Donald Duck Christmas On Bear Mountain

 

The cover story "Christmas on Bear Mountain" is famous because it's where Scrooge McDuck made his first appearance. Those who are familiar with Donald Duck and his family's stories know how Uncle Scrooge's character had developed since. The most beloved stories of course the ones ala Indiana Jones style, where Donald and his nephews, sometimes with Uncle Scrooge himself (usually he only provides the funds), are in search of rare treasures.

This album also features long stories such as 'Volcano Valley' [Donald and his nephews are trapped in a country where its inhabitants love taking siestas], 'Adventure Down Under' [Donald and his nephews in Australia and catch a kangaroo named Mournful Mary], and 'Donald Duck and the Ghost of the Grotto' [my favourite in this album, perhaps because I hadn't read it again after so many years. Donald and his nephews solve a mistery.]. I prefer a clever, sensible Donald (and not an angry one like his early appearance with Mickey Mouse) with smart, helpful nephews (not those naughty little ones in early stories).

A panel from the Ghost of the Grotto

First appearance of Scrooge McDuck.
In later stories he lives in his money bin, not a mansion.

The Leopard - Jo Nesbø

It took me a long time to finish this novel. Every night I could only read a couple of pages before falling asleep. This was a good novel, though. After I finished the novel, I thought the story in The Leopard was very sad.

Perhaps it was called The Leopard because the enemy was like one. With its feline moves, it observed its prey. The murder weapon in this novel was called Leopord's apple, a little metal ball, which was inserted into the victim's mouth and when activated, it sprung its needles.

Kaja Solness, a Crime Squad officer, tracked down Harry Hole in Hong Kong and brought him back to Oslo, where Harry would investigate the new serial murder case under Kripos (and not Crime Squad like before), led by Mikael Bellman. Kripos started to track the killer after the 3rd victim, a female MP, was found murdered in a public park.

As I mentioned before, The Leopard was a sad story. It was about a son whose own father had wanted to destroy, a son who wanted to revenge his mother's death, a shadow from the past who wanted to revenge his old enemy, a killer who removed every witnesses to secure his wealth, and a lover who loved blindly but received nothing. What wasted lives they had.

In this novel, Harry Hole got a scar on his face on his attempt to escape from the horrible Leopord's apple. In Snowman he lost his middle finger, and now he got a horrible scar.