Disney-comics digest #113.

[David A Gerstein]

	Dear Folks,

	Torsten calls for *bad* Disney stories:  We've had our lists
of our favorites, now here are a few of my _least_ favorites:

	[Old stories]

	1.  Mickey Mouse in "Tom-Tom Island" (1950).  Drawn by Stan
Walsh, I think.  This attempted sequel to "An Education for Thursday"
is not only about three times as prejudiced (quite a feat), but is
just so unbelievably *bad* it's hard to believe it was accepted.

	2.  Donald Duck in "The Spirit of '76" (1951).  This God-awful
piece of tripe appeared in the back of some Barks one-shot.  The
artist draws Donald like an albino Daffy, and the idea of the ducks
becoming obsessed with reliving the lives of the pioneers is
out-of-character and unconvincing given all that they suffer.

	3.  Mickey Mouse in "The Mystery of the Robot Army" (1952).
Drawn (again!) by Stan Walsh.  This awful idea tries to meld "Blaggard
Castle" with "The World of Tomorrow" and goes *nowwhere*, as well as
featuring the unforgivable business about making robot hearts out of
old tin cans.  Surprisingly, it actually was demanded by
letter-writers for reprint!

	4.  Donald Duck in "Have Gun, Will Dance" (1964).  The only
Barks story to make this list is here due to its improbabilities and
awful pacing.  Why, if the gun that the nephews find in their cereal
box actually shoots a ray due to the cereal company following the
blueprint too closely, doesn't the ray work like the *genuine* ray?

	5.  Uncle Scrooge (title unknown, circa 1966).  Scrooge is
shown as having been born in the United States and having an old high
school friend who's actually a crook, named Starfish Fred.  What an
utter travesty!

	[New stories]

	1.  Mickey Mouse in "The Lost Palace of Kashi" (1991).  Under
a superb Rick Hoover cover (MMA 15) we find a story that seems like a
pastiche of Paul Murry's worst stories, weasel helper for Pete and all
It also reminds me of one Jaime Diaz design feature I find curiously
off-putting:  drawing characters without eyes!  Every second
character's eyes are covered by hair or a low hat, leaving them blank
and expressionless.

	2.  Uncle Scrooge in "Coffee, Louie or Me?" (1991).  Once
again villains disguise themselves as mythical beasties to scare folks
away from the land -- this time, a coffee plantation -- that they
desire.  It was a draw between this and US 245 ("The Phantom
Lighthouse") until I remembered that in this one, the writers actually
wrote out Scrooge's "Duck Tales"-style accent phonetically, so his
dialect is much like Popeye's.  (Fine for Popeye, but not for Uncle
Scrooge.)

	3.  Bambi in "Big Bird, Beware!" (1991).  After Mo Gollub and
Ken Hultgren did such fine Bambi comic strips, this clumsy episode
involving Bambi in the Duckburg Black Forest alongside typical
dogfaced kids seems doomed to failure.  (Spring Fever 1)

	4.  Duck Tales:  "Witch Way Did She Go?" (1990).  Magica de
Spell lives in a *castle*, nowwhere *near* Mt. Vesuvius, eventually
gets Old Number One in her clutches and, apparently not remembering
her amulet formula, wonders now that she has it, why did she ever want
it and what is she going to do with it?  A very ugly version of
Magica, too.  No wonder Scrooge refers to the formerly-attractive
sorceress as "foul hag" here.  (Disney Comics' Duck Tales 6)

	5.  Donald Duck in "The Day Gladstone's Luck Ran Out" (1991).
The bizarre panel borders here are one fault, and the script -- okay,
I guess -- is harmed by ex-Whitman artists who in the most dire
moments, drew the characters smiling happily at every opportunity.
The idea of Gladstone's luck turning on him has been done many,
better, times before.  (Disney Comics' DDA 14)

	[End of list]

	Does anyone else have any least-favorites?  I'd enjoy hearing
what they were.  Sounds like Jim Fletcher isn't very well-liked around
here, although I haven't seen one of his stories.  Is his art much
like Stan Walsh's?

	Your friend,


	David Gerstein

	"The only way to get ahead of Mickey Mouse is to *run* in
*front* of him!"
	<David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu>