{"id":170,"date":"2012-08-17T11:31:29","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T11:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reviewordie.wordpress.com\/?p=170"},"modified":"2024-02-09T18:13:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T18:13:51","slug":"fir-tree-fracas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cmykavenger.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/17\/fir-tree-fracas\/","title":{"rendered":"Don Rosa in Review – Fir-Tree Fracas (1987)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[AR-109]<\/a> Fir-Tree Fracas (4 Pages, Gag)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Story:<\/strong> The Universe hates Donald Duck and doesn’t want him to enjoy a Christmas tree he spent months planning to set up for his family. I wonder what Donald did to the Universe to ruin its Christmas spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Review:<\/strong> Carl Barks tended to work in four distinct formats. The 1-page gags, the 4-7-page gags, the 10-page gags, and the full length adventure stories. The 1-pagers were for the inside and back covers, the 10-pagers for Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, and the adventure titles were whatever length he needed them to be, topping out at 33 pages. The 4-7 pagers were used either because of mail code restrictions or because the adventure story didn’t fill out the page count needed to fill the full comic. They established the plot, escalated quickly, and led it all to a strong finishing gag. They weren’t so much stories as much as jokes with a big, enjoyable build-up. It really is a testament to Barks’ efficiency as a storyteller and sense of humor that he could do so much in such a short period of time, and you can point to “Somethin’ Fishy Here”<\/a> as a perfect example of this format.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now you understand the template this story was based on, and what I am forced to compare it to. \u201cFir-Tree Fracas\u201d has a nice sense of escalation throughout its first three pages, but it falls apart with its climactic gag. So let’s examine the entirety of page four!
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\n
\"\"<\/a>
Page 4 of 4<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

I’m often impressed by the way Rosa uses motion and timing in his comics. Looking at this page, you can see the scene playing out between panels, and the panels he chose serve as shots that wouldn’t be out of place as storyboards in animation. Panels 2-5 are extremely well constructed, conveying Donald’s emotion with a strong opening expression that carries the tone of his voice while he remains off-panel. The sound effects sell the ruination of the tree and give it a sense of believability (though I wonder if FOOMP! is the best he could have chosen for panel five) by drawing you further in to the scene. Panel Six gives you a further sense of buildup from the perspective of the characters, which is a necessary change of pace to draw you back in to the scene. But… when you hit panel seven, the punchline falls totally flat.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could pretty much go two ways with this punchline: The family is drawn to look outside by what became of Donald’s tree, or the tree itself is ruined in a way which is funny to the reader. Here, we have a mixture of both, with the visual focus being put on the ruined tree. Visually, this is… boring. The reaction shots of the characters aren’t particularly funny, and the minimalist tree isn’t an eye-catching visual. I need one or both to work for the joke to land. But more worryingly, I’m left wondering what the ornaments outside look like because the characters are pointing out that there is something interesting for me to look at off-panel.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a joke like this, if you have a choice between an interesting, spectacular visual or a bland one… go for the spectacular one! It’s a very bad sign when your reader is thinking of something off-panel when you’ve just delivered the joke you spent four pages building up.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suppose if there’s something positive to say about this story, you could consider dealing with this compressed space as a necessary experiment in his development as a storyteller. For me, I’m glad it’s an experiment he didn’t delve in to again.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuity:<\/strong> This is also Rosa’s only attempt at a Christmas story, which surprised me when I went to check my facts considering how beloved Barks’ own Christmas tales are. I suspect this has something to do with his attempt to maintain a consistent timeline within a Barksian universe. That’s not in any way possible considering the number of Christmas stories Barks wrote, but to any readers out there I present to you this challenge: I will award you, in the fine tradition of Stan Lee’s Marvel comics, the No-Prize for determining which Barks Christmas tale this could fit in to. Just post the story you think it could fit in (and your reasoning) in the comments section, and I’ll post the best responses in a separate post.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daisy makes her first appearance here and it’s a pretty boring one. Sadly, her later appearances wouldn’t fare much better. Rosa gives his thoughts on Daisy in a video below, and not to spoil it for you, but they’re not flattering.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/vimeo.com\/channels\/donrosatour\/21717428<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[AR-109] Fir-Tree Fracas (4 Pages, Gag) The Story: The Universe hates Donald Duck and doesn’t want him to enjoy a Christmas tree he spent months planning to set up for his family. I wonder what Donald did to the Universe to ruin its Christmas spirit. 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