The Circus! This venerable institution was once a beloved American tradition, and the arrival of the circus train might cause the town to shut down in excitement! Times have certainly changed, and the circus is nearly extinct. But in 1950, when Barks' Big-Top Bedlam was published, every TV show or comic series would certainly have had a circus-themed episode or show. This is what struck me most as we discussed Big-Top Bedlam, a rather slapstick adventure full of one-in-a-million coincidences and the lying-one's-way-into-more-trouble trope.