Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge "Only a Poor Old Man": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol.12

I'm having a bit of a rough time right now, waiting for several medical appointments to hopefully diagnose that mystery ailment of mine. Thus, I have needed a pick-me-up. Thankfully I still had a Carload Barks Library volume on hand. 

Starring my favorite of the Disney Ducks, this edition contains the first four Uncle Scrooge solo issues by Dell. Though Uncle Scrooge has previously appeared in issues of Walt Disney Comics and Stories and Donald Duck, the contents here are not to be overlooked! There is a Duckburg money bin sized amount of origin story and key first appearances of supporting characters and relics. Glittering Goldie, Scrooge's lucky dime, and his biggest foes, the Beagle Boys! Although, by this time, it would be the 3rd appearance of the Beagles. In the other 2 times, they were cameos with no lines. The title tale 'Only a Poor Old Man's, sees the crooks finally talking and actively attempting to rob McDuck of his vast riches. 

Major events in Scrooge's early days are explored here. His discovery of the massive Goose Egg nugget when a sourdough in the Klondike is retold. We'll also learn some of the major talents the entrepreneur has gleaned over time building his fortune. Fluent in several languages, Scrooge can also communicate with various animal species.

It's not just Uncle Scrooge whose backstory is being developed. Donald is pretty much established. But his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie are beginning to transition from mischievous brats to valuable resources in Uncle Scrooge's globetrotting adventures for fabled treasures. The Junior Woodchuck Handbook begins to see wear and tear in epics that see the ducks discovering Atlantis and a Utopian, or Duck-topian version of Shangri-la. 

The stories are still a bit rough around the edges. It's like the first season of a now classic TV sitcom. The lighting isn't quite right. Background information on a character might be a bit inaccurate from the eventual finished product. Heck, you might even find that some of the original cast will be changed over time. Still, to see the early version of my all-time favorite Disney characters was so awesome. 

(Note: The first three issues were originally published as part of the massive Dell Four Color Series, #s 386, 456, & 495. They are retroactively known among collectors as Uncle Scrooge #1-3.)

The director's cut commentary by several noted 'Duck experts' was as usual. The backstory information and history of Carl Barks was so interesting. I'd love to read a biography about this iconic comic creator. But when these experts start to wax philosophic about how some random item in the background of a single scene was Barks' silent protest against totalitarianism.  Have these experts never taken advice from Sigmund Freud? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Donald Duck's Halloween Scream! Mini Comic #2

This mini comic from 2017 features a William Van Horn classic. Donald has decided to become a house painter. His first job is to spruce up a haunted house. Only Donald accepts the job without the knowledge about the home's spooky history. Nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie have heard that the place has a dubious history and they decide to play a little prank on their uncle. But as Donald chalks up the strange goings on in the house as age and disrepair, the nephews turn up the heat only to become victims of a real poltergeist!

I've read this tale somewhere before and it never fails to disappoint. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this story eventually became a Disney animated short. So maybe that's where I remember this tale from. I've checked my entries on this blog and despite having owned this Halloween ComicFest freebie for a long time, I can't find when and how I've come across this story before. 

Carl Barks is definitely my favorite Duck creator. Don Rosa follows. I may have to give serious consideration for Van Horn being my pick for number 3. His art is clean. His word play is brilliant. And I love how his Donald is smarter like Don Rosa's version of the character. I'm just not sure if I like a mischievous Huey Dewey and Louie or not. I think I like it better when they're the experts on everything thanks to their massive time of knowledge, the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook. But the guys sure can pull off some great pranks on their Uncle Donald.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

DuckTales #4 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers. TailSpin. Darkwing Duck. Without the success of their predecessor DuckTales, none of these classic Disney cartoons from the late 80s-early 90s would have existed. In fact, the Disney Channel as it operates today as a leader in children's programming as well as the streaming juggernaut Disney+, if not for the pioneering nature of DuckTales.

Production for DuckTales began in 1986. At the time, it was a big gamble for Disney who was fledgling against a wave of new animation studios that was poaching quality talent away from the House of Mouse. In 1985, Disney saw a moderate success with the weekly TV series Adventures of the Gummi Bears. Debuting on NBC, the show was an all-new property, though loosely based on the popular gummy candies. It's surprise popularity enticed Disney to begin production on a daily syndicated series that would air in the late afternoon when children would be home. It needed to be based on a Disney icon. Instead of focusing on Mickey Mouse producers wanted a lead character with a bit of an attitude. And of you wanted attitude in the Disney universe, you headed over to Duckburg, Calisota!

Based upon the classic Duck universe comic stories of Carl Barks, DuckTales was an adventure heavy animated series that saw Uncle Scrooge and his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie seeking treasures from across the globe; even the Moon! Enemies such as the Beagle Boys, Flintheart Glomgold and Magical De Spell would be the standard flies in Scrooge's ointment as he constantly looked for new ways to fill his already overflowing coffers. 

To the dismay of Duck fans, Donald Duck would be missing. Due to an internal edict by Disney, the main trio of Mickey, Donald and Goofy were forbidden from being used in the newly developed television animation department. Thus, Donald was sent away to join the Navy (He already had the hat and tunic!) and the larger than life Launchpad McQuack was introduced to pilot Scrooge and his nephews around the world. (The policy forbidding the use of Disney's major Golden Age characters would be overturned in 1992 with the release of the syndicated series Goof Troop starring Goofy and his son Max. Again, thanks to the popularity of DuckTales!)

As DuckTales quickly dominated the airwaves, Disney immediately looked for ways to market the series through merchandising. The first thing Disney approved was a comic book series by their American license holder of the Disney comic book rights, Gladstone. The first few issues had Studio Program material featuring Donald in the episode based adventures. Yet on the covers it was  Launchpad on the engaging with Scrooge and family; not Donald! The rest of the book was filled with a classic Barks story, which also featured Donald.

I realize the mastery of those stories in my older age. But for a 12 year old who was a fan of the TV show as well as a subscriber to Gladstone's comic adaptation, the stark contrast of art styles between the TV show and 1950s Disney Ducks was confusing. Having Donald acting out stories that he wasn't even involved in on the TV didn't help matters much either. Once Disney 's Studio Program realized that Donald was absent from the series, the remainder of the first volume of DuckTales' 13 issues featured Launchpad instead. Those first tales featuring Donald are now considered non-canon by fans.

In 1990, Disney revoked the licensing rights form Gladstone. The studio decided to publish their own comics. Len Wein was hired as the Editor-in-chief. With a full length feature film hitting theaters later in the year, Disney Comics published the second volume of DuckTales. The 18-issue series was nothing like Gladstone's book. An all-new multi part story saw Uncle Scrooge, the nephews and Webby, the granddaughter of McDuck's housekeeper, Mrs. Beakley attempting to recover Scrooge's lucky dime from the clutches of Magica De Spell. 

In this issue, the Duckburg estate is celebrating the safe return of Webby from being held captive by Magica. As a present, Scrooge takes his nephews and Webby on a cruise where bad weather causes McDuck to be swept overboard. He awakens, marooned on the tropical island of his dreams because the native monkeys pay him in trade for coconuts and other fruits in rubies, diamonds and emeralds. However, everything becomes less than ideal when a giant ape arrives on the scene literally throwing his weight around!

While the story ends with a 'To Be Continued' blurb, thankfully things on Ape Island satisfyingly end to prevent readers from having to wait for Scrooge's rescue in issue #5. 

Volume 2 ran for 18 issues right up until the publisher imploded in 1991, cancelling all but a trio of series. DuckTales #4 was written by season one screenwriter Frank Ridgeway. Covers and art by Cosme Quartieri and Robert Bat.

Completing this review completes Task #4 (A Comic Book Based on an Animated TV Show) the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

DuckTales #1 (Family Comic Friday)

Dynamite Entertainment seems to be the new official home of comic books starring your favorite Disney properties. Hercules, Darkwing Duck and Lilo and Stitch have been leading a 90s resurgence and I think that's great. But what I really want is something with Peter Pan. However, my interest in Dynamite's Disney books was peaked when it was announced over the Summer that DuckTales would be returning to print!

No, this isn't the recently rebooted version of the show featuring the voice talents of David Tennant. Here, Donald Duck is off serving in the Navy. Launchpad McQuack is Scrooge's personal pilot and bodyguard. Della Duck is nowhere to be found. Nope, Dynamite has brought back the original 1980s syndicated animated classic version of DuckTales and I couldn't be more thrilled!

The first issue is basically an introduction to the main characters. Great nephews Huey Dewey and Louie are bored with counting Uncle Scrooge's money bin. Looking for a little adventure, the nephews ask Scrooge to tell them a story of one of his greatest adventures. Scrooge in return tells them 3 yarns. And that's issue #1. It ends with a 'to be continued' blurb. Normally I hate that. But in this case where there aren't any loose ends needing tightening up or a thrilling cliffhanger, I feel like the 'TBC' was more of a promise of more great things to come.

Next issue promises Magica De Spell. I've already told my favorite LCS to pre-order the entire series. So I won't be missing any of the action.  

Writer Brandon Montclare captures the spirit of the original series very well. I liked the vignettes about Scrooge's earlier days as an adventurer and explorer. I just wish we'd only gotten more of an origin story as to how the nephews came to live at McDuck Manor or that we could have gotten an full length adventure.

Tommaso Ronda's artwork was very good. It wasn't Carl Barks or Don Rosa quality. However, it was better than that more modern style of the reboot that makes everyone look more angular and exaggerated. While the reboot stories were pretty good. I thought the art needed to return to the drawing board 

The 80s and 90s heyday of Disney is in full swing at Dynamite Entertainment. For a company that a couple of years ago looked ready to cash in their chips, the publisher reorganized into what IDW was so close to achieving before losing those lucrative Hasbro licenses. Retro fun for the whole family!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck "Trick Or Treat": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol.13

I ordered this one specifically in time for Halloween. Featuring the complete, unabridged, almost 100% unedited version of Carl Barks' adaptation of the Donald Duck cartoon 'Trick or Treat', this volume is a treasure. Dell, Disney or both felt that Barks' introduction was too scary. Thus, a full page and a half was scrapped and redone in a more friendly time. Tasked with 32-pages to fill based on an about 8 minute long cartoon, Barks padded the middle with the inclusion of a 6-armed ogre named Smorgasbord. Again, someone high up didn't like it and those pages were just removed and the story was trimmed to a 24-page book.

Over the years, many of the original lost pages were recovered. Thanks to Fantagaphics and Rich Tommaso, all except for the last panel were recovered, remastered and re-added to present the Good Duck Artist's original vision. (As of now, only the last panel has never been found.)

'Trick or Treat' is a masterpiece; both on celluloid and in print. I'm so glad that I waited and saved some of my Amazon gift cards to get this book. After the main story there's a couple of one-pagers involving Halloween and an 8-pager that isn't really a Halloween tale. But it does involve some strange goings-on to make it a seasonal read for this time of year.

Halloween isn't the only holiday covered in this book. Thanksgiving sees Donald fleeing to Europe to avoid having to host lucky cousin Gladstone Gander for Turkey Day. Christmas sees Donald trying to trick Uncle Scrooge into paying for his holiday feast. There's even some Valentine's Day love in the air when Donald takes a job as a mailman and must deliver a Valentine to his sweetie, Daisy. Only Donald didn't send her the card! Gladstone did!

Daisy makes a couple more appearances in this book, which also sees the introduction of Daisy's nieces, April, May and June. Daffy inventor Gyro Gearloose besieges Duckburg with some of his out-of-control creations. And there's tons of nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie and my favorite, Uncle Scrooge to be found in this cozy little volume.

My love for the stories is unparalleled. However, I'm starting to get a little annoyed with the expert commentary on the stories. They're all so negative and snobby about it. Sure, you're an academic and that's how you are trained. But I want to know more about the backstory. The inspirations for these tales appeal to me. I don't need to know how the position of Donald's wrist in panel #6 of the third story is a commentary on the plight of Nebraskan hog farmers. Just give me the facts, PLEASE!

As jaded as the experts say Carl Barks was, there just isn't substitute for the amount of joy his world has brought me over the past 40 plus years!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney Comics and Stories: Donald and Mickey- Quest for the Faceplant

IDW presents a rather charming collection of comic stories starring Mickey Mouse, Donald and his family and other iconic characters from titles originally published previously all over the globe.

Obviously, Donald Duck is the star of this collection. The best two stories costar Donald's cousin Gladstone who's literally a lucky duck! Usually Gladstone and Donald are rivals. But in the opening story based on the cover, Gladstone teams with Donald to photograph a rare plant that's about to bloom for the first time in years. With Donald's photography equipment and Gladstone's luck, the pair seems to have the edge over the competition. That is until they meet up with another contestant out to win the large cash prize: Scrooge McDuck!

Donald then gets a chance at being lucky for once when his wish to be as blessed as cousin Gladstone is mysteriously granted. It's a classic episode of blunder, satire and screwball comedy when Donald's luck runs out unknowingly right before he's about to perform the most insane stunt ever imagined!

In the Mickey arena, there's a pair of mystery stories. One involves the Phantom Blot. The other, Peg Leg Pete. Both co-star Horace Horsecollar, which is kinda odd, since Goofy tends to be the sidekick in those stories. Instead, Goofy have been saved for an adorable story in which he creates a series of mysteries for Mickey to solve in order for the busy amateur sleuth to finally have an exciting day of fun.

Stories starring some of the more lesser known characters of the Disney Universe include the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs, Bucky Bug and his insect friends, Brer Rabbit and his country-time enemies, and an adorable one-pager starring Chip n' Dale. Plus, there's plenty of fun with Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, including an epic sized riverboat adventure starring a character called Garvey Gull. A brand-new character to me, the jury is still out as to whether I find this little guy to be charming or annoying.

The love for the international Disney comics keeps growing within me. I think I have Don Rosa to thank for that. But IDW should get a little bit of the credit as well.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge "Maharajah Donald": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 4

I actually finished this book about 2 months ago. However the theft of my goat was heavy on my mind and I was too distracted to review it at the time. Only after doing some organizing of my piles of books to review did I realize that I had overlooked this very fun entry in the Complete Carl Barks Library.

The title story sees Donald taking a trip to India. He's supposed to be going alone. Except his nephews Huey Dewey and Louie stowaway. Once in India, Donald is unexpectedly made the ruler of a small kingdom in a caper that combined hijinks, international law and a hint of racist stereotypes.

As I've mentioned before, Barks' works are indeed peppered with cultural stereotypes and prejudices that would make today's youth request the cancellation of the amazing cartoonists career. Thankfully, Disney and Fantagaphics has decided not to cull away these works in hopes of creating dialogue about how much our societal norms have changed as well as point out how much further we've got to go.

There's holiday stories a plenty in this book. The nephews win a turkey for Thanksgiving. Only it's a live bird and the boys are too attached to it to kill it. In a fantastic Christmas set story, Donald is a lighthouse keeper who forgot to buy gifts for the boys. A looming maelstrom prevents Donald from going ashore on Christmas Eve. So any chance of a Christmas to remember rests on an albatross tasked with delivering a letter to Santa.

Now all of these stories come from comics that are quite valuable and really hard to find. But it's the inclusion of the Donald Lighthouse story along with a tale in which involves Donald, an atomic bomb and a sneaky spy are what makes this book really worth it's cover price of $35! Both stories are freebie premiums that mostly found their way into the waste bin. The Christmas story was given away by various toy stores and department stores during the 1946 holiday shopping season. The Atomic Donald adventure was part of a 4-issue set of minis included in a box of Cheerios cereal.

Oh, and how can I forget Donald's houseboat adventure titled 'The Terror of the River'. His experience with a river bound sea monster contains some of the most epic images crafted by Barks! It's breathtaking!

Maharajah Donald contains some of the earliest Donald Duck stories produced not by Disney, but Carl Barks as well. There's only 3 volumes of earlier material out there. There's no sign of a sophomore slump or early development kinks here. Without Uncle Scrooge, who's still a couple of years away from debuting at this point, many of the stories in this volume are about as close to the adventuresome duck epic formula that made me such a fan of the Disney Ducks back in the 1980s!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge "The Seven Cities of Gold": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 14

According to the expert commentary at the end of this book, the time period covered here was a very difficult time creatively for creator Carl Barks. For those of you wondering, we're talking 1955-1960. Apparently, Barks and the editors at Western Publishing butted heads over the contents of several stories. All of a sudden, the editorial staff began nitpicking over every little thing and especially took issue with anything that they deemed to be too violent.

The commentators don't seem to know why the sudden change. How good a comic book historian can these experts be if they can't make the connection that Western Publishing was freaking out over concerns brought about by the Comics Scare of the 1950s and the newly established Comics Code?!

True, I purchase and read the volumes of the Carl Barks collection out of order because I shop for the books based on current affordability and not sequence. Maybe in a previous or later volume, the commentaries will dive into the Comics Code. I just think if you're going to question why about something, you really either need to figure out the reasoning or don't call yourself the authority on something. It just makes for poor research. But that's probably just the history major in me coming out.

Within this difficult time, it's said that Barks' productivity waned and his creativity stagnated. I just don't see evidence of that in this book. In fact, for someone who grew up on DuckTales, this volume seems to align with that classic 80s toon the most out of the several volumes in this set I now own!

Several amazing adventures starring Uncle Scrooge and his nephews Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie take the ducks across the globe including an epic trek all over planet Earth in search of the fabled Philosopher's Stone. Then there's the sci-fi adventure The Mysterious Stone Ray starring those dastardly Beagle Boys. My favorite was The Golden Fleecing which I believe was adapted for the Disney cartoon series! Plus the origins of Scrooge's steamboat days are explored in action packed story titled The Great Steamboat Race. 

When I reviewed Don Rosa's The Complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, I commented how much I disliked the talent making Scrooge so ornery. Yet, this volume here confirms that Carl Barks was behind the anger because in reality, he was a very disgruntled man. I'd really like to read a biography about Barks. Though I'm not all that sure if such a thing exists. And if it does, I surely hope it's not written by the 'expert' who neglected to connect the damage Dr. Wertham did to the comic book industry in the 1950s to all the in-fighting between Carl Barks and his editors. For if it is, I might have to take a pass.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck "Balloonatics": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 16

I'm learning that as I read my way through the complete works of Carl Barks, the 'good duck artist' is not one to let a good trope die. In not one but two stories, Donald Duck becomes a part of the hot-air ballooning community. 

First, the nephews are trying out some new miniature dirigibles made by Gyro Gearloose, which wreak havoc on Donald who's trying to get some very much desired R&R. In typical Donald firebrand fashion, the boys' Uncle gets revenge. And by revenge, Donald goes overboard with a hot air balloon in his likeness and about double the size of any inflatable you might see at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Plus, it's armed to the teeth!

Story #2 has Huey, Dewey and Louie find a hunting falcon that's just too timid to be a hunter. As the boys try to help the bird find his confidence, Donald enters a contest by being held by the Duckburg Parachute club in which he hopes to win the prize for most original sky dive. Hopefully that will involve the use of a hot air balloon, some vintage balloonist digs and one nervous bird of prey.

Other adventures starring Donald, his nephews and sometimes their spinster uncle, Scrooge McDuck involve a hunt for a sea monster, searching for precious stones in the desert and an investigation into the mysterious destruction of test rockets. There's a classic Turkey Day story in which Donald and cousin Gladstone Gander compete for a chance to earn Thanksgiving dinner with Daisy. It's a tale I've read before but I don't mind a re-read. It's one of Barks' all-time best tales!

There's a couple of stand-out segments in this volume. The complete reissue of Dell Four Color #1161 'Walt Disney's Grandma Duck's Farm Friends', has Barks' presenting a quartet of stories set at Donald's father's family homestead. First, the farm gains a new resident in the form of a gigantic elephant that Uncle Scrooge was gifted from a dignitary. A new chick on Grandma's farm causes mischief along the country side when he's revealed to be a genius with good intentions but some poorly planned ideas. Gladstone makes a visit with intentions of becoming a matador. Then finally, with the nephews visiting Grandma, disaster hits in the form of both a blizzard and the appearance of the Beagle Boys on the lam from the law!

Lastly, readers get to enjoy a half-dozen Junior Woodchuck stories guest-starring Uncle Scrooge in 4 of them! These tales were from when Barks had officially retired from comics. Gold Key had lured the creator back to script duty, but arthritis and age had made it impossible to carry on his quality of work. At the time these stories were published in the 70s, original readers complained of how uninspired the artwork appeared. With their reprinting, Fantagraphics presents new artwork by Danish artist Daan Jippes. The remastered artwork looks like that of Barks and yet, there's something modern about it. Barks was known to be a minimalist when it came to backgrounds. Jippes crafts a masterful background in every panel! Really jarring stuff- in a good way!

The new tales have an Uncle Scrooge more full of piss and vinegar than many of us are used to. His inclusion in those Junior Woodchuck stories were crafted right as the world was about to celebrate its first Earth Day in 1970. (So in a way those stories are holiday themed!) Scrooge McDuck is more like a robber baron, than a penny-pinching businessman, in these stories to the point of almost unlikability. Thankfully, Huey, Dewey and Louie and their scout troop pals save the day and Scrooge's soul in these very different Duck tales. 

With this volume, I'm not sure of a couple of things. For one, why is this a Donald Duck book and not an Uncle Scrooge edition? Would it have even been so bad to have had this volume starring the nephews instead of Donald or Scrooge? Also, if this is a collection of the complete Carl Barks' works of the residents of Duckburg, why the time jump? The Grandma stories were published in 1961. Barks' ecological stories were published a decade later. This is volume 16 of a 26 volume collection. So why put the Junior Woodchuck stories here and not in volume 25 or 26? I'm not complaining about their inclusion. I just don't understand the thought process of the editing team as to having them here and not later on down the line.

A great read that just confuses me as to why certain stories are published out of order if this was supposed to be a omnibus of Carl Barks works about the Disney ducks.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

The Complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Vol. 1 (2024 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

A chance encounter with a Gladstone comic book in 1986 changed the life of cartoonist Don Rosa forever. 

Don Rosa grew up showing great artistic talent. Rosa went through grade school and high school submitting strips for various educational and local publications. Despite working towards a degree in civil engineering at the University of Kentucky, Rosa continued to fine tune his craft submitting art for a pair of fanzines devoted to Carl Barks and the Disney ducks as well as the college paper, The Kentucky Kernel where Rosa contributed a strip devoted to political satire. Despite not considering himself a political cartoonist, Rosa won an award in 1969 for his work and was later named one of the top college artists in the nation by The Journal of Higher Education.

After graduating, Don Rosa went to work at his family's construction business which was started in 1900 by his grandfather, an Italian immigrant. Rosa was resided to work primarily in the family business while moonlighting part time as a cartoonist with a weekly strip called The  Adventures of Captain Kentucky that appeared in The Louisville Times. However, the endeavor was far from satisfying for Rosa and in 1982, the cartoonist retired outright.

It appeared that fate had destined for Don Rosa to work the rest of his days selling the Italian tile and marble products that his family had become legendary for. Then one day fate changed Rosa's career path once again. Upon stumbling upon a Disney comic published by Gladstone, Rosa learned that Disney was once again publishing books based on their properties in the United States and were in need of American writers and artists to fill those pages. Rosa grew up a fan of Carl Barks' Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge adventures and he felt destined to be the one to usher in the next generation of Duck tales. Rosa contacted editor Byron Erickson who agreed to a tryout. The result was a globetrotting search for treasure between Scrooge McDuck and the dastardly Flintheart Glomgold in 'The Son of the Sun.' In 1987, Rosa's Disney debut was nominated for a Harvey Award for Best Story of the Year.

After a few more stories, Rosa prayed ways with Disney as the company had a policy that would not return artwork back to the artist. However, Rosa's affiliation with the residents of Duckburg was far from over. The hit syndicated cartoon DuckTales brought forth a resurgence in both the original works of Barks, along with Rosa's newer adventures. After learning about how popular his Disney stories had become in Europe, Rosa freelanced for the Denmark based Gutenberghus, now know as Egmont. 

In 1990-91, word started to spread that Disney was wanting to issue a miniseries on the long and stories life of Scrooge McDuck. Rosa encouraged Egmont to select one of their employees for the task as the international publisher had an impressive team of artists and writers that could execute the job successfully. Egmont's editors agreed and recommended Rosa for the job. Beginning in 1991, Rosa crafted The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. 

The 12-chapter miniseries chronicled Scrooge's Scottish childhood fraught with poverty and lessons in hard work through his numerous failures in business until Scrooge finally struck gold literally in the Yukon Gold Rush of the late 1890s. The story comes to a close right where Carl Barks introduced the world to Scrooge McDuck in the 1947 story 'Christmas on Bear Mountain.' Having become the richest person in the world, Scrooge lives alone as miser until he decides to test his remaining relatives, nephew Donald Duck and his grand-nephews Huey Dewey and Louie, in order to see if they are worthy of inheriting his countless riches.

Building upon the foundation Carl Barks laid decades earlier, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck answers questions long posed by Disney comic readers. How did the Beagle Boys come to be a perennial thorn in the side of Uncle Scrooge? Why does Flintheart hate McDuck so much? Why is that first dime so important to Scrooge? Plus, the entire family tree of Clan McDuck is explained, giving away many of the secrets of the old family castle as well as finally understanding where Granny, lucky duck Gladstone Gander and other residents of Duckburg relate to Scrooge McDuck and his kin.

In 1995, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck won the Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story from appearing in issues of Anders And & Co. from 1992-1994. American audiences would be introduced to the story in the pages of Uncle Scrooge #285-296 beginning in late 1994. 

Over the following years, Rosa would craft several 'fill-in' stories that added to the mystique of Scrooge McDuck's life but do not have to be ready in any order in relation to the 12-part miniseries. An emergency surgery as the result of a detached retina would be the final straw in a career marred by low pay, creative differences and royalties in regards to intellectual property rights leading Rosa to ultimately retire from comics in 2008. He still continues to tour the convention circuit and conducts semi-annual signing tours in Europe where he enjoys superstar status.

Completing this review completes Task #6 (Best Single Issue or Serialized Story to Win an Eisner Award) of the 2024 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck "The Black Pearls of Tabu Yama": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 19

Maybe it's just me getting older and my tastes have changed. Maybe now owning nearly 12,000 comics and graphic novels that I realize that I don't have to own every comic book ever made. Or maybe it's just because I really love Scrooge McDuck and his nephew Donald. All I know is when it comes to a book that just warms my soul, I'd much rather read the complete works of the legendary Carl Barks than just about anything new that comes out on comic book shop shelves.

In this delightful volume, readers start off on a Pacific island adventure set during Christmas time with Scrooge Donald and Huey Dewey and Louie looking for the famed black pearls of Tabu Yama. The heartwarming ending is extremely predictable and yet this has immediately become one of my all-time favorite holiday reads to star the Ducks of Disney.

Lucky duck cousin Gladstone appears in at least 3 stories in this book. First, he'll race Donald around the world in a rocket ship for a pair of dueling scientists. For the last 2 stories, Uncle Scrooge is added to the mix as both Gladstone and Donald attempt to convince the wealthy businessduck to buy their prospective investment properties. Then the trio compete against each other in a series of competitive burro events for the rights to a lucrative uranium mine  For a character absolutely despised by Barks, he sure uses Gladstone Gander an awful lot.

Readers are also introduced to a new rival of Donald Duck in the form of the literal swine, P.L. McBrine. First, McBrine unleashes a pickle shortage in Duckburg by releasing a parasite that feasts on cucumbers. Donald and his nephews head overseas to bring back a wasp that is known to feast on those invasive bugs. However, McBrine is on their trail in hopes of keeping the Ducks from succeeding so he can make a killing by selling pickled rutabagas!

McBrine returns, now using the name McSwine as a customer scheming to take milkman Donald's job by making false complaints to the manager of the Duckburg dairy. Yet in an unexpected twist, Donald kinda snaps and exacts revenge on McBrine by issuing him his just desserts. As satisfying as it is to see Donald get the best of one of his foes with relish, it's no wonder that Disney and Dell passed on this story and was shelved for nearly 2 decades before being published in the Netherlands circa 1974.

Almost 2 dozen tales of various lengths abound in this nearly 200 page collection, along with covers and commentary from noted Disney comic historians on each adventure. 

Such a delight. I don't care if these reproductions show biases and stereotypes. Well, I care, socially. It just doesn't bother me to see how far we've come from those days of yore. It's how we learn from the mistakes of history and with that, I can't wait to get my hands on more books in this oddly published series of Barks' complete Disney Duck works. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Disney Uncle Scrooge & Donald Duck in Les Miserables and War and Peace (Family Comic Friday)

Topolino is Italian for 'little mouse'. It's also the name of Italy's long running Disney comic book that features original material starring your favorite House of Mouse characters including Goofy, the Phantom Blot and Pluto. In this volume devoted to Disney-fied 19th century European classical works, the stars are all from your favorite family of ducks! Uncle Scrooge, Donald, Daisy, nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie and many more appear in these comical adaptations of Les Miserables and Crime and Punishment. This being an Uncle Scrooge heavy work, you can rest assured that his biggest foes, the Beagle Boys are on hand to create some mischief as well!

Material from the pages of Topolino have been covered by me previously on several reviews of American Disney works. I usually state that poor translations from the original Italian text into English are the main problems with those works. Phrases would seem stilted or out of place. That's just not the case here.The previous works I reviewed were published by IDW Publishing. Here, Fantagraphics, who've been doing an amazing job releasing the complete works of Carl Barks and Don Rosa, are the publishers and their translations have been phenomenal.

Both original novels deal with some very mature and violent subject matter. Les Miserables sees a single mother forced to sell her body to pay for her daughters room and board as well as the cold blooded murder of a young street urchin. While the main plot of Inspector Javert seeks to apprehend the fugitive Jean Valjean is still covered in this comic adaptation, the violent uprising in the streets of Paris has been replaced with a farcical search for the missing crown jewels of Charlemagne. Don't worry, there's still plenty of adventures to be had in the sewers under those Parisian streets.

As for War and Peace, I've never read the book nor seen an version of it in film. (With Les Mis, my wife and I have seen the musical about a half dozen times.) So I don't really have a good idea of how much material was replaced with more family friendly situations. However I cannot find evidence of the main character of the original Leo Tolstoy work trying to hide his horde of gold by melting them down into cannonballs and then having to retrieve the spent projectiles from the battle field after they are accidentally used during the Napoleonic Wars.

Both stories were written and illustrated by Giovan Battista Carpi. He's considered to be the Italian Carl Barks. The quality of these two parodies proves that belief. The plots are brilliant mixes of the original source material and the world of adventure created by those American masters whose stories first appeared in the pages of Dell and Whitman Disney comics decades ago.

In no way should this collection be used as a replacement for reading the originals. However both works are nearly a thousand pages each. Plus a lot of the terms and sentence structure are over 125 years old. Younger audiences might have difficulty relating. Unlike Classics Illustrated and Pocket Classics, these Disney adaptations should not even be used as study aids. But this book could very well be the link to interest young readers to want to read more about both the authors and their masterpieces. Sometimes humor is needed to peak interest into serious issues and this pair of parodies are hysterical. 

Perfect for all ages; especially fans of either version of DuckTales!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Donald Duck Adventures #38

Living legend William Van Horn crafts the cover feature in this 1996 issue of Donald Duck Adventures.

The story has Donald attending an auction. Most of the stuff is out of his price range, except for a tiny chest that sells for all of 50 cents. When Donald opens the chest back home, he discovers a medallion that bears a treasure map. Donald's nephews are able to determine that the map is of an area in Florida and the medallion was crafted by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. Spanish explorers might mean buried treasure of Spanish doubloons and precious stones.

So Donald and his nephews head down South where they learn that the medallion points to a fabled area of swamp called 'The Hauntland'. According to Native legend, a terrible horror haunts the swamp and locals swear to steer clear of it. Determined to find riches and glory, Donald presses on. Only he won't find buried treasure. What Donald will find is the discovery of the century and it was only several million years in the making. 

The next story again has Donald seeking riches. His new dog, a massive Saint Bernard, is eating him and the nephews out of house and home. When Donald learns of a money making opportunity back on Bear Mountain, he takes his dog up for a try out. As the last Saint Bernard was injured making a delivery run, Donald has his work cut out for him including an encounter with one of Bear Mountain's namesake grizzlies!

Both stories were great duck tales starring Donald Duck along with Huey, Dewey and Louie. However, this comic book does show a decline in quality. 1996 is just a few short months away from publisher Gladstone Comics' ultimate demise in 1998. One cost cutting measure taken by Gladstone was to replace the glossy paper of the cover with the same dingy newsprint used to make the interiors. The whole thing looks like those flimsy free comics you'd get as a kid at Shoney's or Red Lobster. Nostalgic, sure. But the stories in this issue deserved more respect.

The cover promises chills. Not very much a scary story as it's a fanciful story set in a spooky place. It's rather magical, honestly. And the back-up story was a hoot.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck "The Old Castle's Secret": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 6

This Valentine's Day, I stopped by a local independent bookshop for an extra gift for my bride. I got her something. But I also ended up getting myself a treat. As I've mentioned before, I want the entire run of these books. But they are NOT cheap. The store I was at had a small used book section and they had a volume for a price that was just right for me!

Like with all of the other volumes in this series, despite the name of just 1 story, there are several adventures, shorts and one-page gags starring Donald Duck, his nephews and several others. During this period of time, Uncle Scrooge makes his first appearances after the holiday tale 'Christmas on Bear Mountain'. The title story has Scrooge in some financial trouble. So McDuck takes his nephew and his nephew's nephews to the family castle in Scotland to unearth a missing inheritance. With hints of the Hound of the Baskervilles and the William Castle feature 13 Ghosts, this is a classic horror mystery romp that I've read before. But that familiarity, my enjoyment wasn't lacking. Ironically, knowing what I do about the massive money bins owned by Scrooge McDuck, I don't see how the small chest of jewels the guys find would help the old miser out of any sort of money troubles.

This book also featured the debut of Donald Duck's familiar adversary for girlfriend Daisy's hand, Gladstone Gander. In these first couple of stories, Gladstone is that cousin who just gets under your skin. He keeps trying to one up you, so you boast back at him. Thanks to a stupid bet made on a hot July day, Gladstone's holiday appearance at Donald's home could mean that Donald and his nephews might end up homeless this Christmas. That is unless Donald will take a swim in the frozen pond behind his domicile.  

The other main treat of this book is the Western epic 'The Sheriff of Bullet Valley.' This is another work I've read before. But the nostalgia brought about from reading this as a little kid made my re-read all that much more special. Donald and the nephews are going on vacation when they stop in Bullet Valley. The community has been besieged by a dastardly cow rustler that everyone knows is guilty. They just can't figure out how the villain is changing the brands on the other ranch's cattle. Inspired by a slew of Westerns, Donald volunteers to save the day. In an episode that doesn't see Huey, Dewey and Louie coming to Donald's rescue, this is a very unusual and violent Disney story. Especially, since Donald gets shot and left for dead in this one!

Donald's nephews are quite the intrepid Junior Woodchucks who come to Donald's frequent rescue. They're still those mischievous scamps who try to outsmart their uncle for their own gain. Uncle Scrooge isn't yet the world's richest duck who neurotically fears everyone is trying to rob him. Gladstone gets under everyone's skin. But he's not the luckiest duck on earth yet. We get to see the early stories of Carl Barks' comic book career. Perfection hasn't yet been achieved. But, there's definite signs of genius throughout this amazing book!

I want more! 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck "A Christmas for Shacktown": The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 112023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Despite this book's title, this is not strictly a holiday collection. 'A Christmas For Shacktown' is the 11th volume in Fantagraphics' extensive collection of works by Carl Barks. 

Carl Barks started his career with Disney as part of the animation department. Working as an 'in-betweener', Barks was involved in several early Donald Duck shorts including Donald's Nephews which saw the debut of Huey, Dewey & Louie in 1938.

Unhappy with the way animated films were made 'by committee' and deteriorated war-time work conditions, Barks quit working at Disney Studios in 1942. He then tried his hand at chicken farming. During this time, Barks' supplemented his agricultural income by taking on freelance assignments with Western Publishing. 1943's The Victory Garden would be the first of over 500 works during this period of his life that Barks would create for Western; which Fantagraphics is working to release a 30 plus volume library of. 

Along with A Christmas For Shacktown in which the citizens of Duckburg rally to make it a Merry Christmas for the residents of that city's slums, volume 11 includes several other classics. The Guilded Man sees Donald and his nephews heading to South America, seeking a rare stamp. The Bin on Killmotor Hill introduces readers to the security measures of Uncle Scrooge's fortress-like money bin. But perhaps the most well known story in this collection is 1952's The Golden Helmet which sees the fate of North America in the hands of Donald as he races for a Viking artifact hidden in the Arctic Circle!

As of now, 27 volumes of the Carl Barks Library have been released. While many fans are eagerly awaiting the final 4 volumes of the proposed 30 volume set, readers such as myself, are wondering what happened to volumes 1-4. According to the insert that lists the other books in the series, the Carl Barks Library began at Volume 5. A search of Fantagraphics' website unfortunately yields no answer to this mystery.

With an average cover price of $35, one hoping to collect the entire Carl Barks Library will shell out over $1000 when the entire set is released. Just because these books star funny animals, there's a level of sophistication to them. That's because Carl Barks treated his characters as human beings and on more than one occasion, the characters inside refer to themselves as humans: dogs and ducks alike! While child readers love the wacky characters and mix of zany and swashbuckling adventures, to adult readers, these stories come alive with inside jokes, clever puns and social themes such as the nuclear arms race and capitalism. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #7 (Main Character is an Animal) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.

Uncle Scrooge, Vol. 2: The Grand Canyon Conquest! (Family Comic Friday)

I think the older I get the more I fall in love with Uncle Scrooge. I've been a fan since seeing Mickey's Christmas Carol in theaters in 1983. My fandom shot up higher when Scrooge became the star of Disney's Ducktales and I got an original sketch of the character made from one of the animators. I tried really hard to enjoy the works that Ducktales was based on. But the tale
nts of the amazing Carl Barks and Don Rosa were just too sophisticated for a childhood aged Madman. 

Now in my mid-40s, I'm returning to those Disney Duck classics. That's why I checked this IDW publication out from my local library. The back cover said that the works that comprised this volume are 'classic stories.' However, there's no Don Rosa, Carl Barks or any of the other legends that created over 80 years worth of Duckburg lore. At least not to American audiences!

The stories that comprise this volume are taken from Italian and Scandinavian Disney publications over the past 5 decades. While new comics starring your favorite Disney characters is a rather rare thing in the States, Mickey, Goofy and especially Donald are still going strong throughout the globe!

There are a number of stories starring Uncle Scrooge and his nephews in this book. The title story sees the nephew of one of Scrooge's old business partners coming to Duckburg to claim his half of all of McDuck's business ventures. With some antique papers in hand, the nephew has legal right to half of Scrooge's vast fortune. But the billionaire bird claims he and the heir's uncle came to a new agreement afterwards and now Scrooge, Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie must find the missing relative before the Scrooge's new partner can!

Wacky inventory, Gyro Gearloose is the star of a couple of stories in this collection as well. In one, Donald takes Gyro on a ski-trip to relax from all overload of work. Yet, the frazzled inventor just can't stop tinkering in his free time. Then it's Gyro's year to host an annual inventor's picnic and he's got to come up with a fantastic invention. Only Gyro keeps getting interrupted by Scrooge and friends with side projects. But when a massive rainstorm threatens to flood the whole event, those side projects might just save the day. 

IDW Publishing owned the rights to release the international Disney stories to American audiences from 2015-2020. Not sure who owns those rights now, but that's not my point. When IDW first started publishing these publications, they were translated from other languages and something was a tad off. This volume is a pretty early collection and yet, I didn't feel like anything was confusing this time around.

The Disney stories of the 40s, 50s and early 60s are pretty long and that can be a little off putting for younger readers. With the exception of the first story, the other tales were rather bite-sized. With its vivid and colorful artwork and creative storytelling, kids will really like this book. Though I feel like the adults will love it! I want to read more of these and I hate that my local library doesn't have any more of these to check out. Guess I'll be buying some volumes on Amazon!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Donald Duck and Friends #332

On the second day of Dia de los Muertos, I closed out my Halloween 2022 reviews with this classic from Disney! 

Gladstone Publishing re-issued this Carl Barks adaptation of the 1952 classic Halloween Disney short called 'Trick or Treat.' It's Halloween night and Donald Duck is playing the Scrooge to his trick-or-treating nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie. The sorceress Witch Hazel observes Donald's dirty tricks. Taking pity on the boys Witch Hazel decides to trick Donald for not giving out any treats. 

I remember watching this cartoon during many a Knightdale public library Halloween party and just about any Halloween themed Disney special from the early 80s through 1998. It's an animated holiday classic up there with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. And no, I didn't feel cheated with having a comic book version of a cartoon I've probably seen two dozens times before.

One reason I'm not hating this issue is that Gladstone actually includes 4 or 5 pages of material that actually never appeared in the cartoon nor the comic book. Comic adaptation creator Barks didn't think this story had enough material to fill a 32-page comic. Thus the reason for the extra stuff. But the editors hated the extras and the extras were omitted. For those of you wondering, the extra scenes include an ogre named Smorgie who Witch Hazel recruits as a partner in her war on Duck!  So this was like reading a director's cut of the adaptation of the Disney classic.

Carl Barks is a comics legend. Just about anything he did with the Disney Ducks was perfection. This was a perfect adaptation, even with the never before seen stuff that was once deemed unworthy of print!

And so I say goodbye to the Halloween season. I can't wait to see what Thanksgiving and Christmas have in store for me this year. I hope it's just as special and fun as this closing read was.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.