Uncle Scrooge #329

May 2, 2004

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: The Dream of a Lifetime (and other stories)

When the Beagle Boys invade Scrooge’s dreams, will Donald Duck be able to save his fortune?

Writers: Don Rosa, Lars Jensen, Chris Spencer, Per Hedman, Kari Karhonen & Paul Halas
Art: Don Rosa, Manrique, Marsal & Vicar
Colors: Scott Rockwell, Russ Miller, Barry Grossman, Terry Letterman & Janice Miller
Letters: Todd Klein, Susie Lee, Willie Schubert, John Clark & Jon Babcock
Editor: Arnold T. Blumberg
Cover Art: Daniel Branca
Publisher: Gemstone Publishing

This issue of Uncle Scrooge, like all the Walt Disney comics published by Gemstone, features several short stories. Headlining this issue is the fantastic two-part “Dream of a Lifetime” by Don Rosa. The nefarious Beagle Boys have stolen a machine from Gyro Gearloose that allows them to invade Scrooge McDuck’s dreams as he sleeps in an effort to plumb the combination to his vault. Gyro and Scrooge’s nephews arrive too late to stop them, and since the connection can’t be broken from the outside, their only hope is to send Donald Duck into the dream after them. The result is a hysterical romp through all the various eras of Scrooge’s life. For the first time, Donald gets to see his uncle as he was from the beginning, and for fans of Rosa’s brilliant “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck” (which was itself culled from decades of stories by Carl Barks, who created the character), it’s a chance to revisit many of those scenarios with a twist, even going so far as to allow Donald to meet his own mother as a baby.

The story isn’t short on action either – there’s plenty of combat in the dreamscape across in a half-dozen settings, from the Australian outback to the streets of Glascow to the deck of the Titanic. Even the action gets comedy fed into it, though, as Donald’s nephews try to subconsciously supply him with weapons by feeding suggestions to the sleeping Scrooge that don’t always go the right way. The art is the same sort of dazzling, detailed work that we’ve come to expect from Rosa. If he had spent his career drawing superheroes instead of ducks, he’d be a comic book superstar. The story ends with the sort of heartwarming capper that proves why Rosa is the best creator to tackle the ducks since Barks himself.

As usual, with this title, the other stories have varying degrees of quality. Jensen, Spencer and Manrique present Gyro Gearloose in “Call of the Wildlife,” in which he invents a whistle that can call any animal, not just dogs. Hedman and Manrique’s “How to Induce a Miser” is a cute story about Daisy Duck inviting Scrooge to dinner to coax a loan out of him, but the meal is a disaster as her broken-down house keeps thwarting her. Halas and Vicar contribute the best back-up tale, “Considerably Richer,” in which Scrooge is horrified to learn he is no longer the richest duck in the world and sets out to confront the new titleholder. Finally, Karhonen and Marsal’s “Bossing the Boss” probably doesn’t work as much as the rest of the book. When Donald complains to Grandma Duck about how hard a slave driver Scrooge is, she tricks him into doing some farm work to convince him to lighten up. This story doesn’t really jive with the original Barks interpretation of the character – one of Scrooge’s defining traits is that he’s not some pampered millionaire, he’s a duck who has worked hard for every dime he has, and it’s hard to imagine he would find chopping firewood or painting a fence as daunting as he does in this tale, even with Grandma going harder on him just to prove a point.

All of the stories in this volume have fine artwork, though, with much of it being clear and brightly-colored enough to have leapt from te frames of a cartoon. This is the sort of comic book that parents can read with their kids and not be bored or feel patronized to. Funny, exciting stories like “Dream of a Lifetime” make this a great title month after month, and the best value for a comic fan who wants to share their hobby with their kids.

Rating: 8/10