Chico Kolor #10: Chico kopač zlata

In Chico kopač zlata (Chico the Gold Prospector), Zagor bails Chico and Trampy out after another business scheme goes wrong. When he asks how their friendship began, both men are eager to tell the story. They take him back to a time before Chico met Zagor, when he and Trampy believed prospecting for gold could make them rich.

The pair come surprisingly close to getting what they want, but a drinking bout is enough to upset their plans. Much of the humour comes from how readily the two friends start thinking of themselves as wealthy men. Their account also shows how easily Chico might have gone down a different path and never met Zagor at all.

Moreno Burattini uses the friends’ recollections to tell the story of their first partnership, while Francesco Gamba brings their misadventures to life as a comic Western. Chico and Trampy take centre stage. Zagor’s question sets the story in motion, but what keeps it going is the friendship between two men with a knack for turning a business opportunity into trouble.