"Witch Hazel"

I must apologize in advance for the fact that our Mystery Halloween Climax kinda bites.  But hey--you can't win 'em all, can you?

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"Hobblin' Goblins"

'Course, even if her behavior was that of a philistine, we do, I suppose, owe our thanks to Barks' editor Alice Cobb in one sense: if she hadn't chopped out nine pages of "Trick or Treat," he would not have had to scramble to put together a back-up feature, and "Hobblin' Goblins" would never have seen the light of day.  I can only imagine how irritating it must have been for him suddenly to have to create a whole new story when he thought he was done with this particular assignment.

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"Trick or Treat"

I have good news for you for those of you like my stuff and bad news for those of you hate it but for some masochistic reason feel compelled to read it anyway (fifty-fifty split, I'm guessing?): I've got three Halloween entries planned for this year.  We kick off our mini-marathon by finally tackling 1952's "Trick or Treat," long a major lacuna of this blog.

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"The Last Lord of El Dorado"

I'm writing about this story because reader Pan Miliuś repeatedly asked me to.  Does this mean that I'll write about any damn thing YOU ask me to?  Not inconceivable, but I wouldn't bet a huge sum of money on it, either.  It really all depends on my personal whims.

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Master McDucato, Chapter VII: "Dawn of the New World"

As our final installment opens, we see that Charles VIII of France has occupied Florence.  Reading up on the man, it's kind of hilariously pathetic how useless he was as a king: his main thing was these Italian wars, which accomplished nothing and got France big into debt, and then he died at the age of twenty-seven after whacking his head on a lintel (I'll bet that's why this story's never been published in France--they don't want to be reminded of the guy).  You may note that the individual we see in this story sure doesn't look like he's in his twenties, but, well, never mind.
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Master McDucato, Chapter VI: "Lorenzo the Magnificent"

Golly gee!  After that big ol' cliffhanger, I wonder how this chapter is going to deal with that whole "Palio" business?

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Master McDucato, Chapter V: "The Cave of the Winds"

Here's where it gets weird.  Weirder?  Weirdest?  I dunno.

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Master McDucato, Chapter IV: "The Pirates of Montecristo"

So who doesn't like pirates?  Eh?  Eh?  Well, actually, I feel like they're a bit played out.  You really have to do something special with them to make 'em register.  Regardless, though, here it is: another chapter, another historically dubious moment:

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Master McDucato, Chapter III: "The Phoney Florins"

Here's where shit starts to get real, and other meaningless clichés.

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Master McDucato, Chapter II: "The Dungeon Tower"

Chapter II!  We open, at any rate, with a bang:
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Master McDucato, Chapter I: "Exile"

I think it's time to blow this scene…get everybody and their stuff together…

Right!  Our epic journey begins NOW!  

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