Billy the Kid by René Goscinny

Why read the book?

Billy the Kid terrorises the town of Fort Weakling, where the sheriff and the citizens are too frightened to lift a finger against a boy who shoots first and sulks later. Luke arrives to clean the place up and finds an outlaw who is half killer and half spoilt child.

Goscinny plays Billy as a tantrum on legs, snatching sweets and pulling guns in the same breath. Luke must outthink rather than outdraw him, and the gap between Billy's fearsome reputation and his childish temper drives the whole story.

Favourite quote

What I Loved

The portrait of Billy as a petulant infant is the album's masterstroke, funny and a little sharp about the legends of the West.

Fort Weakling, cowed by one small boy, gives the town gags room to breathe. It is a tight, well-paced duel of wits that never lets Billy off the hook.

Key Takeaway

The most feared gunman in the West is, at heart, a child who needs sending to bed.

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