| “ | You rotten curs! You'll never get Bob Dalton! Never! NEVER! | „ |
| ~ Bob Dalton's last words before his defeat at the hands of Lucky Luke. |
The Dalton Gang are the overarching antagonists of the Lucky Luke franchise. They are loosely based on the real-life gang of outlaws of the same name who committed several robberies between 1890 and 1892. Their actions would eventually lead to the Dalton Brothers' long running encounters against Lucky Luke in many comic books of the series.
Despite their only major appearance in the 1954 comic book Outlaws as the main antagonists, they would be referenced in many of the later comics, a few examples being in the 1958 comic book The Dalton Cousins, where Joe, William, Jack and Averell make their first appearances by plotting to kill Lucky Luke to avenge their deceased cousins, and in the 2014 comic book The Dalton Uncles where Emmett's son, Emmett Junior, would be born sometime after the Coffeyville robbery.
Appearances[]
The Dalton Gang's appearances strongly ressemble their future cousins, with Bob being the smallest and Emmett being the tallest.
Biography[]
Outlaws[]
In the titular story of the comic book of the same name, the Daltons' lives are portrayed as loosely accurate to their real-life counterparts, altered by Morris for comedic purposes.
The Dalton Gang were first seen training their shooting skills using sheriff insignas as targets, putting a start to their criminal careers by robbing several banks across the United States, with one of them being the robbery of El Reno's bank, where Bob disguised as a child to trick the banker into putting his savings, only to reveal a revolver in his piggybank, which he uses to force the safe to be opened, allowing him to steal the money from it and flee without being caught by the sheriff, alerted by the banker's calls.
They would then go on to become stagecoach robbers as well. Near the Last Chance Saloon, the Dalton Gang hid in the luggages that were transported on a stagecoach in order to sneakily rob it's passengers and the stagecoach's horses, even if Bob had to shoot the locks to be able to rise out of one handbag due to being stuck from the locks not working properly.
However, the most notorious robberies the Dalton Gang would do and what would also become their passion, were train robberies. Committing several train robberies around the United States, their reputation would become so infamous that the railroad companies would call Lucky Luke in order to stop the Dalton Gang from committing more robberies.
The Dalton Gang would wait for another train to arrive, but they realize that due to the company warning passengers about their presence in the territory, the train was empty, no passengers were there, except for the train's conductor and Lucky Luke, who was escorting it. Disappointed by this, they would then attempt to blow up the baggage car's safe to see if any valuables were there, but they were caught in a trap all along as the money they were searching for was hidden in the coal, without even realizing it was there.
The Dalton Gang then arrive at La Mesa, and as expected from their reputation, the townsfolk ran away from them upon their sight. Going inside the saloon, they find Lucky Luke and recognize him as the one who tricked them earlier. Bob then pulls out one of the bars to prove himself as the strongest man in the Wild West, but Luke surpasses him by forming a noose, making the gang shocked. Not liking the cowboy's humor, Bob attempts to take Luke down, but he is easily overwhelmed by the cowboy, who hangs his braces on a lamp and punches him away. Briefly recovering as he attempts to take out his gun, the lamp is pulled towards his face, knocking him into a wall.
As a last resort, Bob challenges Luke into seeing if he's good enough with a six-shooter, but Luke manages to prove himself by shooting holes on folded paper. Bob then tells him how showing himself off isn't enough to surpass his skills, as he claims to be the best shooter of the Rio Grande. However, thanks to Luke tricking him into shooting a cuckoo apart from it's clock, Bob's revolvers are empty, allowing the gang to be escorted out of the saloon where the sheriff would come out from hiding in a nearby barrel and arrest the Daltons.
The Dalton Gang then free themselves from prison after a Chinese cook called by the sheriff made biscuits for them, which allowed them to knock the sheriff out by firing a biscuit with his braces like a slingshot. During their escape, they would disguise themselves as Indians and trick their pursuers into thinking that the gang went elsewhere. Their criminal careers resumed once more as lawmen and sheriffs fell victims to the gang's attacks, including a man named Tex Pokerface, who was killed off-screen, even labeling them as terrifying bogeymen to children. Due to their increasing reputation, prices for their capture were risen until they are even preferred dead by the law.
Some time later, the Daltons, seeing the dangers that they may face due to their reputation, decide to stay on alert at all times. After sleeping for a night, they plan to travel away to Kansas as they are too well known around the country, with lawmen from 36 countries after them. Little do they know, however, is that Lucky Luke was following them all along. Arriving in Wichita, the sheriff notices them and mentions that he may find them familiar, but Bob pretends that they are simply new in town, much to the sheriff's confusion, but it wouldn't take long for the citizens to find out about the Dalton Gang's presence as the town empties itself. The gang then thank Bob for making them arrive in a state where they wouldn't be recognized, but as they stood on alert, a child blows up a bag, which makes the gang flee thinking they heard a gunshot. Hidden in a shed, they would learn that Luke is in the town thanks to Emmett seeing him enter the saloon. They enter the saloon to confront Luke, only to be seemingly defeated again.
However, the Daltons would escape by putting a dynamite behind the counter, distracting Luke enough to exit the saloon and travel away back to their hideout. They think of a new plan so Luke would stop getting in their way, and after some time, Bob gets the idea of using plastic surgery to disguise themselves. Seeing a surgeon named J. Smith, they force him into doing plastic surgery for them, which works for quite some time, but their plan would fail when they are recognized at the saloon, noticing that their disguises were also wanted, reverting their faces back to normal.
Knowing that all their plans would fail due to Luke's presence, they decide to leave the town and travel to Coffeyville, where on October 5, 1892, they would begin their final robbery in the national bank. Disguising themselves, they attempt to force the banker at gunpoint to open the safe, but as it only opens via a time lock, they are forced to wait until the safe opens itself. However, it was all an ambush planned by Luke, who waited outside with the citizens. As the Daltons attempted to fight back, their horses flee from the gunshots, but as they were attached to a pillar holding the sign, they break the pillar as the sign drops on the Daltons, defeating all of them, except for Bob.
Bob, not wanting to be stopped, crawled out and attempted to run away, only to be caught via a hook. There, he would fire several rounds at Luke, but the latter manages to drop him down into a barrel, ultimately defeating him. Arrested for their crimes shortly after, they were sentenced to death and hanged.
Legacy[]
After their deaths, their cousins Joe, William, Jack and Averell would decide to avenge them by attempting to kill Lucky Luke, starting a vendetta against him that would continue on through future comics of the franchise. They were also mentioned in The Daltons' Escape when the Daltons start a rock slide on Luke that crushes and seemingly kills him, thinking they finally avenged them, only to see that Luke had survived thanks to a large rock that wedged above his little shelter, protecting him from the other rocks.
In The Dalton Uncles, it is revealed that Emmett survived the shootout with 23 bullets on his body and resumed his robberies, briefly dating a saloon dancer in-between them. This relationship resulted in the birth to Emmett Junior, simply known as Junior, who would become the central focus of the book, as their uncles were chosen to handle his education. Due to this, the Daltons are released from prison under supervision from Luke, which angers him as he is not supposed to be a nanny taking care of the five Daltons, due to him being a cowboy.
Trivia[]
- The Dalton Gang' deaths in Outlaws was a decision Morris had regretted to make due to their popularity from fans of the franchise. When Goscinny became the scriptwriter of the series, Morris decided to introduce cousins to the Dalton Gang, resulting in the creation of Joe, William, Jack and Averell, who would become the main antagonists and even the most popular characters of the franchise, spawning several media such as the 1967 single Les Dalton by late French singer Joe Dassin and the 2010-2016 animated series of the same name by animation studio Xilam.
- Historically, unlike the way the comic book depicted the Daltons' deaths, Bill never participated in the Coffeyville robbery and Emmett was simply injured and sentenced to 14 years in prison (referenced in The Dalton Uncles). However, Bob and Grat were killed during the robbery, like in the comic book.
- In the earlier version of Outlaws, Bob Dalton was killed by Lucky Luke with a gunshot through the head at the end of the story. This was changed to Bob falling into a barrel in recent editions when Morris was requested by Belgian publisher Dupuis to change the scene due to it being too violent for children. This censorship would also occur with Phil Defer, who is severely injured in the shoulder in the current version, instead of being killed by Luke in the original script.
- Bob Dalton is one of the only characters in the earlier comics (alongside Phil Defer) to have their deaths censored, unlike Mad Jim, who's death remained uncensored, making Mad Jim the only character to have died in the franchise.
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 Villains
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Dalton Family Other Outlaws Comics Movies The New Adventures of Lucky Luke Kid Lucky | ||