I just read the 2005 Halloween story Spook and Quackers and it's fantastic. It's almost everything you'd want a Halloween story to be (creative, funny in a Haunted Mansion sort of way, well-drawn, and including Halloween folklore in its premise). And it has what may be one of the darkest plotlines in a Disney comic, which I am very surprised the censors let slip. Not going to spoil it unless someone asks, but suffice to say…
Yes, yes, this is a terrific story! Now one of my yearly Halloween re-reads. (I usually re-read the Shaws' Pass the Parchment, too, which may be my favorite Daisy-with-Donald story ever.) Spook and Quackers is not officially a "real" story in my headcanon, because in my version of Duckburg, Calisota, USA, there are no nearby castles of hereditary nobles who have lived there for hundreds of years. (Barks's Mad Duke, I figure, was a European exile who carted over or built his own castle.) But I enjoy it as a Halloween fantasy starring the Ducks I know. One of the best spooky stories ever. Maybe it will show up in an IDW October issue or Halloween Scream one of these years.
I just read the 2005 Halloween story Spook and Quackers and it's fantastic. It's almost everything you'd want a Halloween story to be (creative, funny in a Haunted Mansion sort of way, well-drawn, and including Halloween folklore in its premise). And it has what may be one of the darkest plotlines in a Disney comic, which I am very surprised the censors let slip. Not going to spoil it unless someone asks, but suffice to say…
Yes, yes, this is a terrific story! Now one of my yearly Halloween re-reads. (I usually re-read the Shaws' Pass the Parchment, too, which may be my favorite Daisy-with-Donald story ever.) Spook and Quackers is not officially a "real" story in my headcanon, because in my version of Duckburg, Calisota, USA, there are no nearby castles of hereditary nobles who have lived there for hundreds of years. (Barks's Mad Duke, I figure, was a European exile who carted over or built his own castle.) But I enjoy it as a Halloween fantasy starring the Ducks I know. One of the best spooky stories ever. Maybe it will show up in an IDW October issue or Halloween Scream one of these years.
Wormwood isn't really a castle so much as a mansion, though, is it?
Yes, yes, this is a terrific story! Now one of my yearly Halloween re-reads. (I usually re-read the Shaws' Pass the Parchment, too, which may be my favorite Daisy-with-Donald story ever.) Spook and Quackers is not officially a "real" story in my headcanon, because in my version of Duckburg, Calisota, USA, there are no nearby castles of hereditary nobles who have lived there for hundreds of years. (Barks's Mad Duke, I figure, was a European exile who carted over or built his own castle.) But I enjoy it as a Halloween fantasy starring the Ducks I know. One of the best spooky stories ever. Maybe it will show up in an IDW October issue or Halloween Scream one of these years.
Wormwood isn't really a castle so much as a mansion, though, is it?
Ah, I'm rethinking this. Yes, it's a mansion. (The German translation uses "Schloss" which probably made it stick in my not-very-visual memory as a castle.) The bigger issue is who lived there how long ago, and I think there I didn't translate correctly. So Willi
{Spoiler} is at least 200 years old--presumably bought the mansion approximately 150 years ago. The tragedy happened decades before that (not centuries, as I thought from a too-quick reading). So in total 200 years ago.
And there's no indication that the previous owners were nobility. So yay, this story should work for Duckburg, USA! I had thought the Shaws had just used the horror/ghost story trope of the count/duke in the castle, and that the story had nobility living there for centuries, but no.
Willi, was he, in German? He was called Gérard in French… I wonder what his name is in English. Or wait, are you talking about the apple-guy, or the boy?
Willi, was he, in German? He was called Gérard in French… I wonder what his name is in English. Or wait, are you talking about the apple-guy, or the boy?
The old guy is Willi Wurmfrass, of Schloss Wurmfrass. The boy is named Pit Piffke.
I might have to buy this story in French, if I can find someone who's selling MPG 361 online. I like it so much, I should get it in a language I can read more easily (and reliably). To hold me over, until IDW prints it...