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Anyone who has written and drawn over 7,000 pages of comic book stories is bound to have enough excellent-quality work to make it nigh onto impossible to choose one single story as his best crafted, or a fan's favourite. For me, that choice would change daily, according to my mood. It might be "Lost in The Andes" one day, and "The Old Castle's Secret" on another, and "Voodoo Hoodoo" on yet another (or "The Land Beneath The Ground", or "The Flipism story", or........ I can't even choose one favourite for the varying story size categories.

As Robb says, it's almost impossible , but I can cut it down to his adventure-era around the late fourties to the fifties.

Quote from user: adrian44"Best" is subjective, so it could be whatever you think it is: An adventure of special epic qualities, one that you've enjoyed best, one where you think the craftsmanship was at its highest, etc.
I ranked and wrote down my favorites for the first time some 40 years ago and now I still have a similar opinon. Barks longer stories between 1947 and the late 1950`s are nearly all very well written AND drawn.

Of the longer epic stories I considered Old Castle`s Secret to be the very best one as a youngster. I still think it at least may be the best one art wise from his top years 1948-1949 and of course the theme with an "early" Scrooge going to Scotland still is very exciting and so is the ghost. I remember starting reading it in a library during the school lunch our just after having bought the Swedish first edition in 1966 and I think I then understood the story must be a very old considering the funny drawing style even though I new nothing of Barks then, not until 3-4 years later.

Other epic Barks stories of absolute top quality are for example Back to The Klondike and Lost in the Andes, but nearly all, or in fact all Donald Duck One Shots (and including Letter to Santa) from Christmas on Bear Montain to The Gilded Man are wonderful stories which I still read once every 2 years or so even if not all may be of epic type.
I also especially like The Flying Dutchman and The Money Champ of the somewhat newer epic Scrooge stories. But also nearly all longer Scrooge stories are very good reading now and then. (Even the "non-epic" shorter Scrooge stories are often very entertaining and witty like The Fabulous Tycoon and The Magic Ink).

Quote from user: MatildaSpeaking of "Lost in the Andes"--does it bother anyone else that the compass the Plain Awfultonians have treasured is a *round* object?
I always tended to the interpretation that it is only ball shape (three-dimensional) roundness, not circle shape (two-dimensional) roundness what the Plain Awfultonians regard as outrageous. As to circle shape, the kids' caps and the buttons of Donald's shirt would be indeed objectionable, too (Don Rosa took account of that in his sequel). With respect to ball shape, only the heads of the Ducks, especially of the kids, would stay problematic. But the law of Plain Awful is after all that one is not allowed to produce a round object. The basic difference between man-made objects, artefacts, and between things or even animate beings (or body parts of them) that are round by nature is probably accredited and upheld by the Plain Awfultonians.

One other 10 pager I really, really like (but wouldn't call my ultimate favorite), is the Flipism story. I just think that's so cleverly written and it's fun to see how Flipism works out. It kind of reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where, since everything in George's life has turned out badly, he decides to start doing the opposite of what he would normally choose.

I don't think I can choose between The Golden Helmet and Only a Poor Old Man. I also have a particular attachment to The Old Castle's Secret, which was my favorite when I was a kid.

Quote from user: Patrick HanifinI'll have a go at this, though I agree tomorrow my ultimate favorite could easily change. I especially like the Dell Walt Disney Comics #140 10 pager where Gyro Gearloose is introduced. It has a lot of things going for it.

I always get a kick out of the ducks spying on Gladstone to see if he's as really lucky as he appears. Then snooping around his house and finally demanding he go ask Uncle Scrooge for money as the ultimate luck test. How scared Gladstone is even with his luck to tackle this. I like how Uncle Scrooge gives Gladstone a bag of money and how all the ducks faint. There's just one great gag after another and they're all tied together so well. Finally a surprizing ending where Donald, Uncle Scrooge and the nephews break into Gladstone's safe and what they find out.
I like that one a lot too. I do wonder how Scrooge learned to open safes like that, though -- considering he (supposedly) earned his money square!

And the winners are...

The Golden Helmet (best DD adventure)
The Prize of Pizarro (best US adventure)
Bubbleweight Champ (best WDC ten-pager)
Santa's Stormy Visit (best Xmas Giveaway)
The Gab-Muffer (best Gyro)
The Fabulous Tycoon (best US filler)
Snake Take (best onepager)
The Weather Watchers (best Grandma)
The Double Date (best Daisy)
Traitor in the Ranks (best Junior Woodchucks)