Chico Kolor #4: Chico šerif

In Chico šerif (Chico the Sheriff), Zagor’s companion looks back on his days as “Carambita” Chico, the sheriff of Texas City. Gunmen who challenge him die laughing, while the townsfolk will pay good money for the ground he has walked on and even the air he has breathed. Chico acquires two very different reputations in the same town: his opponents see a man to laugh at, while his neighbours treat his very footprints as relics.

The big event of his time as sheriff is the showdown with “Bronco” Masterson. The frontier still tells stories about that duel, and the pairing is part of the joke: a dangerous gunman faces a sheriff who is more likely to make challengers laugh than make them tremble. What happens to Chico’s unlikely reputation when he finally comes face to face with Masterson?

Guido Nolitta takes the familiar ingredients of a Western — the badge, the challenge and the showdown — and hands them to a hero who upsets the rules just by being himself. Gallieno Ferri makes Texas City a place where Chico’s smallest step can become a major event, at least in the eyes of the people who have decided to make him a legend.