The world in which the main Disney duck and mouse stories are set is a weird, fantastic place filled with square eggs, super-powered peanuts, and a general sense that wonder lies in any direction – even downward.
Deep beneath the crust of Calisota (the fictional state in which both Duckburg and Mouseton reside) lies the subterranean realm of the Terries and Fermies, a society of ball-like, earthquake-inducing beings with a sort of childlike sense of play. Originally introduced in the Carl Barks classic “Land Beneath the Ground!”, the Terries and Fermies have had standout episodes in both the 1987 and the 2017 DuckTales; they feature prominently in one level of Capcom’s 1989 DuckTales NES game, and they’re the stars of the show in this week’s Donald Duck #2 (legacy #390).
Fantagraphics
“Master of Disaster”, a Danish strip by Michael T Gilbert and Massimo Fecchi, sees its first-ever US publication in this issue. The story features a new, novel job for Donald: a sort of preventative problem-solver with a penchant for subverting disaster. After a rash of earthquakes in Duckburg, Donald puts together a crew and digs his way into the Earth, almost certainly aware of what he’ll find there.
The story features a new, younger generation of the Terries and Fermies, one groaningly into Hip Hop (they go wild whenever Hip Hop is played over Duckburg’s radio stations), which causes them to roll into a giant ball and hop together, smashing against the massive pillars of stone that form the precarious foundation of the city above.
Fantagraphics
Fecchi’s artwork is loose and energetic, lending a great deal of animation to the hopping critters and lending a great deal of dynamism to Donald’s continuing blunders. It’s a fun story, particularly because it will likely be the first introduction of the beings to a whole generation of readers who missed out on those now long-gone Duck stories listed above. It’s quick and zippy, and it spends very little time explaining exactly what the civilization is doing down there, but that’s exactly the sort of joy that comes from such a weird setting: it’s enough to know that they are down there. It’s exciting to know that Donald has had dealings with them before.
It’s also a good spotlight story for Donald’s supporting cast of Daisy, Gyro, and Gus Goose (who inadvertently saves the day). Gus doesn’t often feature in American stories – at least, in American stories readily available to duck-curious children. These new Fantagraphics issues not only have the ability to conserve disparate international stories, they have the ability to keep these characters alive in the cultural consciousness by introducing them to young readers.
Also collected in this issue are two short stories: the Dutch strip “The Repo-Man Cometh” by Mark Middelhuis and Wilfred Ottenheijm, and the German “Reflected Glory” by Johannes Kanty. They’re straight Donald spotlight strips with simple, effective gags, but both are beautifully illustrated in distinctly different styles, further highlighting how free to interpretation these characters can be.
Issue #2 of Donald Duck continues to amplify just how great the new Fantagraphics series of books are, showcasing top-notch cartooning and a wide variety of takes on the characters. Oversized, colorful, and delightful, it’s a perfect issue to pick up for the kids in your life – or if you’re nostalgic for the Ducks yourself.
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