Uncle Scrooge #370

October 4, 2007

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Brother From Another Earth and other stories

Two Scrooges? Which one is the real one?

Writers: Rudy Salvagnini, David Gerstein, Carl Barks, Frank Jonker, Gorm Transgaard, John Clark, Lars Jensen, Chris Spencer, Joe Torcivia
Art: Giorgio Cavazzano, Carl Barks, Sander Gulien, Daniel Branca, Vicar
Colors: Disney Italia, Susan Daigle-Leach, Egmont
Letters: David Gerstein, Travis Seitler, John Clark
Cover Art: Giorgio Cavazzano
Publisher: Gemstone Publishing

It’s Halloween in Duckburg, friends, and let’s hear it for a rare American comic cover appearance by the would-be Mrs. Scrooge McDuck, Brigitta MacBridge! More of a staple in the European comics, Brigitta plays a nice sized role in our first story here too, “Brother From Another Earth.” Although none of the stories in this issue are explicitly Halloween-based, they all have a nice feeling of the creepy or a Twilight Zone-esque twist to qualify them to appear under a Halloween cover.

In “Brother From Another Earth,” a bored Scrooge is suddenly confronted with a second version of himself from another universe! The alternate Scrooge has an offer for him – they can take a vacation as each other for a few weeks, but when our Scrooge finds out how badly his counterpart has bungled things on “Earth-D,” he suddenly fears he can’t go home again. While too many Scrooge stories tend to distort the character to fit the plot, this story nicely shows just how an out-of-character Scrooge would lead things to ruin.

Gyro Gearloose stars in “That Small Feeling,” a Carl Barks classic about a Witch Doctor approaching Duckburg’s wackiest inventor to help spruce up his voodoo doll. While this story seems terribly politically correct in today’s environment… well… I hate when people sanitize old stories in the name of political correctness. This one rocks.

“The Spirit of Fear” once again pits Scrooge and Donald against that nasty witch, Magica DeSpell, who now has a plan to uncork a spell that will give life to their greatest fears. For a fun adventure, it gives a surprising insight into Scrooge that even Donald is sharp enough to appreciate.

Donald pops back for a “Nosy Neighbor” one-pager, and the book concludes with “Synthezoid From the Deepest Void,” a sequel to last year’s Halloween issue! Tachyon Farflung, the alien who tried to shrink and abscond with Scrooge’s Money Bin, tries to again display his criminal prowess, but an alien race that unleashes an enormous robot to hunt for Scrooge’s cash beats him to the punch. Tachyon and the ducks have to team up to save Scrooge’s money and Tachyon’s reputation.

The only real beef I have with this issue is, like I said, none of the stories are technically Halloween-based, despite the great cover. Fortunately, they’ve almost all got enough of a spooky or screwy flair that I can forgive that. Not bad at all.

Rating: 8/10

Uncle Scrooge #345

September 11, 2005

Quick Rating: Good
Title: King Scrooge the First and other stories

A trip to the past sends Scrooge on another treasure hunt.

Writers: Carl Barks, Terry Laban, Pat & Carol McGreal, Gorm Transgaard, Annette Roman, Paul Halas & Tony Isabella
Art: Tony Strobl, Rodriques, Jose Maria Manrique & Jose Colomer Fonts
Colors: Scott Rockwell, Egmont, Barry Grossman, Michael Kraiger & T. Letterman
Letters: Willie Schubert, Susie Lee & Jon Babcock
Editor: Arnold T. Blumberg
Cover Art: Daniel Branca
Publisher: Gemstone Publishing

Another month, another collection of Uncle Scrooge tales, and as seems to be the case lately, it’s been mostly decent, lighthearted fare. There’s nothing wrong with anything in this issue, but I personally prefer my Scrooge when he gets into high adventure.

First up is “King Scrooge the First,” a reprint of a 1967 tale written by Carl Barks with art by Tony Strobl. An underhanded Swami tricks Scrooge and his nephews into drinking a magic potion that sends them thousands of years in the past, where he hopes they’ll lead him to a magnificent treasure. This is the closest story in the issue to what I really look for in a Scrooge tale, and it comes complete with a really good twist ending. Strobl was a solid artist in his own right, but somehow, Barks drawn by someone other than Barks never quite hits that plateau of greatness.

Terry Laban’s “X-Treme Scrooge” is an example of a more modern Scrooge tale. When the world’s richest duck becomes immersed in the information age, he discovers a young dot-com entrepreneur who threatens to unseat his position at the top of the wealth ladder. Scrooge tries to enter into a partnership, rather than a competition, and winds up being coaxed into a series of “extreme” sports to keep up with him. It’s kind of a long set-up to get to the basic gist of the story – seeing Scrooge take part in ski sailing and upside-down snowboarding competitions, but it comes together okay.

“You’re a Boonehead Now” by Pat and Carol McGreal and art by Jose Maria Manrique casts a spotlight on Scrooge’s longtime foes, the Beagle Boys. Trying to escape the police, the Beagles inadvertently wind up volunteering to be camp counselors for a group of rowdy Boonehead Scouts – and the kids may be more trouble than the cops would have been. It’s your standard “bumbling villains in over their heads” story.

Gorm Transgaard writes “Feed For Greed,” with art by Manrique and English dialogue by Annette Roman. This time out, Scrooge invests in an invention that can make anyone greedy for anything, the perfect sales tool. I’ll be honest, I didn’t like this story at all, because it simply doesn’t ring true to the character. Although there is a passing reference to Scrooge needing to find a legal loophole to allow him to use the invention because he makes his money “square,” in-character Scrooge knows that “legal” and “square” aren’t always the same thing. The Barks creation, who always makes his money honestly, would never stoop to such a level.

Finally there’s “Lost and Found” by Paul Halas and Jose Colomer Fonts, with English dialogue by Tony Isabella. Gyro Gearloose unveils his latest creation, a “find anything machine,” which at first seems like an excellent idea, but which soon proves itself to be as buggy and dangerous as most of Gyro’s creations. It’s a cute story.

The Barks tale is good enough to be balanced out by the bad “Greed” story, brining this issue to just an okay average. Uncle Scrooge has had a string of so-so issues since #342’s knockout issue. Hopefully it’ll pick up again next month.

Rating: 7/10

Uncle Scrooge #352

March 24, 2006

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Isle of the Golden Geese and other stories

Easter greetings from the Disney gang!

Writers: Carl Barks, Lars Jensen, David Gerstein, Dick Kinney, Donald D. Markstein, G. Renard, D. Avenell, Gorm Transgaard
Art: Carl Barks, Jose Maria Manrique, Al Hubbard, Jose Maria Millet Lopez, Daniel Branca, Vicar
Colors: Susan Daigle-Leach, Egmont, Terry Letterman, Marie Javins, Sue Kolberg, Barry Grossman, Michael Kraiger
Letters: Susie Lee, Jon Babcock, Willie Schubert
Cover Art: Carl Barks
Publisher: Gemstone Publishing

In honor of Easter, the guys at Gemstone are giving us a seasonal goodie basket, with one all-out Easter tale and two more taking advantage of the theme to give us stories about eggs, of all things.

First up is “Isle of the Golden Geese,” a Carl Barks classic originally published in Uncle Scrooge #45 from 1963. In this tale, Scrooge stumbles across a golden feather and a few golden eggs. Thirsting for more, Scrooge sets out for the island of the geese that produced the golden items – and winds up in a race with his old enemy Magica DeSpell. This is one of the later stories from Barks’ legendary run, and the character is pretty well fleshed-out here, with a conclusion that cracks me up.

Jensen and Manrique follow this up with “Say Uncle.” When Scrooge recruits Donald for an overseas job, Donald gets his cousin Fethry Duck to look over Huey, Louie and Dewey in his absence. Fethry is determined to be a responsible parent, but when his overprotective urges go so far as to keep the boys inside instead of doing scheduled good deeds for the Junior Woodchucks, they have to take some drastic measures. A funny story, although Fethry just isn’t a character I’m really that fond of.

“The Great Egg Hunt,” by Dick Kinney and Al Hubbard, is the second egg story in this issue. In the hopes of scoring some good PR, Scrooge sets out to round up some condor eggs to bring back to the Duckburg zoo. He and Donald run across a native mountain man with designs on the eggs himself, however. This story isn’t quite as strong as the rest – Hubbard’s artwork, particularly on the caveman, doesn’t really pop for me. There’s no date on the story, but it feels kind of dated overall.

“Shake,” a one-page gag by Markstein and Lopez, may be the most talked-about story this issue – Louie orders a milkshake at a local soda shop… the Launchpad Special, and our guest chef is Launchpad McQuack! This is at least the second appearance of Launchpad in the regular Disney comics in the last few months, which seems to show more of a willingness to integrate some elements from the old Ducktales TV show into the comics. If Gemstone is doing this to see how the fans react – we love it! More Launchpad! And if you can work in Darkwing Duck too, well, I’ll be your new best friend.

“Magic’s Missing Magica,” by Renard, Avenell and Branca, is maybe the flat-out funniest story this issue. When word reaches Scrooge that Magica DeSpell is on the prowl yet again, he starts to go plain loony with worry. There’s a bit more slapstick in this story than you usually get with Scrooge, and that it’s done without fundamentally damaging the character is all we need to enjoy.

Finally, there’s this issue’s official Easter story, “The Bunny Song” by Transgaard and Vicar. Donald, absentmindedly working on his songwriting while on the job at Scrooge’s costume factory (how many jobs has that duck had?) accidentally puts in an order for 10,000 Easter Bunny costumes when he only needed 100. Stuck with 9,900 extra costumes, Scrooge and Donald go nuts trying to sell them all and save Scrooge from eating the costs. A funny story – not brilliant, but funny.

It’s an okay issue, overall. If you’re looking for something to put in your kid’s Easter basket to go along with all the chocolate and jellybeans, this comic would be a pretty good addition.

Rating: 7/10

Uncle Scrooge #340

March 25, 2005

Quick Rating: Good
Title: The Heedless Horseman and other stories

Uncle Scrooge decides to become King of Duckburg – by winning the year’s biggest derby!

Writers: Carl Barks; Pat & Carol McGreal; Gorm Transgaard, Paul Halas & Jack Sutter
Art: Carl Barks, Nunez & Vicar, Jose Colomer Fonts
Colors: Susan Daigle-Leach, Edgemont, Marie Javins, Scott Rockwell & Pam Rambo
Letters: Susie Lee, Willie Schubert & Travis Seitler
Editor: Arnold T. Blumberg
Cover Art: Daniel Branca
Publisher: Gemstone Comics

This month’s installment of Uncle Scrooge stands out by its averageness. There aren’t any really spectacular stories, but there aren’t any poor ones either. It’s a pretty good issue all around.

The issue starts with a lesser-known Carl Barks tale from 1966, “The Heedless Horseman.” In the hopes of raising his profile among the people of his hometown, Scrooge decides to enter the Great Crystal Orb Derby, the winner of which is named King of Duckburg’s social scene for a full year. Scrooge decides he’ll win the contest by purchasing the fastest horse in town, but a series of mysterious booms and the horse’s erratic reaction to water may prove to be his undoing.

It’s not one of Barks’s classics, but it’s an entertaining story in its own right. Scrooge seems a tad out of character, caring so much about his social standing, until it’s made clear that he wants that status so that he can parlay it into better business deals. Overall, it’s a cute little story.

In “Beagle Brain” by Pat and Carol McGreal, the infamous Beagle Boys stumble upon an invention by Gyro Gearloose that turns one of them into a genius. The greater intellect seems to be the perfect tool to aid their criminal careers, but such a thing can go too far. A fun story with a cute punchline.

In Gorm Transgaard’s “Golden Illusion,” perhaps the strongest story in the collection, a blow scrambles Donald Duck’s brain and makes him believe he’s the legendary “Robin Duck.” Hallucinating, he rounds up the Beagle Boys to help him steal a fortune from the evil “King of Blottingham” and give it to the poor – utterly unaware that the castle he’s preparing to storm is Scrooge’s money bin! This story is just plain fun, and works better than most.

In “The Hardware Hardener,” Scrooge gets fed up with his pilot, Launchpad McQuack, constantly destroying his planes. He refuses to give Launchpad another job until he gets his own aircraft. When he brings the only plane he can afford to Gyro to help fix it up, he finds that a new solution to keep the plane solid may prove more trouble than he thought.

Finally, in “Jumbled Ducks,” the level of the money bin has reached such a point that Scrooge has no more room to put his money. He goes to Gyro for help, and the inventor supplies him with a compressor that will condense his money to one-third the space. The machine causes trouble, however, when Huey, Dewey and Louie accidentally get fused into one duck. This is also one of the better stories in the collection, although it and the other really good story, “Golden Illusion,” both ignore a big part of the way Barks characterizes Scrooge – that the money in his bin is the money he earned personally by the sweat of his brow, the part of his fortune that he never spends.

This is a decent issue, and fun for the Scrooge fan, but it’s not a spectacular issue. It’s just a fun one..

Rating: 7/10

Uncle Scrooge #348

December 2, 2005

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: The Hunt For White December and other stories

Will the fight for a white Christmas be the end of Scrooge’s fortune?

Writers: Joel Katz & Donne Avenell; Janet Gilbert; Gorm Transgaard; William Van Horn
Art: Daniel Branca; Vicar; Maria Nunez; William Van Horn
Colors: Barry Grossman; Egmont; Scott Rockwell; Michael Kraiger
Letters: Jon Babcock; Susie Lee; Willie Schubert; Marshall Dillon
Editor: Arnold T. Blumberg
Cover Art: William Van Horn
Publisher: Gemstone Comics

Don’t let the cover fool you – this is almost entirely a Christmas issue of Uncle Scrooge, and it would make a dandy stocking stuffer for the little one in your family. Let’s face it, every kid loves the Disney characters, and this would be a perfect issue to leave for them on Christmas morning to get them into the spirit – and into comics.

The issue begins with Katz, Avenell and Branca’s “The Hunt For White December,” a Scrooge adventure in classic form. Scrooge and his old rival make a $10,000,000 bet on whether or not Duckburg will gave a White Christmas, but when it looks like he’ll lose the bet, McSwine summons the nefarious Magica DeSpell to try to keep the snow away. Nobody can trust Magica, though, and a three-way struggle ensues with something much more precious at stake than ten million bucks – a very important dime. This really was a great story with a nice twist on the ending – a story that doesn’t end quite how you expect, but satisfies nonetheless.

Next up is Janet Gilbert and Vicar with Gyro Gearloose in “The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t.” While transporting a Christmas tree to Daisy Duck’s party, Gyro’s assistant and best friend, Helper (the little robot with the light bulb head) is lost on the streets of Duckburg. The inventor quickly rounds up his friends for a city-wide search, but it may be too late. This has to be one of the best Gyro stories I’ve ever read, because it completely does away with the typical formula. When your main character is a loony inventor, the stories always go the same way: he comes up with a crazy invention, he goes haywire, he has to stop it (usually with another crazy invention). And that’s fine, that’s what you do with crazy inventor stories. But this issue does away with that formula entirely, instead playing on the rarely-examined relationship between Gyro and Helper and turning out a story with real heart and impact. Simply put, it’s beautiful.

“The Duckburg Ice Festival,” also by Gilbert and Vicar, is a fun little story that manages to pull together pretty much the whole cast. Scrooge and Gladstone go head-to-head in a contest to find a valuable diamond ring while Donald and Daisy rehearse for an ice skating competition. The nephews, meanwhile, are desperately watching their hot cocoa stand fail as a chain coffee shop steals their customers. This is the sort of deceptively simple story where a lot of unrelated plots collide in a hysterical finale.

“The Christmas Gathering,” by Transgaard and Nunez, is our Beagle Boy story this issue. Duckburg’s notorious criminals call in dozens of cousins from around the country to help them out on a Christmas heist. A cute little tale.

Finally we have this issue’s cover story, “Out of the Blue” by William Van Horn. When a relative of the ducks dies and leaves all of his possessions to Donald, he discovers an IOU from Uncle Scrooge that could net him a tidy sum if he collects. Scrooge, of course, isn’t in the mindset of paying up and the ducks engage each other on a wild chase through the Money Bin. It’s a decent story, but not one of Van Horn’s classics.

And there you have it – a good collection of tales from Duckburg, particularly the first two stories. This will be a collection any kid would be happy to find on Christmas.

Rating: 8/10

Walt Disney’s Christmas Parade (2003 Series) #4

December 2, 2006

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: Christmas in Duckburg and other stories

A new collection of holiday tales featuring the classic Disney characters.

Writers: Bob Gregory, Dick Matena, David Gerstein, Carl Fallberg, John Lustig, Gorm Transgaard, Thad Komorowski, Nick George, Floyd Gottfredson, Carl Barks
Art: Carl Barks, Dick Matena, Tony Strobl, Francisco Rodriguez Peinado, Wanda Gattino, Vicar, Jack Bradbury, Floyd Gottfredson
Colors: Susan Daigle-Leach, Kneon Transitt, Scott Rockwell, Michael Kraiger, Barry Grossman, Marie Javins, Rick Keane
Restoration (“Ice Show”): Rick Keane
Letters: Susie Lee, Jon Babcock, Willie Schubert
Cover Art Restoration: Rick Keane
Publisher: Gemstone Publishing

In December there are certain things you count on every year. Christmas carolers, crowded shopping malls, and a thick volume of comics with the Disney all-stars. For the fourth year, Gemstone is giving us a stocking stuffer of Disney goodies, and it’s a good one this time.

“Christmas in Duckburg” leads off this year’s volume. The story, by Bob Gregory with art by the legendary Carl Barks, shows Donald accidentally promising his nephews an exorbitant Christmas present this year. When he goes to Uncle Scrooge for help, Scrooge agrees on one condition – that Donald supervise his donation of a 100-foot Christmas tree for the town square. In true Scrooge fashion, though, the donation isn’t out of the goodness of his heart, but rather to spite a fellow businessman who got his temper flared last Christmas. When Scrooge’s rival learns of the plan, he turns to those jaded crooks, the Beagle Boys, to sabotage the tree. Even though he didn’t write the script, this story has all the feel of a Barks classic, and is one of the best stories in the volume.

“A Christmas Carol,” by Dick Matena with English dialogue by David Gerstein, is yet another retelling of the classic Charles Dickens story, this time featuring the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs. When Big Bad drives his son out on Christmas Eve, a handy visit from a spirit reminds him what Christmas is all about. The nice twist ending saves the story from being too sugary and makes it memorable.

“Snow Shovelers” is next, and it’s more a generic winter story than a Christmas story, but it’s still interesting. Hoping to refill their piggy bank before Donald finds out they spent their money on sodas, Huey, Dewey and Louie set out to shovel snow, but a little too late. The only unshoveled house in the neighborhood belongs to their too-lucky cousin, Gladstone Gander, who is counting on his luck to get the walk shoveled for free. Then in “Wrap Up Your Troubles,” Mickey and Goofy get roped into helping Minnie with her gift wrap service, and wind up delivering a load of presents of a rather dangerous sort. We also get a Gyro Gearloose story, “Presently Indisposed,” in which he finds himself unable to come up with good Christmas presents for his friends. True to his nature, he tries inventing a machine to select the perfect gift for him, but things don’t go according to plan. It’s a pretty standard Gyro story, but it’s perfectly good as that.

The two-part “Free Tree Spree” features Donald and Scrooge. Scrooge has promised to help the mayor with his pledge to give every family in Duckburg a free Christmas tree (for his part, Scrooge will get a hefty tax break), but there’s still one entrepreneur who has set up a tree lot, counting on Scrooge’s trees to fall short. Naturally, the Beagle Boys are involved, and Donald and the boys wind up in a race to save Christmas – and Scrooge’s pocketbook. This is one of the most fun stories in the book, lots of action, lots of gags, well done.

“The Doodleberry Dilemma” stars Chip and Dale. The two hungry chipmunks set out to relieve Brer Fox of a mouthwatering doodleberry pie. This reprint of a 1970 story also has only the thinnest tie to the holidays – there’s plenty of snow but no tinsel. The book is rounded out with two shorts. “Ice Show” is a collection of Floyd Gottfredson strips starring Mickey and Minnie in an ice skating competition with a nice little punchline. “Toasty Toys” is a Carl Barks one-pager about Donald resorting to despicable depths to avoid cutting firewood – only to get his in the end.

Put ‘em all together and you get a really great collection of Christmas (or just plain “winter”) themed comics, with only the Chip and Dale story falling flat. It’s a fine collection for any fan of Disney comics.

Rating: 8/10

Uncle Scrooge #333

August 27, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: The Polar Princess and other stories

Scrooge’s new cruise line for mega-billionaires seems like a ripe target for the Beagle Boys!

Writers: Gorm Transgaard, Carl Barks, Lars Enoksen, Paul Hoogma, Frank Jonker, L. Jensen, C. Spencer, Susan Daigle-Leach & Romano Scarpa
Art: Wanda Gattino, Carl Barks, Marcelo, Santiago Barreira, Manrique & Romano Scarpa
Colors: Egmont, Scott Rockwell, Susan Daigle-Leach, Michael Kraiger & Sue Kolberg
Letters: Willie Schubert, Sue Colberg & Travis Seitler
Editor: Arnold T. Blumberg
Cover Art: Santiago Scalabroni
Publisher: Gemstone Comics

All issues of the Disney comics put out by Gemstone are hit-and-miss, since they’re anthologies of stories, not just from different writers and artists, but from all over the world. While those issues often manage to have an anchor story for the lead that is simply outstanding with several good back-up tales, this issue is mostly just okay.

One problem, I think, is that Scrooge himself is a supporting character in nearly every story in this volume, so even the better ones don’t excite fans quite as much. One of the best in the volume is “The Polar Princess” by Transgaard and Gattino. When Scrooge decides to launch an Alaskan cruise line for super-millionaires, he asks his three great-nephews to be part of the crew, but snubs the accident-prone Donald Duck. Donald stows away anyway, however, and may turn out to be Scrooge’s last hope when the ship is hijacked by his old foes, the Beagle Boys. It’s a nice story and it is a good showcase for Donald – not so much for Scrooge, though.

Next is a reprint of Carl Barks’s 1951 story “Billions to Sneeze At.” Scrooge develops an inexplicable allergy to money and is forced to leave Donald in charge of his company as he hides in the mountains, far from any news of his wealth. Predictably, Donald’s heart is bigger than his head, and Scrooge is in for a nasty shock.

Enoksen and Marcelo contribute this issue’s Gyro Gearloose story, “Crazy Inventions,” but again, this is a Donald tale with a guest-star. Gyro asks Donald to wait for a customer as he heads off to run some errands – and again, Donald fouls things up.

Donald again takes center stage in “The King of the Apes” by Hoogma, Jonker and Barreira. While ferrying some valuable cargo for his uncle, Donald’s plane goes down, and Scrooge and his nephews set out to find him, only to realize that the “Tarduck” comic he was reading had quite an impact.

“The Big Clean-Up” is the first story in the book not to feature Donald, and again, Scrooge is a guest-star. When he has to leave town and everyone he trusts is already gone, he has to leave his company in the hands of one of his other relatives, the dimwitted Fethry Duck. A cute enough story, but paired with “Billions to Sneeze At” it makes one wonder – okay, Scrooge is a tightwad, but wouldn’t it be more economical in the long run to just hire a vice-president to handle things when he has to leave instead of putting his relatives in charge and costing himself a fortune when they screw things up?

Finally we have “Gone With the Winned,” an entry by popular Italian cartoonist Romano Scarpa, and like many European comics, it features a character that is not as well-known in the American comics. Scrooge’s neighbor, Brigitta MacBridge, has long plotted to get Scrooge to fall in love with her, but her latest scheme backfires and she finds herself on the verge of eviction. Her only hope is to win an acting contest, and the only person who can help her is Scrooge himself – but how to convince him?

This last story, both from a writing and artistic standpoint, is the standout in the volume. The plot is goofy enough to have been plucked from an episode of “I Love Lucy,” and Scrooge is displayed more prominently here than anywhere else in the book except the Barks story, and this is the only story where one could argue he really takes a protagonist role, although even that has to be shared with Brigitta.

All of the stories, taken on their own, are fine, but in the end you feel like this wasn’t really an issue of Uncle Scrooge, but rather a Donald Duck Adventures where Scrooge showed up frequently. There’s nothing wrong with any of the stories – it’s just not really what you paid the hefty cover price for.

Rating: 7/10