Mini Barks quiz / 1960s Barks classics

Daniel van Eijmeren dve at kabelfoon.nl
Fri Jun 6 16:45:11 CEST 2003


CAREY FURLONG, 06-06-2003:

>>> Where is your Uncle Scrooge?

>> Hint: "Then, you have no uncle!"

> Ah. That was the hint I needed.  Hewey, Dewey and Louie trying 
> to convice the owner at Ajax Rent-A-Camel to rent them camels to 
> use to search for their Uncle Scrooge in, "McDuck of Arabia" (US 55). 

Correct. Someone else, Santiago, guessed this one in a private email.

As I wrote yesterday, I think "McDuck of Arabia" is a beautiful story 
with great timing and great storytelling. Just look at how many things 
are happening at the same time and on different locations, without 
making the story difficult to follow. In my opinion, this is one of the 
1960s stories that show how greatly Barks developed his storytelling 
since his so-called "classic" period of the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Reading "McDuck of Arabia", I got fascinated by the great drawings of 
the caravans and the desert. It looks so real to me, that I almost feel 
that I'm part of the story, myself. (And, as far as I know, Barks had to 
work with smaller and cheaper paper since the early 1960s, so this would 
make the drawings even more of an effort to get so much atmosphere.)

Personally, I think that Barks' story-telling technique was at its best 
in the 1960s. The 1960s stories are easy to read (unlike the stories from 
the "classic" period), but in a way that requires a great story technique.
It's easier to make a story look difficult than vice versa. That's why I 
think that Barks's 1960s stories and their technique are underestimated 
by a lot of people, and that these stories deserve far more attention and 
appreciation. 

To name only a few, here are some other 1960s stories I find all-time 
great Barks classics: 

"Mystery of the Ghost Town Railroad" (US 56)
"The Swamp of No Return" (US 57)
"North of the Yukon" (US 59)
"The Phantom of the Norte Duck" (US 60)
"House of Haunts" (US 63)
"Micro-Ducks From Outer Space" (US 65)
"The Doom Diamond" (US 70)

And these are only a few. I'm afraid I'll list most of the 1960s Scrooge 
adventures if I would go on.

> Okay. Identify this quote:
> "What puny marks men make on the face of the land."

Er... this one is of course far too easy. I don't want to spoil it for the 
dummies, by immediately giving the answer. That would be unfair, of course,
for a good sport like me. (Cough! Cough! Brag! Brag!) :-)


--- Daniël (running away, before people realise he doesn't know the answer)



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