PARIS The Belgian creator of comic book character Lucky Luke, the "cowboy who beats his shadow to the draw", died suddenly this week, his Paris-based publisher Dargaud said.

The illustrator Morris, whose real name was Maurice de Bevere, died aged 77 on Monday in Brussels, Dargaud said. It gave no further details, Reuters reported.

Morris was born on December 1, 1923, in the Belgian town Kortrijk.

He created Lucky Luke in the 1940s and went on to delight children and adults in 80-odd adventures of the Western cartoon character and his poker-playing horse jolly jumper.

All the stories ended with the hero riding into the sunset singing: "I'm a poor lonesome cowboy."

The comic book series has been translated into some 30

languages and turned into a television series and computer games.