Which comic writer handled Daisy Duck the best?

[donalddisneyfan]

Continuing the trend on asking the best comic writer for each of the Mickey and Friends characters, how about which comic writer handled Daisy Duck the best?


Which comic writer do you all feel is the best and definitive Daisy Duck comic writer, same way Floyd Gottfredson is to Mickey and Minnie, Carl Barks is to Donald and Scrooge, Bill Walsh is to Goofy, and Don Rosa is to Scrooge and why?

[LP]

Daisy has generally been written in a very un-interesting way, at least in the comics I've read. When I think of Daisy, I automatically think "one dimensional take on a stereotypical woman". I don't doubt that some writer has attempted to give her some development and dimension, but I have not read such a story.

I believe the only time I've actually thought to myself that "this version of Daisy feels like an actual character" is Donald's Dilemma by Ray Williams and Jack King. It shows a lot of personality for Daisy and I really like that take on her. However, Donald's Dilemma is a cartoon, so for the purposes of this thread I don't think it counts.

[bats]

I'll toss in a vote for Bruno Concina for this story, which is by far the best Daisy story I've read:
inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+2273-2

[Matilda]

Here's a question which falls in my wheelhouse! I have long sought out stories in which Daisy is a well-developed and overall likeable character--three-dimensional, with flaws that don't turn her into a caricature and with strengths and silliness as well. LP is right about the depiction of Daisy in comics generally, from Barks on. You're not going to find a writer who has portrayed Daisy well in lots of stories, I don't believe. On the list I'm going to post here, only two writers are represented by three stories: Andreas Pihl and Lars Jensen. Of the two sets of stories, I like those by Pihl considerably better. And then there are the anonymous Brazilian writers--no way of telling how many are represented here. Brazil had a "New Daisy" series of stories in the 1980's; of those the ones that work best today are the more fantasy-based ones, as the real-world stories are quite dated (a woman can be a forest ranger! a woman can be good at martial arts!). But there are other Brazilian stories outside that series which show off Daisy's character well. I should also mention the stories written for the Dutch Katrien title. I've only gotten to read a smattering of those, but Rob Klein reports that the writers were urged to portray Daisy as a strong and likeable character. Of the ones I have read, though, only the Oost & van den Bosch "Inca's en aardappels" truly stood out to me.

Stories in which Daisy comes off well:

anonymous Brazilian: A Caverna Das Sereias and A Guerra Das Amazonas (two from New Daisy series); A Páscoa É Nossa (my favorite Daisy-in-Duckburg story); Congelamento Rapido (recommended by cacou)

Barks: Wintertime Wager (nominated by Ramapith)

Bartholomew, Bob: Hero of the Week

Brown, Aleksander Kirkwood: The Librarian (Daisy vs. the Beagle Boys; not the Daisy Duck's Diary story)

Faria, Arthur: Disfarça... É Disfarce! (Daisy gets the better of Magica and the Beagle Boys at a costume ball)

Gilbert, Janet: Crime by the Book (Daisy vs. the Beagle Boys; I'd like this much better if the art didn't make my eyes hurt)

Gregory, Bob: Daringly Different (inventive, nonconformist Daisy! drawn by Barks; when Gemstone published it, they didn't know who wrote it, but INDUCKS now credits Gregory as the author)

Hansegard, Jens: Himalayan Hideout (Daisy adventuring with Scrooge)

Hedman, Per: Sorcerer of the Swamp (Daisy has to team up temporarily with Magica in the course of the story)

Jensen, Lars: The Torkelson Treasure; Hard Head Harry; Who Is Daisy Duck? (it annoys me that none of Daisy's framed photos feature her with AMJ and/or Daisy's sister or parents! The point being underlined is that Daisy is only thought of by others as "Donald's girlfriend," but it doesn't seem realistic to me that all of Daisy's framed photos would portray her with Donald and the boys. This doesn't show that *others* see her only as Donald's girlfriend; it shows that *Daisy* only sees herself as Donald's girlfriend!)

Korhonen, Kari: Bunny and Sweetums (Donald *thinks* Daisy is impressed by the way her friend talks about her boyfriend, but it turns out Daisy's sighs were not longing but exasperation over gooey love-talk!)

Oost, Pascal and Wilma van den Bosch: Inca's en aardappels (Daisy adventuring with AMJ)

Pihl, Andreas: A Heart-Sized Ruby (Daisy adventuring with Scrooge); Hocus-Pocus on the Nightshift; Agent Daisy

Seppälä, Jaako: Captivating Coup

Shaw, Laura & Mark: Pass the Parchment (Daisy and Donald are fighting all the time, but they're fighting over who gets to take on the curse and save the other!)

As you can see, one can't really go by INDUCKS ratings to find good Daisy stories; the INDUCKS raters generally aren't overly impressed by stories where the female characters come off well--at least, that's not what they're looking for in a story. Lots of "6.9" ratings here!

In addition, I'd mention a couple of stories where the Daisy lookalike or role-playing Daisy is great: Scarpa's La leggenda di Paperin Hood and Bottaro's The Black Corsair's Niece.

So, you want a good Daisy, I'd say you go to Brazil or the Netherlands. Elsewhere, start with Andreas Pihl, and individual stories by Hansegard, Hedman and the Shaws. And Concino, since bats gets a vote! (Haven't read that one.)

[thadwell]

Jippes and Milton's "Coat of Harms" is probably my favorite Daisy story ever, followed by Barks' "Christmas for Shacktown". I agree that the nuance makes her better than just the bitchy girlfriend, but that still doesn't mean most of those Barks stories fitting that description aren't funny as hell. I'm biased because I localized them, but the Geradts and Heymans "Daisy Chain" and "Bargain Battle" do show a modern culmination of that approach to Daisy done right.

[bats]

Apr 29, 2023 15:30:10 GMT Matilda said:

Lots of "6.9" ratings here!

heh, that's what the Concina story I posted got too.
In short;
Daisy starts attending a "fiancee school", a school that teaches girls how to "improve" their boyfriends, where she learns the technique of calling out a boyfriend's worst qualities by acting like an exaggerated version of him. 
If this sounds like an extremely horrible idea, it's because it is, something Daisy herself gets a huge wake-up call on when the school suddenly shuts down overnight after the teacher's fiance called off the engagement and broke up with her because of how badly she was treating him. Daisy panics and realizes she's been treating Donald so terribly he might be on the verge of breaking up with her... HOWEVER, at the same time Donald has actually realized exactly what Daisy is doing and is himself panicking over the thought that he's clearly been an awful boyfriend if it made her go to these lengths, thinking that SHE has to be on the verge of breaking up with HIM. So they both try to make it up to the other at the same time. It's very cute and funny, and teaches a very clear moral about the value of communicating rather than being a story about anyone learning their lesson after acting in a deplorable way.

[Matilda]

Apr 29, 2023 16:35:30 GMT thadwell said:

Jippes and Milton's "Coat of Harms" is probably my favorite Daisy story ever, followed by Barks' "Christmas for Shacktown".

Yes! "Coat of Harms" does well by Daisy. I'll add it to my list!

[Matilda]

Just looked up stories by Andreas Pihl starring Daisy, and there are four: the three I listed, plus a story where Daisy helps a female ghost in her search. Given my liking of the other three, I have just ordered on eBay the German version of the ghost story! It's actually been published in English in Brazil (!) but there's no way I can get my hands on that. Who knew that Brazil was publishing Disney comics in English?!

And that reminds me, I could add to my list the Shaws' Duckdown Abbey, another ghost story. So that's two good Daisy stories for the Shaws. And another 6.9 on Inducks! 

[thadwell]

Matilda - I might be biased because I had a hand in it, but the upcoming Fanta book with Carpi's "Les Mis" and "War and Peace" not only shows the cartoonist at his finest hour, but gives Daisy quite a bit to do. It will inarguably be the best Disney book this year.