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mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
A couple of nice Uncle Scrooge stories here, including the first appearance of the money bin and a great tale about Donald actually being hired to spend Scrooge's money.
There are also several Gladstone Gander stories --- Barks makes Gander's incredible and predictable luck a source of frustation to Donald on several occasions. I was intrigued to see the plotting similarities with the Scrooge stories (both characters have immense resources which Donald can't access and yet Donald needs to have some success by the end of the tale).
There are also several Gladstone Gander stories --- Barks makes Gander's incredible and predictable luck a source of frustation to Donald on several occasions. I was intrigued to see the plotting similarities with the Scrooge stories (both characters have immense resources which Donald can't access and yet Donald needs to have some success by the end of the tale).
mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
One very good Christmas story and some nice adventure tales.
mschlat's review against another edition
3.0
Not my favorite volume. The focus here is holiday stories, mostly Halloween and a few Christmas, and not the stories of exploration that Barks excelled at. I did like two tales, one on how Donald and his nephews destroyed a town through chicken farming and another on how Donald messes up his job of bringing rain to farmers. (Barks shows Donald moving and sculpting clouds with his plane to the point where he can make sure everything on a farm gets rain except the clothesline --- it's great visual fun.)
mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
One great story about Donald Duck, the nephews, and spies that veers closer to Mad Magazine territory that anything else I've seen from Carl Barks (there are spies and counterspies and counter-counterspies and ...) A couple of good economics stories as well featuring Uncle Scrooge (of course), including one where everyone gets a piece of Scrooge's money and stops working, leading to a collapsed society that Uncle Scrooge (of course) takes advantage of.
mschlat's review against another edition
3.0
A nice volume. Since (almost) all of the stories are ten pagers, there are no long sagas or travel stories, but it was interesting to see the number of gimmicks Barks could bring up in the shorter format. (It's astonishing how many way Donald can lose a job!)
mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
For whatever reason, I enjoyed this volume more than I have most of the recent volumes. I think part of the appeal is the (mostly) domestic focus --- there is the occasional adventure story, but most of the tales involve plain ol' conflicts between Donald and his nephews. Two highlights include "Camping Confusion", where Donald tracks Huey, Louie, and Dewey using uranium buttons (!!!) on their caps, and "The Chickadee Challenge", where the nephews and fellow Junior Woodchucks engage in a bridge building contest with the Chickadee Patrol (the Barks version of the Girl Scouts). The latter tale has an actual geometry problem (with correct solution) and one of the best titles for a Junior Woodchuck officer: Great, Inopposable Commandant of the Realm of Inextinguishable Sagacity!
mschlat's review against another edition
4.0
On the one hand, it's old Carl Barks comics, so it's full of problematic portrayals of native tribes. On the other hand, you have a plot motivated by someone trying to off load 23 million quarts of pickled rutabagas.
There's a lot in here about Donald and his many jobs, and practically every story pays off well. There are even some Gladstone Gander tales that don't drive me crazy (and I hate that character). Finally, there's a paucity of short comics, so you get a good build up almost every time.
There's a lot in here about Donald and his many jobs, and practically every story pays off well. There are even some Gladstone Gander tales that don't drive me crazy (and I hate that character). Finally, there's a paucity of short comics, so you get a good build up almost every time.
mschlat's review against another edition
3.0
Even with the title story, this is a volume with a greater emphasis on domestic stories than the usual offering from Fantagraphics. I really appreciated seeing all the different jobs Donald could take on and fail at (even with the help of his nephews)!
The highlight for me was a story featuring Gyro Gearloose's invention of a headset that lets Donald and the nephews visit Donald's imagination of other worlds. He successively tours larger and larger planets with the trio, except that nothing changes except the scale. There are always cows and grass and grasshoppers --- it's just that they get bigger and bigger with each planet. It's a strangely focused little story.
The highlight for me was a story featuring Gyro Gearloose's invention of a headset that lets Donald and the nephews visit Donald's imagination of other worlds. He successively tours larger and larger planets with the trio, except that nothing changes except the scale. There are always cows and grass and grasshoppers --- it's just that they get bigger and bigger with each planet. It's a strangely focused little story.
mschlat's review against another edition
3.0
I felt like the adventure stories in this volume weren't up to the level I'd seen in previous volumes. However, I really liked the last story ("You Can't Guess") --- a great little tale about everyone trying to figure out to what everyone else for Christmas.
mschlat's review against another edition
2.0
An okay volume, but nothing really stands out. There's a strange contrast between a "Donald can't hold any job" story and a "Donald is an expert at fixing glass, but manages through his hubris to mess everything up" story. There's also a small collection of Daisy Duck and Grandma Duck stories at teh end.