Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Terror Of The Beagle Boys (WALT DISNEY DONALD DUCK HC)

This is a copy of the review I left on another volume. But the review is for the series as a whole, and this is the kind of series where people might pick up a volume or two non-sequentially, so I'm leaving this review in a few places.I've been reading Carl Barks since I was a kid. My dad grew up with the old comics and passed them along to me. I still fondly remember the smell of the pages and have a soft spot for that type of thing. If I see one at a garage sale, I'll often pick it up, even if it's pretty battered.I've purchased newer versions of Barks' works over the years. I have the complete set of the Carl Barks Library that was published in the 90s by Gladstone. That is a beautiful set. Slightly larger than originally published with updated coloring techniques - mainly you'll see color gradients and wider palette compared to the original - or this edition here which stays true to the original coloring. However, I have a new generation to give my old Gladstone copies to.At first I planned on giving these to the niece and nephews, but when I got the first one I liked it so much I decided to give them the Gladstone ones instead and keep these for myself. ;) My niece and nephews are pretty young still, all under six, so the Gladstone books are easier for them to handle. These books are better for readers closer to 8-10 due to the size. They are hefty and well built, a little like a grade-school textbook in bulk. They look wonderful on the shelf all lined up. And what's extra nice for me, they have a lot more of the comics in each volume, so I can keep one by the bed and read a few each night for a while before swapping to the next.For people who've never read Carl Barks and are looking for something for yourself or for your kids, these are just the ticket. If you liked the DuckTales, you might be surprised to learn that some of the best DuckTales episodes were taken straight from Barks' Duck stories. Barks is a big part of what made DuckTales so great, since they had a wealth of adventures to pull from. Barks writes well. He doesn't write down to kids. Instead, he writes a great adventure tale and peppers it with names and places and characters that keep the kids interested. These are the best types of kids stories, because much like Pixar's work, it makes it so much more fun to take part in your kids interests if the stories aren't dumbed down. Creators have proven you don't need to do that to keep a child's interest and Barks illustrates that viewpoint perfectly.The art in the comics is also fun and expressive, with clean lines and not a lot of clutter, Barks gets a lot of emotion into a simple panel. Even the kids who aren't as good at reading yet can follow along. Barks also uses real places - he loved reading National Geographic and including those locales in his work. For a kid's comic, it's fairly sophisticated, but accessible.As far as value is concerned, this set is incomparable. I mentioned I've been buying Barks' work for years. This is by far the most affordable I've seen yet. While the Gladstone version was beautiful, now you'd be hard-pressed to get a volume for under $10 and most are closer to $20, with more than a few going for far more than that. It was a major investment for me when I got them, both in time and in money - hunting down all the volumes took a while since they're out of print. There were nearly 150 volumes of all his stories, and you only got five or less stories in each one. While I was glad to have them at the time since the only other complete collection was in black and white, if this set had been out at the same time I would have picked it up instead without a second thought.The hardbacks are durable and there are easily twice as many stories in each volume as the Gladstone versions. And while I've seen some comments that these are not identical to the originals in every single way - the covers are in the back, the original publisher information isn't printed on the page - those are gripes primarily for collectors. People new to the series, or introducing them to their kids won't have those issues with the comics.My highest recommendation!

This 10th volume presents Donald Duck comics from 1951 and as always Carl Barks produces consistent, high quality stories. The first tale includes the initial introduction of the Beagle Boys. They have just a single panel, non-speaking appearance which is ironic given that the volume is called, ‘Terror of the Beagle Boys’ The story summary synopsis pointed out that in this first appearance the Beagle Boys are wearing colored beanies and colorful shirts reminiscent of Donald’s nephews as if they were criminal versions of the boys. The next story has Donald and his nephews in Riviera where apparently half the population is composed of spies. The most interesting feature of this story is that all of the humans are drawn as humans rather than the strange animal/human hybrids that Barks was known for drawing. The slightly anthropomorphized animalish human look was imposed on Barks by Disney and apparently this was his last attempt to draw humans without snouts and dog ears. Personally I always found Barks animal/human hybrids weird like something out of Dr. Moreau but even these regular humans look a bit off. He probably should have just gone all in with regular anthropomorphized characters like most funny animal artists did.There are three 28 page stories including ‘Dangerous Disguise’, ‘No Such Varmint’ and ‘Old California’. The rest are 10 pages stories and for whatever reason this particular span of time has no single page gags. It is with ‘No Such Varmint’ that the book gets going. Donald decides he wants a career in snake charming (to the embarrassment of his nephews) and I had to laugh as Donald blissfully pursued his dream even as the boys tried to steer him into a more respectable field. The next story, ‘A Financial Fable’, is another great one and managed to earn itself its own Wikipedia entry. It’s been described as politically right-wing (which I am not) but it’s well written and makes a good point that if everyone is wealthy then wealth means nothing. My favorite quote is Uncle Scrooge saying, “I wish people weren’t so darned crazy about money! They make me nervous!” Classic.According to the summary ‘Old California’ was Carl Barks all-time favorite story (although I swear I’ve heard that about other stories) but for me I preferred the 10 page ‘Pool Sharks’. Donald decides to have a pool built (and I love the way Barks draws it the beautiful 1950’s style) but it ends up getting taken over by the neighborhood kids. The parents are angry because they see the pool as a health hazard and threaten to tar and feather Donald which is hilarious because… you know. Sadly, there are no holiday themed stories which I always love but we do get one camping story (love the outdoors). “Ten-Star Generals” is a great Junior Woodchucks story as Donald compares the Woodchucks to his own experience in the Boneheads, I mean Booneheads as in Daniel Boone. “Attic Antics” is the only story not written by Carl Barks and it shows. It’s also the only story with no appearance by Donald, his nephews or Uncle Scrooge. One lesson from this story is that the usually impeccable Barks seems to have problems drawing Peg-Leg Pete.Volume 15, coming out in September, will include the years 1954 and 1955. We are still less than halfway through the scheduled 30 volumes but I’m wondering when Fantagraphics will be releasing volume 1 through 4 containing stories prior to 1947. I own all 10 volumes published thus far and I expect to continue collecting to completion. Fantagraphics does a great job with restoring the images and I always look forward to the story analysis at the end of the book although somehow “The Trouble with Dimes” appears to have been skipped. This is the first story I’ve ever seen that didn’t get a summary. I complained in my review of the previous volume that the analysis was starting to become little more than plot summaries but things are improved this time around. Pick up the latest volume and enjoy.

Carl Barks never wrote a bad story, and this volume contains some of his best. We get classic book length adventure stories like "DangerousDisguise" (where Barks experimented with human supporting characters instead of the dog-faced ones he usually employed); "No Such Varmint"and "Donald Duck in Old California". As for the ten pagers herein that Barks originally wrote and drew for Walt Disney's Comics and Storiesstandouts include "Terror of the Beagle Boys" (their first appearance), "A Financial Fable" (Uncle $crooge loses his fortune, and isn't worried abit-he knows he'll get it back!), and "Pool Sharks". While Huey, Dewey and Louie are away, Donald , fed up with gardening, has a swimmingpool installed, a decision he later regrets.Fantagraphics is doing a great job with these books. It's good that these Carl Barks classics are available, and at very affordable prices!

Great to find these books fromm my childhood and be able to re-read them!

One of the best hardback comic collections in a long time. Carl Barks' stories are always the best, and this book and others like it allow me to continue to enjoy the stories without the risk of damaging my original collectible soft cover comics.

I love all of Carl Bark's work - BUT I was very disappointed that this book had little or nothing to do with the Beagle Boys!

As with all the volumes in this series, this is an excellent book. Just wish they'd be released a little more frequently. Worth the wait, though.

We love these books, do not be worried about it being a ,"comic". These are novels, rich with history, fable and humanity!

A must!

Decimo volume delle storie disegnate dall'uomo dei paperi, con la prima apparizione dei Bassotti, Paperino in Old California, il pesce d'aprile, la piscina, le spie e altri capolavori. L'inglese originale è comprensibilissimo e molto piacevole. Aspetto già il prossimo volume!

Barks siempre exepcional, la aparición de los Beagles Boys en las historias de Uncle Scrooge "the richest duck in the world" amenizaron sus guiones para décadas.

Ottimo libro con i fumetti e il testo originale di Carl Barks, stampa buona con rilegatura robusta e testi di commento validi

Excellent book, great for collecting and reading.