Dalton Brothers

The Dalton Brothers were originally introduced in Lucky Luke #6 and modeled after the real Dalton Brothers: Bob, Grat, Bill and Emmett. The Daltons were killed in the end of that story, but since they proved very popular by readers, writer/artist Morris introduced their cousins Joe, William, Jack and Averell in issue #12. They have the same appearance as the original Dalton brothers, but are less dangerous. 

 

Morris, talking about The Daltons:

What got me interested in George Marshall's film, "When The Daltons Rode", is that the four brothers were united to defend evil causes. They really existed but, of course, they weren't twins and they didn't have staggered height. They were cousins of the James brothers, and liked to believe they were crueler than them. Actually, the were real idiots. The planned minutely holds up that didn't bring them any loot in. While I was in New York, I did a lot of research about their lives. Killing them in the end of "Hors-la-loi" (issue #6, "Outlaws") was a big blooper. I received many letters of readers who saw them as very funny characters, asking me to put them back. I created then the cousins, even dumber, because I noticed that stupidity and evil goes very well together and gives rise to hilarious jokes.

The "real" Daltons - Bob, Grat, Bill and Emmett - appear in the Lucky Luke adventure "Hors-la-loi" written and drawn by Morris in 1951. Morris drew them absolutely identical in everything but height, which varied from Bob, the shortest and most dangerous, to the tallest Emmett. At the end of the story the Daltons are all killed in a raid in the town of Coffeyville, Kansas where two of the real-life Daltons, Bob and Grat, were also killed (In real life, Emmett was wounded in the Coffeyville shootout and subsequently jailed, while Bill Dalton did not take part in the raid).

In the most recent Lucky Luke story, history is being retold again as Emmett is indeed shown to have survived the Coffeyville shoot out and has since fathered a son which the cousins Daltons are now laying claim to. Just as Averell takes after Emmett (Both being the tallest member of the gang) Emmett Jr. takes after Averell in him being an enormous glutton and drawn to Averell's childish nature.

Morris regretted killing the Dalton gang, which had proved popular with readers, and decided to invent a second quartet that are introduced as cousins of the originals. By this point, the series had become more humorous and the violence featured was more slapstick and less lethal. These entirely fictional brothers are Joe, Jack, William and Averell. They look just like their cousins and again each one of them is taller than the previous one, though they vary in personality: from Joe the hot-tempered leader to the dim-witted childlike Averell whose thoughts are focused mainly on food. These Daltons have appeared in many of Lucky Luke's adventures, typically breaking out of jail at the beginning and being sent back by Luke at the end. The prison dog Rantanplan is often assigned to help Luke in tracking them down.

The Daltons also appear in a spin-off series Rantanplan as well as many episodes of various Lucky Luke animated series. In another spin-off, Lucky Kid, they appeared in a story titled "Oklahoma Jim" in which they meet Lucky Luke for the first time as kids. Their storylines often begin with the gang escaping from prison, followed around by prison dog Rantanplan as they try to carry out whatever plans Joe Dalton, or their mother Ma Dalton, has in mind. Usually the gang ends up back in jail at the end of the story as Lucky Luke rides off into the sunset. The characters have appeared both in the comic book version of Lucky Luke as well as the animated series and were also part of the spinoff series Rantanplan and starred in their own short story animated show that made its debut in 2010.