"Captain Donaldo, the Black Corsair"

HEY HAVE YOU HEARD? Italians are HELLA fans of pirates. Or at least, those of them who make Disney comics. Like, for instance, this one, by Luciano Bottaro and our ol' frenemy Guido Martina. Also, sometimes I like to translate Italian Disney comics, so what the hell, you can download my version here.

So, you might wonder, should I read it? Is it any good? Well, hmmm. About that...I don't think anyone would accuse it of being the best story I've worked on. I initially came upon it somewhat randomly; I wasn't looking for it, it was just included in this, which is where I got that Seven Dwarfs story I did. And on first reading, I was kinda seduced by the nice Bottaro artwork and by the fact that Donald gets a happy ending and I rated it more highly than I should have. I didn't read it a second time until the translation was underway, and I slowly started realizing, huh. This is...not as great as I thought. For reasons that I will enumerate. I shouldn't be too harsh; if you go into it without sky-high expectations, it'll probably be a pleasant enough read. Just BE WARNED.

It's based on the 1898 adventure novel by Emilio Salgari...well, I say "based on;" I haven't read the book, but I would assume it's more a "loosely inspired by" deal, inasmuch as that's what every single Disney literary adaptation I've ever read has been. NEVER MIND THAT. Let's go!

The central problem, oddly enough (because usually it's the opposite), may be that the story is too short. There's not room for all that much to happen--not least because the first eight pages are devoted to this kind of bickering; not that it's not vaguely amusing on its own merits, but it sure does eat up the space. In other stories, A LOT more happens in a similar number of pages.

This business with beans--I seriously don't know what to say about it. It is weird. There: I said something. Does it have anything to do with Salgari? I have my doubts! So in theory there are two things here: the trafficking and the "sick" doubloons. Don't get too attached to the latter, however, as it quickly disappears and is never mentioned again. GREAT PLOTTING, GUIDO.

Yes, the viceroy's daughter. I'll admit, the stuff with Gladstone and Donald's opposed reactions is interesting: the idea is clearly supposed to be, oh look, Gladstone only wants her for mercenary reasons, but Donald is HELLA ROMANTIC. To that, a cynic might suggest, yeah, well, it's not like either of them know her, and is sheer horniness really that much nobler a motive than avarice? That's not quite right, though. I don't imagine Martina intended this--or, indeed, that he intended much of anything in a story as slapdash as this--but his character here is very noticeably pre-sexual. To wit, BEHOLD:

It's a totally child-like fantasy, and he's portrayed this way throughout the story. It's a bit of an odd choice (though, as I said, I doubt there was much conscious "choice" at all), but there it is. Not very Barksian, but sort of endearing in its own way, I suppose.

Note that Gladstone's luck plays absolutely no role in this story. Any references to "luck" in the story are my addition, just to remind readers that that's kinda Gladstone's thing. It's not surprising, really; this isn't the first literary adaption I've read where he's just a somewhat generic villain. But, well, it is what it is. And actually, I suppose in its limited way, Gladstone's characterization isn't bad in this story, even if he doesn't actually do that much (see what I said about the story being too short), and even if he's always defeated extremely easily, as above.

The kids pretending to be pirates are cute. Note actual pirate names that I've given them. These are all real pirates; Morgan and Michel are characters in The Black Corsair; Van Hoorn I mainly just picked 'cause it sounds like "Van Horn." Hurrah! I considered writing "the Welshman" in Welsh ("y Cymro"), but it seemed a bit too obscure.

Please note terrible caramel/caravel pun, taken directly from the French text. I thought it was fun/lame enough to be worth keeping.

Yeah so anyway, Donald is framed for the trafficking, etc. I toned down Scrooge's suggested punishments; not that those two aren't horrible and inhumane, but in the French, it was the gallows or the stake. Seemed a bit much. I do think "you're going to bury me alive?!?" is funny.

I just want to say: enjoy that second panel there, because it is absolutely the last time in the story you will hear anything about Scrooge's sick doubloons. Hurrah!

I dunno about this violence. It seems kind of jarringly excessive. I mean, maybe it makes sense under the circumstances, but even if so, REALLY now, do you have to be so cheerful about it?

Scrooge exits the room and also the story. The French version is called "Picsou, Governor of Maracacao," which is weird since Scrooge is such a minor character here. I suppose it's for the same reason that Gladstone used to rebrand Donald stories with the "Uncle $crooge" title: it's his book, and he's more popular. Still dumb, though!

Okay, this bit's pretty cool, I'll admit. Stirs up the blood!

Also, Donald's annoyance that his weird fantasy that his love is going to lead him to the viceroy's daughter's ship is funny. Hell, there are a few things to like about this story.

YAY GYRO. Though this whole thing isn't very coherent: so Gyro's upset that they're here even though his expression doesn't convey upsetness even a tiny bit, and even though aside from that one line of dialogue, he never acts even a tiny bit upset? OKAY COOL JUST CHECKING. Also, note--no surprise at this point--that Gyro just abruptly disappears when he's no longer convenient to the plot.

The Dread Pirate Rockerdrake doesn't actually appear; all we get is these Beagles, and they appear in this panel, and then defeated and unconscious in one other panel. And that is all! Again, RUSHED.

Gladstone's certainly a baddie here. But he goes down as easily as he did in their first fight, so whatever, I guess.

Yeah...the viceroy's daughter. Anyone looking for a feminist Disney story isn't going to be too happy about this; she just appears in the last two pages, and she really is just presented as the reward, like in an old NES game.

Also, I mean, flirtation is flirtation, but that top left panel is just kind of gross.  Keep the bdsm stuff in the bedroom, please! Or at least away from the kids.

But hey, it's pretty! As has been noted before, whatever else you can say about them, you've really gotta be amazed at how the art in these old Italian stories just towers over the stuff Western was producing at the time. Also, I must say, I like what I've done with Daisy's last line here. In the French it's just "My hero! You are the most intrepid of cavaliers!" Booooring!

So that's that. It wasn't available in English, and now it is. What more can I say? If I ever translate another story, I'll try to find a better one.