Disney-comics digest #597.

9475609@arran.sms.edinburgh.ac.uk 9475609 at arran.sms.edinburgh.ac.uk
Thu Mar 2 18:43:57 CET 1995


      Hi again, folks.

      With Jorgen away and the British weekly out two days early this 
week, I can at least get a start at telling people what Egmont has on 
offer this week.

      Did I ever tell all of you that the British run two of the 1980s 
Bob Foster-written DD daily gags each issue?  One on the inside front 
cover, one on the inside back cover.  The British color them themselves, 
giving the ducks dark-blue eyes and Scrooge a dark-blue jacket.  The 
more of these I read, the more I like them.  The art's pretty bad (Bob 
himself has complained about it to me on numerous occasions), but the 
gags are all very good.

      Mickey Mouse:  "Hole-in-the-Wall at Hoodooyadoo" (D94073, probably 
16 pages total).  Written by Pat McGreal, art by Ferioli.
      Mickey's back at Buck Calhoun's ranch, where the dinosaurs that 
Professor Wagstaff recreated continue to live.  Mysterious "ghosts", 
claiming that the ranch is the territory of the Succotash Gang, appear 
and begin to frighten away some of the tourists.  Mounted on 
velociraptors, Mickey and Buck chase the ghosts to find -- Butch 
Succotash's legendary hideout, never discovered before, which sure makes 
it look like the ghosts must be real.  (And that's where we stop.)
      Well, this story is very well-written and the art is fantastic.  
Only problem is that the plot itself has been used in funny-animal 
mystery comics for generations.  Also, the dinosaurs don't seem to play 
any significant part aside from mounts (although I haven't seen the 
second part yet, so I don't really know for sure).
      MM doesn't wear his shorts this time out, but as with all the "new 
breed" MM stories, Ferioli seems to be trying to model his face after 
the version of late 1939.
      Anyway, I'm primed to read the next part of the story, even if I 
don't know if it's quite Gladstone-quality.

      Donald Duck:  "Spoil the Rod" (WDC 92, 10 pages).
      The story lacks a code of any kind.  I guess it must be "Spoil the 
Rod" now that I've looked at the art.  Why am I sounding so vague?  
Well, the British had a field day completely rewriting this to simplify 
it as much as possible, so that it's almost hard to tell it's the same 
story.  The recent "Masters of Melody" only altered a very few phrases 
to more British versions, but this one was mutilated.  Prof. Pulpheart 
Clabberhead becomes Prof. Peabody Claptrap (not a bad name, but face it:  
it's been changed!)
      It's enjoyable to read a Barks story in such complete British 
idiom, but it saddens me that this is the only way British kids will 
ever get to see this story.

      Beagle Boys:  "Good News is Bad News" (D93304, 6 pages)
      The Duckburg Nuts for Nice News (a protest group) is raging 
against the Times for its distressing articles and constant reporting of 
scandal.  So the Times decides to humor them by faking articles that 
make life look sweet and lovely.  Among other things they falsify 
stories that the BBs have reformed;  hoping to prove this wrong, 176-167 
and the others go out to wreak havoc, but all their efforts backfire, so 
they appear to live up to the newspaper's stories.
      The writer tries hard, but the premise is too unreal.  The Times 
finds that good news doesn't sell (score one for pessimism) but in 
Barks' universe, they'd never fake good news any more than they'd claim 
fish was being used for money.  This feels like some parallel universe.  
The art is OK -- not bad, but nothing special, and the BBs are drawn so 
mean-looking that you can't sympathize with their efforts.

      Donald Duck:  "The Old Lighthouse" (D93440, 1 page)
      Art by Xavi.  Okay, I guess.

      That's all for today, folks.  I'll be back tomorrow.

      David Gerstein
      <9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>




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