Uncle Scrooge #335

November 8, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: The Son of the Sun and other stories

Scrooge and Flintheart Glomgold launch into another contest to prove who’s the richest duck in the world.

Writers: Don Rosa, Michael Gilbert, Gail Renard, Albert Cosser & Daan Jippes
Art: Don Rosa, Rodriques, Daniel Branca, Anibal Uzal & Daan Jippes
Colors: Mike McCormick, Susan Daigle-Leach, Egmont, Scott Rockwell, Marie Javins & Michael Kraiger
Letters: John Clark, Willie Schubert & Susie Lee
Editor: Arnold T. Blumberg
Cover Art: Daniel Branca
Publisher: Gemstone

This issue of Uncle Scrooge gives us a real blast from the past – Don Rosa’s first-ever published comic book story from Uncle Scrooge #217 back in 1987. “The Son of the Sun” isn’t a particularly strong effort, at least not for Rosa, but even back then you could see the hints of what an incredible cartoonist he would become.

The story is fairly typical for Scrooge – he and arch-nemesis Flintheart Glomgold make yet another wager, this time to see who can discover the greatest lost Incan treasure. What results is a highly amusing Indiana Jones-style treasure hunt story. We see all of the elements that would later make Rosa the best of the current crop of Duck cartoonists, including a lot of small nods to classic Carl Barks stories, wonderfully detailed artifacts and treasures and judicious use of the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook to get them out of jams.

Next up is Donald Duck in “The Old, Old Fishing Hole” by Michael Gilbert and Rodriques. Donald borrows a time-travel device from wacky inventor Gyro Gearloose with no other purpose than to go back in time 10 years, when his favorite fishing hole was still a ripe spot. A mishap programming the device leaves him trapped 10 million years in the past, when the fish were biting, but they were a lot bigger too.

The other stories in the issue are amusing, but mostly forgettable. In “The Joke Factory,” Scrooge hires Gyro to invent a new novelty device, with predictably disastrous results. “Back to Basics” is another Scrooge vs. Glomgold story, this time with the odd wager of trying to survive a week without their fortunes. Scrooge’s well-meaning nephews seem him in the woods and conclude he must be down on his luck, and try to help. Finally, “Rodent’s Ransom” features a new menace to Scrooge’s fortune – a super-smart lab mouse who doesn’t want Scrooge’s money, but has his sights on other costly amenities.

This isn’t the greatest issue of Uncle Scrooge, but fans will certainly appreciate the novelty of seeing Rosa’s earliest comic book work. It’s not his best work, but it’s still the best story in this issue, and still a lot of fun.

Rating: 7/10