As you know, it is traditional here at Duck Comics Revue to do some Christmas-themed material in December. I know I theoretically have a few more Yellow Beak stories to do, and I may get to them at some point, but I'm not gonna lie to you: Yellow Beak is an extremely boring character and I am extremely bored of him. Which is a shame, since the last couple of stories are in theory the most interesting, but there you go. I may get to them in time, but that time is not this time.
Anyway, I was sort of feeling a quandary this year: I've really covered, like, most of the good Christmas stories. Sure, there are a few that would be worth looking at, and the fact that I haven't written about a story does not imply that I'm not interested in it (...okay, obviously it does imply that. But I am here to tell you it's untrue!). But the principle is the same, which is that we're sort of scraping the bottom a bit. There are certainly some bad Christmas stories left to cover, but do we really want to associate Christmas exclusively with horrible dreck? Eh, probably not.
Do we need to exclusively cover Christmas stories, however? One of the first big Christmas projects I did--still the biggest, probably--was the Life & Times marathon, so there's nothing wrong with just doing something both big and FUN, even if it's not exactly Christmasy. With that in mind, Jon Gray recently politely requested that I write about something he had worked on. I had had the idea for some time that it would be good to do "Scrooge's Last Adventure," so long story short, that's what we'll be doing. One entry every week or so starting at the beginning of December and leading up to Christmas. Please enjoy it.
"But wait!" I hear you cry. "I don't want to read about good stories that are unrelated to Christmas! I want to read about horrendous garbage that is related to Christmas!" It's a common sentiment, for sure, and rejoice, because I've got you covered! Interspersed among the "SLA" entries, we will be looking at some stories from here.
You know they're going to be bad, but I must warn you: they're generally both somewhat less awful and significantly less interesting than the Western stuff I covered two years back, so adjust your expectations accordingly. Still, hopefully jollity will ensue. I DEMAND JOLLITY, DAMMIT!
FWIW, the series of Yellow Beak posts had me well prepared to pick up on the reference when the pirate parrot made an appearance on DuckTales a couple of episodes ago (as a moldering skeleton reanimated by a mystic scroll to do battle with Scrooge), so your tedium has not been all in vain.
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ReplyDeleteYeah, the timing was prefect, with GeoX doing a Yellow Beak retrospective and "Duck Tales" doing a Yellow Beak episode (and it was more then just a "easter egg" since the entrie episode is about Scrooge and Donald looking for Yellow Beaks treasrue and I'm sure he would be proud of his status as a "legendary pirate") It's actualy so far favorite episode this season and it had some very clever homages.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm happy we get some more of Geox review this month since they are always very amusing to read :) This blog will turn into one big advent calendar (that has a choclate every few days but that's neat as well)
Looking forward to both the Memorable Big Story and the Forgettable Seasonal Stories! If we're all going to spend this December cowering indoors, at least we Duckfans can have something to laugh and argue about together, thank you, GeoX!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that SPG 221 will publish Nærum & Løkling/Midthun's 2019 story of Christmas in the Klondike, so that next year you can cover both of their insert-into-L&T Christmas stories. And, more proximately, so that I myself will be able to read it!
Yellow Beak? Boring? (Dalek Emperor voice) THESE WORDS ARE BLASPHEMEEEEE~~~
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, though, I'm still looking forward to your eventual return to the Yellow Beak Library, and as Pan said, the recent DT17 tie-in would be as good a reason as any for you to catch up on Duck Cartoons Revue.
But in the meantime, I'm not going to complain about the change in line-up if it means such an enticing Duck Comics December! I'm quite curious what you make of Last Adventure. And watching you tearing into throwaway Gold Key 1960s material with relentless snark, meanwhile, is always good fun.
There was a sugestion for GeoX from two years ago to do review of "Mickey Once upon Christmas", "Mickey twice upon Christmas" and "Mickey Mouse - Duck The Halls" on Cartoon Revue (all three feature Scrooge in smaller or bigger role) but I guess we will have to wait ;)
ReplyDeleteThere's one story from the Gemstone era that deserves a revisit: I think it's called, "Whatever Happened To The World's Richest Duck?", where there's a group of tourists surrounding a museum exhibit devoted to Scrooge in the far future, with the number one dime as a centerpiece, and after the tour guide recalls a very potted of Scrooge's life to the tourists, the real Scrooge shows up riding a time machine to recover the dime, which had been the real thing. I remember it being clever, but not owning the book, because it was printed one time in a pricey trade paperback edition that had a bent spine, so I didn't buy it - even knowing fully well that the stories drawn by artists like Vicar, Branca, Scalabroni, Tello, etc. don't get reprinted.
ReplyDeleteThat story is "Whatever Happened to Scrooge McDuck?" by Lars Jensen—and a personal favorite!
ReplyDeleteThe tour guide is a robot, whose great brain is necessary to adapt—again and again!—to the fact that in this era, history is constantly being revised by time travelers. She's a little worn out by all the adjustments.
Awww, Geo…
ReplyDeleteI guess I’d better prepare myself for another all-out assault on an old comic I love, and have read over and over, more times than I can count.
Sometimes I wish you’d put just a little less relish in deriding those issues and stories! Sure, you "can have fun with 'em"! I do that often enough - and will (uncharacteristically) really rip into something that is TRULY BAD, like "Bird-Bothered Hero" and the American English translation and dialogue of "My First Millions" – but, I'm sorry to say, my impression (right or wrong) is that you just seem to do so "for the sake of doing so".
Like the liberal and conservative “talking heads” on cable news that incessantly spout “things you expect them to say”, I sometimes wonder if you actually mean to tear these things apart, or “do it because it’s now expected of you”!
Your set-up quote “I want to read about horrendous garbage that is related to Christmas!” points to the “expected of you” option!
To that, I issue you a challenge… Write about the Donald Duck Christmas Album 1964 – and say some GOOD things about it! …More than the (not really) bad that you’ll find, when reviewing those stories.
You, yourself, even say: “You know they're going to be bad, but I must warn you: they're generally both somewhat less awful and significantly less interesting than the Western stuff I covered two years back, so adjust your expectations accordingly.” So, why not accentuate the POSITIVE for a change! …Don’t simply “DEMAND JOLLITY”, give some instead!
You are an excellent writer and analyst of comic book stories… you don't need to reflexively "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (...Yes, I'm using it as a VERB!) stories that some people like, just to demonstrate that! Instead, take up my challenge!
And, if you feel that might not satisfy your “inner (and outer) contrarian”, take heart in the thought that, by doing so, you will have significantly crossed-up your audience’s expectations! There’s always some “contrarian value” in that! :-)
I must take exception here: it's true that I've been known to seek out bad stories, but I've never derided a story that did not, in my estimation, deserve it. If I did, why would anyone take any of my opinions about anything seriously, or believe that *I* took them seriously? Come on now.
ReplyDeleteI simply submit that perhaps too many of ‘em fall on the negative side, and that you seem to be having fun with that! If that’s your “style”, so be it. But, despite this, time and time again you’ve proved that you can be so much more than a contrarian “doing what a contrarian is expected to do”. That’s my view in total, and it’s all I’ll be saying on the subject so we don’t “bog this thing down”.
ReplyDeleteSo, do you accept my challenge? C’mon, it’ll be fun!