Stories starring Gladstone?

[juicymcduck]

Do you guys and gals know of any stories starring (or at least prominently featuring) Gladstone that you'd like to recommend? :-) I'm trying to come up with a list. Obviously, A Gal for Gladstone and The Sign of the Triple Distlefink are already included.

[farmspirit]

Just last year they published Gastone e la solitudine del quadrifoglio, praised by many for showing us the problems of Gladstone and how he tries to deal with them. I liked them, only problem that I have with it (and similarly with La ballata di John D. Rockerduck, similar story focusing on Rk, written by Marco Nucci too) is that it need to be confined in the status quo, so by the end the situation is back as it started, only with Gladston accepting his gift/curse.

[Matilda]

Another story of Gladstone's birthday: Party of None! by Michael T. Gilbert/Vicar. Pan brought it up as a favorite Vicar story of his when we were listing faves, and he said that he had mentioned the story to Vicar himself when he met him once, and Vicar lit up, remembering the story positively from the art angle. Along with Distelfink, it's one of the birthday stories I re-read every year around my own birthday!

I'm glad that Lars Jensen built off this story in writing The Secret Gardener where Gladstone pursues the gardening he learned to value in Party of None! Because we always have to return to the status quo at the end of every story in a global sense, as farmspirit just discussed, it's particularly satisfying to have a character develop a new interest/dimension which can be picked up in a future story.

In general, my favorite Gladstone moments are just that--moments, in stories in which he is not the star. Gladstone's coup in "A Little Something Special" is probably my favorite Gladstone moment of all time.

In stories where he is a main character, I'm happiest if Gladstone loses out to Donald. I like the character work in Korhonen's Bunny and Sweetums, where Gladstone's very presence in the appearances list is a spoiler. Donald thinks Daisy wants to be treated as her female friend is treated and spoken to by her boyfriend, but it turns out that Daisy sighs after the girlfriend's phone calls not because she wishes Donald would be so romantic, but because she finds the friend's bragging about her romantic boyfriend wearying! And the boyfriend turns out to be Gladstone....

[crazycatlord]

An interesting type of stories with Gladstone are those where he wants to get ride of his luck:

- Gastone e la fortuna inopportuna
- O Escravo da Sorte

[Spectrus]

May 23, 2022 16:30:43 GMT crazycatlord said:

An interesting type of stories with Gladstone are those where he wants to get ride of his luck:

- Gastone e la fortuna inopportuna
- O Escravo da Sorte

And another one in this vein, one that really gets under the reader's skin:


inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+2865-1

[bats]

What's Luck Got To Do With It? is another of those psychoanalysis stories dealing with Gladstone losing his luck, but one that portrays him in a rather nasty light. Quite unique, and a good read.

[caballero]

The Lucky Jinx written and drawn by Noel Van Horn. It stars Gladstone and does not feature any other recurring character.
Portrait of a Gander written and drawn by Ferioli, part of the "Tribute to Carl Barks" series.

[Matilda]

Interesting to see how many stories there are about Gladstone wanting to get rid of his luck--the Party of None! birthday story is also in that category.

Just thinking in general about Gladstone stories I re-read...

Barks: Luck of the North, Wintertime Wager (an early story where Daisy comes off well!)

Rosa: Oolated Luck

One Donald-vs.-Gladstone story out of the hundreds that stands out in my memory is Skating Along (Werner Wejp-Olsen & Tom Anderson/Vicar). A nice glimpse of what Gladstone can and cannot get through his luck: he wins the race, but ends up standing outside in the cold looking in on the feast where Donald is being thanked for rescuing someone. A poignant yet satisfying image.

And then there are the stories of Daisy's birthday, where Gladstone and Donald are competing to impress her:

Flat-Footed Poet (Wiking & Tom Anderson/Bolster)

Bloeiende nachtcactus (Kruse/Mau Heymans)

Armband (Jonker/Bas Heymans)

Unfair Play (Dave Angus/Vicar)

I like the ending of Unfair Play, where Daisy, sick of their quarreling, strands Gladstone and Donald at the top of the ferris wheel and goes home!

By the way, I find I have only spotty luck with putting titles into Inducks' search engine. Wintertime Wager and Skating Along came up right away, but Flat-Footed Poet got me nothing. I had to find it by searching for SPG 18.

[Matilda]

May 24, 2022 13:36:40 GMT caballero said:

The Lucky Jinx written and drawn by Noel Van Horn. It stars Gladstone and does not feature any other recurring character.
Portrait of a Gander written and drawn by Ferioli, part of the "Tribute to Carl Barks" series.

Ferioli's Portrait of a Gander, like Skating Along, is a nice demonstration of what Gladstone can and cannot achieve through luck--how he will win over Donald and live to regret it. My favorite moment of that story is when HDL check the JW Guidebook to see whether cousin-massacring is legal in Alaska!

[juicymcduck]

That's a lot of excellent suggestions, my friends! A shame many of those have never been published in France. A mistake to be rectified, I'm sure.

[Matilda]

Can anyone provide a review of the Snejbjerg/Rota story “Be Happy” (D 2019-093)? It’s got an Inducks user rating lower than 5000 and the synopsis sounds interesting. But it hasn’t been published in any form I can find & read.

[friendoffortune]

Some of my favorites include

-Salmon derby

-Gladstone's luck

-Unfortunate Dinner Guest

-O'lucky Man