Week 4: The Comic Book

For this week's reading focusing on "The Comic Book," I'll be responding to Carl Barks's Donald Duck series, which ran for 75 years from 1942 to 2017.

Similarly to last week's Peanuts reading, much of the appeal of the Donald Duck comics stems from its use of characters with traits unique to them. Donald is famously a hot-tempered but with a heart of gold, Daisy is his sophisticated love interest, Uncle Scrooge is a frugal tycoon, and the nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie (who can almost be seen as a single character, as they often speak at the same time or finish each other's sentences) are lovable troublemakers.

Because each character is so identifiable, it makes it easy and fun to recognize them in each comic, and see how their distinct personalities will react to whatever dilemma they've gotten themselves into. Additionally, the reader can most likely see themselves in a certain character in one way or another.

Plot wise, each comic features the cast of characters starting off innocently enough, but somehow getting themselves into some kind of goofy mix-up or problem. I.e.: the nephews buying Donald a somewhat useless circus camel for Christmas, who gets them in all kinds of debacles. Or when Donald decides to start his own repair business, which doesn't turn out to be as simple as he thought it would be.

In all, Donald and his cohorts remain as charming and wacky as in their inception, and it's clear why Donald himself has remained a beloved character for so many years.

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