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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Gladstone Gander (Gontran Bonheur) has had
different faces through the years; since the beginning, we have been seeing him
as the competitor of Donald for winning the Scrooge's favours or simply as a
competitor for any kind of reward, money and so forth... (Trail Of The
Unicorn, The Gilded Man - Donald contre El Dorado -, Donald l'as du pinceau -
Paperino e il Ghirigoro 1964, Donald et la Ruée vers l'or - The Golden Nugget
Boat 1961, except for the italian one, all these stories are stories of Carl
Barks); Gladstone also appears to be in many italian stories the competitor of
Donald for winning the favours of Daisy (Donald automobiliste modèle, Donald et
la mégère milliardaire - paperino e la miliarda miliardaria 1962 (pencils Romano
Scarpa), the prelude of the story ' La Bataille des Héros' - Paperiade -
(Bottero/Martina) in Mickey Parade 25; in Paperino e la Miliarda Miliardaria the
female character called Vandéka Méliosa aka Juanella Van Damm has an awful
temper; so could we consider Duckburg as a misogynous universe? Magica is a
seductive 'bad girl' witch, Brigitte (Brigitta McBridge) is an hysterical woman
with a Scrooge obsession (that sometimes leads her to create some big business,
financial empire, for competing with Scrooge on the grounds of economic
industry, especially in the excellent story 'Le papillon de Christophe Colomb' -
Paperino e la farfalla di colombo - scenario/script/pencils Romano Scarpa);
Vandéka aka Juanella Van Damm is awful, Daisy is a more ambiguous character,
sometimes she is better than the men who populate Duckburg, has more brains than
them, but her character is sometimes shadowed by a hint of snoberry like Minnie;
furthermore, her choice for her fiancee between Donald and Gladstone often is
unclear.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sometimes Gladstone is the villain (however,
rarely); in a particular story (where Goofy makes a cameo) he teams up with the
Beagle boys for stealing the Scrooge's wealth before fleeing with them and the
money on a desert island; this is 'La Bataille des Héros' - Paperiade -;
however this kind of characterization for Gladstone is unfit for the man, the
guy is a dandy not a bad guy; the stories of 'Fantomiald' aka Paperinik, allows
Donald to take revenge on his supposed inferiorities compared with
Gladstone, Scrooge and sometimes Daisy; 'Comment on devient Fantomiald'
Paperinik il diabolico vendicatore and 'Donald fait jouer Fantomias' Paperinik
torpa a colpire; aside the double personality, i don't think the character of
Paperinik could have fitted in the Barks universe, because the Donald of Barks,
even if he envies the good luck of Gladstone, is less mixed up than the italian
Donald.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Gladstone is also capable of generosity : at the
end of the story 'Donald et l'héritage fantôme' Paperino e l'eredita transitoria
1967, he gives money to Donald as a reward for having found his lost
casket.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>