"His Majesty, McDuck"

Sometimes I feel like I don't give Don Rosa his due. Would someone jumping into this blog blind conclude that I even like him? Undetermined. I've definitely spent plenty of time criticizing him. Still, if there weren't a lot to criticize, there probably wouldn't be a lot to like, either, and let's be clear: even if I'm not a big fan of some of his stories, I fucking love Don Rosa, and the time has come to demonstrate that. So to close out the year on a positive note, it's time to spotlight "His Majesty, McDuck," one of the very best of his stories and also the only one with a comma in the title. True fact!

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"A Little Something Special"

Er...uh. So some time ago, it was commenter Pan Miliuś' birthday, and in a fit of magnanimity, I offered to write about a story of his choice, which turned out to be this one. And then, there's no other way to say it, I just completely flaked the fuck out, and forgot about the whole thing before I actually did any writing (which he has generously failed to call me out on). So it's time to redress an old wrong. Sorry, dude! Uh...happy birthday, even though if anything, it's probably closer to your next birthday at this point! Or some other, future birthday! Who knows!

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"Return to Duckburg Place"

Hi, welcome back! Normal service resumes...now! Yeah, yeah, promises, promises. Still, this blog was getting awfully lonely, and it was high time for a little discussion of a teenage Don Rosa's unofficial Disney-comics debut, so here we are (it should be noted that there's a credited co-writer for this—anyone know who Ray Foushee is?). For a long time, this story was kind of legendary; there were a few pages online, but the whole thing—which has only ever been reprinted in some high-end Scandinavian collection or other—was tantalizingly out of reach. I first read it when a heroic poster name of Sigvald on the now-defunct Disney Comics Forum (Cacou? Olivier? Give us an update here!) just casually was all, oh, yeah, I have scans of that, and started emailing them to everyone. I put it up on mediafire, and the rest is history. Really boring history.

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"The Last Lord of El Dorado"

I'm writing about this story because reader Pan Miliuś repeatedly asked me to.  Does this mean that I'll write about any damn thing YOU ask me to?  Not inconceivable, but I wouldn't bet a huge sum of money on it, either.  It really all depends on my personal whims.

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"Guardians of the Lost Library"

Before anything else, I just want to make the following dumb book joke--as befits, I suppose, the story under consideration:
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: Towards an Epilogue-ish Thing

Man, I keep trying to write a definitive epilogue, and it keeps not quite working. Let's consider this a work in progress, shall we? For now, a few thoughts on an important and, I think, oft-missed aspect of Rosa's work.
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Twelve: "The Richest Duck in the World"

Hey everyone, Merry Christmas. Hard for me to believe that this is it, given how submerged in this stuff I've been for the last month or so, but it it is. Last installment of the series. This can't help but come across as a little anti-climactic given the last one, but it's mostly a fitting ending. If inducks is to be believed, an alternate title for this is "The Recluse of McDuck Manor;" per Rosa's expanded commentary, this was Byron Erickson's idea, but Rosa preferred the title that we have before us now. No ambiguity here: sorry, Byron, but Rosa was right and you were wrong. That's a terrible name for the last installment in the series. "The Richest Duck in the World" creates an obvious sense of the series' final culmination, whereas that other title just makes it seem like one more segment like all the rest. And in any case, doesn't it violate the dictum that each title is meant to be a "positive" reference to Scrooge?
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Eleven: "The Empire-Builder from Calisota"

Okay, here we go! Scrooge's downfall! Ready?!? Yeah, I know--you were born ready.
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Ten B: "The Sharpie of the Culebra Cut"

Man, until I reread this story for this project, I'd forgotten how doggone good it is. There's just a lot to like here: Scrooge's sisters are shown off to to their best effect in the series, so is Teddy Roosevelt, there are some really funny sequences, and also some good action. What more do you want, dammit? I have my quibbles as always, but in general, this one's a classic.
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Ten: "The Invader of Fort Duckburg"

Rosa judges this as "perhaps the most enjoyable chapter in the series." It's certainly enjoyable, but also, I can't help feeling, a little insubstantial. How much I will have to say about it is open to question. Let us see. There's a LOT of Barksian stuff here, but I'm certainly not going to make an effort to catalogue it all--that's what Rosa's commentary is for.
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Nine: "The Billionaire of Dismal Downs"

Interesting installment here--first, because it's the lone part of the series that isn't really an adventure story (well…"Of Ducks Dimes and Destinies" too, I suppose, but that's still more action-oriented than this). And second, because it really showcases the contradictions and incoherencies that pop up in Rosa's conception of Scrooge. For instance, the beginning starts off with a letter to his family detailing what went down after he struck it rich:
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Eight C: "Hearts of the Yukon"

So according to Rosa's commentary, this story was "commissioned by Gladstone Comics as part of Canada's centennial celebration of the Yukon Gold Rush." Am I to infer from this that the Canadian government actually contacted Gladstone and asked "hey, can you do a comic for us?" Because I'm already quite fond of Canada, but if that's an actual thing that they did, man, it would really push them over the top in my esteem.

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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Eight B: "The Prisoner of White Agony Creek"

So now we come to the last (sob) story that Rosa ever wrote. And it certainly provides a fitting cap to his career. It is excessive, in ways both good and bad, but in either case quintessentially Rosian. Note also that the title, for once, doesn't refer to Scrooge himself. That's how devoted Rosa is to this romance!
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Eight: "King of the Klondike"

Well, here we are--money is about to be made. Some of the previous entries, entertaining though they are, could really be said to be basically just making time--but this one, obviously, is pivotal.
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Seven: "Dreamtime Duck of the Never-Never"

Barks did three Australian stories, in three different decades. "Adventure Down Under" (1947) is okay, but it's pretty badly tainted by its portrayal of savage, murderous aborigines; "Riches, Riches Everywhere!" (1955) is one of his weakest adventures, a not-very-atmospheric thing that furthermore wholeheartedly endorses the notion that Scrooge's fortune is luck-based; "Queen of the Wild Dog Pack" (1966) is clearly the best, goofy-as-hell but in a fun way. Point is, though, none of these exactly provide much in the way of a jumping-off point for Rosa--hence, this whole thing is inspired by a throwaway comment in "The Loony Lunar Gold Rush"--same as "Transvaal," actually; it's a sure bet that Barks never imagined he was providing such inspiration while he was working on that story.
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Six B: "The Vigilante of Pizen Bluff"

An' now, a brief jaunt back to America for more cowboy hijinx. You just can't have enough of 'em, right? Well, maybe. You'll recall "Pizen Bluff" as a place that appeared in several Barks stories.
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Six: "The Terror of the Transvaal"

Man…this story had never been my favorite part of the saga, but upon rereading it for this project, I realized that I really kind of hate it. I know I was critical of a few previous entries, but really, neither "Buckaroo" nor "Cowboy Captain" is anything worse than average, and both have elements that elevate them to some extent. Whereas this one is just terrible, for reasons that will become apparent very shortly. And yes, I feel bad about having to say this, especially given that Rosa himself is almost certainly reading this. Sorry, Don--I guess all I can say is that, on balance, this is the only installment in the series that I actively dislike. As the song sez: seventeen out of eighteen ain't bad. And at least, at a mere twelve pages, it's also the shortest ("the food is terrible, and the portions are so small!").
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Five: "The New Laird of Castle McDuck"

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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Four: "Raider of the Copper Hill"

(This is one of the five parts of the series that doesn't start with "the." "Of Ducks, Dimes, and Destinies" and "Hearts of the Yukon" are obvious, but I don't understand the others.)
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The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Chapter Three B: "The Cowboy Captain of the Cutty Sark"

This is one of two entries in the series--the other being "Sharpie of the Culebra Cut"--that really have no Barksian basis. As Rosa explains it, he wanted Scrooge to be in Java when Krakatoa erupted in 1883. Hence, his justification: "The greatest sport in Java, both in 1883 and today, is the annual bull race on Madoera Island. And Scrooge is working on the world's biggest cattle ranch at the time!" Well, whatever gets you through the night, I guess. Not that I think there's any need for specific Barksian justification; it just feels a little odd, given how maniacal most of the series is about being based around details from Unca Carl. In theory, I'd say it's actually a good thing for Rosa to strike out on his own like this.
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