This Don Rosa's story belongs to a category of stories, created by Barks as well as other creators, titled 'Master (insert profession)'. The general plot of those stories is the following: Donald becomes exceptionally good in a profession, his skill reaching almost superhuman levels. For a while, he enjoys money and fame, until something goes wrong or he makes some mistake and his career ends.
Those stories are packed with gags and 'Master Landscapist', a work of the creator who is the king not only of Disney epic adventures but also of Disney comedy, was bound to be a masterpiece. It left me with a bittersweet taste, though. This time, Donald successfully got through all kinds of difficult tasks while taking care of the mayor's garden only to screw up during the easiest part: cutting the grass! And what made my child self (I was 10 the first time I read it) even sadder was the impression that Donald could have accomplished the mission had his nephews not distracted him in their attempt to prevent the tragedy that they finally caused.
Anyway, my childhood oversensitivity aside, this is a masterpieciously structured story, with the gags reaching their peak in the pre last page and the last page devoted to the comically tragic (or tragically comical, dunno, you choose) aftermath.
Barks was much better than Rosa at all aspects of comedy. When it comes to dialogue humor, Rosa's dialogue jokes are often over-labored, calling far too much attention to themselves--the art (particularly the characters' facial expressions) and the writing signal "here's a joke coming--here's a joke--that was a joke." One of my favorite examples is the coin-down-the-grating bit in "Incident at McDuck Tower," where he takes multiple panels to stage a very simple gag about Scrooge's cheapness. Barks, by contrast, was never so self-conscious and knew how to place verbal gags with a minimum of fanfare. As for physical humor, Barks has it all over Rosa here as well; Rosa's over-realistic art style makes his attempts at slapstick usually look more painful than funny, while Barks' more classically cartoony art allows us to laugh at characters taking physical punishment instead of feeling queasy.
I agree that Barks did physical humor and slapstick better, but I'm less convinced about verbal humor.
Oh, I admit Rosa has quite a few funny one-liners--the "siege malpractice" line from His Majesty, McDuck is an all-time favorite of mine. However, even that joke takes a lot of dialogue to put it across; Rosa's command of language is a lot less assured than that of Barks, who could evoke laughs with a few well-placed words. I can remember my dad, not much of a comics fan, laughing uproariously over the name of the "Idle Dandies" club in Barks' Master Rainmaker, and that was just a throwaway gag.
Barks was much better than Rosa at all aspects of comedy. When it comes to dialogue humor, Rosa's dialogue jokes are often over-labored, calling far too much attention to themselves--the art (particularly the characters' facial expressions) and the writing signal "here's a joke coming--here's a joke--that was a joke." One of my favorite examples is the coin-down-the-grating bit in "Incident at McDuck Tower," where he takes multiple panels to stage a very simple gag about Scrooge's cheapness. Barks, by contrast, was never so self-conscious and knew how to place verbal gags with a minimum of fanfare. As for physical humor, Barks has it all over Rosa here as well; Rosa's over-realistic art style makes his attempts at slapstick usually look more painful than funny, while Barks' more classically cartoony art allows us to laugh at characters taking physical punishment instead of feeling queasy.
Word. One of the things about Barks' best comedies - and many of his best stories, period - is that they are so effortlessly funny. Rosa's humor feels much more deliberate, more calculated, and, as you say, over-labored. And Rosa's stiff drawing style tends to give the art the same feel, however funny some of the facial expressions may be. (There are some exceptions to the "over-labored" trait though: "His Majesty McDuck" is probably still the funniest Rosa story I've read, and while not as hilarious as Barks' best, much of its humor feels more spontaneous and lively than Rosa's later work would ever do.)
After Carl Barks, the teams of Daan Jippes and Freddy Milton and William Van Horn and John Lustig both did some of the funniest comedy Duck stories in my opinion. Rosa's best are usually his longer stories. But he has written a few really good comedy stories.
I don't know, but it maybe because oft the age oft Barks's stories. For myself, I have never been a big Barks fan. I don't want to question his ability as a writer or artist, but his stories just never spoke to me the way they seem to resonate with others. They were always just mediocre to good. I also never understood why he was "the good artist" (they called him that back when there were no credits on the comic books, right?). IMO his writing is WAY better than his art - and I'm not even comparing him to today's standards, but I think Murry or even Hannah were on the same level of artistry. Anyways, back to topic. I agree with whatever, as to Rosa being a good gag writer. I actually enjoy his gag stories much more nowadays than his adventure stories, which seem to me overloaded and more like a boring history lesson. I have always defended Rosa of these claims in the past, but the after finishing the Rosa Library, I found myself agreeing with these critics of him. It was around the same time, that I started buying used German pocket books from the second half of the 20th century. Back then they were 1-to-1 reproductions of "I Classici di Walt Disney" Italian books, just in German. They often featured long Scarpa, Martina and Carpi-adventures, the holy trinity of old Italians. Maybe that coincided. His gag stories however, such as "Master Landscapist", I really started enjoying, and I wondered why even Rosa himself was not valuing them. Especially the stories containing jokes on gravity were hilarious and incredibly original.