The art of the master Disney cartoonist Carl Barks is unparalleled in these 17 classic stories from Duckburg, first published in 1958-9. As Daniel F. Yezbick notes in the end-comments, "To satisfy the ever more demanding market for seasonal stories, Barks concocted far-fetched farces filled with remixed yuletide weirdness". And according to Ken Parille, Barks has an "ability to shift from gag to gag, providing inventive solutions to every problem Donald faces," so that "we might miss the almost mathematical precision that underlies the story's organisation". Christmas in Duckburg, the title story, opens with Donald struggling with a mail order catalogue that will relieve him of the challenge of Christmas shopping. Enlisting the help of Uncle Scrooge, he is soon heading for the northern town of Frostbite, Canada, where he gets some reindeer to pull an enormous 80 foot tree on a sledge, not to mention a Ferris Wheel. Somehow all is resolved and in the next tale Donald is practising for a role in a Shakespeare tragedy on Broadway. Before too long he finds his costume has been switched and he is now onstage as Prince Dashingblade, resolving the knotty situation with an ink bomb. The leading social event in Duckburg is the Beachcombers' Picnic, and this is an opportunity for Donald to get swept away in a dinghy with Miss Daisy, ending up on the back of a swimming elephant which soon capsizes. Catapulting from adventure to adventure, Donald is plagued by Grandma and her Farm Friends, not to mention the time when the three Nephews upend themselves in a barrel. 20.3 x 25.4cm, 194pp, 17 cartoon stories in colour.
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