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The thread about Gladstone which identified stories in which he gets to be a more fully realized character (Party of None!, Two Men and a Baby) got me thinking about stories in which female characters get their due. These are my suggestions for stories in which these characters are at their best, from a feminist POV. They are people the reader can identify with, people she'd like to be like or to hang out with. They have agency (they get to help decide what's going to happen and make it happen), they have admirable qualities and competencies, they get to have adventures. They are not limited to "girlie" interests. You see things at least in part from their POV. Sometimes they get happy endings! Sometimes they get to bring those happy endings about.

The world of Disney comics is a very male-dominant world, but it's one I love, so I can't help looking for strong female characters in it. I came up with this list for myself, but I'm posting it here because I'm hoping for more nominations of stories and characters.

Because the point here is character development, I'm naming only authors, not artists.

best Daisy:
--Daringly Different (author unknown)--she's very creative, determined and independent-minded
--Wintertime Wager (Barks)

best alt-Daisy (Daisy-lookalike in history or fantasy):
--Paperino e la nipote del Corsaro Nero: The Black Corsair??s Nephew (Bottaro)??pirate Daisy gets to reveal to the BBs how pirate Scrooge has betrayed them?¦plus, she gets to swim in money!
--Daisy Holmes e lo studio in rosso (Claudia Salvatori)??Salvatori did a whole series of ??Daisy??s ancestors" stories; this is my favorite, in which she serves as the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes

best Grandma Duck:
--Bananas (Paul Halas & Dave Angus)??GD and the guys go to a remote land where her cousin Amada has been living; GD gets to be an adventurous globetrotter for once, while yet remaining in character!
--On the Run (Glen Garner)??a journalist under pursuit is hiding out on GD??s farm

best AMJ:
--Maze Valley Rescue (author unknown)??HDL (as JWs) are going to rescue April, and she rescues them all by having used Ariadne??s string trick
--Rescue Squad (author unknown)??AMJ as scouts are mocked by HDL-the-JWs for their grass-weaving, but their grass-weaving saves them all in the end. This story is especially interesting from a gender-studies POV, because in the last panel, after HDL have continued in their sexist attitude post-rescue, one of the girls turns to the reader and winks, saying, ??We know better, don??t we, girls?"

best Chickadees (not AMJ):
--Eagle Savers (Barks)??they outdo the JWs, and without an unethical battleaxe of a leader, as in Chickadee Challenge (Seriously, can you imagine any JW leader coaching his scouts to ignore someone in peril in order to win a competition?)

best Webby:
--The Arcadian Urn (Paul Halas & Tom Anderson)??Review or Die thinks this is the Ideal Ducktales Story, and it??s certainly the best I??ve read; one of the nice things about it is how Webby gets to save the day more than once (and thanks to translator Jonathan Gray, she even has a Chickadee Field Guide!)

best Belle Duck:
--The Great Boat Race (Dick Kinney)

best Goldie (well, these are obvious!):
--Back to the Klondike (Barks)
--The Prisoner of White Agony Creek (Rosa)

best Matilda:
--A Letter from Home (Rosa)

best Hortense:
--The New Laird of Castle McDuck (Rosa)--chasing the Whiskervilles

best Miss Quackfaster:
--A Soft Job for a Hard Head (John Lustig)

best Reginella:
--Paperino e il matrimonio di Reginella (Cimino)

best Madam Mim:
--Madam Mim Moves (Anne-Marie Dester)
Actually, a lot of Mim stories would qualify here--that's why I'm so fond of her as a character. Dester's "A Friend of the Children", Sarah Kinney's "Flavor of the Month", Jacob Hansen's "Mim's Misery", John Kane & Charlie Martin's "Cat's Cradle", an unknown author's "Secret of the Sphinx"....

best Minnie:
--The Detectives?? Convention (Neville Jason & Bob Bartholomew)??while Mickey is at the Detectives?? Convention, Minnie actually gets to do some adventurous detecting
--a certain story by Don Markstein??those of you who have read it will know immediately which one I mean, but I don??t want to name it here because that would act as a spoiler

best one-shot characters:
Amanda, Grandma Duck??s cousin in the above-mentioned Bananas (Paul Halas & Dave Angus)??she??s called ??Mathilde" in French, but I??m going with the Danish name to avoid confusion with Matilda McDuck...though then, we just have confusion with the recently introduced Amanda Fox! I don't know what Halas & Angus originally called her, in their English script.
Katie Mallard and her granddaughter Ducky Bird in Mystery of the Ghost Town Railroad (Barks)
Penny Wise in Flour Follies (Barks)
Pyrite Jennie in The Gold Hound (Vic Lockman)
Aradia, the witch in The Taxman Cometh (Paul Halas)

Note that, with the sole exception of Ducky Bird (she of the unfortunate name and the excellent aim!), these are all old people. Does anyone know of other, younger female characters who would be someone you'd want to know or hang out with, someone you could admire, someone you'd want your young female relatives to identify with? I like Michael T. Gilbert's Cissy Swann in "The Fashionable Farmer", but from the Inducks descriptions I don't think I'd like her as much in her other stories. Is the niece of Daisy (not one of AMJ) with whom one of the nephews falls in love in Massimo Marconi's "Qui, Quo, Qua e il tempo delle mele" a cool character? How about Daisy's friend Amanda Fox in Maya Astrup's "Twice Upon a Time"? (I haven't been able to read those last two stories yet.) Or Lars Jensen's billionaire Velma Vanderduck? (Also haven't gotten a hold of any VV stories.)

I'd also love to hear others' nominations for stories where Daisy, AMJ, Grandma Duck or Minnie come into their own. Early Gottfredson Minnie, where she's Mickey's partner in adventure? Some recent European story where Daisy is working as a TV journalist? Do AMJ (perhaps in their contemporary Dutch, individualized avatars) get to have adventures of their own, on a par with some of HDL's exploits? Is the Grandma Duck story in the Dude Ranch comic, where she is revealed to have been a sheriff, a feminist-friendly story?

In which stories does Dickie Duck get to shine as a fully rounded character with agency and some admirable qualities? You will note I have given up on Brigitta as a lost cause from a feminist POV, though doubtless there are stories where she comes off better than average. I know in some stories she is a successful businesswoman. In Gaja Arrighini's "Zio Paperone e la sfida 2 a 2" both Brigitta and Miss Quackfaster come off pretty well.

And I love many Magica stories, but I think her obsession, her flat learning curve and her mistreatment of Ratface pretty much rule her out from a list such as this one. I might want to interview her, but I would not want to be like her or to hang out with her! Perhaps, though, there are European stories focusing on Magica in her own world of family and friends which give her a more likeable personality and the occasional happy ending.

Quote from user: Matildabest Daisy:
--Daringly Different (author unknown)--she's very creative, determined and independent-minded
--Wintertime Wager (Barks)
The version of Daisy featured in QUACK PACK arguably outstrips ANY of the Daisies we've seen in the comics.

Quote from user: Matildabest Webby:
--The Arcadian Urn (Paul Halas & Tom Anderson)??Review or Die thinks this is the Ideal Ducktales Story, and it??s certainly the best I??ve read; one of the nice things about it is how Webby gets to save the day more than once (and thanks to translator Jonathan Gray, she even has a Chickadee Field Guide!)
I couldn't agree more.

Quote from user: Matildabest Goldie (well, these are obvious!):
--Back to the Klondike (Barks)
--The Prisoner of White Agony Creek (Rosa)
I also like the Goldie of DUCKTALES' "Ducky Mountain High." She plays Scrooge and Glomgold off against one another to great comical (and practical) effect.

Quote from user: Matildabest one-shot characters:
Katie Mallard and Ducky Bird would be my choice here.

DDDU: good suggestions, for Daisy and Grandma Duck. I'll have to read the L&T again with a mind towards choosing which episode highlights Hortense best. But with Opel, I will stick with "A Letter from Home" for Matilda. Kimba, I wish someone would make a comic-book-story version of the Ducktales episode "Ducky Mountain High"! If they did, it would definitely make my list for "best Goldie" stories.
And DDDU, interesting comments on Magica in Italy. It makes sense that the Italians developed her character with affection, since she *is* Italian! Antonella Pandini's "Amelia e le due numero 1" (Magica and the Two Number Ones) does show two alt-Magicas in two parallel universes, who are not dime-obsessed. I have Pandini's "Amelia e la rinuncia alla Numero Uno", where she falls in love with a guy but it doesn't work out...I have it in German and haven't read it yet. The Italian plot summary on Inducks says it's a "very moving story," and it may deepen her character and make her more sympathetic...but it certainly doesn't give her a happy ending!

Brigitta isn't unknown. She has been published in a total of 14 stories in America since 1990 starting with The Last Balaboo. But she could be easily overlooked.

Quote from user: UnclePikIs Brigitta Mc Bridge known in the States ?
You will note I did mention (and mostly dismiss) Brigitta (in my next-to-last paragraph). On the whole, I find her a highly unlikeable character, a romantic stalker obsessed with a man who will never love her back. An even flatter learning curve than Magica's. Not funny, not endearing. But I haven't read that many stories with her other than the ones printed in the USA, since my dislike of what I've seen keeps me from seeking out more. (The Arrighini one I mentioned is one I sought out because I like the artist, Silvia Ziche, and I acknowledge that in that story, Brigitta is not gag-inducing.) It's quite possible that there are stories where she shines, from a feminist POV. Any suggestions?

Quote from user: MatildaYou will note I did mention (and mostly dismiss) Brigitta (in my next-to-last paragraph). On the whole, I find her a highly unlikeable character, a romantic stalker obsessed with a man who will never love her back. An even flatter learning curve than Magica's. Not funny, not endearing. But I haven't read that many stories with her other than the ones printed in the USA, since my dislike of what I've seen keeps me from seeking out more. (The Arrighini one I mentioned is one I sought out because I like the artist, Silvia Ziche, and I acknowledge that in that story, Brigitta is not gag-inducing.) It's quite possible that there are stories where she shines, from a feminist POV. Any suggestions?
I like Brigitta but have to admit that she was never fully developed as a character in the (printed in US) stories I've read. I wish that writers would softpedal the "romantic pursuit" business and emphasize Brigitta's business acumen a bit more. This could be done without employing feminist tropes, similar to what TALE SPIN did with Rebecca Cunningham.