"Two-Way Luck"

 I have to get my biggest--and, really, only serious--critique of this story out of the way first, which is man, that title.  Totally generic-sounding and not providing even the vaguest hint of the story's content?  Blah!  Still, it feels ungrateful to complain too much.  I'm sure we all just think of it as "the giant emerald story" anyway--or how about "Green with Envy;" would that work?.  It's a back-up  (to "All at Sea"), the sort of thing that you expect to be a little more disposable than the main one, even coming from Barks.  But man, it isn't.  I mean okay maybe it's a little silly in some ways (a Disney comic?  Get the heck outta here, ya nut!), but the artistry is also highly apparent.  So.

I do, however, always get caught up on the "emerald contest" thing.  I mean, I don't think I did when I was small, but NOW I do.  So, in this world, can we assume that nobody really knows what the biggest jewels are, or who has them?  Because if we did, it doesn't seem like this contest would really mean much.  But Scrooge DOES appear to believe it's in some way established that his is the biggest in the world--an apprehension he could only be under if there were some kind of organization that makes these determinations.  And, I mean, he has to be cajoled into entering, and he wouldn't do it at all if his nephews weren't here, so you gotta figure there are a bunch of people with big emeralds not entering them, from ignorance or apathy, so what is being accomplished here?  Tell me!

Let's back up for a moment and ask ourselves: how big do emeralds get, anyway?  Here's Gem Society, telling us that "emeralds are notorious for growing extremely large."  Not one hundred percent sure that's really the intended message, and it makes me automatically go "no-no-notorious," but emeralds: large.  Okay.  That one Scrooge has there actually looks plausible in terms of size, though obviously none of the real ones are perfectly spherical like that, or anything close to it.  Also, I feel like if it's glowing like that in broad daylight, you maybe should call a hazmat team.  

I really enjoy how Scrooge is not just scared of Friday the thirteenth but actively pissed off by it.  Yeah!

So clearly, Donald and the kids DO, to some degree anyway, identify with Scrooge.  It's how they can get excited by his triumphs on treasure hunts.  But I dunno: for this identification to include being indignant on his behalf over the possibility that an, um, unworthy emerald will win a prize over him?  That is so weirdly specialized that I'm not sure if it's possibly to really understand where it comes from.

Ha! Ha!  So now we know where the jewel comes from.  On the bright side, he didn't steal it from a far-flung country.  On the other...I dunno.  Was Hung Tu Soon a legitimate ruler?  Did he have the right to sell off his country's treasures?  Is that why he was hung [sic] too soon?  Not too sure about this.  But anyway, while I can believe that Scrooge might have an emerald like that in his possession if he'd found it, the idea of him buying jewels like this--I don't know what he would perceive as the upside of that transaction.

Dang it!  It's THIS guy!  The story doesn't emphasize this, but Scrooge really ought to be grateful for him.  If he weren't here, he'd be satisfied with his piddling-ass emerald, and that would be no good indeed.  Ad astra!  I DO hope those judges are verifying the stone's emeraldness in some way that goes beyond peering at it through a magnifying lens, though.

It's true that you wouldn't have won even on the next day.  That is hard to argue with.  Concrete reality dictates that winning this contest is not a matter of "luck."  But, I mean, that's always the case, is the thing.  If your investment of whatever sort doesn't pay off, it's because of specific causes with specific explanations, even if it may be hard to isolate them.  You just notice it more with the emerald because it's a big ol' jewel that you can see.  But your problems are not what you think they are.

Anyway, I'm just presenting this whole page together because I like the progression so much--from him freaking out over this unexpected trip to obsessing about emeralds in his head, to giving the wrong destination.  Very neat.  Would it be better if there were an actual South African town called Emeryville?  I mean, sure, in the best of all possible worlds, but the fact that there isn't seems more like a reality problem than a Barks problem.

I also don't know if "South America" is a sufficiently specific destination to specify, but it's all good in the neighborhood.

On the one hand, I appreciate the acknowledgement that wild emeralds would not look like giant green marbles.  On the other hand, we obviously won't be able to keep up that pretense for the finale, so I dunno.

This is absolutely just vintage Barks: Scrooge pissed off by the whole situation, grumping at the emerald, then just unable to stop himself from applying his scientific knowledge to it, and then angrily determining where it would've come from and BOOM, we are good to go.  I'd like to see any other Western writer manage something like this.  I'm not sure if you'd even get from most of the Europeans.

I'm not sure how well the astrology/astronomy stuff gels with the rest of the story, but you have to give it some credit: there are actual, intentional, identifiable themes here.  Imagine a Del Connell story having a "theme."  You can't do it, my friend. 

Anyway, this is just fuckin' cool, using knowledge of the stars to solve the mystery.  I think if this had been a front story, the main difference is probably that there'd be an antagonist of some sort.  I mean, an antagonist other than "the nature of the universe."  Would that make it better or worse?  Depends, I suppose, but there they'd be.

Booyah!  Giant emeralds!  Not as interesting as human artifacts would be, maybe, but still pretty cool.  Is this how jewels work?  Yeah, probably.  Why wouldn't they?

Lucky they ARE light as bubbles, or this would all be highly lethal.  I have to ask, though: is it legal for him to just take one of these things?  It may be less problematic than it would be with cultural treasures, and I suppose this grotto might never have been found without him, but still.  I don't think you're just allowed to do this--unless, maybe, a ton of them are real, so giant emeralds are basically a renewable resource and they're not actually worth much.  Somebody call Dorfman and Mattelart.  Well, that's what I'd LIKE to say, but alas, Armand Mattelart died back in October (rest in power), forever shattering my dream of getting them both to sign my copy of How to Read Donald Duck.

Pretty funny image.  But if this one's real, probably some of the others are too, yeah?  I mean, the idea can't be that we have these fake giant emeralds, but also, by an amazing unrelated coincidence, here's a REAL giant emerald?  I'm sure it's not.  But this situation definitely seems like it would demand more study on Scrooge's part to suss out.  This cave that creates giant jewels is surely going to have some kind of effect on something.

I really like the rows and rows of people.  Standing there, waiting in rapt awe to learn what the biggest emerald is.  As people do.  I personally don't think people with giant emeralds NEED cash prizes, but so it goes.  The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.  That's how it goes.  Still, fun story.  A++++++ would buy again.