''Chick Bill'' is a Belgian humorous Western comic book series created by Tibet. It was first published in 1953 in the magazine ''Chez Nous Junior'', and its Dutch language counterpart '' Ons Volkske'', and began serial publication on October 19, 1955, in '' Tintin'' magazine under the title ''Les aventures de Chick Bill le cow-boy''. 70 books of the series were published, and it lasted until Tibet's death in 2010. Tibet wrote many of the scripts as well as drawing all the episodes, but various stories were written by André-Paul Duchâteau and Greg and one episode was scripted by René Goscinny. Frank Brichau was credited as co-illustrator for the last two books. The series follows the adventures of Chick Bill, a young

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

who lives in Arizona, helping people in need and righting wrongs. His companions include an Indian child called ''Little Poodle'' ("Petit Caniche" in the French version), a gruff sheriff called Dog Bull and the latter's bumbling and dim-witted deputy, Kid Ordinn. Chick Bill and Little Poodle act as the series' heroes while Dog Bull and Kid Ordinn are the comic relief characters. Kid Ordinn is also the series' antihero and the real protagonist of many episodes.

Evolution

In the very first ''Chick Bill'' adventures, the characters were portrayed as

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

animals, rendered in a manner similar to the Disney style and directed at a younger audience, before the series gradually evolved to feature human characters. This change was made when the series began publication in ''Tintin'', at the request of Hergé who was then the magazine's artistic supervisor.Didier Pasamonik
Chick Bill contre l’Invisible par Tibet - Le Lombard
''actuabd.com'', 17 May 2006

Sources

an

BDoubliées

Bedetheque ;Footnotes

External links

Chick Bill Complete Story Index With Cover Gallery in India Belgian comic strips Belgian comics characters Lombard Editions titles Comics characters introduced in 1955 Humor comics Children's comics 1955 comics debuts 2010 comics endings Western (genre) comics characters Western (genre) comics Comics set in Arizona Male characters in comics Fictional cowboys and cowgirls {{FrancoBelgian-comics-stub