Long Day
Good day. I went out with my father today. I got JLU actions figures of Huntress, Vigilante with his pistol and lasso and Orion with his rocket sled. I also picked up the How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon on DVD. I'll watch it this Christmas.
Very tired. I'll be commenting in my journal a little more tonight and then I'll go to bed. Yawn.
Reviews for the latest issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and Uncle Scrooge below the fold. (Spoilers)
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #673
Donald Duck in "Froggy Fortune," by Daan Jippes: Decent story with cute gags but I am completely bewildered as to where the opening panel fits in with the rest of the story. Quite confusing. ***.
Mickey Mouse in "The Mystery of Freefer Hall," by Don Markstein and Cesar Ferioli: GREAT story and sequel to The Seven Ghosts. I loved that Donald showed up and all of the characters were in their classic Gottfredson character designs. I think the ending was a bit of a cop-out but I enjoyed the story up until that point. I am also really glad that the writers finally seemed to have found a good balance between Mickey and Donald being in the same story and making Donald a grump instead of an idiot. Good story. ****.
Li'l Bad Wolf in "Case of the Hovering Wolf" by Gil Turner: Wait, didn't Disney comics of this era use Mad Madam Mim? Then why the heck did this story have to use a generic Merlin when they could have just used the character from The Sword in the Stone? The story sucked too. *1/2.
Panchito Pistoles "Cat Catchers" by Paul Murry: I read this story an hour ago and I can't remember the first thing about it. ** (?)
Donald Duck in "The Orb Saga Part Three: Ornery Orb" by the McGreals/Cesar Ferioli: Decent but I am a little shocked that Scrooge would believe Donald would be a theif so easily. The Orb Saga is so far turning out kind of boring. **1/2.
Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse in "The Orb Saga Part Four: Sister Sleuths" by the McGreals/Cesar Ferioli.: Awful. I think the thing I dislike the most about Daisy and Minnie team-ups is that they try to have Grrrrl power moments by the end but they keep acting UNUSUALLY girlish and "tee hee" throughout the entire story. *.
Uncle Scrooge #359
Uncle Scrooge in "The Incredible Shrinking Tightwad!" by Don Rosa: I'm not gonna lie. Don Rosa HAS done much greater stories but it was a treat to finally see this story uncut for the first time anywhere in this country. Funny bits even if it IS a lot like other Rosa Beagle stories. I'm giving it high marks because it was a pleasure to finally be able to read the whole thing without the censorship worries. I miss Gladstone Comics but I'm really glad Gemstone isn't as uptight about printing slightly "risque" stuff. It's kind of bewildering that the "risque" stuff that was censored during the earlier printing just turned out to be close-up shots of the Beagle's dirt encrusted faces and germs. ****1/2.
Daisy Duck in "Out of Shape," by Frank Jonker and Mau Heymans: Really enjoyably funny story to read (SO cartoony) but I'm gonna downgrade it because of the "It was all a dream!" ending. Serious cop-out to an otherwise silly story. ***.
Uncle Scrooge in "The Keeper of Babylon Gardens," by Lars Jensen and Romano Scarpa; : The story was pretty good but the best thing about it was Romano Scarpa's artwork. Brilliant fluid stuff that made plant problems look even more disastrous. ***1/2.
Uncle Scooge in "Old Folks at Home," by Pat and Carol McGreal; Standard and boring. I WAS a little bit surprised to see the comic take a depressing look into how awful rest homes are but it seriously lost credit with me for the sunshine and puppies ending. Blech. **1/2.
Uncle Scrooge in "Colossalest Surprise Quiz Show," by Carl Barks : I can't remember if I've read this story before or not but I really loved it because of the REALLY mean-spirited ending. Downbeat endings like that are the reason I love Carl Barks. SO unPC but funny none-the-less. ****1/2.
Very tired. I'll be commenting in my journal a little more tonight and then I'll go to bed. Yawn.
Reviews for the latest issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and Uncle Scrooge below the fold. (Spoilers)
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #673
Donald Duck in "Froggy Fortune," by Daan Jippes: Decent story with cute gags but I am completely bewildered as to where the opening panel fits in with the rest of the story. Quite confusing. ***.
Mickey Mouse in "The Mystery of Freefer Hall," by Don Markstein and Cesar Ferioli: GREAT story and sequel to The Seven Ghosts. I loved that Donald showed up and all of the characters were in their classic Gottfredson character designs. I think the ending was a bit of a cop-out but I enjoyed the story up until that point. I am also really glad that the writers finally seemed to have found a good balance between Mickey and Donald being in the same story and making Donald a grump instead of an idiot. Good story. ****.
Li'l Bad Wolf in "Case of the Hovering Wolf" by Gil Turner: Wait, didn't Disney comics of this era use Mad Madam Mim? Then why the heck did this story have to use a generic Merlin when they could have just used the character from The Sword in the Stone? The story sucked too. *1/2.
Panchito Pistoles "Cat Catchers" by Paul Murry: I read this story an hour ago and I can't remember the first thing about it. ** (?)
Donald Duck in "The Orb Saga Part Three: Ornery Orb" by the McGreals/Cesar Ferioli: Decent but I am a little shocked that Scrooge would believe Donald would be a theif so easily. The Orb Saga is so far turning out kind of boring. **1/2.
Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse in "The Orb Saga Part Four: Sister Sleuths" by the McGreals/Cesar Ferioli.: Awful. I think the thing I dislike the most about Daisy and Minnie team-ups is that they try to have Grrrrl power moments by the end but they keep acting UNUSUALLY girlish and "tee hee" throughout the entire story. *.
Uncle Scrooge #359
Uncle Scrooge in "The Incredible Shrinking Tightwad!" by Don Rosa: I'm not gonna lie. Don Rosa HAS done much greater stories but it was a treat to finally see this story uncut for the first time anywhere in this country. Funny bits even if it IS a lot like other Rosa Beagle stories. I'm giving it high marks because it was a pleasure to finally be able to read the whole thing without the censorship worries. I miss Gladstone Comics but I'm really glad Gemstone isn't as uptight about printing slightly "risque" stuff. It's kind of bewildering that the "risque" stuff that was censored during the earlier printing just turned out to be close-up shots of the Beagle's dirt encrusted faces and germs. ****1/2.
Daisy Duck in "Out of Shape," by Frank Jonker and Mau Heymans: Really enjoyably funny story to read (SO cartoony) but I'm gonna downgrade it because of the "It was all a dream!" ending. Serious cop-out to an otherwise silly story. ***.
Uncle Scrooge in "The Keeper of Babylon Gardens," by Lars Jensen and Romano Scarpa; : The story was pretty good but the best thing about it was Romano Scarpa's artwork. Brilliant fluid stuff that made plant problems look even more disastrous. ***1/2.
Uncle Scooge in "Old Folks at Home," by Pat and Carol McGreal; Standard and boring. I WAS a little bit surprised to see the comic take a depressing look into how awful rest homes are but it seriously lost credit with me for the sunshine and puppies ending. Blech. **1/2.
Uncle Scrooge in "Colossalest Surprise Quiz Show," by Carl Barks : I can't remember if I've read this story before or not but I really loved it because of the REALLY mean-spirited ending. Downbeat endings like that are the reason I love Carl Barks. SO unPC but funny none-the-less. ****1/2.