Re "World Wide Witch"

[kimba1962@comcast.net]

A cautionary note to those who refer to Barks' "timelessness" as a weapon to 
use vs. Blum/Branca's excellent effort: Barks was not above (or below) using 
quickly perishable contemporary references in his own stories.  The entire 
plot of "Long Ago Today" is a riff on the briefly popular 1950s book "The 
Search for Bridey Murphy."  The early 60s portrayals of "natives" in stories 
like "The Great Wig Mystery" and "A Spicy Tale" can't possibly be fully 
appreciated without knowing something about the Peace Corps and the newly-
hatched independence of "developing," foreign-aid-bound African and Asian 
nations.  Personally, I'm glad someone finally got around to "wiring" Duckburg.
While the tech may have been upgraded, it was nice to see that the characters 
THEMSELVES didn't change.  Magica has previously employed a certain brand 
of "high tech" in her anti-Scrooge efforts (remember the pooped-out foof 
shooter in that early Magica story?); here, she's simply upping the ante 
(measured in bytes, perhaps?).  Donald would naturally gravitate towards the 
type of technology that provides immediate self-gratification ("MTFree".)  And 
Scrooge characteristically questions the newfangled "technotwaddle" before he 
learns to turn it to his own advantage.

If Blum can be faulted here, it is in his eagerness to do too much.  
The "wiccan" subplot and the introduction of Magda Marshbird really deserved 
stories of their own.  Still, I'd rather see an overflow of "new ideas" than a 
paucity of same.   

Chris Barat
kimba1962 at comcast.net     (NEW ADDRESS!)