Point Five Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Great story. This is the kind of thing I love about Disney 1930s stuff in general ... feels like the creators were still having fun and figuring out what they could do with these character features, before they became more formulaic. Thanks for posting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Great story. This is the kind of thing I love about Disney 1930s stuff in general ... feels like the creators were still having fun and figuring out what they could do with these character features, before they became more formulaic. Thanks for posting! Pick up the Fantagraphics Mickey Mouse strip reprints, talk about experimental!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tb Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I found a raw copy of WDC&S 23 today and the "War with the Flies" story actually starts in this issue (15 pages, including a gas attack). It's strange that I've never seen this story discussed before. I've never paid much attention to Bucky Bug, but this story has been just as readable as Gottfredson's longer adventures. The unusual story elements also make it interesting from a historical angle. Now I wish I had an unslabbed #24 so I could read the middle part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 "War with the Flies", which appeared along with Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse Sundays, was written and inked by Earl Duvall starting in 1932 and ending with his departure from Disney in April 1933. The first part of the story has a World War I storyline. Upon reading the list of men's casualties in the newspaper, Bucky's fiancée becomes a Red Cross nurse and heads off to the front to meet him on the eve of a major battle. The battle scenes are highly unusual for a Disney comic. I did a little research on Earl Duvall who did serve on a US Army base in New York during World War I. According to Inducks, the last page of the story is actually not by him as he left Disney abruptly in April 1933 after some tensions with Walt Disney. Thanks for posting. Bucky Bug is one of my favorite backup features in WDC&S but I'd never read this one. Duvall went on to direct cartoons briefly for Warner Brothers in 1933 / 34, including Honeymoon Hotel which was their first color cartoon. I can't find any additional info about his career after this point. Does anyone know any more details? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 I found a raw copy of WDC&S 23 today and the "War with the Flies" story actually starts in this issue (15 pages, including a gas attack). It's strange that I've never seen this story discussed before. I've never paid much attention to Bucky Bug, but this story has been just as readable as Gottfredson's longer adventures. The unusual story elements also make it interesting from a historical angle. Now I wish I had an unslabbed #24 so I could read the middle part. Bucky Bug isn't in issue #24. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft88 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 (edited) I thought these were reprints from the Silly Symphonies newspaper strips. If that is that case then I imagine there are some differences due to spacing and other issues. ed Edited May 2, 2012 by ft88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tb Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Thanks for posting the link to the cartoon. I have not been able to find more info about Duvall, but here are a few pages from the first part of the war story. It starts out as a love story where Bucky is engaged to the mayor's daughter and promoted to general since the mayor prefers an officer for son-in-law. The first 3 scans show the Fly King preparing his troops for war. Since the story was conceived in 1932, it is either a remarkable coincidence or Duvall was ahead of his time. In any case, the use of cartoon characters to tackle difficult issues related to war reminds me of "Maus". I find it interesting that it was reprinted in WDC&S during WW II. A few pages later: chemical warfare: On a personal note, my own great grandfather was a Danish citizen who was forced to enlist as an ambulance driver for the German army during WW I. Unfortunately, he lived in an area that Denmark had just lost to Germany in 1864. He was exposed to gas at the front and had severe coughs for the rest of his life as a result. I imagine the subject of chemical warfare would have been very sensitive to many families in 1932. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 These are great pages - thanks very much to all concerned with the scanning and posting What strikes me is the sophisticated story, vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure used in these early comics that were very definitely marketed for kids. Compare and contrast this with later efforts (by all comics publishers) where the stories were dumbed down in terms of narrative and the "word palette" (for lack of a better expression ) was far more limited. What happened? Did kids get dimmer? Blame the education system? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 It starts out as a love story where Bucky is engaged to the mayor's daughter and promoted to general since the mayor prefers an officer for son-in-law. The first 3 scans show the Fly King preparing his troops for war. Since the story was conceived in 1932, it is either a remarkable coincidence or Duvall was ahead of his time. In any case, the use of cartoon characters to tackle difficult issues related to war reminds me of "Maus". I find it interesting that it was reprinted in WDC&S during WW II. Thanks for the additional pages. The following story appeared in Animal Comics #6 (Dec 1943 / Jan 1944). I thought it might be of some interest to the readers of this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Wow incredible story from Animal Comics #6 - thanks for posting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tb Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 -//- It's fascinating to watch the funny animals go to war. Probably the closest they ever got to the horror genre... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 I enjoy reading those Bucky Bug adventures. A large collection of stories was published along with the early Barks, many years ago by Abbeville Press and is probably available for fans that don't want to invest in early WDCS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 Here's another new pickup. Spine is worn but the colors really pop! This cover is similar to the EC Christmas cover but a related story didn't appear until WDCS 75. I suspect that Donald would have preferred to feast on Bucky Bug's family and relatives with a side order of salad. However this story ended up well for the turkeys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Here's an oddity I found while tidying up. I remember being bored while home sick once and I wandered into corners of eBay I don't usually frequent. (Kids: don't try this at home.) Before I knew it, I was the proud owner of these: They are kind of cool though. Five of them have cover art from WDC&S and the other from the Dell DD series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frozentundraguy Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Here's an oddity I found while tidying up. I remember being bored while home sick once and I wandered into corners of eBay I don't usually frequent. (Kids: don't try this at home.) Before I knew it, I was the proud owner of these: They are kind of cool though. Five of them have cover art from WDC&S and the other from the Dell DD series. Cool stamps. (thumbs u I'm leaning towards the inflatable water "monster" that the boys are attaching to Donald's line, as my favorite of those pictured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Good denizens of the duck thread, I have some new playthings to show off, but I absolutely have to give a shout out to Point Five for making it happen. Jon very kindly agreed to act as the middle man for some eBay purchases from a seller who wouldn't ship internationally. He put up with my PMs for three consecutive weeks of bidding, and collected up the books and shipped them in bombproof packaging to me in Australia. I've been pleased to see him land some nice early ducks lately too. I owe ya one Jon. Anyhoo, here's what I got: and best of all - a war bonds cover as well as a WDC&S in my sights: and a ration joke on the cover of this one: I also got this Four Colour: I was all when these arrived. The #44 was overgraded (I suspected that from the scan in the listing) but the others were all undergraded, some by substantial amounts. But that's all secondary. The best item in the package was a piece of signed OA. I'll let it speak for itself: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 It's always tempting to try and collect the early WDCS when I see your books. I don't know I would have left .5 play with my toys before sending them over. You know he covets the same material you do. Oh, and big thanks to Duane for being careful with his books :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Good denizens of the duck thread, I have some new playthings to show off, but I absolutely have to give a shout out to Point Five for making it happen. Jon very kindly agreed to act as the middle man for some eBay purchases from a seller who wouldn't ship internationally. He put up with my PMs for three consecutive weeks of bidding, and collected up the books and shipped them in bombproof packaging to me in Australia. I've been pleased to see him land some nice early ducks lately too. I owe ya one Jon. Anyhoo, here's what I got: and best of all - a war bonds cover as well as a WDC&S in my sights: I really like this cover - the nephews in the "foxhole" just epitomises kids during the war years. Is part of the new strategy with Jon to make sure the books bought by you and sent to him are so distinctive that undercopy shenanigans are easily detected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Good denizens of the duck thread... Really nice books. I'd see about a refund on that last item though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Is part of the new strategy with Jon to make sure the books bought by you and sent to him are so distinctive that undercopy shenanigans are easily detected? ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
