Good Deeds is a Donald Duck comic story written and drawn by Carl Barks. It was originally printed in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #34 on July, 1943. It is the first appearance of Neighbor Jones.
Huey, Dewey and Louie convince their Uncle Donald to spend his day doing good deeds instead of pranks, but every one goes wrong. When a pilot makes an emergency landing to take a nap (He'd been flying for sixty hours) the nephews notice that the plane's motor was left running. In trying to turn it off, the Ducks unwittingly cause the plane to fly off. Going into a fog, the Ducks keep flying while looking for a safe place to land.
Eventually, they up in a tropical landscape, where they are captured by a tribe of native black ducks. Donald tries to impress the tribe's king by keeping a monkey from dropping a coconut on him, but ends up knocking the leader into a pig stye. Insulted, the king orders Donald to be burned at the stake. As a native duck tries to start the fire ("Flint no good"), the nephews suggest Donald keep doing good deeds- like helping start the fire! Not sure what good that would do, Donald offers his matches. The tribe becomes enamored with the "magic fire sticks", and end up setting their grass skirts on fire by accident. While the tribe is busy dousing themselves in the river, the Ducks escape back to the plane.
Flying back home, Donald finds himself facing the pilot, who had just awakened and is furious about the Ducks messing with his plane. Upon being told that it's Tuesday, the pilot realizes that it's the day he'd promised to do good deeds, and offers Donald five dollars for watching the plane instead. Donald faints.
Tropes
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: The one panel we see of Jones has him look much skinnier than he would be in later stories.
- The Gadfly: At the beginning of the story, Donald throws cans into Jones' yard just to hear his neighbor rage. The can thrown at his head convinces Donald to try giving good deeds a try.
- Hollywood Natives: The black ducks in grass skirts, who speak in broken English.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Constantly, and soon lampshaded; "All this trouble from tryin' to do a good deed!"
