Giraud - Lot 5

Giraud JEAN GIRAUD BLUEBERRY The Man with the Iron Fist (T.8), Dargaud 1970 Original plate no. 12, from the script by Jean-Michel Charlier, prepublished in Pilote no. 402, July 6, 1967. India ink and white gouache highlights on paper 36.8 × 47 cm (14.49 × 18.5 in.) This sequence from L'Homme au poing d'acier (The Man with the Steel Fist) is a fine example of Jean-Michel Charlier's ability to combine Western adventures - the quintessence of virile adventure - with the playful tone of comedy. The setting is the Union Pacific construction site, which must be constantly supplied under threat from both the Sioux and a band of greedy outlaws led by the redoubtable Steelfingers. Sabotage, treachery and cunning are the ingredients of this railroad odyssey, in which Blueberry must protect the $300,000 paycheck! Then the comedy character Guffie Palmer appears, leader of a shabby traveling theater troupe who decides to leave the Union Pacific camp to escape the Indians... Against Blueberry's advice, she leaves the camp and, of course, finds the Indians in her path. Blueberry takes it upon himself to save her and her crew, but this comes at a price: he has to get rid of some of their clothes... The sequence is as dynamic as you could wish, with Gir multiplying shots and points of view, while Charlier's script adds a touch of burlesque.