"His Majesty, McDuck"

Sometimes I feel like I don't give Don Rosa his due. Would someone jumping into this blog blind conclude that I even like him? Undetermined. I've definitely spent plenty of time criticizing him. Still, if there weren't a lot to criticize, there probably wouldn't be a lot to like, either, and let's be clear: even if I'm not a big fan of some of his stories, I fucking love Don Rosa, and the time has come to demonstrate that. So to close out the year on a positive note, it's time to spotlight "His Majesty, McDuck," one of the very best of his stories and also the only one with a comma in the title. True fact!

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"Another Christmas on Bear Mountain"

That's right...ANOTHER Bear Mountain story! Collect five of 'em and send 'em in with your shiny tin dime to become a member of the Junior Birdmen of America! In the US, this 2007 tale was part of last year's extremely welcome onslaught of Italian Christmas stories, and without it, there wouldn't be enough to do a Bear-Mountain-themed series, so you can thank your lucky stars for that. It's written by one Tito Faraci, who is new to this blog. He hasn't been widely published in the US, but most of what has been is...Ultraheroes stories. That doesn't necessarily bode well! On the other hand, he's also credited as co-author of "River of Time," that rather cool Steamboat Willy "sequel," which bodes somewhat better! So we will charge into this one with an open mind!

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"Return to Bear Mountain"

So I had this great idea: a Bear-Mountain-themed Christmas! What fun! But then the time came to reread "Return to Bear Mountain," and I realized: huh. This story's kinda bad, and not in a way that makes me feel hopefully-entertainingly-ranty. Just kind of blah-bad. WHAT HAVE I DONE? Still, I DO like the idea of this blog being a repository for all Bear Mountain stories, and if nothing else it's interesting to see a rare non-Rosa sequel to a Barks story, so HERE WE GO. I guess.

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"Christmas on Bear Mountain"

When ya think about it, we can probably indirectly credit the Disney Company with inspiring this story. In what sense? In the sense that Fantasia brought Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald [or, ha ha, "Bare"] Mountain" into the public consciousness, and it seems eminently plausible that, as he was casting around for a story idea, that's why Barks was able to call the piece to mind and thus where his inspiration came from. Mind you, I do wish the movie had been released a few years later to more neatly dovetail with the story. But: what the hell! I'll say it anyway!

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Comic ID-ing

I received an email asking the following:

Sorry to bother you -- my mother has loved Carl Barks comics ever since she was young, but there is one story she remembers from her youth that she's never been able to find since.  I don't know anything about it except that Huey, Dewey, and Louie all paint their faces, or possibly their heads.  It probably would have appeared in the later 1950s or the early 1960s, but I'm not certain about that.  

Does this ring any bells?  I'm writing because you clearly love these comics too, and my mother would very much enjoy reading it again; the other lost comic from her youth was the one with the skiploaders, which we found a few years back . . .

Can anyone help this dude?  Let it be noted that it's not even necessarily a Barks story, inasmuch as people familiar with fifties Western material may remember "the one with the skiploaders" as being non-Barks.  Seems like one should be able to find all KINDS of stories that fit this vague recollection, but I'm having trouble!  Help out, people!