Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “The Lonely Lighthouse on Cape Quack” is Volume 29 in Fantagraphics’s The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library. The book collects 10-page comic-book stories starring Donald and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie that ran in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #253 (Oct. 1961) – #264 (Oct. 1962) “presented in the order in which Carl Barks drew them,” except for the lead story.
Buy Walt Disney’s Donald Duck “The Lonely Lighthouse on Cape Quack”: The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 29During that run, “Medaling Around” is presented not as a Donald Duck story but as a Huey, Dewey, and Louie: The Junior Woodchucks story, although their uncle appears. The book concludes with four Junior Woodchucks stories based on Barks’ scripts and layouts but art was done by someone else. Initially, these stories appeared in Huey, Dewey, and Louie: Junior Woodchucks #11-13 in 1971 and ’72 with art by Kay Wright; however, they “have chosen to present Daan Jippe’s later versions…as they more closely reflect Barks’s style and vision.” The book concludes with “Story Notes,” which are annotations by a team of writers, and “Carl Barks: Life Among the Ducks,” a biography by Donald Ault.
For some reason, in contrast to previous volumes, this isn’t titled the same as the lead story. During a “Northeaster on Cape Quack,” Donald and the boys encounter previous villain Mr. McSwine (unnamed here), who wants to the land a lighthouse sits on. With the Ducks left on guard, they not only have to stop McSwine, but Barks increases the action and tension as they have to save a ship carrying Duckburg’s official Christmas tree as “the seas wash clear over the lighthouse!”
In these stories, Donald continues to work a series of jobs. He is an overeager dogcatcher in “Hound Hounder” as the Junior Woodchucks are on an important training exercise with their dog, and later battles the Woodchucks and their dog again while trying to take photos in “Medaling Around.” Showing initiative, Donald runs a small “Merry Ferry” and his helping out the telephone company leads to a monopoly in the channel. Donald passes an aptitude test in “The Candy Kid” and is believed to be a genius. He is given different jobs at the world’s fair, and his ideas prove the test wrong.
After complaining about kids running wild on Halloween, Donald unintentionally causes more damage dressed as a witch flying around on Gyro Gearloose’s flying broom in “Jet Witch.” In “Movie Mad,” Donald tries his hand as an amateur filmmaker but ends up the star to his great displeasure.
Donald is successful at times. His skills as an archer take him and the boys to Africa to help Dr. Livingstump catch a pink-eyed rhinoceros but the drugged arrows he is given cause hilarity in “Jungle Bungle.” Donald proves to be good as a “Master Wrecker” with his deft, physics-defying handling of a four-ton ball on a crane, but gets into trouble due to a gnat in an unexpected twist. Donald and the boys search for rare artifacts “Way Out Yonder” to make money and end up in a mini-bike race that ultimately proves profitable.
Uncle Scrooge has a heated business rivalry in “Boat Buster” that leads to Donald racing a boat to see whose refinery makes the better gasoline. Scrooge and the family deal with sorceress Magica de Spell in “Ten-Cent Valentine” and “Raven Mad.” In both stories, she is after Scrooge’s first dime.
In the Junior Woodchucks stories, Donald doesn’t appear, but greedy Uncle Scrooge is a frequent nemesis. In “Eagle Savers,” they keep bald eagles from being driven away by Scrooge’s drilling scheme. The “Hound of the Moaning Hills” scares many but it’s up to the Woodchucks to solve the mystery, which involves another Scrooge business plan. “The Day the Mountain Shook” finds the Woodchucks joined by Pluto who have to deal with Scrooge strip mining the mountain for coal. As their summer vacation ends, the Woodchucks prove to be “Storm Dancers” in the hopes of causing a rain out on the opening day of school, but Huey does the wrong dance and calls forth a cyclone.
Although taken from the last decade of his tenure, Barks’s writing and artwork still impress in “The Lonely Lighthouse on Cape Quack.” The plots are fresh and the characters personalities remain constant. Barks seems to view Scrooge’s greed more negatively in the Junior Woodchucks stories. His artwork features expressive figures, finely detailed that evoke location and action, and bold colors that jump off the page. Jippe’s art matches up well alongside Barks.
