The Life and Times of $crooge McDuck, Volume One, by Don Rosa – I would like to have reviewed both volumes of this together, but it looks like the library system only has the first one, so I don’t know when I’ll be able to read the second. Anyway, Rosa is known for his comics set in Donald Duck’s universe, and for his devotion to the work of Carl Barks. According to the Internet, his desire to stick with Barks’s continuity is so fanatical that even Barks himself suggested he tone it down. If there’s a brief reference in a Barks story to Scrooge being in a particular place in 1885, then this is going to be tied into Rosa’s history somehow. Being someone who tends to obsess on the minor details of fictional works myself, I can appreciate that. While Barks never worked out a complete biography for the world’s richest duck, Rosa set out to do just that, explaining some seeming contradictions in Barks’s comics like how Scrooge could be from a poor family AND be heir to a castle, and why the first coin earned by someone who grew up in Scotland would be an American dime. Not only does Rosa tie together Scrooge’s mentions of his past in Barks’s work, but he also brings in actual history, having the adventurer meet Theodore Roosevelt and other historical figures.
Of course, he also encounters other figures from the Duck universe, or sometimes their ancestors, like Gyro Gearloose’s grandfather Ratchet and the original Beagle Boys.
There are several references to the infamous temper of Scrooge’s sister Hortense, who of course later turns out to be Donald’s mother. Scrooge also has his first meeting with Flintheart Glomgold, who’s an interesting character in his own right.
The second richest duck in the world was another Barks creation, and while DuckTales made him Scottish like his rival, Barks originally presented him as living in South Africa. Apparently concerns with apartheid were involved in changing Glomgold’s nationality, but Rosa stuck with the original history and made Scrooge’s rival a Boer, which was made into a joke. Rosa is careful not to have Glomgold ever mention his name, so as to maintain continuity with his original appearance in which Scrooge doesn’t know who he is. As awkward as this might seem, it actually does work in context, as the young Glomgold is a criminal who probably wouldn’t want to reveal his name. I very much enjoyed the book, and I hope to be able to read the other volume someday, not to mention the additional stories Rosa wrote.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
Categories
- A. Lee Martinez
- Adventism
- Advertising
- African
- Age of Exploration
- Albums
- Alchemy
- Alquerque
- Altaic
- Amanda Palmer
- American Civil War
- American Dad
- Amish
- Anabaptists
- Anglicanism
- Animal Crossing
- Animals
- Animism
- Arabian
- Arabian
- Arrested Development
- Art
- Arthurian Legend
- Astronomy
- Atticus Gannaway
- Australian
- Authors
- Awards
- Aztec
- Babylonian
- Baha'i Faith
- Beatles
- Beatrix Potter
- Belle and Sebastian
- Ben Folds
- Big Bang
- Bill Campbell and Irwin Terry
- Biology
- Board Games
- Body Image
- Book Reviews
- Breath of Fire
- Brentford Trilogy
- British
- Bronze Age
- Buddhism
- Byzantine Empire
- C.S. Lewis
- Calvinism
- Camilla Townsend
- Camper Van Beethoven
- Capitalism
- Captain N: The Game Master
- Carolyn Mark
- Carribean
- Cartoons
- Castlevania
- Catharism
- Catholicism
- Celebrities
- Celtic
- Chanukah
- Characters
- Checkers
- Chess
- China
- Chinese
- Chris Dulabone
- Christian Science
- Christianity
- Christmas
- Christopher Moore
- Chronicles of Chrestomanci
- Chronicles of Kazam
- Chronicles of Narnia
- Chrono Trigger
- Climate
- Cold War
- Colonization of America
- Comics
- Communism
- Concerts
- Confucianism
- Conspiracy Theories
- Coptic
- Corporations
- Cracker
- Crusades
- Cults
- Current Events
- Daniel Handler
- Dave Barry
- David Tai
- Dennis Anfuso
- Diana Wynne Jones
- Diane Brzozowski
- Dice
- Dick Martin
- Dirk Gently
- Discworld
- Disney Afternoon
- Dominoes
- Donkey Kong
- Douglas Adams
- Dr. Seuss
- Dragon Quest
- Dreams
- Drugs
- Easter
- Eastern Orthodox
- Economics
- Education
- Edward Einhorn
- Edward Lear
- Egyptian
- Eloise Jarvis McGraw
- England
- Environmentalism
- Eric Shanower
- Ethnicity
- Etymology
- Evolution
- Fairy Tales
- Families
- Family Guy
- Feminism
- Final Fantasy
- Finnish
- Focus on the Foes
- Food
- Fox News
- France
- Frank Black
- Frank Black/Black Francis
- Fred Otto
- French
- Fundamentalism
- Futurama
- Games
- Gender
- Genetics
- German
- Germany
- Gina Wickwar
- Global Warming
- Gnosticism
- Golden Sun
- Great Depression
- Greek Mythology
- Greek Philosophy
- Halloween
- Harry Potter
- Health
- Hellenistic Greece
- Heroes of Olympus
- Hinduism
- Historical Personages
- History
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Holidays
- Holy Roman Empire
- Hugh Pendexter
- Humor
- Iberian
- In Memoriam
- Inca
- incryptid
- India
- Introspection
- Inuit
- Iran
- Islam
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- Jack Chick
- Jack Snow
- Jainism
- Japan
- Japanese
- Jared Davis
- Jasper Fforde
- Jeff Rester
- John R. Neill
- Jonathan Swift
- Judaism
- Kane Chronicles
- Kelly Hogan
- Kid Icarus
- Kirby
- Korean
- L. Frank Baum
- Language
- Lewis Carroll
- Libraries
- Live Shows
- Lutheranism
- madeleine l'engle
- Magic
- Magic Items
- Magnetic Fields
- Magnus Chase
- Mahjong
- Malaysian
- Mana/Seiken Densetsu
- Maps
- March Laumer
- Marcus Mebes
- Marin Elizabeth Xiques
- Mario
- marissa meyer
- Marxism
- Mathematics
- Mayan
- Medicine
- Mega Man
- Melody Grandy
- Mennonites
- Mesoamerica
- Mesopotamia
- Metroid
- Middle Ages
- Middle East
- Minus 5
- Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
- Monarchy
- Monkees
- Monopoly
- Monsters
- Monty Python
- Mormonism
- Mr. Show
- Muppets
- Music
- Mystery Cults
- Mythology
- Names
- Native American
- Navajo
- Neil Gaiman
- Neko Case
- Nellie McKay
- New Church
- New Pornographers
- New Year's Day
- Norse
- Nursery Crime
- Nursery Rhymes
- october daye
- Once Upon a Time
- Onyx Madden/Jim Nitch
- Oz
- Oz Authors
- Pac-Man
- Pachisi
- Pacific
- Passover
- Percy Jackson
- Persian
- Peter Clarke
- Phantasy Star
- Phil Lewin
- Philippine
- Philosophy
- Phyllis Ann Karr
- Piers Anthony
- Pixies
- Places
- Playing Cards
- Plays
- Poetry
- Pokémon
- Politics
- Popeye
- Power Rangers
- Prejudice
- Presbyterianism
- Protestant Reformation
- Punch-Out
- Rachel Cosgrove Payes
- Rasputina
- Rastafarianism
- Ray Powell
- Real Time with Bill Maher
- Relationships
- Religion
- Renaissance
- Revisiting Disney
- Rick Riordan
- Robert Rankin
- Robyn Hitchcock
- Rocky and Bullwinkle
- Roman
- Roman Empire
- Ron Baxley Jr.
- Russian
- Ruth Plumly Thompson
- Santeria
- Satanism
- Scandinavia
- Science
- Scientology
- Scottish
- seanan mcguire
- Search Terms
- Self-Esteem
- Semitic
- Sesame Street
- Seventh-Day Adventism
- Sexuality
- She and Him
- Shinto
- Sikhism
- Sims
- Slavic
- Snobbery
- Socialism
- Songs I Don't Care For
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Space Program
- Spanish
- Spiritualism
- Sports
- Stan Freberg
- Star Trek
- Star Wars
- Stephin Merritt
- Stratego
- Street Fighter
- Super Mario Bros. Super Show
- Switzerland
- Taoism
- Technology
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Television
- Terry Pratchett
- Thanksgiving
- The Colbert Report
- The Daily Show
- The Flintstones
- The Jetsons
- The Simpsons
- The Sims
- Theosophy
- They Might Be Giants
- Thursday Next
- Tiles
- Tom Holt
- Tori Amos
- Toys
- Trials of Apollo
- Ultima
- Uncategorized
- United Kingdom
- Urban Legends
- Ursula K. LeGuin
- Valentine's Day
- Video
- Video Games
- Voodoo
- VoVat Goes to the Movies
- Weird Al Yankovic
- Welsh
- Wicca
- William Shakespeare
- Winnie-the-Pooh
- Wizards & Warriors
- Xanth
- XTC
- Year in Review
- Young Fresh Fellows
- Zelda
- Zoroastrianism
Blogroll
- 1UP's Retro Gaming Blog
- Adventures in Nerdliness
- Alan Cook's Weblog
- Back of the Cereal Box
- Calvin's Canadian Cave of Coolness
- Comics I Don't Understand
- Comics Make No Sense
- Dare I Read?
- Disney Weirdness
- Dwindling in Unbelief
- Eclectic Banana
- Electronic Cerebrectomy
- Hungry Tiger Talk
- No Smoking in the Skull Cave
- Oz and Ends
- Power of Babel
- Press the Buttons
- S.P. Maldonado's Oz Art
- Slacktivist
- The Oz Enthusiast
- The Royal Blog of Oz
- There's More to Oz Than the Yellow Brick Road
- Trixie's Treats
- Unreasonable Faith
- Verities and Balderdash
- Wannabe Wonderlands
Celebrity Blogs
Comics
More Stuff from Me
Meta
Twitterpated
- @sackchief Sometimes you just can't win. 4 hours ago
- @sackchief https://t.co/zIFXtxyB9S 5 hours ago
- @thistallawkgirl @RF_P0TUS My thought was "One Million Motherfuckers." 10 hours ago
- Is Tiny Gingerbread House Hunters a thing yet? 10 hours ago
- @foreverimbetter To be fair, I don't know how to talk to anybody. But I'm well aware I don't have game. 10 hours ago
Flickr Photos
Pingback: The Taming of the Scrooge | VoVatia
Pingback: Throwing the Books at You | VoVatia