The 2020 election may be over - or may not be, depending on who you believe - but ya know what's NOT OVER?
HALLOWEEN 2020 - because (...all together now) Halloween 2020 isn't over until I say it is!
And we've still got some scary stuff to cover! For all the recent posts concerning BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY...
...Perhaps the SCARIEST thing to come out of our beloved Gold Key Comics was THIS... and, thanks to our great friend Achille Talon, it now has its own Wiki entry, on his "Scrooge McDuck Wiki" - which you can access HERE!
Excluding some of the original (non-European) Boom! Studios material and (at least "translation and dialogue-wise") post 2018 IDW comics, this is The Single Worst Example of a Disney Comic Book Story in terms of the "Triple Crown" of story, art, and lettering! ...In my NOT-so-humble opinion, that is!
I felt that way upon first reading it in the Summer of 1969, and I still feel so today!
In 2011, I left a long comment on GeoX's "Duck Comics Revue" Blog detailing why. It's about time I ported those thoughts over to my own Blog, and here they are (slightly modified for their "new context" here):
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Taking half a second to analyze WHY I have held this one in such infamy for so long, you have to consider the STEEP AND SUDDEN DECLINE the DONALD DUCK title had undergone to get to this point.
Three years or so prior, it was drawn exclusively by Tony Strobl, its stories were a mix of contributions by Vic Lockman (when he was quite good - think "Og's Iron Bed" 1966), Carl Fallberg, Bob Gregory, Bob Ogle, and probably others.
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| Donald Duck #109 (1966) |
Beginning with the first issue released in 1967 (#112 below), the title adopted a rigid format of a 14-page lead adventure story, the annoyingly juvenile (even for a KIDS' comic) "Gold Key Comics Club" for the four-pages of the centerfold, a four-page GOOFY guest story, the text story page (required by postal regulations), a seven-page Donald back-up (...of which "Bird-Bothered Hero" was one), and the two final pages were also devoted to the "Gold Key Comics Club". And, no... my view of the "Gold Key Comics Club" is not that of a jaded "adult fanboy". I despised that unwelcome intrusion into my favorite line of comics, supplanting SIX PAGES of comics material in every issue, from the day I first saw it as a young reader.
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| Donald Duck #112 (1967) |
The period of 1967-1968 consisted pretty much of issue like these - Lockman and Strobl working in the abovementioned format, changed up by an occasional gem like Barks' "Pawns of the Loup Garou" (DONALD DUCK # 117), originally drawn by Strobl from Barks' pencil layouts. While overall not as good as the pre-1967 issues, they were still fine, with some true standouts.
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| Donald Duck # 117 (Purchased Thanksgiving Weekend, 1967) |
The first issue released in 1969 (#124) changed everything! Same format, but the two Donald stories were drawn by Kay Wright, who would alternate on-and-off with Strobl into the early 1970s.
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| Donald Duck #124 (1969) |
The Kay Wright stories in that issue were reasonably entertaining (especially the seven-page backup - a story in the Barks "Brittle Mastery" mode), somewhat mitigating the jarring change in art, and the Goofy filler was uncharacteristically drawn by classic Mickey Mouse and Goofy artist Paul Murry. giving the issue some needed familiarity.
As with 1967-1968, the "first-half" 1969 issues were still "okay to pretty good", and we had the Carl Barks written (with his layouts, and again drawn by Tony Strobl) "Officer for a Day" with a fully penciled and inked Barks cover in #126.
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| Donald Duck #126 (1969) |
...but still eked its way into the plus column with an unusual appearance by Goofy in a Donald Duck adventure lead.
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| Donald Duck # 127 (1969) |
Closing that book was "Bird-Bothered Hero", a story that might have had a shot at being at least "good" if the stars and planets properly aligned, and the creative gods were feeling charitable, but failed in every conceivable way. After all, Donald swallowing a sort of "super bird-whistle", could open the door to a virtual universe of comedic potential... but noooo! As for awful art and uncomfortably large lettering, we'll let these illustrations speak for themselves...
For a look at how these stories were lettered at their best, check the work of a sadly uncredited letterer by the name of Rome Siemon (below), and compare it with the oversized ugliness above.
The way I have always described this good letterer's work was to say that he was the one who lettered Paul Murry's stories, when Murry didn't do it himself.
Below: Rome Siemon's lettering ("Blackbeard") and Paul Murry's.
In his Blog entry, GeoX pondered what William Van Horn might do with such a wacky situation. We'll never know, because he wouldn't burst on to the Duck-scene for almost another 20 years. But, considering it in a more '60s media context, I wondered how the great Michael Maltese would have handled this in an "Augie Doggie" cartoon - with poor ol' Doggie Daddy swallowing the whistle.
15 comments:
As a comment, I should add that, ironically, I have personally assisted in largely making this most-unfavorite Disney comic book story as “famous” (or “infamous”) as it is, by probably having written (and spoken, and etched-on-cave-walls) more about it than very likely anyone on Earth!
As for the three primary creators involved, they are more of a “mixed-bag” in my estimation than “Bird-Bothered Hero” might indicate.
Writer Vic Lockman, though he was very capable of producing a “clinker” – especially later in his career, was and always will be a favorite of mine for his often wild (certainly by the standards of Western Publishing) imagination, his creative “turns-of-phrase”, and his use of dialogue alliteration!
As a writer (translation and dialogue) for these very same comics (…Isn’t it wonderful how some things turn out! Who’d have ever imagined THAT when I first read “Bird-Bothered Hero” in 1969), I often try to emulate Vic Lockman’s unique scripting style, and have even been called on to “tribute” or “augment” him at times! There’s just something about what he did that I admire!
Bill Spicer’s lettering was (strictly in my opinion) too big, too thick, and less attractive than I would have preferred. But, when it comes to comic book lettering, he is hardly alone. There are a fair number of letterers who I find even MORE uncomfortable to read… for later Gold Key, DC, Gladstone, Gemstone, Boom!, etc.
I feel the letterer should be “INVISIBLE” to the reader… not stand out! And, in the case of “Bird-Bothered Hero”, Bill Spicer’s lettering “stood-out”. But, as I note in the post, this was early in his career – and he did get better!
To better frame this, letterers I like are (and not strictly limited to): Rome Sieman, Carl Barks, Gare Barks, Paul Murry, Harvey Eisenberg, John Carey; John Costanza, Ben Oda, Todd Klein, David Gerstein, William Van Horn, Ira Schnapp, whoever did the majority of the lettering for the St. John Terrytoons comics, and others – and something I strenuously disliked was lettering for the Pines Terrytoons comics which directly followed the St. John issues.
To the art, I’m sorry but I NEVER liked Kay Wright’s work! He was better than this when he worked on early 1960s Hanna-Barbera comics for Dell and Gold Key – but he was still at the bottom of that particular barrel – polar opposite to the great Harvey Eisenberg! By the time he returned to Western in the late 1960s, he was far worse!
But, believe it or not, by that time, he was NOT quite at the bottom of the barrel, as Bob Gregory – and a number of artists who worked on the Looney Tunes comics, like the inappropriately-used Lee Holley, were worse. Alas, that says lots more about Western Publishing in the 1970s, than it says about Kay Wright!
So, it was a “mixed-bag” creatively, which (unfortunately for the readers) showed each individual creator at his worst. …Your thoughts?
I always thought Kay Wright was ... just fine. Just average. Like someone trying to be Paul Murry but not really making it there.
But the other reason I'm posting here is the episode of Teen Titans on this Saturday, titled "Huggbees!" is supposed to guest star someone I think you've heard of: a Mr. Freakazoid? You probably want to watch it. ;)
If Kay Wright was “trying to be Paul Murry”, it would be like me trying to be Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson!
Charlton’s Ray Dirgo was initially worse, but unlike Kay Wright and Bob Gregory, he actually improved as he progressed. I might go as far as to say Bob Gregory was even worse than Kay Wright because Gregory was dull and limited, in addition to being bad. …And, good or bad, if there’s one thing you can say about Ray Dirgo… he was never dull!
Thinking about that early-to-mid-seventies period, between Gold Key and Charlton, we funny animal fans seemed to get a LOT of really bad art all at once! Small wonder I stopped reading during that period.
Freakazoid! on Teen Titans??? I don’t care if my reply looks like a non-sequitur… DO I?!!! …And that’s not a non-sequitur, if you’re a “Freak-a-fan!”
My sibs and I had "Og's Iron Bed" but didn't have any comics with Moby Duck, so I guess that tells you when we stopped buying Duck comics--not long before the precipitous decline in quality. We certainly didn't have "Pawns of the Loup Garou," which is a pity, because I would have liked Miss Minemore. And speaking of Strobl's art: I personally prefer Strobl's version of this Barks story to the version redrawn by Daan Jippes...mostly because Jippes' Miss Minemore looks like a nervous wreck all the time. Expressions are exaggerated to the extent that it warps her character.
Maybe I was being a tad generous with Wright ;) It was always just journeyman art to me so I was neutral on it.
And even though I never cared for Ray Dirgo's art as a kid, there was a kinda roughness to his art that I thought was appropriate on stories about people in the Stone Age. And never dull is right -- aside from some of those contorted faces, he sure liked his plewds and motion lines!
I'm excited to see this Freakazoid appearance too. I wonder if it'll tie into the original Huggbees segment from the show? Will we actually meet Mrs. Huggbees??
JoeC:
If Kay Wright was a “journeyman”, then he should have “journeyed” far, far away!
It’s a crying shame how good the art was on the European comics, while we suffered through Kay Wright and Bob Gregory! It’s hard to believe there wasn’t SOMEONE available who could have drawn Donald Duck better than that example seen in the post!
Whether or not I liked it, it was much easier to accept someone like Ray Dirgo at CHARLTON, than Wright or Gregory at GOLD KEY – once the home of Carl Barks, Paul Murry, and Tony Strobl – as well as Harvey Eisenberg, Phil De Lara and the rest!
Elaine:
You write: “My sibs and I had "Og's Iron Bed" but didn't have any comics with Moby Duck, so I guess that tells you when we stopped buying Duck comics--not long before the precipitous decline in quality.”
Interesting. That would put your time of cessation somewhere within the second half of 1966! Leaving when Gold Key was still at its creative height – albeit the very tail end of same.
I hung in there until spring 1972, when girls finally overtook comics in the interest-department! In those days, the two simply didn’t coexist. You went out with girls, or you stayed home and read comics (…and, until spring 1972, I did the latter – while lamenting that I was not doing the former!)
While there could be no discounting the allure of girls, comic books were relatively easy to leave at that time, due to an overall decline in quality vs. those from my sainted sixties. By the time I checked-out, the only things I still found at all interesting were the Carl Barks reprints, the new Jack Manning-drawn stories in Mickey Mouse (likely the writing of Cecil Beard), and a significant uptick in the Batman titles. But that was no longer enough… and I was gone until 1980-1981.
…Of course, I’ve been making up for that ever since!
It may – or may not – surprise you to learn that I also prefer the Tony Strobl version of "Pawns of the Loup Garou," because, at least to me, Daan Jippes’ version looked a bit over-exaggerated and extreme. Had Barks originally drawn it – in his own style circa 1967 – it would have looked more like Strobl than Jippes.
Of course, if Barks had drawn it in 1961, or 1952, or 1945, it would look different each time. But, Strobl captured more of what I feel 1967 Barks would have looked like.
Maybe someone could photoshop a fake “Disney Disasters” cover for “Donald Duck: Bird Bothered Hero by Vic Lockman and Kay Wright” using the panel with Donald blowing as the main image.
I LIKE IT!
Hey, here's what we think happened. So that bloke Kay Wright was about to sit down and give glorious visual illustration to the epic tale of the Bird-Bothered Hero, in glorious full-colour etchings, right? Details to make Don Rosa cry, biologically-accurate birds as you wouldn't get from the finest ornithologists.
Only his pencil ripped at the page he was starting to ink, and what with the Power of Fiction, that went and created a direct interdimensional rift between his studio, and the world he was describing. So, y'see, all these seagulls started spilling right out of the page and into poor Mr Wright's artist's studio!
…D'you follow?
The reason he couldn't draw properly that day (or, for that matter, any day since) is… THE SEAGULLS! THERE WERE SO MANY OF THEM HE COULDN'T SEE… what he was doing!
Or maybe he was just a bit of a hack, what do we know. We're only interdimensional androids.
Cupids:
That is ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
There is nothing I could add! Times like this make me glad you’ve chosen to take-up residence at this humble Blog!
I never read this story but from the excerpts it looks to be bland and forgettable.
The stories that anger me, that I actively dislike, are not "bland and forgettable". They tend to be bad in an offensive way, because they pervert the characters and seem to be written with the intention of disturbing the reader. I tend to refer to three worst offenders but there's a lot more where they come from:
"Ring Twice and I'll Clobber You, My Lad"
"Rock Around the Clock"
"The Last Duck on Earth"
Ironically, some of what I perceive as fatally bad features in these stories, and similar ones cut from the same cloth, can be traced back to "Loup Garou", which is one of the few Barks efforts I really can't stomach.
By the way, you wrote "letting" instead of "lettering"...
Always good to hear from you, Spec-Spec!
“Bland and forgettable” it may be, but “Bird-Bothered Hero” is so monumentally bad – and is so in so many different ways – that it stands-out glaringly from the pack of ordinary “bland and forgettable” stories… and really isn’t “forgettable” after all! …Though I wish that it were!
Use this as a measuring stick, if you will… unlike a certain other Blog (by a very good and very talented writer, I might add) this Blog does not exist to deride the professional work of others. Oh, sure we “have fun with it”, but it’s more “loving fun”, and never direct and outright derision!
So, when you read my views on things like “Bird-Bothered Hero” and IDW’s American English Translation and Dialogue of “My First Millions”, know that they are well beyond “bland and forgettable”… and are just plain BAD!
Spelling error corrected… Thank you!
Thing is, I've read quite a bit of S-coded stories from the 60s and this looks to me as being of a similar quality. Maybe I'm wrong but ultimately it boils down to banal, very "kid-friendly" plots and equally simplistic art. I think GeoX has analysed a couple of stories of this ilk. Essentially, it's throwaway fluff, nowhere near the quality of artists and writers who took their art seriously, but probably also not warranting such an in-depth look. I dunno.
Spec-Spec:
I’m sure you’ve read more of the S-coded stories than I have, simply because few of them have been printed in the USA (perhaps thankfully).
But those I have seen – as well as those I have seen in their “rough-dialogued form” – I’ve found to be a noticeable step below the product produced by Western Publishing… even the “bland and forgettable” ones. Yes, there are degrees even among the “bland and forgettable”.
My speculation is they were all the more simplified BECAUSE they were produced by Disney, and not Western. Western, despite what GeoX says, still had high standards in the 1960s, and their product of that time was of a decidedly higher caliber than the S-Code Stuff.
That began to change in 1969, not so coincidently the year of “Bird-Bothered Hero”, as a slow and steady decline took hold and never reversed itself.
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