{"id":34533,"date":"2025-12-18T16:16:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T16:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=34533"},"modified":"2025-12-18T16:16:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T16:16:50","slug":"walt-disneys-donald-duck-volume-5-christmas-on-bear-mountain-by-carl-barks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/12\/18\/walt-disneys-donald-duck-volume-5-christmas-on-bear-mountain-by-carl-barks-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Walt Disney\u2019s Donald Duck volume 5: \u201cChristmas on Bear Mountain\u201d by Carl Barks"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Carl Barks<\/strong> (Fantagraphics Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-60699-697-3 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: The Utter Acme of All-Ages Entertainment… 10\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carl Barks was born in Merrill, Oregon in 1901, growing up in the rural areas of the West during some of the leanest times in US history. He tried his hand at many jobs before settling into the profession that chose him. His early life is well-documented elsewhere if you need detail, but briefly, Barks worked as an animator at Disney\u2019s studio before quitting in 1942 to work in the new-fangled field of comic books. With cartoon studio partner Jack Hannah (another occasional strip illustrator) Barks adapted a Bob Karp script for an animated cartoon short into the comic book Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold<\/em>. It was published as Dell Four Color Comics<\/strong> Series II #9 in October of that year and – although not his first published comics work – it was the story that shaped the rest of his career.<\/p>\n

From then until his official retirement in the mid-1960s, Barks worked in self-imposed seclusion, writing and drawing and devising a vast array of adventure comedies, gags, yarns and covers that gelled into a Duck Universe of memorable and highly bankable characters. These included Gladstone Gander<\/strong> (1948), Gyro Gearloose<\/strong> (1952), Magica De Spell<\/strong> (1961) and the nefarious Beagle Boys<\/strong> (1951) to supplement Disney\u2019s stable of cartoon actors. His greatest creation was undoubtedly the crusty, energetic, paternalistic, money-mad giga-gazillionaire\u00a0Scrooge McDuck<\/strong>: the World\u2019s wealthiest winged septuagenarian and the harassed, hard-pressed star of this show.<\/p>\n

Whilst producing all that landmark material Barks was just a working guy, generating cover art, illustrating other people\u2019s scripts when asked and contributing stories to the burgeoning canon of Duck Lore. After Gladstone Publishing began re-packaging Barks material – and a selection of other Disney strips – in the 1980s, he discovered the well-earned appreciation he never imagined existed…<\/p>\n

So potent were his creations that they inevitably fed back into Disney\u2019s animation output itself, even though his brilliant comic tales were done for licensing company Dell<\/strong>\/Gold Key<\/strong>, and not directly for the studio. The greatest tribute was undoubtedly the animated series Duck Tales<\/strong>: heavily based on his comics output. Barks was a fan of wholesome action, unsolved mysteries and epics of exploration, and this led to him perfecting the art and technique of the blockbuster tale: blending wit, history, plucky bravado and sheer wide-eyed wonder into rollicking rollercoaster romps that utterly captivated readers of every age and vintage. Without the Barks expeditions there would never have been an Indiana Jones<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

Throughout his working life Barks was blissfully unaware that his work – uncredited by official policy as was all Disney\u2019s cartoon and comic book output – had been singled out by a rabid and discerning public as being by \u201cthe Good Duck Artist\u201d. When his most dedicated fans finally tracked him down, a belated celebrity began.<\/p>\n

In 2013 Fantagraphics Books began collecting Barks\u2019 Duck stuff in wonderful, carefully curated archival volumes, tracing his output year-by-year in hardback tomes (and digital editions) that finally did justice to the quiet creator. These will eventually comprise a Complete Carl Barks Disney Library<\/strong>. The physical copies are sturdy and luxurious albums – 193 x 261mm – that would grace and enhance any bookshelf, with volume 5 – Walt Disney\u2019s Donald Duck: \u201cChristmas on Bear Mountain\u201d <\/strong>(for reasons irrelevant here) acting as debut release, and re-presenting works from 1947 – albeit not in strictly chronological release order.
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\nIt begins eponymously with the landmark introduction of Bark\u2019s most enduring creation. Scrooge McDuck <\/strong>premiered in seasonal full-length Donald Duck<\/strong> yarn \u2018Christmas on Bear Mountain\u2019<\/em> (as seen in Four Color <\/strong>#178 December 1947): a disposable comedy foil to move along a simple tale of Seasonal woe and joy. Here a miserly relative seethes in opulent isolation, hating everybody and opting to share the gloom by tormenting his nephews Donald, Huey<\/em>, Louie<\/em> & Dewey<\/em> by gifting them his mountain cabin for the Holidays.<\/p>\n

Scrooge schemed, intent on terrorising them in a bear costume, but fate had other ideas…<\/p>\n

The old coot was crusty, energetic, menacing, money-mad and yet oddly lovable – and thus far too potentially valuable to be misspent or thrown away. Undoubtedly, the greatest cartoon creation of legendary and magnificent story showman Barks, the Downy Dodecadillionaire returned often and eventually expanded to fill all available space in the tales from the scenic metropolis of Duckburg.<\/p>\n

From the same issue a brace of one-page gags expose Donald\u2019s views on car culture in \u2018Fashion in Flight\u2019<\/em> and annoying people looking for directions in \u2018Turn for the Worse\u2019<\/em> before \u2018Donald\u2019s Posy Patch\u2019 <\/em>(Walt Disney\u2019s Comics and Stories <\/strong>#80, May) turns into another painfully humiliating experience as the bellicose bird tries getting rich by growing blooms…<\/p>\n

June\u2019s WDC&S<\/strong> #81 finds him and the boys prospecting and running afoul of the post-war arms and rocket-race in \u2018Donald Mines his Own Business\u2019<\/em> before Four Color <\/strong>#147 (May) takes them on an epic voyage of fantastic discovery to \u2018Volcano Valley\u2019<\/em> after accidentally buying an army surplus bomber.<\/p>\n

Always looking for a quick buck, Donald and the kids turn to commercial charters: flying innocuous-seeming Major Pablo Ma\u00f1ana<\/em> back to Central American beauty-spot Volcanovia, but they all have a devilishly difficult time getting out again. This yarn sets a solid pattern for Bark\u2019s adventure\/travelogue yarns in years to come, blending comedy, thrills, whimsy and social commentary into an irresistible treat…
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\nJuly\u2019s WDC&S <\/strong>#82 finds adult and juvenile ducks enjoying an ever-escalating war over who\u2019s the best conjuror in \u2018Magical Misery\u2019<\/em> and by the time Daisy Duck<\/em> deals with them, Donald is ready for a day of peace and quiet. Sadly, \u2018Ring Wrongs\u2019 <\/em>(AKA \u2018Vacation Time\u2019<\/em> from August\u2019s WDC&S <\/strong>#83) reveals that thanks to Huey, Louie & Dewey, he\u2019s the target of a relentless wave of door-to-door salesmen and sees him react with typical zest and vigour…<\/p>\n

An inappropriate experiment in hypnosis transforms Donald (mentally) into a kangaroo and prompts an \u2018Adventure Down Under\u2019<\/em> (FC <\/strong>#159, August) with the eventually restored Drake and his nephews compelled to become \u2018roo hunters to fund return passage to Duckburg. They are mightily outmatched by Mournful Mary<\/em> – Queen of the Kangaroos – until they meet some local aborigines and experience a change of heart.<\/p>\n

Please be aware that – despite Bark\u2019s careful research and diligent, sensitive storytelling – some modern readers could be upset by his depictions from over seven decades ago…<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018If the Hat Fits\u2019<\/em> is a gag-page of chapeau chuckles from FC <\/strong>#147 (May) preceding a mid-length tale describing Donald\u2019s efforts to master dancing in \u2018The Waltz Kings\u2019<\/em> (WDC&S <\/strong>#84, September) counterbalanced a month later by #85\u2019s \u2018The Masters of Melody\u2019<\/em>, wherein the boys struggle to learn playing musical instruments…
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\n\u2018Donald Duck and the Ghost of the Grotto\u2019<\/em> is an early masterpiece originating in Four Color <\/strong>#159 (August 1947), with Donald and the lads in the West Indies, running a kelp boat and harvesting seaweed from the abundant oceans. After being temporarily stranded on an isolated reef, they discover monsters, a shipwrecked galleon, an ongoing abduction mystery dating back centuries and a particularly persistent phantom, all blending into a supremely thrilling and beguiling mystery that has never dated…<\/p>\n

WDC&S <\/strong>#86 exposes the rise and fall of \u2018Fireman Donald\u2019<\/em>, whose smug hubris deprives him of a job he\u2019s actually good at, after which \u2018The Terrible Turkey\u2019<\/em> from #87 details the Duck\u2019s frankly appalling efforts to secure a big bird for the Thanksgiving feast despite skyrocketing poultry prices…
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\nDonald and Mickey Merry Christmas 1947<\/strong> (cover-dated January 1948) sees the boys strive a little too late and much too hard to be \u2018Three Good Little Ducks\u2019<\/em> and ensure a wealth of swag on Christmas morning, before one final single-pager sees kitchen confusion for Donald in \u2018Machine Mix-up\u2019<\/em> (FC <\/strong>#178, December)…<\/p>\n

With the visual verve done we move on to validation as \u2018Story Notes\u2019 <\/em>offers erudite commentary for each Duck tale. Donald Ault relates \u2018Carl Barks: Life Among the Ducks\u2019<\/em> before \u2018Biographies\u2019<\/em> reveals why he and commentators Alberto Beccatini, Joseph Robert Cowles, Craig Fischer, Jared Gardner, Rich Kreiner, Ken Parille, Stefano Priarone, R. Fiore, and Mattias Wivel are saying all those nice and informative things. We close with provenance as \u2018Where Did These Duck Stories First Appear?\u2019 <\/em>explains the somewhat byzantine publishing schedules of Dell Comics.<\/p>\n

Carl Barks was one of the greatest exponents of comic art the world has ever seen, and almost all his work featured Disney\u2019s characters: reaching and affecting untold millions of readers across the world and he all too belatedly won far-reaching recognition. You might be late to the party but it\u2019s never too soon to climb aboard the Barks Express.
\nWalt Disney\u2019s Donald Duck \u201cChristmas on Bear Mountain\u201d <\/strong>\u00a9 2013 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All contents \u00a9 2013 Disney Enterprises, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Today in 1913 master story-man screenwriter and occasional comics author Alfred Bester<\/strong> was born. His visual feasts included lots of DC comics such as Green Lantern<\/strong>, and newspaper strips The Phantom<\/strong> and Mandrake the Magician<\/strong>. You are incomplete if you haven\u2019t read The Demolished Man<\/strong>, The Stars My Destination<\/strong> (aka\u00a0Tiger, Tiger<\/strong>) and Who He?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1919 British cartoon genius Ken Reid<\/strong> was born so look him up here too if you need a quick giggle. 30 years later modern comics maestro everyman Paul Neary<\/strong> joined the party. You know him as an inker, but he was a writer, illustrator and editor without equal so google that name too when you have a moment…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carl Barks (Fantagraphics Books) ISBN: 978-1-60699-697-3 (HB\/Digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: The Utter Acme of All-Ages Entertainment… 10\/10 Carl Barks was born in Merrill, Oregon in 1901, growing up in the rural areas of the West during some of the leanest times in … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Walt Disney\u2019s Donald Duck volume 5: \u201cChristmas on Bear Mountain\u201d by Carl Barks”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,302,113,119,128,303,125,97,225,127,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-carl-barks","category-comedy","category-comicsacademic","category-disney-comics-and-stories","category-donald-duck","category-humour","category-kids-all-ages","category-mystery","category-nostalgia","category-world-classics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8YZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34539,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34533\/revisions\/34539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}