tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post5714441338534296858..comments2024-03-28T03:15:52.497-04:00Comments on Duck Comics Revue: "Bird-Bothered Hero"GeoX, one of the GeoX boys.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14658452994152399308noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-1824347938794587492017-01-08T13:51:24.705-05:002017-01-08T13:51:24.705-05:00Rereading some of your old posts, I thought about ...Rereading some of your old posts, I thought about this line of yours: "Forget about choking; the impact alone would probably have serious, if not actually fatal, consequences." Maybe the fact that a Disney Duck's beak is made of tougher stuff than mere human flesh is at play here.Achille Talonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636339293230261724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-61134340102905262432011-08-15T15:38:47.147-04:002011-08-15T15:38:47.147-04:00Sadly, we just lost a major figure from that era o...Sadly, we just lost a major figure from that era of comics. <br /><br />http://tiahblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/rip-del-connell.htmlJoe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-46617785938450628802011-08-15T09:59:09.447-04:002011-08-15T09:59:09.447-04:00Y'know, the first UNCLE SCROOGE I ever read wa...Y'know, the first UNCLE SCROOGE I ever read was #192..."classic" Whitman-era stuff. At the time, I was young enough to still think the stories were "okay." They lacked life, were a bit routine and monotonous, but okay.<br /><br />With a little Disney-comics perspective under my belt (and hundreds of Barks and Rosa stories later), I can spot their flaws from a bird's-eye distance. I've often thought, though, that the plot PREMISES on these Gold Key/Whitman stories weren't all that bad, and given fewer editorial constraints, a bit of executional care, and a capable writer/artist, they could be turned into something quite enjoyable.<br /><br />Imagine that! Remakes that would actually IMPROVE upon the original material.<br /><br />However...<br /><br />"Bird-Bothered Hero" should be scrapped entirely. It seems like Lockman cobbled together his story scraps to meet, as GeoX says, the 5 p.m. deadline.<br /><br />That said...<br /><br />"Bird-Bothered Hero" would make an EXCEPTIONAL ARCHIE story... :-)Pete Fernbaughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01460546076208578503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-7878131377368945342011-08-15T02:53:34.739-04:002011-08-15T02:53:34.739-04:00Being a hack used to a be profession in comics. *...Being a hack used to a be profession in comics. *sigh* Days long gone by.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10120721760732002698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-91521089078729918762011-08-14T23:20:56.283-04:002011-08-14T23:20:56.283-04:00OK, this is far from the most significant lapse in...OK, this is far from the most significant lapse in believability in this script....but, you say one wonders "how it could possibly have been necessary to send the agent a map to the boat via carrier pigeon." I'm wondering how it could have conceivably have been *possible* to do so. Don't carrier pigeons only go home to their roost? They can't just be trained to find a particular person. Is it thinkable that said undercover agent lived where the pigeon roosted? That would be a great way to stay undercover, to live with a bunch of carrier pigeons.<br /><br />I know, I know, I'm putting more thought into this than the writer did.Elainenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-53305074660782603702011-08-14T15:31:11.862-04:002011-08-14T15:31:11.862-04:00Joe and Geo,
Gotta love the "rapid ribbon of...Joe and Geo,<br /><br />Gotta love the "rapid ribbon of exposition" that the spy master gives us after Donald falls into the boat. SPEED RACER couldn't have spewed forth that spasm of info any better (or worse?).<br /><br />In addition to the "double eyebrows" bit, notice that Dewey is drawn (in the scene in which the device falls into Don's mouth) with only the tops of his oval eyeballs showing. That looks pretty peculiar to me, almost as if Dewey is squinting. Recall that Barks typically drew the boys' "eyeballs from a great distance" as simple dots. Not all THAT egregious, to be sure, but odd enough to be distinctly noticeable.<br /><br />Despite its poor quality, and Geo's believable suggestion that this was a rush job, "BBH" possesses some artistic integrity that DUCKTALES #3 lacked. KW's art was terrible, but at least it was ORIGINAL and didn't use any clip art, Photoshopping, etc. That is what I believe DT #3's ultimate legacy will be -- that kaboom! didn't even have enough integrity to fulfill its responsibility to provide "honest" material.<br /><br />ChrisChris Barathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845538037091279990noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-63028611381099351352011-08-14T10:09:49.754-04:002011-08-14T10:09:49.754-04:00Now for Part Two, as Blogger won't let me do t...Now for Part Two, as Blogger won't let me do the whole thing in one shot: <br /><br />The first issue released in 1969 (# 124) changed everything! Same format, but the two Donald stories were drawn by Kay Wright, who would mix on and off with Strobl into the early seventies. (The less said about the issues that FOLLOWED Strobl’s departure to work for the Disney Studio Program, the better!)<br /><br />The Wright stories in that issue were reasonably entertaining, mitigating the jarring change in art somewhat, and the Goofy filler was uncharacteristically drawn by Paul Murry, giving the issue some needed familiarity. <br /><br />As with 1967-1968, these 1969 issues were still “okay-to-pretty-good”, and we had Barks’ “Officer for a Day” (with a Barks cover) in # 126.<br /><br />Then comes # 127 with a “generously-granted-kinda-okay” Lockman / Strobl 14 page lead, that telegraphed its ending miles in advance, but eked its way into the plus-column with an unusual appearance by Goofy in the main story. Closing that book was “Bird Bothered Hero”, with all the cited faults – PLUS the one you left out… uncomfortably large lettering, which had ALSO just begun not that many issues ago. <br /><br />For a look at how these stories were lettered at their best, check the work of a letterer whose name I believe was “Rome Simeon”. Check “Og’s Iron Bed”, or any story published around that time, and compare it with this oversized ugliness. The way I have always identified this good letterer’s work is to say that he was the one who lettered Paul Murry’s stories, when Murry didn’t do it himself. <br /><br />And, the STORY! Aw, c’mon! Of ALL the comedic possibilities to be had with Donald swallowing a souped-up, super bird-whistle… THIS is where they went? Falling from the sky onto the deck of a spy boat in the midst of some unconvincing fog? <br /><br />You rightly mention what Van Horn would have done with this. Back then, putting it in a more ‘60s media context, I wondered how the great Michael Maltese would have handled this in an “Augie Doggie” cartoon – with poor ol’ Doggie Daddy swallowing the whistle to great comedic effect. <br /><br />But, nope… falling from the sky onto the deck of a spy boat! Yeah, THAT was the way to go! <br /><br />And you did me the greatest favor by reproducing the four-panel sequence where the boat emerges from the fog and Don huffs-and-puffs calling down what should have been a Hitchcockian flock of seagulls that crash the boat. <br /><br />That was the SINGLE WORST sequence of panel art I had ever seen in a Disney comic book up to that point. Decades before the legendary DuckTales” # 3 would find a way to eclipse it! <br /><br />So, take bad story, bad art, bad lettering, …and an incomprehensible decline in quality from not only the previous year – but even the previous issue, and you have my recipe for “Worst Disney Comic Ever”<br /><br />…That is, until NOW, folks! <br /><br />Joe.Joe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-29609180283749415792011-08-14T10:06:53.691-04:002011-08-14T10:06:53.691-04:00Geo:
Wow! Ask and I shall receive! “Bird Bother...Geo:<br /><br />Wow! Ask and I shall receive! “Bird Bothered Hero”, served up on a plate and ready to go! <br /><br />Taking half a second to analyze WHY I have held this one is such infamy for so long, you have to consider the STEEP AND SUDDEN DECLINE the DONALD DUCK title had undergone to get to this point. <br /><br />Three years or so prior, it was drawn exclusively by Tony Strobl, its stories were a mix of contributions by Vic Lockman (when he was pretty good – think “Og’s Iron Bed”, reprinted more recently by Gemstone), Carl Fallberg, Bob Gregory, Bob Ogle, and who knows who else. <br /><br />Beginning with the first issue released in 1967 (# 112), the title adopted a rigid format of a 14 page lead, the annoyingly juvenile (even for a KIDS’ comic) “Gold Key Comics Club” for the four-page centerfold, the four-page GOOFY guest story, the text story page, a seven-page Donald back-up (of which “Bird Bothered Hero” was one), and the two final pages were also devoted to that damned “Gold Key Comics Club”. And, no… my view of the “Gold Key Comics Club” is not that of a jaded “adult fanboy”. I despised that unwelcome intrusion into my favorite line of comics from the day I first saw it as a young reader. <br /><br />Then again, that issue DID introduce Moby Duck, a fairly entertaining character (when handled correctly), who was viable for years, so it was still pretty good. <br /><br />The period of 1967-1968 was pretty much issues like these – Lockman and Strobl working in the abovementioned format, changed-up by an occasional gem like Barks’ “Pawns of the Loup Garou”, originally drawn by Strobl from Barks’ layout. While not as good as the pre-1967 issues, they were still all right, with some true standouts. <br /><br />More to come in the following comment...Joe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.com