Memorable one-time characters (you'd like to see return?)

[Orora]

Our duck and mice stories are filled with many characters that appear only once.

And sometimes, those characters are quite interesting and memorable, and yet, they never appear again.

Even though there could be more to be done with them.

Are there characters who appeared in only one story that have left an impression on you?

And that, maybe, you'd like to see be used more?

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Boy, do I ever!

The Phantom Brat made an extremely poignant surprise appearance at the end of The Big Fall, and was solidly in the "I lover her" department by the end of A Phantom Blot Bedtipe Story. Then she kind of… disappeared forever. There are occasional references online to a third story featuring a daughter of the Phantom Blot, who may or may not be the same girl… but even that one I never could locate. (Also: ideally I'd like to see her reintroduced to the comics, but I would also be very pleased if, when they introduce their version of the Phantom Blot, DuckTales 2017 used her too. I mean, our first potential-BF-of-Webby-who's-related-to-a-villain got obliterated with extreme prejudice, we ought to look into getting another.)

Due to the sheer novelty of being a second-richest-duck-in-the-world who doesn't have a personal vendetta with Scrooge and is perfectly willing to do honest business with him, I've long wanted to see more of the Duke of Baloni. (Of course, I eventually answered my own prayers in Hare-Brained Hooligans…)

Like most Walsh/Gottfredson characters, Doctor Grut is a fascinatingly weird villain — too bizarre, perhaps, to make it to recurring without being watered-down into a generic evil genius, but I think he could have benefited from a few return appearances a la Rhyming Man. 

Next up, and this is kind of weird, but the 2004 story Hotel Transylvania sees Donald working in a hotel for monsters (predating the godawful animated film series by several years, if anyone's wondering), and a lot of the background guests have such very interesting designs that I really want to see a story about some of them. This guy, for example. Who is he? What is he? What is his deal?

I don't know if his debut story was any masterpiece, but Marley McDuck is as good a take on "Scrooge's brother" as Gideon or Rumpus, and deserves better than to be swept under the rug. I suppose the "but Don Rosa!!…" argument deterred writers somewhat, but we saw on another thread that intentionally anti-Rosa-backstory tales have started flourishing again as far as "Elvira McDuck" is concerned, and if they're going to give me continuity headaches like that, the least they could do is do is do the thing properly and start using him again. 

Cousin Marmaduke and the setting of Bad Manors, from Robert, the Robot, seem like they could have lent themselves to a bunch of interestingly wacky plots. Robots, magic tricks, real magic, ghosts, an old castle — what's not to love? 

I kind of like one-shot character the magician Mister Mysterio. Not only is he a great magician with a lot of class and style, but it's in his relationship with Scrooge that he shines. Unlike any other character I can think of off the top of my head, Mysterio will not tolerate any nonsense from Scrooge and does not in any way take him seriously — he's just an obnoxious, crazy old hobo as far as Mysterio's concerned. I don't know what new plot could provide a new opportunity for Mysterio and Scrooge to come face-to-face, but it's a dynamic I'd like to see more of someday. 

A minor point: the Secretary Stork from the 1982 story The Counterfeit Caper has a much more interesting design than Clerkly or any of the other one-shot non-Quackmore-or-Quackfaster clerks and butlers at the Money Bin. Seriously, why does Clerkie have more appearances than this guy?!…

Of course, I share Orora's interest in seeing more of Semiramis and learning what exactly she is. A team-up or face-off with Bushroot would not go amiss, while we're at it. 

Also, let me present a scrappy protagonist stuck in a crazy, possibly-imaginary world and called Number Six long before Patrick McGoohan: that's right, I refer, of course, to Bubbles the Water Baby. Not every story in Neverland has to revolve against Peter Pan, Captain Hook and the Fairies; I understand why the Indian Tripe can't really be featured these days but the Mermaids are just sorely underused. Bubbles' introductory (and sole) story was a brave effort to build a new setting inside the wider Neverland mythos, with its own recurring characters and rules and villains and potential plot, and it's weird but it works, in its charmingly-childlike-logic way.

Bedelia Airheart is little more than what you'd suppose from the name, of course, but she seems like a good venue to reintroduce a character akin to the DT17 Della into the regular universe, and she's an interesting choice for a Launchpad love interest. 

And, of course (you all knew this was coming)… where is my 12-chapter spin-off of Astro Pooch, guys? Come on!

[Scroogerello]

I think I'd like to see Hackney McWebfoot, from Lars Jensen's "Nothing New" again. He's a cynical, uninspired comic book writer who writes HDL's favorite comic book, but himself doesn't care one bit about his work, and just rehashes old ideas once he's run out of original ideas. The ending to the story was very funny, and I think his role as the sort of Krusty the Clown of Duckburg could be explored more in future stories.

Sept 8, 2018 9:46:59 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

I don't know if his debut story was any masterpiece, but Marley McDuck is as good a take on "Scrooge's brother" as Gideon or Rumpus, and deserves better than to be swept under the rug. I suppose the "but Don Rosa!!…" argument deterred writers somewhat, but we saw on another thread that intentionally anti-Rosa-backstory tales have started flourishing again as far as "Elvira McDuck" is concerned, and if they're going to give me continuity headaches like that, the least they could do is do is do the thing properly and start using him again. 

I'm all for using characters like Gideon, but (to play devil's advocate), does Marley McDuck really add something to the comics that the other characters don't already? If the main character conflict is "Scrooge is a miser, but Marley is a spendthrift and Scrooge disapproves", isn't Marley's role too similar to that of Donald (or even Gladstone) in many stories?

(Also, I can't seem to remember where the name "Marley McDuck" comes from? Even on the English Wikipedia, he's referred to by his Italian name, and I'm sure he's never appeared in any American publications. If they wanted to stick to the Christmas Carol references, I would've said "Cratchit McDuck" would have been more appropriate, since Jacob Marley was never a good guy, and only regretted his evil deeds because he was punished, not because of any moral compass. Although I guess that would ruin the alliteration in the name).

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Please people, please, I beg you not to turn this thread in another "how many brothers SMcD should have".  


Basically almost all one-time characters from Gottfredson long-adventures strips, from the beginning up to the end of the Walsh run, strike me for how comically well-rounded they are. On one side I wish some of them were used again, on the other side I would not be confident with nowadays writers to use them without making them lame. Just one example: what about the legendary Jasper Snoopbones, the "private eye" from Bellhop Detective. 
We have decades of Disney comics inspired by Barks, with (too) many duck comics writer recycling one-time characters from Barks stories, when we know that making great supporting characters was not always Barks's strength. If for some historical reason that would have happen to Gottfredson's mouse, I think that now we would have a really large and complex MM universe. 

[Matilda]

I second Scrooge MacDuck on several suggestions: the Secretary Stork, and Bedelia Airheart, and the monsters from Hotel Transylvania. That's one of the stories I re-read every year around Halloween; Janet Gilbert's story is fine, as an inversion of Brittle Mastery with a happy ending in Monster-world, and Wanda Gattino's art is excellent, making me also care about the individual monsters.

I think Monkey_Feyerabend's comment about the use of Barks' vs. Gottfredson's one-shot characters is really interesting. Barks has some extremely memorable one-shot characters: the retired cheese-taster in Donald's Raucous Role, Mr. Birdmind in The Persistent Postman, the snow hermit in The Screaming Cowboy...but I don't know that any of them have lots of possibility for further development. Although I have thought that Mr. Birdmind and Gyro could team up on a Woodchuck/Chickadee-sponsored "save the endangered raptors" campaign, and could become friends in the process.

Other male one-shots: Fallberg's Jeb and Zeb Clinker (Rattled Railroader) and Transgaard/Gattino's Big Barnsmell/Barnsie (A Trailblazing Tale). I want to see a Klondike flashback story where Barnsie meets the Finnish brothers from Korhonen's Sukulaissieluja--I think they would get along famously.

But mostly, I'm interested in More Female Characters:

--Grandma Duck's cousin Amanda from Halas & Angus/Branca's Bananas

--Katie Mallard and Ducky Bird from Mystery of the Ghost Town Railroad

--Pyrite Jennie from Bob Langhans' The Gold Hound

--Fantasma De Spell, Magica's pirate ancestor from Lokling/Midthun's A Treasure for Sure

--Dr. Beatrice Bruté from Darkwing Duck episode "Apes of Wrath"--I believe she would have turned up eventually in a Sparrow/Silvani story

--Miss Jane Torple, Minnie's detective aunt from Pezzin's Minni e i misteri di Miss Torple

--Danda Champollion, Minnie's archeologist friend from Giovanna Bo's Minni e il sentiero delle gatte

 

Casty's one-shot female characters are often great, like Commander Iris-One from Plan Dine from Outer Space, Roxette Ratchet from Darkenblot.

[Matilda]

Sept 9, 2018 20:46:38 GMT The KKM said:

 Same with that rooster who dated Clara Cluck in that one Barks story who got along really well with Donald, bring him back, Donald can use more friends.

Yes, bring back Rockhead Rooster ("The Double Date" Gregory?/Barks)! I agree, Donald can use more friends. Their interaction could continue to be fun in other stories: dovetailing on all sorts of things, then fighting and not talking when there's a disagreement, then dovetailing again when some funny common concern or interest or threat or memory unites them. I wonder whether Rockhead is a Captain Retro-Duck fan?

[djnyr]

Sept 9, 2018 20:46:38 GMT The KKM said:

Anyway not to fully derail things like this, I'll mention that there's this one old story, Van Horn maybe?, where Magica and Scrooge have a third wheel in their confict, a stereotypically-yellow-peril-like chinese sorceror whose name escapes me right now. I remember liking his design, and feeling he'd be good for a few more appearances as a recurring character.

That sounds like the Daniel Branca story that was published towards the end of Gladstone 1's run of Uncle Scrooge Adventures; they gave it the title "In the Talons of Wan Fu." A good story, and I agree that if would have been fun to see "Wan Fu" more than once. 

Gottfredson's classic-era Mouse stories, though, seem to me to have the biggest collection of fleshed-out one-time characters that could have been brought back many times--examples include Pete's hilariously over-polite henchman Hiccup in "The Captive Castaways," the self-important cantankerous Mayor Scott in "Crazy Crime Wave," the cynical reporter McSnoop in "Editor-in-Grief," and the captain and leading crew members of the Lady Daffodil from "Mighty Whale Hunter." 

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Sept 9, 2018 23:37:10 GMT djnyr said:

Sept 9, 2018 20:46:38 GMT The KKM said:

 the self-important cantankerous Mayor Scott in "Crazy Crime Wave,"

Mayor Scott has a major role in Faraci-Cavazzano's sequel to Crazy Crime Wave, i.e. Mickey Mouse in: the Last Case, from 2008.  



The story is one of the greatest modern Disney comics I have ever read. The definite tribute of everything good there is in Mickey comics since Gottfredson early years, with cool action, cool jokes, and clever twists. And of course great staging and art, both Faraci and Cavazzano at their top. Actually, considering a certain lost of  verve in Faraci's stories in the last decade and the fact that Cavazzano does not seem to get great scripts recently, I would dare to say that this story is probably the last great story by both of them (so far). But I must admit that I did not read their sequel to Christmas on bear Mountain from the same period. If that sequel connects to Barks's story half as cleverly as this one does to Gottfredoson's one, then I am sold!   

[Monkey_Feyerabend]

Sept 9, 2018 23:37:10 GMT djnyr said:

Sept 9, 2018 20:46:38 GMT The KKM said:

 and the captain and leading crew members of the Lady Daffodil from "Mighty Whale Hunter." 

It would not be possible to use it now, because it was an old fashioned stereotyped portrait of an asian person, but I must say that even the chinese cook of that crew was absolutely funny!

Now that I think about it, even the equally racist portrait of a chinese servant in "The bat bandit" from the same period was an awesome character, from a comic perspective.

That Gottfredson guy was way deep into those racist stereotypes of the age...but he could put some fun into those strips. 
 

[jumbojr]

Codino the seahorse from this story inducks.org/story.php?c=I%20TL%20%20317-A

[Orora]

Sept 11, 2018 20:23:09 GMT jumbojr said:

Codino the seahorse from this story inducks.org/story.php?c=I%20TL%20%20317-A

Now that's an obscure character! How is he related to Disney at all?

[jumbojr]

Sept 12, 2018 14:35:06 GMT Orora said:

Sept 11, 2018 20:23:09 GMT jumbojr said:

Codino the seahorse from this story inducks.org/story.php?c=I%20TL%20%20317-A

Now that's an obscure character! How is he related to Disney at all?

He's not related to the other more famous Disney characters or their universes, but he's still a Disney character created by the legendary Romano Scarpa.
The story is pretty good too, I wish Scarpa(or others) had made more stories about that universe.

[Orora]

Sept 12, 2018 16:00:58 GMT jumbojr said:

Sept 12, 2018 14:35:06 GMT Orora said:

Now that's an obscure character! How is he related to Disney at all?

He's not related to the other more famous Disney characters or their universes, but he's still a Disney character created by the legendary Romano Scarpa.
The story is pretty good too, I wish Scarpa(or others) had made more stories about that universe.

That's odd... what makes him a Disney character then?

[jumbojr]

Being created by a Disney legend and having his story published in a famous Disney comic book with "Walt Disney presents" written on the first page.

[Orora]

Sept 12, 2018 17:38:00 GMT jumbojr said:

Being created by a Disney legend and having his story published in a famous Disney comic book with "Walt Disney presents" written on the first page.

How did he get a completely new character to have this privilege?