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Barks excelled in stories that would direct our expectations in one direction, whereupon he would lure us in quite another direction. This can only be done by a non-assembly line artist who really feels for his work and takes time to dream up spectacular plotlines. Barks was indeed such an artist! He once said: I was letting the story build up to a certain point in which the reader would be expecting the conventional end, and then I would fool the reader by dragging in something that was completely ridiculous, making it look plausible. This story is one of the most surprising in this rather difficult field. As we all know Donald is always eternally unlucky in the company of his eternally lucky cousin, Gladstone Gander, but in this story Barks reverses these cemented roles during a day at the golf course. And he does so until page 9½! Then, when Donald is so near total victory, Barks turns the tables completely leaving Donald as the usual unlucky guy, who, completely devastated, winds up going into voluntary 'exile' in his closet never to come out again. And Barks adds yet another powerful twist to the misery by having the nephews beg to move in with their uncle... |
