Donald Duck & Co # 51 - 1999

["Jørgen Andreas Bangor"]

Donald Duck & Co # 51 - 1999

Egmont front cover, showing Donald nephews who have made runway on which 
Santa Claus can land his sleigh.

First story out is a Donald story (D 99008, 14 pages), written by 
Kari Korhonen, and drawn by Vicar.

Donald works as a forest ranger. He's waiting impatiently on a man who'll 
take over for him during Christmas. When he arrives Donald yells at him 
for being late. Two elves are studying him for Santa Claus. They follow 
him on his way back to Duckburg. On this way Donald insults a lot of 
people, both innocent ones, and people who triy to help him. On a bus, 
Donald meets an old man who explains this to him. It's Santa Claus, and 
to make up for his sins, Donald helps him the rest of the evening.

The plot is very simple, and therefore the story looks rather uninteresting 
when explained this way. But it is actually a pretty good one. It tells 
in a fine way that oneself isn't the only one with feelings and problems. 
All the other people out there, anonymous as they might look, they are 
people too.

Number two is a Donald one-pager (D 91181). The art looks like Branca.

Donald lacks a ladder to put the star on top of the Christmas three, so 
he makes a stair of the presents.

Number three is a story with Mickey and Goofy (D 99040, 10 pages), written 
by Sarah Kinney, and drawn by Rodriques.

Goofy work as Santa Claus in a big store. Mickey is his helper. A little 
girl becomes suspicious of them, and checks the wardrobe. She finds out 
that Goofy isn't really Santa Claus, and gets very upset. Mickey and 
Goofy then do everything they can to make this up, and make the girl 
believe in Santa again. They make a sleigh of an old car, and borrows 
reindeer at the local zoo. They lack two of them, so in front are two 
water buffaloes. Getting them up on the roof where the girl lives is a 
challenge, but they manage to do it.
The girl understand what's going on, but she appreciates all the trouble 
they've went through. In the end she admits to herself that she probably 
is too old to believe in Santa anyway. Then suddenly Santa Claus lands 
his sleigh besides Mickey and Goofy's.

A cute story. I especially liked the water buffaloes.

Number four is a Grandma Duck one-pager (D 97422), written by Lars Jensen, 
and drawn by Marsal.

Grandma is knitting a scarf for Gus Goose, but while thinking about all 
the animals, and how cold they must be in the winter, she forgets to look 
at it, and it becomes very long. She goes to the zoo, and puts it around 
the neck of a giraffe.

Number five is a Donald Duck one-pager (D 91345). The art looks like 
Branca.

Donald, Daisy and the nephews are at a restaurant. The ducklings are 
making so much trouble that Donald puts them in the wardrobe.

Number six is a Scrooge story (D 97366, six pages), written by Lars Jensen 
and Chris Spencer, and drawn by Scalabroni.

Scrooge is annoyed by the fact that people throw coins in an old well, 
to make their wishes come through. Accidentally he loses a coin into it, 
and immediately he starts trying to get it back. He buys the park where 
it is, and gets a big drill there. The drill finds oil, and Scrooge starts 
to believe that the well actually works, until he's told that he already 
owns an oil pipe there - directly under the well...

Pretty standard plot, no surprises. But it's well done. Scalabroni's art 
is good, as usual. I like that he has developed his own style, instead of 
copying Vicar or Branca.

Number seven is a Goofy one-pager (D 93070). The art looks like Esteban.

Number eight is this week's Dutch story (H 9361, four pages). The main 
character is Daisy Duck, it's written by Sauer, and drawn by 
Hans van Oudenaarden.

Daisy is in love with a TV character who knows how to treat a woman. 
Donald interupts the program, and drives away with her. Daisy starts to 
think that maybe there could be something to Donald, until she realizes 
that he's taking her to a boxing game. A little later Daisy wins, mostly 
by cheating, a contest in which the prize is an evening with the TV 
character. He takes her to a boxing game.

Quite standard plot, but well done.

Number nine is an old one-pager (KF 08-05-51).

Number ten is the sixth stone story (D 99055), written by Pat and 
Carol McGreal, and drawn by Rodriques. It's the first part of a 
continuation story. I'll comment it when I've seen it all. It looks 
very promising.

The last story is another old one-pager (KF 12-12-37).



   Jørgen