Buddy Longway is a western

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 written by the Swiss comic book writer Derib

Derib

Derib is a Swiss francophone comics creator, one of the most famous in Europe, who started his professional career at Peyo's studio...

. It is published under the Le Lombard

Le Lombard

Le Lombard or Lombard Editions is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when the Tintin magazine was launched. In 1986 the company was acquired by Média-Participations.-Titles:Lombard's more famous series include:*Clifton...

 publishing house. The first issue came out in 1972, and 16 issues were published until 1987 until Derib restarted the series in 2002, continuing with four further issues until 2006, until he announced that the 20th issue, La Source, would be the last.

Both the story arcs and the drawings are praised for the realistic portrayal of the simplistic, rough life as a trapper.

Overview

The series is a family saga which centers around the eponymous character Buddy Longway, a trapper who lives in the wilderness. He lives as a partner of a Sioux

Sioux

The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 woman called Chinook. In the course of the series, they have two children, Jeremy and Kathleen.

Main topics of the series, which is set in the 19th century, are living in the wilderness, interracial relationships

Interracial marriage

Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry. This is a form of exogamy and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation .-Legality of interracial marriage:In the Western world certain jurisdictions have had regulations...

, Native American culture, coming of age (Jeremy and Kathleen) and age (Buddy Longway).

Background

Longway is described as a brooding, vulnerable character who visibly ages during the course of the series. Derib commented: "I am someone very emotional and I believe to know how to transfer this dimension into a comic book." Derib deliberately chose this slant, which was unusual compared to contemporary Western comics like Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke is a Belgian comics series created by Belgian cartoonist, Maurice De Bevere better known as Morris, the original artist, and was for one period written by René Goscinny...

or Blueberry: "I wanted to renew the narrative modes in comics, especially the notion that a hero should be perfect, invincible or immortal (e.g. Lucky Luke or Blueberry), so my idea was to write about a simple man."

Derib said he was extremely fond of Longway, so much that he almost regarded him like a son.