Uncle Scrooge Halloween Ashcan 2007

From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge (Uncle Scrooge Halloween Ashcan 2007)
Date: 2007
Publisher: Gemstone Publishing
Writer:Carl Barks
Artist: Carl Barks
Colorist: Colleen Winkler, Susan Daigle-Leach
Editor: Leonard (John) Clark, Sue Kolberg

Technically the title of this is simply Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge, with nothing to distinguish it from any other book featuring that character. I'm calling it "Uncle Scrooge Halloween Ashcan 2007" for clarification. This is a full-color ashcan-format Halloween-themed freebie that reprints a pair of classic Carl Barks Disney comics.

First up is "Hound of the Whiskervilles", a parody of the classic Sherlock Holmes mystery featuring Scrooge, Donald Duck, and the three nephew ducks. Scrooge is trying to get accepted in high society, so he travels to Scotland, hoping a bit of genealogy is just the trick to establish his upper-class bloodline for the aristocratic types back home. With Donald and crew in tow, he encounters the legendary hound that haunted the moors in the days of his ancestors.

There are a couple of fun plot twists in this story, and it was generally pretty entertaining.

The second story features Gyro Gearloose, who decides create his own new life form from the basic chemicals of life after being inspired by a showing of the film "Krankenstein". He creates an egg and speculates on what might hatch from it after placing it in the care of an eager chicken.

This story war more of an extended gag strip, with a lot of setup for a single punchline at the end, which was okay, but not especially satisfying. I did like Gyro's imagined creatures, though.

Rating: 6.5/10

Castle In The Sky #2

Title: Castle in the Sky
Issue: #2
Date: 2003
Publisher: Viz
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Letterer: Susan Daigle-Leach
Editor: Carl Gustav Horn, Alvin Lu

Part 2 of a four-volume adaptation of Miyazaki's animated film. Manga format with full-color artwork direct from the animation cells. Pazu is a boy from a mining town with a knack for invention. Sheeta is a girl who mysteriously fell from the sky into Pazu's life. She's also the rightful ruler of a mythical cloud-island known as Laputa. Government forces and a crew of pirates are all after Sheeta's secrets and the magical stone that she carries. When Pazu and Sheeta are captured, Sheeta agrees to help the government agents find the way to Laputa in exchange for saving Pazu, but Pazu isn't ready to abandon his friend.

And when Sheeta accidentally activates a Laputan soldier-robot, the mayhem really gets going. This is a good story with a fascinating cast of characters and great steampunk flavored action sequences. The animation cells don't always do justice to the art of the film when reproduced as small panels, but the rich color stands out nicely.

Rating: 7.5/10