thereflectionswdcs

WDCS107 'Super Snooper' In those years (late 1940s - Editor's remark) the newsstands were piled high with multitudes of superhero comics. I was afraid the readers of the duck comics might feel Donald and his nephews were out of touch with modern 'events', so I did this story in which Donald for a time becomes a superhero.	WDCS110 'Goldilocks' Kids and their dreams of summer camp are part of the pattern of growing up. Very few kids ever get to summer camp, but all can dream of the woodsy adventures they would have in such a place. I felt the ducks could find plenty to do at far-out Camp Whaha-Go-Gaga. Bears, of course, are necessary 'heavies' in most woodsy adventures.	WDCS112 'Rip van Winkle' The tale of Rip van Winkle always intrigued me. I tried many times to use the long sleep gimmick in a duck situation before I came up with this plot arrangement. Even so, the powers of suggestion had to be stretched to incredible lengths.
WDCS126 'The Money Crib' I always considered this story technically well done. It had a rhythm that could almost have been set to music ... I'm sure the lesson I preached in this story of easy riches will get me in a cell in a Siberian gulag someday.	WDCS138 'The Cornelius Coot Statues' I used cartoonist's license to carry this statue-building contest to the ridiculous limits of nonsense. How will the world ever get along without Maharajahs?" A woman took offense to the money contest: I don't blame that woman for writing a letter saying that she thought it was a gross misuse of money to build these enormous statues all crusted with diamonds when there were so many things that could have been done with that money, like building hospitals and schools and better jails. I wrote back to the office telling them that the woman missed the point entirely. The money that had been spent on those statues had bought labor and materials and had all gone into circulation, much better than if it had continued lying in the Maharajah's money bin or in Uncle Scrooge's Money Bin. It had created a tremendous amount of work, for jewelers and goldsmiths and concrete men and hydraulics experts. Everybody had a job out of that, so the money hadn't been wasted at all.	WDCS143 'The Gem Scam' I was inspired by the desert which is just over a range of hills from San Jacinto. I've sweated through heat waves and wind storms generated by that desert so many years it is no longer fun.
WDCS145 'Bing, You're Hypnotized!' This is the sort of story that only Donald can portray convincingly. Mickey could never be 'hypnotized' by such a simple gadget and Goofy could be hypnotized too easily. A good example of Donald's versatility as an 'actor'.	WDCS153 'The trained Worms' On his wife Garé: She inked the scales of the fish.	WDCS156 'The Master Rainmaker' The inspiration grew out of the news events of the period. Rainmaking by seeding clouds was getting a lot of publicity, and who could perfect the technique better than Donald Duck - and overdo it more disastrously?
WDCS160 'The Christmas Camel' For the only time during his comic book period Barks' wife Garé contributed a gag: The nephews have bought a camel from a bankruptcy sale for only 50 cents and continues: 'If we'd had two dollars, we could have bought an elephant!'	WDCS178 'The Neighbour Feud' The story evolves around noisy neighbours. Barks had firsthand knowledge of the annoyance, because he and Garé were living in a San Jacinto apartment house next-door to inconsiderate people at the time: At one side a couple played loud music, and upstairs an alcoholic woman was knocking empty bottles about every night.	WDCS186 'The Ice-Taxi' (See Barks' reaction to a reader's criticism of the story HERE.)
WDCS198 'Knight in Shining Armour' I bought the basic idea for this story from my daughter who lived in Washington State. Daughter Peggy also delivered the ideas for WDCS200, 211, 218, and 231.	(WDCS215 'The Milkman Story') The story was rejected in 1958, but has later been released. This story was shelved because Donald was too mean to the villain.	WDCS248 The Terrible Tourist Barks always feared that the editor would make cuts in his stories in order to make room for ads: Now will come the grisliest butchery of all, I fear - a page lifted from The Terrible Tourist. It may be that the managers managed to confine their cuts to other stories in that issue. Only time will tell. The story was not cut...
WDCS250 Boxed In I have just finished drawing two 10-page Donalds for Disney Comics that were scripted by an outsider. Editor Chase Craig sent me the two scripts while I was busy drawing the Gyro #3. I welcomed them as a chance to gain some time. Besides, I thought the writer might be some beginner who'd be encouraged by having his stuff used. Well, after days of rewriting and gag-propping on the scripts, all for free, I got them in shape and drew the art. Then, too late, I noticed on the border of one of the sheets the barely legible name of the author. It'd been erased, but I could make out the moniker of an old hack who has been around the game for years, and has never caught onto the duck style. Boy, do I feel let down.	WDCS263 The Candy Kid I dreamed up this story to feature Joe Cowles, a fan who was working on a popcorn machine at Disneyland.	WDCS264 Master Wrecker Barks included a few bars of music: The music from Haydn's symphony (Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G Major, commonly known as the Surprise Symphony - Editor's remark) must have been lifted from the book 'The Art of enjoying Music' by Sigmund Spaeth. I used the book for many references to musical forms and titles. Actually, I can't read a note.
WDCS270 The Jinxed Jalopy Race Barks was presented with this story when in Holland in 1994: Let's see. Something about it looks a little familiar. Yeah, I kinda remember this, something about litterbugging. That is an example of stories that just come up from various new laws we get in the States about throwing litter out on the highways, and how Donald gets in a jam, from somebody else's litter...	WDCS274 Gall of the Wild This was a nine page office story that I stretched.	WDCS280 Double Masquerade I used the seashore of Duckburg -- not too out of place for Burbank, which is a half-hour drive from the ocean. There was quite a fad for surfing at that time. The Beach Boys songs were very popular on the radio. Please don't be disturbed by the antics of a fictional surfing club. They 'kidnapped' their reluctant members in order to put up a united front for a good surfing show. I used their strong-arm methods as a menace to Donald's safety, a mere story gimmick.