"Bottled Battlers"

 So here we have another Barks script given life by others.  There's the usual rigamarole with the art: the story was originally drawn by Tony Strobl, but then Daan Jippes swooped in and redid it.  I'm always a bit skeptical about these redraws, and never more so here: there's no cut art to be restored, and Strobl puts in pretty solid work.  I don't have any real complaint about Jippes's art either, but I dunno: regardless of their relative levels of talent, Barks and Strobl came from the same cultural milieu, so to me, his art just seems to fit the story better than Jippes', even if the latter is a more technically proficient artist.

...okay, actually, since I might have a few non-regular readers, I'll explain for the total layperson: Carl Barks was the best Disney artist, and certainly the most prominent.  He retired in 1967, but after his retirement he was convinced to come back to write scripts for other artists to draw, of which he did several dozen.  The original artwork for most of these was pretty indifferent (although I have a soft spot for some of the artists in question, particularly Tony Strobl), which is why most or all of them were redrawn by the Dutch artist Daan Jippes in the '00s.  There; that probably covers that.

Okay, I do like how Jippes integrates the title with the opening panel.  One thing you will notice if you read them side by side is that there are a few places where the scripts deviate.  Most of these are so tiny and insubstantial that they're barely worth mentioning; by far the biggest is in the opening text box and the Grand Mogul's first line.  And I'm a little baffled here: I have to assume that the Jippes version is how Barks originally wrote it, because why else would you change it?  And yet, that version is...obviously worse.  The first just makes sense: it's early spring, but already the pussy willow buds are appearing.  But in the latter version, it's nearly summer, but they're peeping out?  And this is, I guess, surprising because...it's too late for them to be doing that?  What's going on here?  Gotta say, if the editors at Western changed the original, they did the right thing.  Even Homer nods, you know?

At any rate, from now on I'll just use panels from the original version.

One thing I do appreciate about this story is that, while Barks is still in his rather heavy-handed environmentalist mode, it's much lower-stakes than many of the others of the same sort: no nightmarish dystopian lake pollution, no Scrooge the Evil Whaler...just littering.  Makes you heave a sigh of relief, really.

I'll also note that one other thing the Jippes version changes is that bottom right panel, which switches 'left' and 'right' around.  I don't know if this is just because of the general Western (as in, civilization, not the publisher) bias towards things moving from left to right just because that's how our writing systems generally work, or whether it's meant to evoke "Stuck in the Middle with You" (which would be anachronistic, as that song was released a few years after the original story)...but whatever it is, there it is.

Flippin' brats!  Granted, littering IS a problem.  Not to downplay that.  It just seems so solvable compared to other problems that it gets short shrift.  I do like that "Here is a bottle in two shapes!"  "Here is a bottle in three colors!" bits.  Very Seuss-ish, somehow enhanced by the slightly stilted way it eschews contractions.

Also,  note how I said "flippin'" instead of "fuckin'."  I've noticed that lately I tend to swear less.  It's not a conscious thing; I guess it just seems like profanity has more of an impact if kept to a minimum.  Probably.  Also, without this paragraph, I wouldn't be swearing at all in this entry, so take that for what it's worth.

And hey, here's Magica, whose presence changes this story from a minor footnote to a slightly notable footnote!  Because there's no Scrooge!  That's not something you see every day, or any day.  I mean, okay, given the sheer volume of duck stories out there, there must be other examples, but none spring readily to mind.  Magica without Scrooge is nothing.  Her entire existence is in relation to him.  Other writers may have complicated this dynamic a bit by giving her family members, but it's certainly true in Barks and in most other stories.  Of course, this story doesn't change the dynamic, and Scrooge's non-appearance is probably just down to lack of ambition and/or limited page counts.  But that doesn't change the fact that it is what it is.

Dirty, squirty, purty--if you didn't know better, there are places where you'd almost think this was a Lockman joint.  Also, is collecting glassware now part of the Junior Woodchucks' remit?  Seems a bit out-of-character.

Lead-free!  Whatever else Magica is, she's environmentally conscious!  Apparently.

Somehow, there's just something about the image of the Woodchucks looking on in dismay as she dumps their bag out that really cracks me up.  To what have you been reduced, Ms. De Spell?  This is your most picayune villainy yet.  

Note also that Barks appears to have forgotten about foof bombs here.

In fairness to Magica, though, this is pretty good devilry.  I mean, crikey, if she can just trap people in impermeable bottles like it's nothing, it seems like she shouldn't even need her fancy new acid.  I like "we've got influence at City Hall," which seems like a fairly empty threat.

Anyway, most of the rest of the story is just people coming up to the bottle and being unhelpful about it, starting with these hippies.  Or possibly beatniks?  Or some unholy combination?  Difficult to tell.  Did Barks specify, or is this just Strobl's extrapolation?  They look pretty similar in the Jippes version, for whatever that's worth.

I must say, I'm not sure how it makes sense that the outside people can't hear them, though their exasperated sarcastic remarks are, I suppose, amusing enough.

Sure, "some intellectuals."  Why not?  It's pretty funny, though I can't help but note the non-sequitur-y-ness of "remarkable what some people will do for attention."

First they didn't stop for the bottle kids, and I did not speak out because I was not a bottle kid.

Right, okay, arguably (more than arguably), Niemöller jokes are inappropriate in the current political  climate.  But it's sort of unavoidable here.

What the heck is a "squirrel reel?"  The internet is unhelpful on this point.  I mean, presumably it's like a hamster ball, but still.

I do kind of identify with HDL in this story, imagining how claustrophobic I'd feel stuck in a giant bottle like this.

...I thought people outside the bottle couldn't hear them.  Oh, whatever.  I like Magica whacking (or, possibly unfortunately, whanking) the bottle with a street sign.

Well, anyway.  The end.  Look how shocked the chief is.  Very shocked, is possibly the answer.  He's putting his hand on his cheek, after all, which, as we know, is the universal indicator of shockedness. Yowow.