Gladstone's luck

[Halsten Aastebol]

At 09:12 09.08.00 -0600, Roger Brown wrote:
>>No, it was in the adventure story "Race To The South Seas" first 
>>published in the giveaway Boys & Girls March of Comics no 41 in 1949. The 
>>next story including Gladstone's luck should be "Luck Of The North" from 
>>OS 256 in December 1949.
>
>How does the "Rival Beachcombers" (WDC 103) tale fit in to this sequence 
>of stories about Gladstone's luck? Seems to me that represented both 
>Gladstone's lazy nature AND his luck!! It appeared in April 1949 and was 
>one of my favorites as an 8-year-old just falling in love with WD C&S!

IMO "Rival Beachcombers" only hints at the fact that Gladstone might be 
lucky. Although in retrospect it is easy to view some of the antics of this 
story as the result of Gladstone's luck. But Gladstone was not yet "lucky 
Gladstone" by this time. He became that later the same year. Yes, it's a 
great story!

Also, it should be pointed out that I don't know the exact publication date 
for "Race To The South Seas" apart from it being published sometime during 
1949, probably well before "Luck Of The North" (December) and maybe even 
before "Rival Beachcombers" (April). Nor do I know the submission dates for 
those comics.

BTW, here is a list of the first appearances of Gladstone (through 1952) 
that I posted to Daniel van Eijmeeren:

WDC 88, Jan-48  "Wintertime Wager" (the ice bathing story)
WDC 95, Aug-48  "Gladstone Returns" (getting money for Daisy's club)
WDC 96, Sept-48 "Links Hijinks" (whole in one story)
WDC 103, Apr-49 "Rival Beaccombers" (searching for the maharajah's lost ruby)
MoC 41, ???-49  "Race To The South Seas" (Introducing Gladstone's Luck)
WDC 110, Nov-49 "The Goldilocks Gambit"
OS 256, Dec-49  "Luck Of The North" (Donald is already fed up with 
Gladstone's luck)
WDC 111, Dec-49 "Donald's Love Letters" (This story finally establish the 
rivalry between Donald and Gladstone to win Daisy's heart, although this 
rivalry is hinted at in WDC 95)
OS 263, Feb-50  "Trail Of The Unicorn"
WDC 117, June-50        "Wild About Flowers" (Picking a flower for Daisy. 
This is the first story in WDC to include Gladstone's Luck)
CP 2, Nov-50            "You Can't Guess"
WDC 126, Mar-51 "A Financial Fable" (In this story Donald and Gladstone are 
friends!)
WDC 128, May-51 "Knightly Rivals"
WDC 131, Aug-51 "Gladstone's Luck"
OS 367, Jan-52  "A Christmas For Shacktown"
WDC 136, Jan-52 "Gladstone's Usual Very Good Year"
WDC 140, May-52 "Gladstone's Terrible Secret" (First cameo appearance of 
Gyro Gearloose)
WDC 143, Aug-52 "Gemstone Hunters"
OS 422, Sept-52 "The Gilded Man"
WDC 147, Dec-52 "A Charitable Chore"

Regards
Halsten