Barks's Beagle Boys spelling

Olivier mouse-ducks at wanadoo.fr
Thu Sep 4 11:53:25 CEST 2003


Daniël:
>>>In Barks's 'House of Haunts' (US 63), 'Heedless Horseman' (US 65),
>>>and 'The Doom Diamond' (US 70) their shirts spell "Beagle Boys Inc."
>>>In their first appearance (WDC 143), their shirts spell "Beagle Boys".

I don't remember noticing the name change (dropping/adding the "Inc"). I
like the idea of  thieves registering as a legit business company, it's
quite funny.
Union rules was suggested in the recent quote from  "The Too-Safe Safe"
about disturbing old ladies.
My favorite fully-unionized organized crime society gag in Barks' stories is
the running gag in "The Statu Seeker" (U$ 41, March '63, CBLiC U$A album
39):
- (p 6 panel 5) "Burglars, Thugs, and Pirates Union, Local No 6 1/2"
- (p 6 panel 6) secretary
- (p 7 panels 1-2):
     "Yes, hiring those Beagle Boys will give your job *status*, sir!"
     "You mean there are status symbols in this business, too?"
     "Oh, yes, indeed!"
     "Well, come along, you status sumbols! I hadn't expected to be *proud*
of  this job!"
- (p 13 panels 3-4):
    "The sub ecaped! all I get for following that old duck is a *goose
egg*!"
    "We Beagle Boys have got to be paid with better wages than goose eggs!"
    "We're *union pirates*! We demand the union scale!"

Even though it's for a the sake of  the status gags, this suggests the
Beagle Boys are not petty thieves but are recognized as "tops" (p 6 panel
7).
This may seem in contradiction with the fact we always see them fail.
Actually, they do succeed in robbing Scrooge several times, in quiet
ingenious ways; it's just that the ducks manage to get the money back.

Other Beagle gags I love:
- the baptizing of  the "Beagle Boys" gang in L&T chapter 2 ("The Mardi Gras
Gang", ...)
- "Scram! We ain't got your dang *chickens*! Besides, you got no *proof*!"
etc (L&T chapter 10, p 7)



>>> I haven't taken a look at other Barks stories. I'm having sleepless
>>> nights of my reports of getting lost in The Carl Barks Library, every
>>> time I open it. Just for that I'm going to throw the whole thing out
>>> of the window! :-)

Throw it my way! throw it my way!
;)


Olivier
( "Oink"? We didn't hear no "oink"! )




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