My favourite period of vicar's work was the mid to late 1970s, when his style looked most like 1953 Barks. I didn't like most of his work from the early 1980s onward, as that's when (in my opinion) his assistants' drawing degraded his style.
Oh that's my favourite period too. Though worth noting those are the stories from my childhood so there might be nostalgia... I got kinda bored with Vicar in the 90's. Just too much of it. 'Ah, Vicar again!'
But I have gained new appreciation for him now I think.
I was obsessed with Hidden valley as a kid. I drew a sequel to it too I wish I still had it...
Also The Priceless Chest. I am fond. It's a very important story for how I see Glomgold I think... As is Uncle Scrooge is Generous. It's the way I prefer him, plus he looks very cute in those. Duckier proportions than in any Barks stories. Vicar drew lot of Glomgold stories I like and he is maybe my favourite artist for the character. Though obviously Barks, especially The Second-richest duck had a better story I like the look of Vicar Glomgold especially in late 70's to early 90's.
p.s. on "Gathering the Ducks": Grandma Duck shows Donald a photo of herself as a babe-in-arms, and (at least in German) says that it's a photo from her baptism day! Interesting addition to the very short list of churchy or religious references in the lives of the Ducks. Though of course for many people, particularly in countries where Christianity used to be the state church, baptism is just a generic baby rite, the life-cycle rite for newborns, not anything particularly religious.
I approve of keeping religion out of the Duck comics, but still, I found it amusing to find this reference to Elvira's baptism.
It has occurred to me that for me one of the most memorable elements of stories drawn by Vicar is the depiction of place. There are some great scenes of settings in Vicar stories. I think particularly of Atlantis and Lower Flotsam in Janet Gilbert's The Lost Suburb, Old Man Winter's cave in her Young Man Winter, and the splash panel of Turkeyton in her Once a Loser.
Donald finds a box of fine chocolates Uncle Scrooge bought as a gift for the “Diva” as a sign of appreciation but Donald “accidentally” eats all of them and sets on a mission to buy another identical box of chocolates.
I have attempted to recuperate from tax prep (and to retreat from the news) by planning my own fantasy Vicar volume of Disney Masters. This is not my personal most-wanted DM volume; I'd put volumes dedicated to Korhonen, Rota, Maya Åstrup and Cimino ahead of this. But as you will see, this is the most fun to plan!
Around the Year with Vicar
The Duckburg Ice Festival (12)--Janet Gilbert (so we can have this fine story in English with the correct pricing on HDL's final sign )
a short essay about Vicar's ability to depict an imaginary place, illustrated by his drawings of Turkeyton in Janet Gilbert's Once a Loser, the undersea town in Janet Gilbert's Lost Suburb, Old Man Winter's cave in Janet Gilbert's Young Man Winter....and maybe some examples from stories written by other people!
A New Feeling/Date with a Munchkin (12)--Korhonen (not explicitly a Valentine's Day story, but VD-appropriate, and a much better story than any Vicar story which is explicitly set at Valentine's Day)
Valentine's Day (1)--Korhonen (I'm going to include several of these "Sanoma Cook Book" one-pagers)
Just Relax (8)--Halas & Sutter (spring cleaning & first picnic of spring--I just love the opening splash panel with exhausted Daisy)
Mother's Day (1)--Korhonen (a nice counter to the spring cleaning story)
Birthdays Are for Kids (12)--Carol & Pat McGreal (June is Donald's birthday; Donald gets turned into a child in this one)
Pioneer Daze (12)--David Gerstein (Vicar is great at drawing crowd chaos! Plus this story shows us how Duckburg celebrates Cornelius Coot Day, which I have decided falls in summer)
The Odyssey (12)--Gorm Transgaard (a summery story with a flashback to Donald's navy career *and* an explanation for why he always wears his sailor suit! I think of this as Reginella Lite, the Egmont mini-version of l'avventura sottomarina)
The Secret of Goblin Valley (12)--Carol & Pat McGreal (my favorite end-of-summer, back-to-school story, complete with blocky Vicar aliens!)
All Tricks and No Treats (12)--Janet Gilbert (it ends with children swimming in Halloween candy!)
(nope, I don't like the Korhonen/Vicar Halloween one-pager--what self-respecting kid would accept a feast as a substitute for trick-or-treating?)
a short essay showing off Vicar's Christmas tableaux, featuring the final panels from e.g. Per Hedman's Christmas Magic and Katz & Anderson's All's Well (the whole crew eating Christmas dinner in Grandma's barn!)
That's 158 pages of comics, plus two short essays. Room to spare! If someone can identify which month Gladstone's birthday falls in, we could include Party of None! by Michael Gilbert, another favorite of mine (and Pan's).
I think this would be a fun way to collect a more or less representative sample of Vicar-drawn stories with a theme that would bring them together...since without that, there are simply way too many Vicar-drawn stories to even begin to choose sensibly.