As my son said, "They're okay when they stay in Duckburg, but when they go to foreign lands it's asking for trouble."

Ghost of the Grotto (Four Color #159, Aug. 1947)



A mere three months after his last appearance Donald had another Four Color one-shot.  To me this is a sign that Barks and the Ducks are selling well.  And with a cover like this one, how could they not?  That is just pure fun and adventure.  

The story starts with Donald and the boys on a multi-ethnic island where they are renting a boat to harvest kelp.  As the kelp beds are nearly played out they get the idea to try to harvest from the middle of "Skull-eye Reef" where there are kelp beds that have never been touched.  On the island we find out that this is the night, once every fifty years when a local boy is stolen from the island never to be seen again.  The gang gets the boat positioned on top of the reef so they can harvest kelp.  And that way leads...adventure. 

This story is, I think, a turning point for the long adventure stories.  It's incredibly atmospheric with a palpable sense of gothic danger as the boys are menaced by the "Ghost of the Grotto" an eerie man in ancient armor who makes off with Dewey.  



Ultimately we find out that the "ghost" is one of the kidnapped children and they have been guarding the treasure in a British ship that was marooned in the eye of the reef and are awaiting the return of Sir Francis Drake.  The story is atmospheric and the limited setting actually plays to Barks' strengths in this period and against some of this weaknesses.  We definitely worry about the fate of Dewey. 



Not that there isn't some laughs.  It wouldn't be a Duck adventure without a few.  But they're secondary.  And generally were played for menace before the laughs come with the defeat of that particular menace (in this case a very large octopus).  




As I said, this feels like a turning point for the long adventure stories.  It's more adventure than comedy and the peril feels more perilous.  I'd say this is probably the best long story so far. 

Christmas On Bear Mountain (Four Color #178, Dec. 1947)



Four months after The Ghost in the Grotto and Adventure Down Under, Barks gives us what is almost unquestionably his greatest contribution to comics, ducks, popular culture.  It may not have seemed like it at the time.  It almost unquestionably didn't.  But the first appearance of Uncle Scrooge, who seemed likely to be a one-dimensional throw-away character, became magic.  

The story starts out as so many do.  It's almost Christmas and Donald is again broke.  He and the boys are bemoaning that there will be no money for Christmas.  No money for presents, trees, food, etc.  A mention from one of the boys of "rich old Uncle Scrooge" leads to us first seeing the iconic old boy.  This is not the Scrooge we will come to know.  He hates everyone and everyone hates him.  He decides to invite Donald and the boys to his mountain cabin as an opportunity to have some fun by scaring them and seeing if Donald is a brave duck.  



Scrooge's plan is to scare the boys by wearing a bear suit and sets that stage in his invitation to the boys by telling them to watch out for bears.  The boys arrive and find presents for the boys, a refrigerator full of rich food and a snowy mountain cabin.  The one thing that is missing is a Christmas tree.  Donald is terrified that there are bears around, but the boys assure him they'll be sleeping.  Scrooge tries to reach the cabin in order to scare them, but is turned back by a snowstorm.  The following day the boys despair that there isn't a Christmas tree and they convince Donald to go out get a tree, but all they can find is a hollow old snag.  Unbeknownst to them there is a bear cub in the snag.  



The cub wakes up and begins wrecking havoc in the cabin, the noise and the uproar terrifying Donald.  Eventually the boys discover that it's just a little cub and that information emboldens Donald.  But, meanwhile, the bears mother discovers him missing and makes her appearance tearing down the door of the cabin and ultimately driving Donald and the boys out in to the cold.  



In lieu of freezing and starving, Donald and the boys decide to try to sneak in and tie up the mother as she is napping.  At almost the same time Uncle Scrooge shows up in his bear suit.  Donald starts toward the sleeping mother, but faints.  Meanwhile, the boys are chasing the cub.  Scrooge sees the boys chasing the cub and is impressed.  He then sees Donald in a faint beside the mother, but takes it as Donald being fearless and sleeping comfortably with a bear.  He flees the scene in a less than fearless manner and now plans great things for the four the next day. 



The next day (we have no idea how the boys got away from the bears and the cabin) enjoying a Christmas feast.  Scrooge presents Donald with a bear skin that makes Donald faint again.  But the boys save the day.




Just an incredibly important story...but you really can't tell that it will be.  Without knowing how things would turn out, one would not have thought that Scrooge would be much more than a one-off character.  At the most you'd expect him to maybe show up as a character of the lie of Gladstone Gander, a character who would be used for a certain type of story, but not the type to carry his own book, much less become as important a character as Donald himself. 

I'm so glad to see you maintaining this thread, Slam. You're finally getting to some stories I haven't read!



God, this is hilarious.




Agreed. Daisy is far more often the source of conflict. Perhaps that was some of the appeal of adding a new regular: it gives her the opportunity to play a more supportive role. Unless I'm mistaken, Donald only had one other recurring antagonist--his neighbor--and I'm not even sure Jones had made all that many appearances by this point.



Genuinely curious about this. What does "consideration" mean in this context?

Basically it is something of value that each party to a contract gets. Most of the time it boils down to an exchange of money for goods or services. But it doesn’t have to be monetary.

In this case it doesn’t appear that Donald gains anything of value from the contract which would make it fail for lack of consideration. This is closer to a wager, which may or may not be lawful, but it’s certainly not phrased that way.

Darkest Africa (March of Comics #20, 1948)

(I'm not posting the cover because it's just a generic gag cover).

And now we come to one of the most controversial of the adventure stories.  This one has it all.  Racist imagery.  Cruelty to animals.  Suicidal ideations.  I guess there's no misogyny because there are no women in the story.  It starts out in a typical Duck fashion.  Huey, Dewey and Louie are chasing butterflies for a school project and Donald is actually helping them.  He goes after a "rare specimen" when his net collides with that of another butterfly collector...an evil butterfly collector.  Donald tricks his way in to the win and the interplay is observed by a third butterfly collector who wants Donald to go to Africa and capture an very rare specimen for him.  




Donald doesn't want any part of it until Prof. McFiendy outright steals the boys butterfly collection and then the fight is on.  Donald and the boys follow McFiendy to Africa...and the problems with the story start early.  



Donald and McFiendy go through a series of encounters as they head toward the Whambesi River where the butterfly has been reported.  After one encounter Donald suspects their food has been poisoned.  So, of course, he poisons a crocodile to find out.  



After another encounter they are stranded without a boat on a river island.  So, of course, the boys kill another croc to get away.  They are clearly not Junior Woodchucks who are dedicated to helping wildlife at this point. 



Ultimately Donald is able to find the butterfly and catch it.  Meanwhile the boys have gathered up a jar of caterpillars to take back as part of their school project.  But McFiendy has bribed some local cannibals to kidnap the boys so Donald will have to trade the butterfly for the nephews.  And...yeah...it's really that bad.  



Donald turns over the butterfly to McFiendy and gets the boys back.  As McFiendy heads back to the coast Donald gets a great idea.  He'll start a wildfire and endanger a herd of elephants to stop McFiendy and get the butterfly back.  



The plan works and Donald and the boys get the butterfly back.  On the ship back to America McFiendy decides he can't live without the butterfly and is about to fling himself off the boat when there appears more of the Almostus Extintus'.  The boys' caterpillars have turned in to that rare butterfly and it is no longer rare.  



This one hasn't been reprinted very often and as far as I can tell the only unexpurgated version is in the new Fantagraphics Complete Barks volumes.  The other times it was re-inked to be marginally less racist.  I'm generally pretty good at putting stuff aside and reading from the viewpoint of the time.  But this one is just so bad.  Even worse than Volcano Valley.  

The names Barks uses for the supporting characters and the butterflies are pretty funny.  Sir Gnatbugg-Mothley, Prof. Argus McFiendy, Almostus Extinctus, and Pippus Connipus.   That's really about all there is to recommend it because in general it's just not a great story and it's just so damn problematic.