"Vacation Time," from Vacation Parade #1 (1950) is a spectacular tale and an unusually long adventure at 33 pages: but as to his art, panel design and page layout, it is, without doubt, one of the best stories Carl Barks ever did. The Old Duck Man pulled out all stops, first in a paean to America's parklands, then in his terrifying depiction of a forest fire that nearly kills the ducks.

Backing up DDA #18 is "Camp Counselor," also from VP #1; it takes its lead from the 1938 cartoon Good Scouts, which features Donald as a bumbling troop leader. This eight-page comic book filler was not written by Barks, but, ironically, he did co-author (storyboard) the animated film. A third story, "Jungle Hi-Jinks" (from 1959's Summer Fun #2), is fourteen pages of Disney fodder. Donald battles wild African beasts while his nephews snap photographs -- well drawn, of course, but clearly not written by Barks. $12.00