Walt Disney's Donald Duck: Under the Polar Ice (The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 23) (WALT DISNEY DONALD DUCK HC)

I have written a review of every single volume in the Complete Carl Barks Donald Duck series and my reviews have become quite repetitive. They’re repetitive because the volumes are often nearly indistinguishable. Consistency is both Carl Barks biggest strength and greatest weakness. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a bad Carl Barks story or seen an artistic fail. In fact, Barks has pretty much drawn the Ducks in the exact same way for decades which leads to the old adage, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.I could feel the familiarity of the stories, but the Story Notes was able to get very specific about which stories were repurposed and where they came from. It was sort of a criticism but the general feeling was kind of how I feel which is that reusing plots is ok as long as you’re refining or adding to it and I don’t recall Barks ever just redoing a story entirely. The Duck’s world never seems to evolve whether it be technologically or culturally. Even here in the early 60’s they seem stuck in the 1940’s and I assume this is because Carl Barks was getting older (he would have been in his early 60’s), and was simply out of touch with the changing times. This kind of lends a sweet and nostalgic tone to the comics, but what was a little less sweet was that he was also out of step with social consciousness with regards to other cultures. He still liked to use broad and insulting stereotypes and this was another complaint in the Story Notes.This is the first volume where we get a series of stories from Daisy Duck’s perspective. In fact, we get a bunch of stories with the extended Duck family including a couple featuring Uncle Scrooge and Grandma Duck. It’s really nice to have this change of pace and although the stories are still derivative of other things Barks has written, he always manages to add a twist. Besides Uncle Scrooge and Donald, most of the Ducks are very one dimensional, each with one defining trait. Not that the length of the stories are such that it’s really conducive to character building. They are either set ups for a series of gags or have a single punchline at the end.I’ll finish by comparing Barks to another popular Disney artist, Fred Gottfredson. The look of Barks Duck’s pretty much never changes and although Barks didn’t create Donald Duck’s look, he kind of perfected it and then basically kept it the same through the decades of his tenure. Gottfredson drew the most iconic Mickey Mouse but continued to tinker with the look for decades until the famous mouse looked radically different from his original appearance. The problem was that it seemed like every change he made was for the worse which is why nobody ever looks at his later years Mickey as the iconic Mickey. The Mickey Mouse stories had their peak and then dramatically declined as Bill Walsh experimented and attempted to stay with the times. Sometimes staying with a winning formula is the best bet and although I can respect Walsh for trying different things, he pretty much ran the comic strip into a ditch.Barks played it safe throughout his career with Donald Duck and his racial sensitivity wasn’t the greatest, but he was incredibly talented, and I never grow tires of these volumes. This is now the 19th volume I own with one on preorder so despite any criticisms I may have, I’m still loving the series.

can't go wrong with carl barks! love the stories and the backstory analysis that comes with each addition

I purchased three copies of "Under the Polar Ice" for my father. My father asked me to post this review for him --I had taken a solemn vow that when I received "Under the Polar Ice", I was going to post a long overdue five-star review for Fantagraphics' "The Complete Carl Barks Library". Instead, I am posting a one-star review.As two examples, comparing the dialogue in Fantagraphics' "Under the Polar Ice" with Another Rainbow Publishing, Inc.'s "The Carl Barks Library":Fantagraphics, "Trail tycoon", page 147, last panel: "BRAVE EAGLE ALWAYS WEARS BUFFALO ROBE TO FOOL BUFFALOES--NOT DUMB PALEFACES."Another Rainbow, volume 3 in set six of "The Carl Barks Library", page 799: "BRAVE EAGLE ALWAYS WEAR-UM BUFFALO ROBE TO FOOL-UM BUFFALOS--NOT DUMB PALEFACES!"Fantagraphics, "The Wax Museum", page 41, third panel: 'YOU'RE FIRED, DUCK! WHERE DID YOU LEARN BARBERING?"Another Rainbow, volume 1 in set ten of "The Carl Barks Library", page 31: "YOU'RE FIRED, DUCK! WHERE DID YOU LEARN BARBERING--FROM AN INDIAN WAR CHIEF?"Over 30 years ago during the 1980s, Disney was OK with Another Rainbow's publishing politically incorrect "Native American Pidgin English" and negative stereotypes of Native Americans, as originally written by Carl Barks. Someone at Disney or Fantagraphics owes some "straight talk" to us, why over 30 years ago these specific stories could be reprinted as originally written by Carl Barks, but in the year 2020 the dialogue must be censored and politically corrected.I have been faithfully buying three copies of each volume in Fantagraphics' "The Complete Carl Barks Library", because I do not want my heirs to be involved in a lawsuit over who receives my only copy of the complete 30 volumes of Another Rainbow's "The Carl Barks Library". Considering Fantagraphics' new policy of censoring these stories, I am wondering if I want to purchase anything ever again from Fantagraphics.I consider my three copies of "Under the Polar Ice" to be defective merchandise. Fantagraphics owes me three copies of a revised, uncensored, second printing of "Under the Polar Ice" totally at their expense.In case someone from Fantagraphics or Disney responds to my criticism, telling me that I do not understand the issues involved, I believe that I do have some understanding, because --I had face-to-face conversations with both Russ Cochran and Bruce Hamilton, who had partnered in the early 1980s to form Another Rainbow Publishing, Inc. to publish the 30 volumes of "The Carl Barks Library" during the 1980s.I have a personally inscribed duck sketch by Carl Barks, which Carl did for me when I met him face-to-face.I am listed as a contributor in the 5th edition of Overstreet.44 years ago, I was living in the Baltimore suburbs and buying my brand-new comic books from Steve Geppi, who had a one-man operation in a rented basement. (At least, I never saw anyone other than Steve behind the counter.)Someone please explain to me, why Another Rainbow could publish these specific stories over 30 years ago uncensored and unaltered, while today Fantagraphics has to censor and alter these stories in order to publish them?

Another fine edition in the series, as we start to move into very early 60’s, where Barks had started to heavily recycle plots from previous years, but he still managed to entertain nonetheless.However, it also must be mentioned that style of Barks’ art work started to change around this period, which he blamed on the quality of the art boards that his publisher had provided to him around this era. I can start to see the transition in his art styles in this edition.Looking forward to the next in this series.

This has stories from around 1959-1960. In addition to Donald Duck there a few stories that focus on Daisy Duck or Grandma Duck instead of just Donald and the triplets.

As soon as I see a new Barks release it goes in my shopping cart!

My kids love these books!

Every child enjoys reading Walt Disney's books. I bought this book for my grandchildren.

Enjoyed the read, good animation

Fantastic and new !

One of Carl Barks greatest stories!!

Although none of Carl Barks best known classic long stories appear in this collection there are several good 10 pagers.

Their previously released volumes in this series have ranged from excellent to at least good. But Carl Barks did not produce endless quantities of good material. Fantagraphics has now discovered that they've already used all the good stuff, but continues to sell new volumes of largely mediocre material. When you have Fantagraphics own professional reviewers making comments such as ".. shallow attempt to dress up old material..", "...Black Wednesday is actually one of his laziest...", "...Barks's story foundation is as moldy as Scrooge's money...", you know you're not going to settle in for a treat. I think I'm done with these.