SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Manga
  • All Ages
  • Young Adult
  • Interviews
  • News

October 2, 2014 by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Review: Ghost of The Grotto

October 2, 2014 by J. Caleb Mozzocco   Leave a Comment

Ghost of The Grotto
By Carl Barks
Fantagraphics; $12.99

It seems almost silly to call this new Fantagraphics collection of Carl Barks’ Donald Duck comics, the first in a new format, a kid-friendly collection, if only because that implies that somehow the previous Barks books weren’t also kid-friendly.

And all of Fanta’s duck comics collections to date have been kid-friendly. If any work of popular entertainment of the 20th century could truly be called timeless, than Barks’ duck comics were. The highly imaginative and inventive, fact-packed, often humorous, rollicking-but-rarely-rowdy adventure stories have barely aged over the decades; the only potential stumbling blocks Barks’ comics might offer today’s kids are their occasionally dated depictions of non-Western cultures and their post-war level of technology.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Better then to call these new collections in this new format kid-friendlier. Barks’ original art has been chopped into a 7.5″x5.5″ landscape-format trade paperback, which fits more easily into little hands than the bigger, more expensive hardcovers of The Carl Barks Library. (Never fear, purists: The pages are indeed sliced in half, but no panels are lost or altered.) It also comes sans all of the background prose material—introductions, biographies, story notes—that grown-up fans might find infinitely fascinating but aren’t exactly the main attraction.

The title story features Donald and his nephews working a kelp boat in the West Indies, where they stumble upon a centuries-old mystery involving a spectral armored figure, a kidnapping, a lost ship and treasure and a giant octopus. At 52 pages, it fills the bulk of the 128-page package, the rest of which is occupied with shorter stories and one-page gag strips (which now, of course, run two-page). These are all more or less domestic, occurring within the confines of Duckburg and, in particular, Donald’s house, save for one which sends the ducks out into the desert, following a phony treasure map.

Fantagraphics has done such an excellent job with The Carl Barks Library that this is hardly the ideal format for adults to experience these very same stories, but it is a pretty ideal companion format: Cheaper, more portable and more convenient, it offers an excellent introduction to some of the great stories of one of the greatest cartoonists.

Filed under: Reviews

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
Carl BarksDonald DuckFantagraphicsThe Ghost of The Grotto

About J. Caleb Mozzocco

J. Caleb Mozzocco is a way-too-busy freelance writer who has written about comics for online and print venues for a rather long time now. He currently contributes to Comic Book Resources' Robot 6 blog and ComicsAlliance, and maintains his own daily-ish blog at EveryDayIsLikeWednesday.blogspot.com. He lives in northeast Ohio, where he works as a circulation clerk at a public library by day.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

February 2023

The Archie Encyclopedia | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

January 2023

Monkey Prince Vol. 1: Enter the Monkey | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

January 2023

Young Agatha Christie | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

January 2023

Andy Warner's Oddball Histories: Pests and Pets | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

January 2023

My Sister, the Cat, vol. 1 | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn Podcast

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Jump Into this Guest Post by Shadra Strickland About Her Latest Book: Jump In!

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

The Archie Encyclopedia | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

TLT Post: WRITING FOR YOURSELF FIRST, a guest post by author M. K. Lobb

by Karen Jensen, MLS

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

10 Sports Manga for Hardcore Fans and Newcomers Alike | Mondo Manga

Superheroes Meet Real-Life Science in DC’s ‘Flash Facts’

Be Afraid (but not too afraid): Graphic novel horror for middle grade readers

Author Jim Murphy Has Died; Kaepernick, Scholastic Publishing Graphic Memoir; and More | News Bites

LibraryPass’s Comics Plus | Reference Database Review

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023