Customer Reviews

Walt Disney's Donald Duck and the Junior Woodchucks (Gladstone Comic Album Series, No. 18)

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Printed in 1989 by Gladstone publishing by Gladstone publishing, this comic album is a graphic novel. printed on high quality paper, the series was known for its reprints of classic Disney comic stories that were as much as 40 years old at the time. Carl Barks was a comic book artist who wrote and drew for several Walt Disney comics titles including Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, and Walt Disney Comics & Stories. Starting in 1942, Barks churned out nearly 500 stories about the Disney ducks until his semi-retirement in 1966. He still contributed the occasional script after that date, but did not draw the comics any longer. His creations include Uncle Scrooge, Gladstone Gander, the town of Duckberg, Gyro Gearloose and many other features that are standard today. He is fondly remembered by his fans as "the good duck artist".
Huey, Dewey and Louie were nephews of Donald Duck, and Barks used the boys quite a bit in his stories. The boys belonged to a group known as The Junior Woodchucks, a scouting type organization created in the mind of Barks. Their amazing guidebook had more knowledge than the entire encyclopedia it seemed, and they were very capable young ducks. This album complies some well loved stories about the adventures of the Duck family that involved the Junior Woodchucks. I was a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout as a kid, and absolutely loved it. I felt a connection to the ducks because I felt the groups were similar. Later artists also used the Woodchucks in stories and they appeared in the Ducktales animated series.

In this album we have:
1) "Operation Saint Bernard" originally printed in Dell Comics title, Walt Disney Comics & Stories (WDC&S) issue #125, from February 1951. A 10 page story. It is good that this story leads off the book, as it is the origin story of the Woodchucks. Art & script by Carl Barks.
2) "Protective Cacophany" is not a Carl Barks story, it was produced in Denmark in the 1980's by the Gutenberghus Group, and is 6 pages.
3) "10 Star Generals" originally printed in Dell Comics title, Walt Disney Comics & Stories (WDC&S) issue #132, from September 1951. A 10 page story. Art & script by Carl Barks. Donald finds out the boys are trying out for merit badges, and thinking he is the expert on everything, he tries to "help" them with outrageous results. This is the story where the boys get promoted to 10 star generals in the Woodchucks.
4) "Course Play" is not a Carl Barks story, it was produced in Denmark in the 1980's by the Gutenberghus Group, and is 9 pages.
5) A 1 page gag first printed in Dell Comics one shot title Donald Duck issue #408, in July-August 1952. Art & script by Barks. When the boys see a park water fountain spraying the prospective drinkers, they get creative.
6) "The Chickadee Challenge" was first printed in in Dell Comics title, Walt Disney Comics & Stories (WDC&S) issue #181, from October 1955. A 10 page story. Art & script by Carl Barks. The Woodchuks receive a challenge from their female counterparts, the Chickadees. Donal tries to help the boys to win, with disastrous outcomes. Like the 10 star general story, Barks shows that sometimes parents get overly involved in trying to "help" their kids project, to the point that the kid is not doing the project anymore and does not get to leanr anything. Barks was very old school and seemed to feel you need to step back and let them try it, and enjoy their best effort whether it comes out great or not. (I agree). This marks the first appearance of the Chickadee's, yet another Barks's creation. Boy Scout leaders really enjoy this story as it does have a nice portrayal of "pioneering" projects, which show scouts how to build elaborate structures like bridges to learn skills.

All in all a great book, really fun for any old Carl Barks fan, or those who want to pass this legacy of stories onto their kids.