Disney Masters

Fantagraphics launched the Disney Masters Series with Vol. 1: The Delta Dimension in May 2018. Since then they have published a few new volumes in the Disney Masters series each year. Volumes have been alternating between the central character and story being Mickey Mouse related or Donald Duck/Uncle Scrooge.

Fantagraphics presents Disney Masters – acclaimed artists from around the world working in the grand Walt Disney tradition. Many of these stories are new to American readers and appear here for the first time in English. Fresh new artwork, fresh new adventures, and fresh new laughs!

Disney Masters Vol. 26: Donald Duck: Tales of Andold Wild Duck

Book Description:

Charge into Donald Duck’s past life as his own Arthurian ancestor: brave British commander Andold Wild Duck! Outrageous Viking battles lie ahead, in beloved comics epics by fan-favorite artist Marco Rota!

It’s Donald Duck’s fierce ancestor―played by Donald himself―versus evil medievals in a much-requested miniseries! When Viking raids capture half of Scotland, it’s up to Commander Andold “Wild Duck” Temerary, his super-strong knightly pal Little Bo, and his brainy fiancée Lady Aydis to keep the peace. But with cursed runestones, lurking longboats, and barbarians at the gates, our heroes better grab their swords and shields! 

Along with four awesome Andold epics―some new to North America!―this Viking-size collection includes modern-day Donald and Uncle Scrooge thrills and spills, including manic McDuck treasure hunts and “Commuter Crisis”… the tale of Duckburg’s most ridiculous rush hour!

Disney Masters Vol. 26: Donald Duck: Tales of Andold Wild Duck was published by Fantagraphics in September 2025.

This volume of the Disney Masters series is 200 pages and features Disney Master Marco Rota. This is the first Disney Masters volume to feature Marco Rota.

A short biography on Marco Rota is included in the back of the book.

Disney Masters Vol. 26: Donald Duck: Tales of Andold Wild Duck is available in hardcover and Kindle\Comixology versions. A link to buy this book can be found at the end of this review.

Included Stories

There are 7 stories originally published between 1975 to 2007 included in Disney Masters Vol. 26:

• Big Little Bo
• The Nightmare Ship
• Saved By the Smell
• Night of the Saracen
• The Runestone’s Curse
• Commuter Crisis
• In Love and War

In Big Little Bo, Donald Duck gets knocked in the head by a wooden support beam in his attic as he is reading an antique book about ancient Scotland. The hard knock in the head transports him to Scotland as Donald dreams that he is Commadant Andold Temerary. Andold has the task of protecting Scotland from a Viking invasion. He assembles and trains a small team to defend the castle against the Vikings. The largest member on this small team is known as Little Bo. Andold Temerary is accidentally flung behind Viking enemy lines. His only chance at survival is to go undercover as a Viking, but he has trouble imitating the Viking traditions. Little Bo to the rescue for Scotland and Andold Temerary.

Donald sets sail on his new boat with his nephews in The Nightmare Ship. A storm puts an end to Donald’s dream cruise, but luckily they are rescued by a ship called the Southern Star. The ship seems deserted, but they find out that they are on a ghost ship full of a real skeleton crew. The spooky crew scare Donald and the boys all over the ship. The skeletons reveal themselves to not be real as they are in masks filming a tv show called “The Nightmare Ship” and Donald was the star. The crew get Donald and the boys back to their ship, and they sail to a close island with a lighthouse. Inside the lighthouse, they find newspaper clippings about the Southern Star which disappeared forty years ago in a hurricane.

We get another Andold wild duck story with Saved by the Smell. In a dream, Donald is Commadant Andold Temerary again. Daisy is in this story as Aydis, and she runs the local Inn. Andold frequents the Inn and enjoys Aydis’ food, but she desperately wants him to patch up her leaky roof. Andold and Little Bo are paged back to the Inn during a storm to go fix the roof. Meanwhile, the Vikings are back to seize Walstaen Castle. They burn down the village along with Aydis’ Inn. Aydis is kidnapped by the unwelcomed Vikings. Andold challenges the Viking chief to a fight. Andold accidentally wins the fight. The Vikings give Andold and Little Bo a feast reward. By the time, Andold gets back to the castle with Little Bo and Aydis, a team of Vikings gained control of the castle. Aydis uses her cooking skills to convince the Vikings to retreat from the castle. Donald awakens from his dream to find Daisy demanding that he fix the holes in her roof.

Donald discovers a rolled up pirate treasure map hidden in a pirate sword that he intended to use with his pirate costume in Night of the Saracen. Donald invites Scrooge on the adventure since it was his sword, and he also needs Scrooge to expense the trip. The sword originally belonged to their pirate ancestor, Donaldin. As Scrooge puts the broken sword back together, lightning strikes which takes the Duck family back to pirate times and Donaldin with his treasure, Not all treasure is silver and gold.

In our third Andold tale, Andold is given a Viking rune medallion that she found in The Runestone’s Curse. Whenever Andold wears the medallion around his neck, he forgets who he is and he ends up leading the Vikings on a raid to take down Walstaen Castle. The cursed rune medallion occasionally falls off and Andold remembers that he is Commadant Andold Temerary of Scotland again.

Donald is tired of the loud commotion and busy life of Duckburg in Commuter Crisis. He wants to take his nephews away from Duckburg and into a nice quiet countryside residence. Donald has to get organized as he now is a work commuter which involves getting organized and taking planes, trains, automobiles, and even hot air balloon transportation to get to work on time.

In our final Donald as Commadant Andold Temerary, Andold and Big Little Bo decide to take their war with the Vikings into Viking territory as they sail across the sea in In Love and War. A storm causes their sea vessel to shipwreck on what turns out to be Viking territory. Andold is awakened by a beautiful Viking who claims him not for herself, but for her sister. Andold must marry the sister or face a punishment, but first he must pass three tests to verify if he is worthy enough to marry. Andold barely passes all three tests. Bo washes up on shore and is found by Andold’s fiancé. This means that he must marry the sister that originally found Andold when he washed up on the shore. Andold is recognized by one of the Vikings, and he has to flee back to Scotland post haste.

My Review

If you ever wondered what Donald Duck would be like as a Scottish Lord battling Vikings would be like, then this is the Disney Masters volume for you. We are treated to four tales of Donald Duck as Andold Wild Duck in this volume that recognizes the work of Marco Rota. The Andold Wild Duck stories are considered Marco Rota’s most most well known stories, but we also get three really fun additional stories with “The Nightmare Ship”, “Night of the Saracen“, and “Commuter Crisis”. The short Marco Rota biography and the back of the book was also very informative. This book would make a great addition in your Disney Comics library.

I love the Disney Masters series because we get treated to stories and illustrations from more great Disney comic creators besides the legendary Barks and Rosa. We may have never had a chance to read these stories outside of Fantagraphics’ Disney Masters series.

I am definitely looking forward to reading future volumes of Fantagraphics’ Disney Masters series. A big thank you to Fantagraphics for sending us this book to review so that we can continue our education and journey through the history of Disney Comics.

You can purchase Disney Masters Vol. 26 at the link below:

Order: Disney Masters Vol. 26: Donald Duck: Tales of Andold Wild Duck

The next new release volume in the Disney Masters series has already been announced and is available for preorder:

Order: Disney Masters Vol. 27: Walt Disney’s Goofy: Super Goof and the Strange Case of Dr. Syclocks

*By purchasing from Amazon.com through the links above you are supporting DuckTalks at no additional cost to yourself!