Customer Reviews

Walt Disney's Donald Duck Family (Gladstone Comic Album Series No. 21)

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As a collector, I love the quality presentation of this set of 5 stories. As a fan of the Ducks, I just love the stories, and the superb art work.
I was kind of sure that I had seen the Cover Art under another name, something like the "Duck Family Album" but thats not too significant, since the art-work presents the characters from inside the set of stories. Probably the best thing in the structure of the stories is the way each layer flows into continuous action.
"MOCKING BIRD RIDGE" shows Classic Donald, The Wily Gladstone Gander, the Nephews, all pitted against the ever money-wise Uncle Scrooge. Of Course, few are the times that Scrooge loses out ( Since, as everyone knows, his Lucky "number one", takes care of his money skills).It's a classic setup, with a wonderful denoument.
"A STICKY SITUATION"; I must admit to having no immediate memory of this great story. The Nieces look like they are early on in their design phase, but appear to be a parallel to the Nephews. The only similar story I was aware of is a diary narrative, same as this story, done as an animated Valentines Day Special. It's massive fun, and shows Daisy and the Nieces in full form, with Daisy's Come-uppance against Donald being perfect poetic justice.
The "GRANDMA DUCK" story is a great venue down on the farm, with Gus Goose being the prime mover, as always, by almost total accident. It's a great story with a totally sweet, but not saccharine, ending.
"JONAH GYRO": This is a variation on a theme that gyro has done at other times, but the fishing technology he develops not only has the other fishermen jealous and angry, but provides for a hilarious series of events for the masterful Gyro, who proves that if he can, he will, and you will be entertained by it !!!
"GO SLOWLY SANDS OF TIME": Absolutely superb in every way. A Brilliant story that has the Ducks cross the world, and only to discover that they had the secret right at home; as ever, the fun is in the journey, and this is another part of a great set.

The Paper is first rate. The binding is great, and the quality in all respects is tops. A Great buy for anyone who wants to keep this material for a long time ... another great reprint of the GLADSTONE title.
[ Also: Kudos to AMAZON !!! I Ordered this on Friday the 4th of November, and it arrived Tuesday 9th November. Totally Awesome delivery time, and is getting consistent for Amazon. Both of the Items including this Comic, arrived in GREAT condition, and considering it was USPS, INTACT !! Maybe I got Lucky, but it's stuff like this that give me a better experience cost and value wise than any other local shop around... THANKS AMAZON !!!!!!!!!! ]

My kid and I have been reading many of the fab Gladstone reprints of classic Carl Barks stories, and this latest volume was one of our few disappointments. Oh, to be sure, there are some really great stories in here -- wonderfully funny, creative stuff, just what we've come to expect from the Duckburg crew... But the Daisy Duck story was a disappointment, and since my kid has to read everything in each book, a definite liability. In this episode, Daisy gets mad at Donald and goes into a pseudo-feminist rant about how terrible men are, and then drags her nieces away onto a big camping trip to escape from the world of men. Of course, she gets a flat tire and can't pitch her own tent, and these are problems she can't fix herself, without the help of (gosh darn it!) men. Not only is this story horribly retro (and sexist) it's also poorly illustrated, with blocky sub-par artwork that stands out like a sore thumb amid the beautiful renderings in the other episodes. Oh, well. Other than that, though, this slim volume is packed with great material - fun stories featuring Donald, the nephews, Uncle Scrooge, Gyro Gearloose, Gander Gladstone and the rest. Fun stuff... I just wish they'd picked a better Daisy story. (ReadThatAgain children's book reviews)

The Gladstone Comic Albums printed in the late 1980's brought the old classic Walt Disney stories to the soft cover graphic novel type printing. At 11 inches tall with high quality paper, inks and covers the Glasdstone company created a new standard in Disney comics. But content is where they were king, as they developed themes for the albums based on classic stories that had not been reprinted in some time. In issue 21, the theme was the extended Donald Duck family. So naturally the stories mostly draw from classics by artist and writer Carl Barks, who drew the Disney ducks for over 20 years and in fact created some of Donald's relatives in the first place , including cousin Gladstone Gander, his friend Gyro Gearloose and of course Uncle Scrooge. Another Disney studio artist, Al Taliafferro created Donald's nephews in 1937, and Grandma Duck in 1943. Donald's other cousin Gus Goose first appeared in 1939 in an animated short known as Donald's Cousin Gus, and much of the work was based on work Barks had done in the animation studio in 1937. and his girlfriend Daisy are all here as well. The cover art is authentic Carl Barks art.
The stories include:
1) "Mocking Bird Ridge" 10 page story first printed in Walt Disney Comics & Stories (WDC&S) issue #215, 1958. This is the famous echo story with cousin Gladstone competing to sell respective lots of land to Uncle Scrooge under the mistaken impression he wants to buy land with echos.
2) "A Sticky Situation" from Dell Four Color Comics Daisy Duck's Diary #1150 in 1960. The publisher pressured Barks to do the Daisy Duck stories, Barks only provided the art, not the script.
3) A Grandma Duck story from Dell Four Color Vacation Parade #1, July 1950. The art is by Barks, the publisher provided the story.
4) "Jonah Gyro" 4 page story was first printed in Gold Key Comics Uncle Scrooge #48 in March 1964. A great fishing story which pokes fun at how technology and gadgets always seem to impact fishing.
5) "Go Slowly Sands of Time" whose basic story was by Carl Barks, while the art is more recent by the Gutenberghus Group.

These are great fun for families or nostalgia lovers, the Barks stories bring back so many memories from my original Duck comics as a kid. Share them with your own kids, they are timeless.