Book and Comic
Reviews
(12/12/05)
Mickey and
the Gang: Classic Stories in Verse, edited by David
Gerstein (Gemstone). This sumptuously handsome volume reprints – in
full, and then some – the famous Disney pages that ran in Good
Housekeeping magazine from 1934 to 1944. Many of these pages, which
married rhyming text to gorgeously drawn and colored illustrations, were
"adaptations" of Disney short cartoons that were either in production at
the time or had just been released. As editor David Gerstein reveals in
intricate detail, the word "adaptation" could mean everything from a
fairly accurate précis of the cartoon's plot to an extremely early
version of the project -- later to be changed extensively, but preserved
for the young readers of the GH feature like a prehistoric
creature encased in amber. On occasion, the feature even presented
summaries of cartoons that never saw ultimate release. The GH
pages have been discussed on occasion by various authors, but Gerstein's
work is likely to remain the definitive discussion into the foreseeable
future – not least because he "eggs the pudding" with reprints of press
releases, trade reviews, original storyboard art, related comic-strip
and comic-book material, and text adaptations that spun off from the
GH pages and appeared in children's books and such contemporary
periodicals as Mickey Mouse Magazine, Walt Disney's Comics and
Stories, and the British Mickey Mouse Weekly. This mass of
additional material places each page firmly in its historical
perspective and lends strong credence to the thesis, presented by
Gerstein in the book's foreword, that the GH pages served the
important historical function of "standardizing" the appearance of
characters for promotional purposes. (Reprints of several frankly
hideous visual interpretations of the Disney characters from British and
Italian sources serve as silent testaments to just how significant an
accomplishment this was.) The rather rigid nature of the book's
organization – cartoon plot summary, critique of the GH page,
additional material – does get a bit tiresome after a while, especially
after we reach the war years, which saw a gradual decline in the
feature's overall quality. When the feature becomes "New Tales from Old
Mother Goose" in its final incarnation, Gerstein metaphorically throws
in the towel and lets the individual pages pretty much speak for
themselves. But even if you "bleep" over the cartoons and other
features that don't interest you (for my part, I chose to skip GH's
lengthy and overly familiar tellings of the plots of Snow White
and Pinocchio), you're likely to find something of interest on
virtually every page. Gerstein writes well and flavors his commentary
with a dash of humor that will be familiar to anyone who has read his
scripts for American Disney comics. As to his accuracy, I've found only
one (date-related) error in the book on the first reading, a fairly
remarkable feat given the amount of material presented herein. Any
Disney fan will simply have to have this book. Hopefully, if Gemstone
can get the book distributed to the big chain bookstores and Disney
stores, it will reach the wider pop-culture audience it deserves.
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(12/4/05)
Those awaiting a full-dress review of
David Gerstein's Mickey and the Gang will have to wait a bit
longer. I'm still working through it, somewhat slowly – blame the
end-of-semester rush. I can say, however, that anyone who wants to get
a Christmas gift for a Disney fan-friend ought to hop over to Amazon and
order a copy right now. It's good, folks!
Uncle $crooge
#348 (December 2005). A very solid "holiday" issue
indeed, with every story having something(s) to recommend it. The
lead-off slot goes to "The Hunt for White December," a well-aged
(judging by the date code) Egmont story drawn by the late Daniel Branca
and featuring holly-jolly jazzed-up dialogue by David Gerstein. The
nasty Argus McSwine -- Carl Barks' "pig villain" in his
semi-occasional role as a wealthy rival of Scrooge's – bets McDuck $10
million that Christmas won't be white this year, then hires Magica De
Spell to help him stop what appears to be an inevitable snowfall. This
unprecedented teamup of two very different (in technique, anyway)
villains produces the expected "frosty fireworks" and features a
low-key, "Christmas-influenced" ending that manages to avoid what could
have been a slushy overdose of holiday sentiment. Magica's conveniently
appearing and disappearing wand (she's supposed to be using it to hold
back the snow, yet suddenly has quick access to it when she cooks up a
disguise!) points to some laziness in story composition, but that
certainly can't be attributed to the efforts of Gerstein or Branca.
"The Christmas that Almost Wasn't," by Janet Gilbert and Vicar,
takes its title from a bad Italian-made holiday movie, anything but a
promising beginning. Luckily, Janet's tale is a little more inspired
than the title suggests, if a bit on the "sweet" side. The Ducks'
search for Gyro's missing "Helper" intertwines with the travails of an
unfortunate family whose car accident may force them to go without
Christmas dinner or gifts. "The Duckburg Ice Festival," another
Gilbert/Vicar offering, isn't about Christmas per se but fits
into the spirit of the issue quite nicely, spinning several tales at
once about the Ducks' trials and tribulations at the headlined fete. As
all such multi-plot-line stories should do, everything gets tied
together nicely (in a big, red holiday bow, no doubt) at the end. The
Beagle Boys are featured in Gorm Transgaard and Nunez' "The Christmas
Gathering," which benefits hugely from an excellent dialogue job by
Tony Isabella (whose previous scripts for Gemstone have generally erred
on the side of blahness). A posse of Gargoyles… er, Beagles from all
over the world come to Duckburg to run a Santa Claus scam that's meant
to finance the "ultimate" Christmas-themed crime spree, featuring a
giant Santa/Beagle robot. In the hands of someone like Vic Lockman,
this story would have been just plain silly; this tale has a little more
content to it (for example, the Beagles' fall from "glory" begins when
they lose interest in easy pickings and greedily aim for the "Duckburg
gold reserves in Fort Knocks" instead). William Van Horn's "Out of
the Blue", one of "Silly Billy"'s better efforts of late, fills out
the issue. Flat-broke Donald inherits a $2900 IOU that Scrooge once
gave to Donald's "extremely distant uncle" Eustace (how "distant" can an
uncle be, anyway?), and he and the boys are quick to besiege the
old miser for the long-overdue dough. The tale has nothing to do with
Christmas, or winter for that matter, but the unexpected ending will jar
those expecting Donald to end up on the short end, as he always seems to
do in stories like these – and if that's not a gift to Donald "in
the spirit of the season," then what is?
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Walt Disney's
Comics and Stories #662 (December 2005). I wasn't kind
to Don Rosa regarding his treatment of Donald in his most recently
published story, "Escape from Forbidden Valley." Theoretically, then, I
should be pleased that this issue presents the first installment of
Rosa's second "Three Caballeros revival" tale, "The Magnificent Seven
[minus four] Caballeros." Jose Carioca and Panchito, "two pals who
honor and respect" Donald for what he is (so say the
Nephews), will surely give Rosa ample opportunity to treat Donald with
the same dignity. Before we get to that point, however, we must endure
the truly pitiful sight of Donald literally lying face down in a pool of
his own drool while being walked on by Gladstone. (I kid you not.)
Donald's mental status is so abased at the start of this story that he
has literally lost his smile and no longer has the energy to lose his
temper. Scrooge, Gladstone, and Daisy treat him like dirt and do so
almost as a matter of course – and Donald seems to philosophically
accept it all as "his lot in life." I guess that Rosa's reason for all
this is, with Don as low as he can possibly go, who better to bring him
out of his rut than his two enthusiastic old buddies, Jose and Panchito?
(Well, HD&L could surely have had a go at it… but, to be fair to
them, they do hatch the plan to send Donald to Brazil so that he
can encounter the two other "Caballeros" for what promises to ultimately
be a hunt for treasure.)
The major highlight of the rest of the
issue is an appearance by Andold Wild Duck, Donald's fierce ancestor
from the days of Vikings and Druids and Franks (oh my!), in David
Gerstein and Marco Rota's "Mightier than the Sword." Andold has
appeared several times before in this country, but not since WDC&S
#630 in late 1998, just before the demise of "Gladstone II" condemned us
to five long years without American Disney comics. Gerstein scripted
that most recent Andold tale, and he's in fine form again in this one,
in which a would-be Viking invader of Andold's Briton village tries to
put its guardians off guard by staging a most unexpected sort of
contest. When Andold (who's marginally more competent than Donald,
though he does have his moments) gets wind of the scheme, he decides to
fight back – in this case, with drawing instruments, rather than weapons
of war. Of course, there's still sword-swinging and derring-do aplenty
before all's said and done. For those who enjoy movies like The 13th
Warrior or Braveheart and relish the chance to read a sort of
"Elseworlds" version of what Donald and Daisy (beg pardon, Andold and
Aydis – get it?) might have been like had they lived a millennium ago,
this story, like all the previous Andold offerings, is a real treat.
Now, if they'd only give us the origin story at long last… The
issue is filled out by a pair of Mickey and Goofy stories
packed to the brim with holiday sentiment (in one of them, Black Pete
gets to endure the Christmas Carol routine thanks to Mickey and
one of Doc Static's inventions) and a reprint of William Van Horn's
"The Ghost of Kamikaze Ridge" from the Disney Comics era. This
last-named tale evoked a note of pathos in my soul, originally appearing
as it did almost concurrently with the notorious "Disney Implosion"
(what was it with this issue and all the "before the deluge" stories?).
I do have a piece of Van Horn's original sketch art from the story, so
it's always been a favorite of mine despite those bad (for Disney
Comics) vibes.
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Movie Review
The
Flintstones, The Complete Fourth Season (Hanna-Barbera/Warners).
This latest collection of The Flintstones, featuring episodes
from the 1963-64 season, catches the series at flood tide. Bamm-Bamm's
introduction notwithstanding, there were still more than enough
"adult-themed" episodes to justify the series' ongoing prime-time slot,
and virtually all of them provide solid enjoyment. Artistically, the
series hit its peak during this period as well. Highly recommended for
all cartoon buffs.
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