorites to identify and capture him. At the end of the story, it is revealed that during his civilian life, he was simply a timid man who was taking his lunch inside a restaurant with the Wells Fargo detectives.
Trivia[]
- Just like his real-life counterpart, it is unknown what happened to Black Bart after Luke nearly caught him.
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 Villains
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