Horsing Around with History

[Daniel van Eijmeren]

Hi all!

Maybe I'm the last one here who red the new Barks adventure. There 
has already been a lot of talking about it. But I sure like to tell 
you what I think of the story.

At first I think this *is* a Barks story. I think the plot is very 
good. If Barks would have worked with this plot in his productive 
days, it would have been a memorable story. But there are sure some 
mistakes in it (apart from Van Horn's art). 

---

At first I think the story has a very slow beginning, the logic order 
of Barks' stories isn't there anymore. I think the part of the story 
in which Scrooge's button is stolen and then replaced is *much* to 
long. It has also too much "camera-switchings".

*After seven pages* the story itself begins! Those 7 pages could have 
been much shorter and more logical. The switching of the buttons 
(introducing the albatros and Beagle Boys) could have been *much* 
shorter, less than two (logical!) pages. After that the story would 
have been ready to "go", with introducing the ship and after that the 
leaving.

What I also find illogical here was the tailors eat prunes, which
remembers the nephews of the Beagle Boys... but then at the same time 
the whole suspection is gone because "maybe all tailors like prunes!" 
What??? Is *that* a reason? Are these kids the three ducks which 
suspected almost *everything* in the past? 

Barks could have been far more subtile in thinking about a clear way 
to introduce the Beagle Boys, the albatross and "a certain smell" (a 
smell that's need for the ending). The idea is good, but it's very 
bad worked out.

---

The second illogical part is the one in which the ducks discover a 
message. It's a *cryptical* S.O.S. What?? How can you get more 
illogical? You want to be rescued and then you write a riddle instead 
of a clear "Help! I'm at that position."? No wonder those men had to 
wait thousands of years... and it's also illogical because a part of 
the plot is that Scrooge gets this treasure as a *gift*. 

Barks easily could have scrapped that part, making the story much 
easier to read, more condensed and much "stronger".

---

As far as I know, Barks made only a written synopsis of the story. If 
he would have sketched the story, he would have seen the story isn't 
very logical in these parts. I think that Barks wasn't only a story-
teller, but also a *composer*. His stories were like symphonies.

His earlier working methods were: writing a story, scripting a story, 
sketching a story (and then finally drawing the story by pencilling 
those sketches). In those phases he used the chance to get away with 
flaws in a story. Now the story got stuck in the earliest phase.

So, my opinion of the story is: Plot *very* good and *very* original, 
story (as it now is) very bad. It's sad in a way: Barks could have 
surprised and impressed the world with his last story (almost 30 
years after his retirement), but he *didn't*.


--- Daniel, still a Barks fan ;-)