Daisy Duck and Uncle Scrooge Show Boat

 Merry Christmas.  This year I got you nine Western stories.  Hope you like 'em.

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"Sea Breeze Sailors"

 Here's a "fun" fact: this story has been reprinted twice in the US, more than any of the others we're covering.  Is that justified?  We will see, possibly.

Before we start, take a look at this frontispiece: 

Maybe the fact that these things excite me is a sign I've been doing this too long, but I can't help it; I find this super-interesting.  "A hilarious adventure with Donald and the nephews aboard Uncle Scrooge's yacht."  Now, I'm positive there must be other examples, but this is the first instance I've seen--or at least that I remember--of a Western comic book providing any kind of actual editorial comment regarding the stories.  Is this significant?  Is the story a hilarious adventure with Donald and the nephews aboard Uncle Scrooge's yacht?  Well, somebody's certainly SAYING  it is!  They couldn't print it if it weren't true.  So, you know.

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"Captain Hook and the Buried Treasure"

Am I REALLY suggesting that I needed an extra week or whatever to cover this dumb Peter Pan story? Does that seem particularly believable? Yeesh.  Whom do I think I'm fooling, anyway?

I must say, I had no idea it was just going to be a remake of "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold" with Peter Pan characters. Not that that's surprising, but I would not call the result particularly edifying. I mean SHEESH, that Seven Dwarfs thing may be pretty bad, but at least it's an original story. Still, now I feel better about writing this entry, and the good news is, I don't even have to write it: just go back to the DDFPG (as all the cool people call it) entry and mentally substitute Peter Pan people for ducks, and bam. There you have it.

Yeah, okay, WHATEVER. Would that it were that easy.

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"Uncle Scrooge's Generous Deed"

Well, now it's time for another Connell story, from CP 4 in 1952. Please try to restrain your excitement.

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"Presents for All"

MORE CONNELL?!? Jesus, MUST we? Yes, we must. Ours is not to wonder why; ours is but to do and write about stories by awful hacks. Or so it seems. This is from 1951's CP 3, meaning it's the first non-Barks marquee story. The quality drop-off is...noticeable. Although actually, it could be worse; this story would be basically inoffensive except for just one damn thing, that you will see RIGHT NOW:

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"The Big Switcheroo"

CP 6, 1954. You know, I said that that last story was the worst one on the list, but as much as I might not *like* the fake-snow thing, it at least made for a coherent story; it wasn't a madman's dream that no human mind could follow in its inhuman contortions without descending into an endless howling, shrieking void. So it had that going for it.

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"White Christmas"

It's a nice day for a...too obvious? Okay, how about this: Hey Western writer, what have you done?

Well...you've written THIS. "You" apparently being Del Connell and "this" being a 1953 story from CP 5. And this is...an interesting one. Now, I know what you're thinking: "does that mean 'bad?' It sounds like that means 'bad.'" Um...yes. Honestly, I'm starting here so that all the other stories we look at will look better in comparison. So on THAT ominous note, let us begin!

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"Southern Hospitality"

As you know, the great majority of Barks' long-form Donald adventures were not printed in the regular, bimonthly Donald Duck book, which wasn't established until 1952, at which point he was too busy with Uncle Scrooge to contribute much; instead, they were printed as part of the Four Color Comics/One-Shots series, along with gallons of other Disney and non-Disney material.
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