It sounds unbelievable when I say it like this, but it's true: in the history of this blog, I have written about a grand total of one Brazilian story (this weirdo).  What can I say?  They just aren't published overseas with much frequency; truly, the undiscovered country of the Disney comics world.  I mean, for those of us outside Brazil.  I realize that that was an Amero/Eurocentric thing to say.  But it's still interesting to me!  There has to be o much that we could discover if we were able to delve into that world!  Case in point: today's story ..read more

Here's a story that I found whilst rummaging around looking for something good to write about!  It was published as part of IDW's much-lamented run.  I'd only read it once before, and hadn't been overly impressed by it, but on rereading...I actually think it's pretty good.  These things happen: I didn't much care for "Being Good for Goodness Sake" when I first read it, and now it's my favorite Italian Christmas story.  This is not on that level, but that's never stopped me.  Let's check it out. The opening is certainly festive enough to pass muster.  That's so im ..read more

Ah yes, the holiday season!  And if you thought I wasn't going to have some Christmas gifts, then you, sir or madame, are a first-class chump.  Assuming I'm able to get my shit together, I should have something extremely interesting to share with y'all on or about Christmas.  But in the meantime, let's enjoy some vaguely Christmas-ish stories, to keep the momentum going.  And let's start with some Barks, since--as incredible as it may sound--I suspect some of you aren't as obsessed with mediocre Western also-rans as I am.  We can call this "The Snow Princess."  T ..read more

 Is this appropriate for Halloween?  Well...Venice is commonly associated with Carnival, and and disguise more generally.  There are lots of operas in Venice that take that as a theme: Ponchielli's La Gioconda, Korngold's Violanta, J. Strauss's Eine Nacht in Venedig, of course Britten's Death in Venice.  What point am I making?  That I like opera, and, not to brag, but I know the names of several operatic works.  I think that's public knowledge.  But anyway!  Sure, let's go with it.  Why not? Man, I was hoping that that "Christma ..read more

 And now, the grand finale of the DCRCIJS!  Well, you can judge for yourself how "grand" it is.  But it's DEFINITELY the finale. The good news, maybe-kinda, is that this is a Bob-Gregory-penned story.   This wasn't written in his egregiously dumb period, so there's a certain modest level of quality guaranteed, but I wouldn't call this one of this best efforts.  And, even knowing nothing about the specifics of the story, "Mangomoa" might give you vague misgivings.  And, spoiler, those are not unjustified.  But we'll get there when we get there. But befor ..read more

 "The Gem Jam," eh?  As soon as I saw that title, my Fallberg detector started going like crazy.  What, you've never heard of a Fallberg detector?  Every home should have one.  At any rate, in spite of being better known for writing those abominable Paul Murry mouse stories, he also did a lot of ducks--some of them not too bad.  Still, don't expect too much from this one; I'm pretty confident that this is going to be the shortest entry in this series, just because this story really isn't interesting in any way.  Well, it happens; what can you do? But MY POINT ..read more

You know, the openings of these stories often have these glimpses of a kind of utopian blissfulness that evaporates like the morning mist when the actual plot kicks in, which is always very quickly.  Still, I don't know.  We can maybe appreciate these isolated bright spots for what they are, even if the story itself isn't much.  Not that this one is really bad, by the standards of these things, but...worth thinking about, anyway.  How 'bout someone just printing a book consisting of the fragmentary good parts of these forgettable stories?  I'll be the editor.  Gr ..read more

 Hope ya like Tony Strobl, or at least tolerate him, 'cause he's gonna be bringing you the art for all subsequent stories in the DCRCIJS (as I like to call it).  I feel like I shouldn't have complained about "Sea Breeze Sailors" being lumpy, because this really laps that one in that regard.  I'm almost afraid to write this entry, but press on I must. Anyway, if nothing else, Strobl turns in pretty good work here.  Fairly dynamic sense of movement. I'm thinking a lot as I read these stories about the tropes that tend to come up--that you see over and over.  Wondering ..read more

 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 bo ..read more

Our first story, from the first Beach Party in 1954, is the only one that I actually read as a child: it was the only Disney Giant that was part of my dad's old collection.  Go figure.  You know, I criticize these things a lot, but they were clearly doing something right.  I'm sure I've noted on multiple occasions that even though the stories in Duck Albums are rarely any great shakes, the concept, really, really resonated with me.  Same thing here: I just loved the idea of a "beach party," which is what all of these stories, in theory, start with, though predictably, they ..read more