The Best Tune That is Looney!

 Well, I guess I asked for it...

Now that the voting is closed in our Gottfredson Guessing Game, and the results will be posted soon, I volunteered, as a lead-in to the Big Event, to offer up "My Favorite Looney Tunes Short", followed by "My Favorite Carl Barks Story"...

...So, here they are!  Looney Tunes today, Barks maybe in another day or three, and finally the glory of Gottfredson!  

As I mentioned in the previous Comments Section, these things often come grouped in "Top Threes", and Looney Tunes and Barks are no exception. I'll run 'em all down with explanations as to why they fall where they do.  Good fodder for your comments too!  

FAVORITE LOONEY TUNES SHORT: "Rabbit Seasoning"! Chuck Jones, Michael Maltese, and Mel Blanc are ALL at the top of their game in this one!  With Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer as the most perfect, textbook versions of the characters as we know them best!  

This is the second of the "Duck Season, Rabbit Season Trilogy" and far and away the best, in terms of  character design, character movement, witty dialogue (...which you all know that I LOVE), and voice performances! 

But for me, as a writer, what REALLY sets "Rabbit Seasoning" apart from its predecessor "Rabbit Fire", and its successor "Duck! Rabbit, Duck!", is that it has the strongest ending of the three, paying off a gag bit expertly laid earlier in the cartoon by Michael Maltese!  The now-immortal "Would you like to shoot me now, or wait 'till you get home?"

In comparison, the "Elmer Season" closing gag of "Rabbit Fire", and the "Baseball Season" closing gag of "Duck! Rabbit, Duck!", despite these cartoons' other fine moments, cannot help but fall flat!  

Those who know me in real-life know that "Rabbit Seasoning" is chock full of go-to quotes for me:

"You keep outta dis, he doesn't have to shoot you now!" (from Bugs). 

"Let's run through that again!" (lisping like Daffy Duck).

"Pronoun trouble!" (from Daffy). 

"Well I say he DOES have to shoot me now - so SHOOT ME NOW!" (from Daffy)

"Yaess?" (from Bugs). 

"Ohhh no you don't! Not again! Sorry!" (from Daffy). 

"Yeah, you're so smart! If I was a rabbit, what WOULD you do?" (from Daffy). 

"Right-o!" (from Daffy).

"No more for me, thanks! I'm drivin'!" (from a dazed Daffy).  

David, Thad K., and Jonathan Gray, for instance, have heard most, if not all, of these at random moments in different and unrelated conversations! 

And, while not a quote, I must also cite Elmer's "hat-erection" when kissed by Bugs in drag! 

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Rounding out my "Top Three" at #2 is something as opposite from "Rabbit Seasoning" as a Warner/Schlesinger short can get... "Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur" (1939, Chuck Jones). 

In the stone age, a primitive, manically wild version of Daffy Duck, heckles a put-upon Jack Benny-inspired caveman and his clumsy pet dinosaur literally to death!  And it IS that unexpected death of our three main characters that makes this one of my three favorite endings in cartoons!  (I'll exclude modern things like "Rick and Morty" - Thanks, Thad! - from this list, because the "unexpected ending" has become more of a norm!) 

Daffy has "died" at the end of at least two other cartoons, "Draftee Daffy" and "Show-Biz Bugs", but the novelty and execution of the triple-demise makes this one the best!  

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Daffy has the honor of appearing in ALL THREE of my favorite Looney Tunes shorts... and this one just happens to have my *second-favorite* ending in all of cartoons... #3 is "Yankee Doodle Daffy" (1943, Friz Freleng).  

Talent agent Daffy mercilessly hounds theatrical empresario Porky Pig into giving the lollipop-licking, almost silent, diminutive duck, Sleepy Lagoon, an audition. 

 Notice Friz Freleng (as Porky Pig!) in the portrait adorning Porky's office! 

What wins it a place in my "Top Three" is the ending of Sleepy not just unexpectedly demonstrating a shockingly beautiful operatic voice - that's great enough!  But, what REALLY puts it over the top is the last-second addition of Sleepy CHOKING as he sings his last line!!!

It's that "going back for one more gag, once you think it's over" that truly appeals to me as a writer!  Not seeing the originals of many of the stories I translate, you may not notice this, but adding an extra gag to compliment the one that precedes it is something I try to do whenever possible! ...and it just might have been this cartoon that would eventually inspire me to do so!  

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Something I just realized at this writing... While Bugs Bunny is my favorite Looney Tunes character, it is Daffy Duck who stars in all three of my favorite shorts! 

And a DIFFERENT VERSION of Daffy in each one, to boot!  Primitive Manic Daffy, Obnoxious Huckster Daffy, and Jealous and Resentful Daffy!  I'd say the duck has had quite an evolution over the years!  

Drop some comments on us, and let us know what you think!  

The Gottfredson Guessing Game!

In the Comments Section of our last post, our great friend Mouse Maestro announced plans for a series of Gottfredson posts for Unca Floyd's birthday month at his Blog!  

You all know the drill... go over there and read them once they're up! I will certainly do the same! 

As part of that exchange, I hoped he would do my favorite Gottfredson story - and I asked him to GUESS which one that might be... but why not open it up to ALL of you!  

Especially for those who know me long and well... What IS my favorite Gottfredson story?  

Cast your best-guess votes right here! It'll be fun to see what results!

 See ya real soon! 

Ripples in Time Redux!

What better way to "re-do" a "Ripples in Time Redux" post than by leading off with the "B" Cover of MICKEY MOUSE #3 / Legacy Number #333 (Fantagraphics Books, Non-Displayed Cover Date: April, 2026)!

Worry not because here's the "A" Cover for "Ripples in Time", right on its time-traversing heels!  

...And, speaking of "time-traversing heels"... The Rhyming Man bids a fond adieu, to our heroic two! 

So, why "re-do" a "Ripples in Time Redux"?  

Because our new and much-valued friend "Mouse Maestro" has written a great piece on his Blog on "Ripples in Time: Part Two", and we feel that it deserves a linking post of its own in addition to simply leaving it buried in depths of the Comments Section of our previous post!  

So GO READ IT - RIGHT NOW! 

And if, like Mickey, Uma, Goofy, and ol' Slimy Rhymey, you have the ability to travel in time, go back 30 minutes or so and ENJOY IT AGAIN -- for the FIRST TIME!  Repeat until done to a fine golden brown!  

And, if you get caught in an infinite time-loop of reading Mouse Maestro's piece again-and-again-and-again... well there are many worse ways to spend eternity!  

LIKE THIS ONE!

AND THIS ONE!

Naw, don't do that... Better to concentrate on FAR SUPERIOR THINGS... like THESE...

"Ripples in Time" Part One!

                    

Kari Korhonen's magnificent "McDuck Journals" series!

...And the fine works of Mouse Maestro! 

 ..."Casty and BEYOND", anyone?  

It's OUT and We're IN!

MICKEY MOUSE #3 (Legacy Number #333 - funny how that works out, eh?) from Fantagraphics,  concluding the "Ripples In Time" / Rhyming Man and Uma adventure, is OUT as of March 18, 2026. 

We are (finally) IN our new house and the literal construction dust is finally beginning to settle (...mostly onto the floors and furniture - necessitating more and more clean up) but, at last, we can begin discussing both - or any topic of your choice once again.  

Hopefully, more MICKEY than HOUSE... just to keep me from more sobbing!  

Betwixt and Between, and Bordering on Bewildered!

Yep, that describes out situation as of Thursday, February 04, 2026.  One day AFTER closing on our old house sale. One day BEFORE closing on our new house purchase. 

Technically speaking, I suppose we are homeless - owning neither property at this odd moment, but with time enough (given the snow, various people's availability, a WEEKEND with two non-business days falling in the thick of it, and the unexpected-yet-somehow-always-expected vagaries of real estate transactions) we will have until Wednesday, February 11, 2026 to move and vacate!  

I expect utter chaos... and it's a race to see which lasts the longest: the chaos, or the frozen mountains of snow that have been here for about two weeks and counting!  

Meanwhile, until all our computer stuff is packed up, I will attempt to publish and reply to all all the great comments that are stacked in the Comments Queue and address any new ones that arrive.  

Keep 'em coming and keep me happy betwixt and between sale and purchase - and betwixt and between snow and chaos!  

And keep reading - and most of all, keep enjoying!  

On Sale January 14, 2026: MICKEY MOUSE (Fantagraphics) #2 - Legacy No. 332!

EVERYBODY: Up an' At 'Em, Out an' Buy 'Em!!!

THE DATE: Wednesday, January 14, 2026.

THE PLACE: Your Local Comic Shop - or the Online Provider of Your Choice. 

THE THING TO BUY (Without Fail): MICKEY MOUSE (Fantagraphics) #2 - Legacy No. 332!

Here it is, just so we're "on the same page"... or COVER, as it were! ...And WHAT A COVER IT IS!  

Accept no substitutes... Unless you somehow failed to get MICKEY MOUSE (Fantagraphics) #1 - Legacy No. 331 back in November!

Then, it's okay to get 'em both! 

BUT THIS ONE'S GONNA BE A GOODY!  (...and, as the translator and dialogue writer for this great Italian story, I oughta know!) 

A perfect melding of three of the comics Mickey Mouse's greatest creators: Bill Walsh and Floyd Gottfredson, and Casty! 

Walsh and Gottfredson, of course, for The Rhyming Man from the amazing newspaper strip continuity "The Atombrella and the Rhyming Man"  ... and Casty for his time-exploring documentarian Uma as seen in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories 713-714 (2010)!  And writer Francesco Vacca does a fantastic job of bringing those two worlds of different eras together! 

When writing the American English script for this special story, and in order to lend authenticity to the story and fidelity to the original creators, I read both original stories by Walsh and Gottfredson and by Casty and studied them carefully before proceeding.  

I wanted to get everything right and, once you read The Rhyming Man's first line, you'll *know* I did my homework!  It's truly an HONOR to work with these characters and, especially as we have a (hopefully friendly) competition with other publishers, editor David Gerstein (the "Secret Weapon" that those "other guys" don't have) and I do everything we can to make these the best Disney comics they can be!  

We hope you'll all agree, once you read MICKEY MOUSE (Fantagraphics) #2 - Legacy No. 332!

Oh, The Rhyming Man, he has a plan, 

To throw the whole world a curve.

With sinister rhyme, he'll wreak havoc with time.

Does this villain ever have nerve!

Mickey, Goofy, and Uma, they know it's no rumor, 

And set out to stop this fiend cold.

Will they succeed, or will he do the deed? 

Let's hope it's the Rhymer who'll fold! 

...Sorry, Mr. Rhyming Man... I just couldn't help myself!  Are you a FAN, or giving it a PAN?  ...Heh! Nothing personal about that "folding stuff" up above, eh? ...Um, just hyperbole, you know "exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally" ...Heh? 

...Oh, and do ya think could I call you "Rhymey"?  ...No?  Oh, well...

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2026!

 HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2026!

We open with Donald Duck ushering in the new year with that little-known Duckburgian tradition (…Golly, Duckburg sure has a lot of little-known traditions, doesn’t it?) of smashing open the Official Glass New Year’s Pineapple!  It’s kinda like the Times Square Ball Drop, only more breakable and with a shorter distance to travel before it’s done!

 So, let’s join him in raising a Glass New Year’s Pineapple, and smashing it to little pieces on the floor! 

And, while you’re at it, please join *me* in another year of Blogging – sporadic as it (…and everything else I do) will be until our move is completed and our lives return to what passes for “normal”! 

We'll get to the joyous backlog of comments very soon.  Please keep ‘em coming, as it remains my favorite part of what we do here! 

Finally, I’ve all but abandoned any thoughts of shuttering this humble Blog, sporadic as it may continue to be.  Thanks for the support you’ve all given me to arrive at that decision! 

 Happy 2026!