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Quote from user: sirredkneeThe ducks of Bradbury, Murry and Hubbard were alright, but I much prefer Strobl's, because they had more personality and, as was mentioned above, charm.
You don't think Al Hubbard's ducks have personality?! In my opinion, Hubbard's use of expressive body language is probably unsurpassed by any other American Duck artist. And his drawings are real charming, as well. In my opinion. :)

I find it interesting that this topic has come up.
For the life of me I had never understood how or why Strobl had earned the name of "second good duck artist" until a few years recent. It wasn't until I'd unearthed a large trove of classic Gold Key/Dells at a flea market that I was immediately shocked at how GOOD the Strobl stories I'd read were. A few of the stories didn't have the same "oomph" that Barks did during the same period, but the artwork was ten times better than anything I'd seen of him during the later Lockman era. And therein lies the biggest problem with Strobl's work that I imagine most people have with it.
For years, when it came to Strobl, all I'd ever seen was the glut of material from that period. In my honest opinion about 60 to 70% of it is just NOT good. His best work of that era went into the numerous S coded stories that never even saw print in the states. At worst it's just plain awful, at best its mediocre - with that occasional rare gem that manages to surprise you ("Og's Iron Bed" being a recent Gemstone reprint that serves as a prime example).
Backtracking a bit - it's the exposure to his earliest material that actually made me realize just how much of a master craftsman he was. My first exposure to "early Strobl" was a story called "The Paper Route Panic" (written by Bob Gregory) that I've been begging David to reprint for ages. The story rivals some of Barks' most hilarious stuff. Other ones have been named - "One For the Whammy", "A Bucket of Scones", "The Fabulous Fiddlesticks", "Secret of the Sargasso Sea", "Healthy Wealthy Feeling", "The Mysterious Crewless Ship", "Safari From Komba Tomba", "The Kitchykaw Diamond". I have noticed that the earlier you get with Strobl - the better the story, and especially the better the artwork. Compare the artwork in "Safari" and "Kitchykaw" to anything done during the Lockman era and you'd swear it was two different people. The quality of degradation is amazing, but someone else already brought up the lack of good inkers and the general quality change. It wasn't ALL bad mind you, but I can see why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. Personally I think more people need to be exposed to the early Strobl and the good S coded material partially so they can understand why he once had such a good reputation and because the good material has long been outshadowed by the bad material IMO.
I think nostalgia does have a lot to do with it for many, but it's not ALL bad in the least bit.
As far as Albert Hubbard goes...
The S coded stuff that I've seen from him is some of the best material I've ever seen of him. I've always been used to him through his Chip and Dale and Scamp and movie character stories. But his Fethry/Donald material when paired with Dick Kinney is IMHO awesome. I never used to think he did a good job with the main characters (Donald and Mickey) and while I am still not hot on his Mickey, the recent reprints of early Fethry material have really changed my mind for his ducks.
The good writing really helps it I think. :)

Quote from user: RancidDuck"I.O.U. ...But Who?" was reprinted in Uncle Scrooge #289 from Gladstone Series II.
Thanks. :)

What you don't know, is that EVEN Strobl's early work was better than his inker, John Liggera, made it look. i finally saw final pencils drawn by Strobl from 1959 and 1963, and BOTH were very fluid, and much, much, much nicer looking than the inked versions. His early '50s penciling must have looked even nicer. This only shows how important it is to have a good inker. Imagine what would have happened if Floyd Gottfredson had used Kay Wright or any others of Strobl's '60s inkers, instead of Bill Wright, and Dick Moores! The Mickey Mouse Strip would have had to be dropped from all it's newspapers. Imagine if Kay Wright had inked Barks' pencils! No one would ever have heard of Carl Barks!