Walt Disney's Donald Duck "The Lost Peg Leg Mine": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 18 (The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library, 18)

If I could only describe Carl Barks with a single word it would be consistent. Artists like Floyd Gottfredson and Chester Gould evolved over the course of decades but Barks art remains nearly precisely the same from the 1940’s to here in the mid to late 1950’s. This may sound like an insult but in the case of Gottfredson I felt like his work eroded over the course of decades. Barks art was fantastic from day one and remained stellar throughout. His writing never pandered or insulted the intelligence of the reader. Ok, almost never. I was really surprised by the story “Smoke Writer in the Sky” where Donald is helping Scrooge McDuck get his name out for a Mayoral race. The idea that the residents of Duckburg don’t know who the richest duck on the planet is laughable. This is an extraordinarily rare plot hole by an otherwise meticulous writer. Volume 18 spans September 1956 to July 1958. By this point Carl Barks was exclusively doing the 10 pagers and it had been awhile since we’d seen one of his long adventures. I do find it amusing how Fantagraphics goes about titling the books these days since there are no more of what are considered the high adventure stories. “The Lost Peg Leg Mine” sounds like an adventure but it’s a 10-page story and a pretty average one for Carl Barks. I actually thought “The Runaway Train” was a significantly better story and was a great example of the intelligence of Barks writing. Carl Barks will often reuse concepts and ideas but he never rewrites stories. Every one is unique which is pretty amazing given his prolific output. Some of the stories like A Whale of Story got some mild criticisms in the books Story Notes but Carl Barks really didn’t produce any bad stories that I’ve ever seen. His ability to write stories that are at the very least good but far more often excellent is unparalleled and doesn’t waver over the years. I love stories like ‘Losing Face’ which had one of the best punchlines Barks had ever written. Barks consistency in producing great stories is second to none and there are no failures this time. Highest Marks. Five Stars.

This Donald Duck comic book contains all stories of equal length (10 pages each). The stories themselves vary in quality. The title story “The Lost Peg Leg Mine” gets to a rather whirlwind start and those familiar with bigger Barks stories can feel that more details could have been added to make it smoother, but nevertheless it’s enjoyable. The one liked the most is “The Runaway Train” – a story that contrasts the alacrity of Donald’s nephews’ mind with the indifference nature of Donald about anything serious. It encompasses importance knowing science and mathematics (in calculating the runaway trains’ meeting time), alertness (nephews not missing the news while still playing with their toys), presence of mind (asking help from Uncle Scrooge when they know nobody else is even going to believe them), and many more things. In short this is a model story for all ages to learn and imitate upon. Gyro, for the first time, gets one story under his belt “Gyro’s Imagination Invention” which lets the boys and Donald travel to prehistoric times. While it shows Barks remarkable imagination on how different scales of comparison can be, it also indicates some kind of time travel. “Red Apple Sap” is a special one because unlike the characteristic nature of Gladstone who is not very generous, he gives away his apples to Donald which is kind of a different twist towards the end of the story. Rest of the stories are pretty much in line with Barks style – Donald/Nephews getting into troubles for no apparent reasons or quick judgement calls and in the rest of the story they try to get out of the mess. Or Donald getting helped by the nephews in hindsight and getting delusions of grandeur (“The Runaway Train” or “Borderline Hero”). Uncle Scrooge has a lesser extent of appearance in this book, which is understandable because Barks had already started crafting dedicated story lines for him. Quite a handful to make you giggle!

My 9 year old cannot get enough of these books, he reads and reads. He's now on his 9'th book, and still want more. Great for stimulating reading for small ones.

What's not to like ? Classic Carl barks comics in his best period . Probably the best production of these classic stories beautifully drawn with a variety of storylines

My 10 yr old son loves these books!

If you love Carl Barks, this is an excellent collection. If you don't know who Carl Barks is, this is a good intro to his unmatchable art and stories.

Great anthology of Donald Duck stories.

These are beautiful collections of the old comics. Love sharing them with my son.

Always waiting for my next Fantagraphics Barks book! Thanks Fantagraphics for re-mastering these.

not yet read but it will be great since it is Barks art

If I could only describe Carl Barks with a single word it would be consistent. Artists like Floyd Gottfredson and Chester Gould evolved over the course of decades but Barks art remains nearly precisely the same from the 1940’s to here in the mid to late 1950’s. This may sound like an insult but in the case of Gottfredson I felt like his work eroded over the course of decades. Barks art was fantastic from day one and remained stellar throughout. His writing never pandered or insulted the intelligence of the reader. Ok, almost never. I was really surprised by the story “Smoke Writer in the Sky” where Donald is helping Scrooge McDuck get his name out for a Mayoral race. The idea that the residents of Duckburg don’t know who the richest duck on the planet is laughable. This is an extraordinarily rare plot hole by an otherwise meticulous writer. Volume 18 spans September 1956 to July 1958. By this point Carl Barks was exclusively doing the 10 pagers and it had been awhile since we’d seen one of his long adventures. I do find it amusing how Fantagraphics goes about titling the books these days since there are no more of what are considered the high adventure stories. “The Lost Peg Leg Mine” sounds like an adventure but it’s a 10-page story and a pretty average one for Carl Barks. I actually thought “The Runaway Train” was a significantly better story and was a great example of the intelligence of Barks writing. Carl Barks will often reuse concepts and ideas but he never rewrites stories. Every one is unique which is pretty amazing given his prolific output. Some of the stories like A Whale of Story got some mild criticisms in the books Story Notes but Carl Barks really didn’t produce any bad stories that I’ve ever seen. His ability to write stories that are at the very least good but far more often excellent is unparalleled and doesn’t waver over the years. I love stories like ‘Losing Face’ which had one of the best punchlines Barks had ever written. Barks consistency in producing great stories is second to none and there are no failures this time. Highest Marks. Five Stars.

This Donald Duck comic book contains all stories of equal length (10 pages each). The stories themselves vary in quality. The title story “The Lost Peg Leg Mine” gets to a rather whirlwind start and those familiar with bigger Barks stories can feel that more details could have been added to make it smoother, but nevertheless it’s enjoyable. The one liked the most is “The Runaway Train” – a story that contrasts the alacrity of Donald’s nephews’ mind with the indifference nature of Donald about anything serious. It encompasses importance knowing science and mathematics (in calculating the runaway trains’ meeting time), alertness (nephews not missing the news while still playing with their toys), presence of mind (asking help from Uncle Scrooge when they know nobody else is even going to believe them), and many more things. In short this is a model story for all ages to learn and imitate upon. Gyro, for the first time, gets one story under his belt “Gyro’s Imagination Invention” which lets the boys and Donald travel to prehistoric times. While it shows Barks remarkable imagination on how different scales of comparison can be, it also indicates some kind of time travel. “Red Apple Sap” is a special one because unlike the characteristic nature of Gladstone who is not very generous, he gives away his apples to Donald which is kind of a different twist towards the end of the story. Rest of the stories are pretty much in line with Barks style – Donald/Nephews getting into troubles for no apparent reasons or quick judgement calls and in the rest of the story they try to get out of the mess. Or Donald getting helped by the nephews in hindsight and getting delusions of grandeur (“The Runaway Train” or “Borderline Hero”). Uncle Scrooge has a lesser extent of appearance in this book, which is understandable because Barks had already started crafting dedicated story lines for him. Quite a handful to make you giggle!

My 9 year old cannot get enough of these books, he reads and reads. He's now on his 9'th book, and still want more. Great for stimulating reading for small ones.

What's not to like ? Classic Carl barks comics in his best period . Probably the best production of these classic stories beautifully drawn with a variety of storylines

My 10 yr old son loves these books!

If you love Carl Barks, this is an excellent collection. If you don't know who Carl Barks is, this is a good intro to his unmatchable art and stories.

Great anthology of Donald Duck stories.

These are beautiful collections of the old comics. Love sharing them with my son.

Always waiting for my next Fantagraphics Barks book! Thanks Fantagraphics for re-mastering these.

not yet read but it will be great since it is Barks art

Great book

Barks is the best of the best.

Great duck stories!

Carl is the best.

Excellent product