"DuckTales" and the individualized nephews

[Lars Jensen]

Chris Barat writes:

>>     In truth, DuckTales was not the first forum to single out one
>> nephew for special treatment in a story. An early Barks ten-pager
>> [...]
>
> I was thinking specifically of ADVENTURE STORIES in this case.  In the
> gold-finding machine story and the Taliaferro strips, one Nephew is
> allowed to stand out "in relief" from the others for the purposes of a
> quick gag... not surprising given the potential for humorous
> disagreements, etc.  In "Sons of the Moon," Louie got to experience an
> adventure ON HIS OWN.
>
> I can't think of any other pre-"DT" ADVENTURE wherein one Nephew gets
> such a prominent "solo" role.

(I'm confining myself to Barks examples in this posting.)

In "Donald Duck and the Mummy's Ring" (Four Color 29, 1943), Huey is
trapped inside a mummy case and taken to Egypt. Donald and the other two
nephews go on a search for him.

Matthew Williams wrote:

> Anyway, I think you write off Chris Barat's assertion that
> individualizing Huey, Dewey, and Louie was first a DuckTales
> phenomenon too quickly.  While I remember that the Taliaferro strips
> sometimes feature one nephew instigating mischief without the help of
> his brothers, I don't remember any pre-1987 stories or cartoons where
> it was suggested that one nephew had an aptitude or personality trait
> that the other two didn't have.

In "Ten-Star Generals" (WDC 132, 1951), one of the boys is an expert in
archery, another in canoe-building and the third in life-saving. In this
story, at least, they seem to have different aptitudes.

> While, of course, featuring the nephews by themselves happened in
> many, many pre-DuckTales stories and while one of the kids might
> sometimes take some sort of action that the other two don't, I can't
> think of a single pre-DuckTales story where it was suggested that the
> ducklings had individual MINDS.

In "Back to the Klondike" (Four Color 456, 1953), there is a scene where
the nephews confront the "mystery woman" who has been keeping Scrooge
away from his claim. While Huey and Dewey listen to her describing the
tough life she has been living, Louie breaks ranks and run off to tell
Scrooge they've captured her, much to his brothers' surprise. Obviously,
the boys' minds are *not* in tune in this situation.

> Individualizing the lads' personalities just seems like a natural idea
> that wasn't tried earlier because the studio wouldn't have approved
> before they themselves broke the rules.

Well, it's a natural idea for a one-off situation. Individualizing the
nephews doesn't really work on a permanent basis, in my opinion.

Lars