Keskustelujen arkisto

I have been thinking of such a discussion since re-reading "Pipeline to Danger" yesterday, but I was not sure how to do it.
"Barks' not-so-good moments" and "Barks' best moments"?
Distinct threads or not?
The single thread solution with the easy cinematic reference seemed the best solution.
If separate threads are judged better, we can always create them, anyway.

For "the good", I was thinking of selecting gags or dialogue lines that we like.
"The bad" and "the ugly" are not meant as bashing fests, naturally; sharing ideas on ideas, moments, stories, drawings, that we do not like for some reason may be enlightening, and provide a healthy balance to the naive "everything he did was perfect" stance.
Similar threads could be done on other creators.

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The Ugly

New character designs for Daisy & Gladstone in the last two WDC&S stories

I should check if there is an explanation given somewhere in the articles published in the Carl Barks Library in color, but here is my selection for the "ugly" category, in a pretty literal way.
The beauty salon story (WDC&S 308) is funny when it shows Donald in "master" mode, and provides a nice satirical comment.
I have two major problems when it switches to the traditional second phase-- "everything goes wrong".
Firstly, why do Daisy's nieces act so foolishly? They are just plain silly, mixing lotions, even when they see the disastrous effects.
"We helped Donald get rid of Daisy's old face" seems hardly justification enough for such sabotage.
Secondly, Daisy's new face is awfully ugly.
Narratively speaking, the "master story" formula is even twisted around, so that the story ends on a an unlikely success instead of the usual hilarious disaster.

Unfortunately, Barks kept giving Daisy several new faces in the following ten-pager, "The Not-So-Ancient Mariner" (WDC&S 312); she is no longe rugly, but ridiculous, which is hardly better.

As for Gladstone, he is turned into a silly-looking caricature of a hippie-beatnik-whatever-- and Barks' brilliant collection of WDC&S ten-pagers ends on a panel depicting this terrible new Gladstone!

The Bad

"Bad" is too strong for the following; these are merely easy but too broad generic category titles; the examples I give could be filed under "Uh?", "How odd", "Inconsistencies", ...

Overdoing it

"Big operator", "big operation", "too small", ...
The set-up for the small/big opposition was laid on too thick throughout too many pages of "Pipeline to Danger" (US 30).
Was it weariness?
Was it the sort of padding he had learned to include in case some panels were cut out to make room for ads?

Out of character

I love the "rival beachcombers" story (WDC&S 103).
This one was written and drawn Barks' best period: there had already been great stories, but the plots, the art and the dialogues were all outstandingly excellent for several years, and were fueled by a new bunch of characters that opened millions of possibilities.
It's the ending that does not ring quite right: why would Gladstone ever work as the ducks' chauffeur?
It makes for a funny epilogue and last panel, but it does not make sense at the end of a story in which Gladstone repeatedly flaunts his laziness.
A simple wager would have given sense to this ending.
I wonder if giving Gladstone a blank "sterotypical chauffeur" fance might have been better than his irritated scowl.

The Good

Ideas

I wish Barks had developed his idea of Scrooge believing he is a ghost-- "House of Haunts", US 63.

Favorite quotations

(3.6 - Donald) "This is an inside job! Go search the buildings! Check up on every guest! There's been dirty work at the woodpile!"
(3.8 - Donald) "Not even a worm is going to crawl on this place without a portfolio of credentials!"
WDC&S 102 ("Pizen Dude Ranch")
(one of my top favorite stories)

(2.1 - Donald) "Your brand of luck wouldn't be so good, if mine wasn't so bad!
(2.1 - Gladstone) "Don't try to take the credit!"
WDC&S 131 ("Gladstone's Luck")

(4.2 - Donald) "See-yi-lunt nee-yight!"
(4.3 - Jones, hitting him with a book of carols) "Okay! Keep it silent!"
rejected "Silent Night" story (another absolute favorite of mine)