Euro Disney comics have been putting us silly Americans to utter shame since at least the 1970s, when the best we could muster-up was art by Kay Wright, Bob Gregory, and a Roger Armstrong who was not even a shadow of his former self! Not to mention an almost absurd over-reliance on scripts by Vic Lockman, resulting in more substandard work than his (generally good, and sometimes even great) talents would indicate!
THE most egregious example of Kay Wright and Vic Lockman at their VERY WORST!
So, far be it from me to to be openly critical of the usually fine Disney comics work produced by my fellow European creators!
But, sometimes, even they can miss the mark, and so it was when someone(s) tried to rip-off the cover of HUEY, DEWEY AND LOUIE JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS #22 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: September, 1973) for Walt Disney's Ekstra-Haefte #4/1975...
All I can say is... How Much Inappropriately Placed Character Usage could a Woodchuck Chuck, if a Woodchuck Could Chuck Inappropriately Placed Character Usage!
Ironically, the original (and far better) American cover is penciled by the very same Kay Wright whose shockingly bad "artwork" (quotes intentional) is seen at the top of this post! Thankfully, in this case, Wright was inked by the competent Larry Mayer, saving a specimen of Kay Wright's art as much as such a thing can be saved!
So, hey "Ekstra-Haefte guys"... YOU'RE EUROPEANS! If you're going to rip off a Kay Wright drawing, you MUST HAVE SOMEONE BETTER to do the job, rather than looking as if you... (I can barely type the words)... traced Kay Wright... as if anyone would ever WANT to do such a thing!
And WHY UNCLE SCROOGE?! Donald Duck was the best possible character to have been in the tent... um, "when the bough breaks"! And even Kay Wright manages to give him a suitable put-upon expression...
...With some help from Larry Mayer, so it wouldn't look like THIS!
And, I repeat... WHY UNCLE SCROOGE?! It's obvious that you're ripping-off the Gold Key cover, so why not do it all the way?
Once you've slavishly duplicated every other element - down to the FLOWERS ON THE GROUND (!) what's the purpose of substituting Uncle Scrooge for Donald?
It doesn't really make sense in terms of characterization as, again, Donald was the best possible character to sell the gag!
...And, beyond that, Scrooge's EXPRESSION doesn't even FIT THE SITUATION!!! Tired and sweaty doesn't even connect to the gag!
My guess is that this inappropriately used image is probably repurposed art from some other cover or story!
Whatever the reason, we'll just chalk-up this misplaced image of Scrooge looking as if he just crawled across the Gobi Desert to (...of all the inexplicable reasons in Heaven and Earth) be in a Kay Wright cover rip-off (!) to just another odd Adventure in Comic Boxing!
