On this day, Disneyland's 53rd Birthday, we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of a comic book the celebrated the third birthday of the Happiest Place on Earth.
For many baby boomers such as myself, comic books were a staple of childhood summertimes. Walt Disney's Mickey and Donald in Vacationland, published in 1961, celebrated the fun and joys of summer vacation. The book's title story featured a major character mash-up set in a Wicked Witch-created amusement park called "Vacationland." Featured in the story were Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, Uncle Scrooge, Goofy, both sets of nephews, Gyro Gearloose, Grandma Duck, Gladstone, the Wicked Witch, Big Bad Wolf and Captain Hook.
It is a question that has never really concerned me.
Scrooge's pointed message came via well known Disney comic book scribe and artist Don Rosa. Though the story specifically targeted coin collectors, it was but a thinly veiled reference to comic book collecting (putting them in plastic sleeves and afraid to touch them) where enjoyment of a comic book's content became secondary to its collectible status and value. But the message could certainly be applied to any such medium, including Disneyana.
As an always important but still subtle presence in comic book stories featuring the madcap but well-intentioned Gyro Gearloose, the Little Helper literally shines as both a loyal companion and resourceful assistant to the eccentric and often absent-minded inventor. So intentionally nondescript in nature was this character that it never was given a name in any official capacity. In its lifetime of just over five decades, it has been alternately referred to as Helper, Little Helper, Gyro's Helper and Little Bulb.
As Barks' Gyro Gearloose stories evolved, Little Helper became a surprisingly well-defined supporting character with a very distinct and engaging personality. Often, its comic vignettes ran parallel to Gyro's panel by panel actions; it was particularly adept at interacting with small animals, often using the creatures for sport and amusement, though never in a mean-spirited nor malicious manner. And in some ways, Little Helper became much, much more. As Blum further noted:
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first appearance of Gyro Gearloose, modern four color duck scribe Don Rosa in 2002 penned an origin story of sorts that detailed the creation of Little Helper. Tying into 1950s era comic book continuity, Rosa related how Gyro helped Scrooge McDuck retrieve his vast fortune that was lost underground in events chronicled in the classic holiday tale A Christmas for Shacktown. In the process, Little Helper is created from a table lamp accidentally imbued with the inventor's intelligence. Gyro then retrofitted the newly sentient appliance with mechanical arms and legs, and doll shoes that acted as miniature shock absorbers. It becomes, as the story's title indicates, Gyro's First Invention. At the story's end, ever wise nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie indicate that not only was the little guy Gyro's first invention, he was also his best invention--" Part helper . . . and part best friend!"
It was certainly no coincidence that the comic book, Walt Disney's Covered Wagons Ho! was released shortly after the film Westward Ho the Wagons arrived in theaters in late 1956. The movie was notable for casting Fess Parker and a number of Mouseketeers as members of a wagon train heading west on the Oregon Trail. The comic cast Mickey and friends as similar pioneering trailblazers, albeit in a more lightweight, comedic vein.
Disney legend and comic book artist-writer Carl Barks is well known for his deft storytelling and often times sharp wit, and these qualities are certainly evident in the various Christmas-themed tales he put to paper over his long and prolific career. But it is also interesting to note that the Duckman never really succumbed to infusing excessive holiday spirit into these efforts, and more often than not, his tales of Christmas seemed more prone to cynicism than sentimentality. However, Barks' very first four color Christmas story, "Donald Duck's Best Christmas," does touch on themes of kindness and unconditional giving that even the bluster and self serving qualities of its title character can't completely overshadow.
It falls to Huey, Dewey and Louie to act collectively as the story's moral center and good conscience, roles they typically play in so many of Barks' efforts. For when the ducks give up their trek to Grandma's and sadly turn back for home, the boys reveal to their uncle that they have in fact given away the presents and the holiday bird to the needy family. While Donald is surprisingly non-plussed by the revelation, he still remains relatively true to self by being seemingly unimpressed by his nephews' kind and genuine gesture. His self-centered, final panel proclamation gives credence to the theory that Barks' parting words in holiday tales tended to be jaded and cynical ones.
It was an odd dynamic and one that Barks scholar Geoffrey Blum commented on in a collection of Barks Christmas stories published by Gladstone Comics back in the late 1980s. Blum noted of Donald, " . . . if anything, the story has proven him eminently fallible. By giving Donald the last word, however, Barks managed to soften what would otherwise have been an unbearably preachy ending. It's the first in a long line of ambiguous morals, a device at which the artist became quite proficient. As a purveyor of wholesome entertainment for children, he could seldom finish up with a snarl, yet he was equally determined not to end on a syrupy note. Best to conclude with a question mark."
The holiday season is upon us so let's get the festivities started with some Four Color Fun from 1957. A Goofy Christmas Game appeared as one of the activity pages in the Dell comic Christmas in Disneyland. The rules in case you need them:
While Carl Bark's comic book adaptation of the cartoon Trick or Treat is considered by many to be Disney's best Halloween-themed four color endeavor, modern duck scribe Don Rosa contributed a dandy 10-pager to the genre that is equally classic though largely unrecognized.
The Duck-Jones battles were a staple of Barks' classic run of 10 page stories from Walt Disney Comics & Stories. And in true Don Rosa-fashion, our modern duckman pays loving tribute to those well-crafted neighborhood showdowns. With only the best of intentions, Huey, Dewey and Louie encourage the backyard rivals to set aside their differences and team up for a Jack-O'-Lantern carving contest being sponsored by the mayor of Duckburg. It seems that while Jones has a stock of enormous, prize-winning pumpkins, he lacks Donald's master pumpkin-carving skills. Due to the usual braggadocio and bickering, the partnership lasts a mere four panels. The gauntlet is thrown down and battle lines are quickly drawn. There are no pumpkins left in Duckburg, so Donald has to acquire one from Jones, and Jones soon realizes his carving skills are not what they need to be.
To say things get a little messy would be an understatement. The fates of Jones' pumpkins becomes a splatter-filled garden variety Ten Little Indians as each one befalls a fate predestined by the story's title. Pratfalls build in scale and scope, from Donald's early efforts at simple sabotage to Jones' full scale assault that demolishes most of the duck's house. And along the way, Rosa plants distinct visual clues that ultimately lead to the tale's penultimate climax--a hilarious sight gag that is clever in conception and brilliant in execution.
Unfortunately, Fit to Be Pied has not been reprinted during Gemstone Publishing's recent run of Disney titles that are still readily available. For those willing to search a little, either via Internet or back issue bins, the story was published in the aforementioned Walt Disney Comics Stories #526, and then reprinted in 1996 in the better quality format of Walt Disney Comics & Stories # 606.
Donald's nephews help us head back to school again as we feature a colorful activity page from another vintage comic book. Record Your School Growth appeared on the back cover of the 1959 edition of Walt Disney's Huey, Dewey and Louie Back to School. The boys' teachers in this particular issue were Daisy Duck, Clara Cluck, Grandma Duck, Gryro Gearloose and Uncle Scrooge. Other activities included Recess Riddles, School Party Popcorn Box and Daisy's Picture Anagrams. All for just 25 cents.
These important safety tips come courtesy of the 1960 Dell Giant comic Walt Disney's Huey, Dewey and Louie Back to School.
Pirates have invaded Disneyland's Tom Sawyer Island recently with the Imagineer-installed Pirate's Lair overlay. But here's a view of the Mark Twain-inspired environment from nearly a half a century ago. This map was featured on the inside front cover of the 1958 comic book Walt Disney's Donald and Mickey in Disneyland on Tom Sawyer Island.
Gemstone Publishing has just released the first volume of a new comic book series that features the work of their two most notable and famous comic creators, the legendary Carl Barks, and contemporary Duck scribe Don Rosa. Rosa has always used Bark’s body of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge stories as the foundation and inspiration for his own efforts over the past twenty years, often penning direct sequels to many of the Duckman’s epic adventures. Each issue of the ongoing Barks-Rosa Collection will bring an original Barks endeavor and its subsequent Rosa sequel together in one publication.The just-released first volume pairs Barks’ classic 1957 Uncle Scrooge adventure The Land of Pygmy Indians with Rosa’s 1990 The War of the Wendigo.
While one does not normally associate America’s post-war years with eco-friendly attitudes and conservation-based movements, Carl Barks certainly and not-so-subtlety infused The Land of Pygmy Indians with environmentally-conscious sensibilities. The conflict between industrialization and conservation is encapsulated in Uncle Scrooge, who in the story’s opening panel, rages about Duckburg’s “smog and noise and shoving people,” and expresses his desire to relocate to an unspoiled land free of roads, cities, factories and people. Yet, just a few panels later after Scrooge has purchased a large tract of northern wilderness from Sidewalk Sam the Real Estate Man, Scrooge acknowledges to himself that he is the one responsible for the “chemical gases, smelter smoke and factory fumes” that permeate Duckburg. It touches on the same “we have met the enemy and it is us” supposition that fellow cartoonist and Disney alumnus Walt Kelly brought to his famous Pogo comic strip years later.
This theme continues as Scrooge, accompanied by Donald and the nephews, heads north to survey his newly acquired property. As the group marvels at sapphire blue lakes and beautiful natural vistas, Scrooge finds himself instinctively identifying the region’s untapped resources that are just begging for exploitation.
The Peeweegah Indians emerge from this wilderness and quite rightly question the motivations of the paleduck visitors. Scrooge, despite attempting to repress his crass commercialism, still insists that he is the land’s rightful owner. The Peeweegah chief disputes these claims in an
eloquent oration spoken in rhythms inspired by Longfellow’s classic Little Hiawatha poem:
By whom was this token given?
By whose hand these written scratches?
Did the sun from high above you
Sell you all these lands and waters?
Did the winds that bend the pine trees?
Did the snows that fall in winter?
Did the rain shower or the lightning
Sign away these forests to you?
Me no believe that such a token
Would be honored by the fishes
By the creatures of the forest
By the birds we call our brothers
In the land of the Peeweegahs!
None could sign away these woodlands,
None could have the right or reason,
But the chiefs of all the brothers
In a powwow with the seasons!
Scrooge is forced to prove his not-so-sincere intentions by the standard trial by fire ritual, in this case besting the King Sturgeon, a giant villainous fish that terrorizes both the peaceful Peeweegahs and the local wildlife as well. Naturally it is Donald, the paleducks’ champion, who ultimately must challenge and bring about the sturgeon’s defeat.
It is no small irony that the sturgeon is vanquished using the very resources that Scrooge so desperately covets. The ever resourceful nephews concoct a pill comprised of the “oxide of strombolium” made of materials Scrooge has been lovingly sifting from the area’s soil. When Scrooge is later made ill and driven back to Duckburg by a drag on a peace pipe laced with the very same elements, that same irony is revisited again. In the tale’s final panels, Scrooge revels in Duckburg’s toxic pollution he initially sought so desperately to escape.
Don Rosa returned Scrooge, Donald and the nephews to the northern wilderness of Canada in The War of the Wendigo, and the environmental concerns of the late 20th century became the focal point of this story still set in Barks’ postwar duck universe. Rosa always made a point of keeping his stories grounded in a 1950s time frame, maintaining consistency with Barks original stories. When the nephews astutely identify “acid rain” at one point in the story, it bears the tone of a newly coined term rather than an established idiom. Let’s face it, when recognizing ecological issues, the Junior Woodchucks were literally decades ahead of their time.
Traveling to Ontario to inspect his paper mills, Scrooge and the boys are drawn into the mystery of the Wendigo, legendary gremlins of the north woods. The Wendigo in fact turn out to be the Peeweegah, who with their animal brethren are sabotaging one of Scrooge’s main mills. The mill is spewing pollutants that are impacting the Peeweegah’s native lands, the same lands Scrooge had vowed to preserve and protect. After the Peeweegah kidnap Scrooge to hold him accountable for his perceived betrayal, the mill’s plant manager, Ravage DeFlora quickly sets in motion a plan to plunder the Great North’s natural resources and spread devastation.
Though the resulting climax involves a large scale revolt on the part of Mother Nature’s normally passive creatures and the destruction of the paper mill, it is once again the Peeweegah chief who provides Scrooge with some much needed wisdom and perspective:
Oh, paleface duck of big wampum,
How you think you got your riches?
Did man put gold in the Yukon
For you to dig out with shovel?
Did man fill you mines with diamonds?
Did man fill your wells with oil?
Did man plant the ancient forests
That turned to coal for your digging?
Scrooge Mac-Duck, you owe your riches
To the Mother Nature spirit!
This day spirit has decided
To take back this tiny portion!
With lessons hopefully learned, Scrooge vows to “install pollution controls in all his factories” and “plant two trees for everyone he cuts.” But it is the words of a Junior Woodchuck in the story’s final panel that reflects a contemporary reality that extends beyond any comic book story:
“Do you think Unca Scrooge will ever learn to appreciate the non-financial profits?”
It is the same question that we in the 21st century must ask when confronting those inconvenient truths similar to the ones Scrooge McDuck encountered in the land of the Peeweegah.
Uncle Scrooge Adventures: The Barks/Rosa Collection Volume 1 is available to order from the popular online booksellers, as well as directly from Gemstone Publishing.
The highlight of the day was my all to brief meeting with Don Rosa. A long line behind me prevented any kind of extended conversation, but Don did personalize a really unique (and hilarious) print that he generously gave me permission to showcase here. It is likely the closest thing you'll ever find to a Disney-Lord of the Rings crossover.
The future from 1958 was oh so bright and shiny and fun. Walt Disney was certainly one of the biggest proponents of the U.S. space program during the Eisenhower years, as reflected by his many space-themed television shows and also by Tomorrowland in Disneyland. These endeavors spilled over into other entertainment formats, and kids of the era were even able to get a pretty strong dose of scientific idealism at their local newsstand.
It was twenty years ago in the spring of 1987 that the comic book story “The Son of the Sun” debuted in the pages of Uncle Scrooge #219, and marked the beginning of what has become the illustrious and prolific career of writer/artist Don Rosa. In these past score of years, Don has produced numerous wonderful stories featuring Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge and the many other colorful characters of Disney’s “duck universe,” all the while paying homage to, and expanding on, the creative legacy of Disney Legend and original “duck man” Carl Barks.
In a 1997 publication, Gladstone Comics staffer John Clark told of how “The Son of the Sun” came to be:
“The Son of the Sun” is an amazing piece of storytelling. Epic in scope and scale, it is a tour de force of fast paced action, clever and often hilarious dialogue, and dynamic, detailed artwork that at times is simply breathtaking in its execution.
Previously established by Carl Barks in a number of his own stories, the contentious rivalry between Scrooge McDuck and his arch adversary Flintheart Glomgold sets the stage for a contest involving the search for the legendary lost treasure of the Incan Empire. Information from the infallible Junior Woodchucks Guidebook points Scrooge, Donald and nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie to the
There is action present that matches anything from an Indiana Jones movie. Spectacular airplane crashes, collapsing ancient rope bridges and a literally earth shattering climax that is both hilarious and stunning at the same time. 
And the quest’s final penultimate object, the jewel-laden Eye of Manco Capac:
Peppered throughout the panels are delightful references to previous Barks-chronicled duck adventures. The opening museum sequence is filled with one homage after another to earlier Scrooge adventures, and upon arriving at Lake Titicoocoo later in the story, the group meets a very notable character previously featured in the classic Barks tale “Lost in the Andes,” who goes on to play a very humorous role in the story’s conclusion.
Don’t let the fact that this is a comic book fool you. “The Son of the Sun” is dense in both plot and details. And make no mistake,
Fortunately, “The Son of the Sun” was reprinted a few years ago and is still available from Gemstone Publishing. It can be ordered directly from their website.
One of my earliest posts here on 2719 Hyperion was a short feature about one of my favorite Disney cartoons: Donald and the Wheel. In digging through my long boxes recently I rediscovered a little piece of four-color fun I had forgotten I had—the Dell Comics adaptation of that 1961 Donald Duck short. 
Most would likely dismiss this Donald Duck comic book as being fairly inconsequential. Typically, if a Duck comic from this time period doesn’t possess a Carl Barks pedigree, it tends to be largely ignored, let alone inspire any kind of discussion.
While adapting the vast majority of the cartoon’s sequences, the comic also added a framing sequence involving Huey, Dewey and Louie and established a narrative with Donald himself being a character, and not just assuming roles within the story. The Spirits of Progress, the father-son duo who are the central narrators of the tale, fully appeared in the comic, going beyond the rot scoped silhouettes they were in the cartoon.
One feature that remained consistent from film to page was the clever rhyming dialog that the Spirits cleverly engage in.
In keeping with the “edu-tainment” nature of both short and comic story, the inside, cover pages and the back cover provided some fun illustrated facts and diagrams.
Certainly in no way groundbreaking or otherwise significant, but a neat little piece of memorabilia nonetheless.
In the 1950s world of Disney comic books, even supporting characters could become stars in their own right. Case in point--Flora, Fauna and Merryweather take center stage in this Dell Four Color Comic from 1959.
Crossovers with other Disney personalities were common to these types of character showcases and Sleeping Beauty’s Fairy Godmothers had some very distinct guest stars appear between its pages. In the issue’s first story, “Good Deed Day,” Merry attempts to cheer up a lonely and depressed Reluctant Dragon, the star of the 1941 feature film of the same name.
In “To the Rescue,” the girls do their best, with the assistance of Timothy Mouse, to help Dumbo weather an extreme crisis of confidence that has the little elephant grounded. In the end we learn that “Sometimes a good heart does more than all the magic in the world.”
Here's a fun piece of artwork from a vintage 1950s Disney comic book. This illustration was featured on the back cover of Dell Four Color Comics #631 from 1955. The subject of the issue was of course Davy Crockett, this time being the adaptation of Davy Crockett Indian Fighter. A photo-illustration of Fess Parker graced book's cover, and the inside front cover provided the following introduction:
