Uncle Scrooge #330

May 29, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Flying High and other stories

When Donald Duck wins a fortune from Scrooge in a bet, how far will Scrooge go to win it back?

Writers: William Van Horn, Dave Rawson, Per Hedman, Gorm Transgaard, Pat & Shelly Block & Carl Barks
Art: William Van Horn, Torres, Manrique, Gattino, Marsal & Carl Barks
Colors: Susan Daigle-Leach, Egmont, Barry Englin-Grossman & Scott Rockwell
Letters: William Van Horn, Jon Babcock & Susan Daigle-Leach
Editor: Arnold T. Blumberg
Cover Art: Branca
Publisher: Gemstone Comics

Every issue of Uncle Scrooge has its high points and its low points, depending on the writers working on each individual story, and quite often the low points are not because the story is entertaining, but because the writer sacrifices some of the truest parts of Scrooge’s characterization for the sake of a plot point. Fortunately, that only happens in one of the stories here.

Van Horn’s “Flying High” is a very nice lead story. Donald Duck believes he has suddenly come into luck, and uses it to win a $5 million bet with Scrooge. Scrooge, of course, can’t take this lying down, and schemes to win his money back. This is on of Van Horn’s better efforts, using the basic nature of both characters to build a satisfying story. His artwork has the usual slightly fanciful quality he employs. His stories always look a little like dream sequences compared to the other artists in the issue.

It’s Rawson and Torres’s “Like Well-Oiled Clockwork” that falls flat this issue. When Scrooge’s secretary, Miss Quackfaster, goes on vacation, everything in his office starts to fall apart, and he decides to prevent her vacation to save a fortune. The individual beats of the story are funny, but the basic premise is flawed. To think that the fastidious Scrooge is that dependent on someone else to run his company, where he’s left utterly helpless in her absence, goes against the essence of the character as Carl Barks created him. Sure, kids won’t notice, but the older hardcore fan (of which there are many of us) will be disappointed.

Hedman and Manrique contribute a cute short story in “The Guinea Pig.” Donald and Gyro Gearloose get into an argument that sends Donald on an inventing spree, resulting in a giant gardening machine, which predictably goes haywire.

Transgaard and Gattino’s “Nuts After Nuts” is the longest story in the issue, and one of the best as well. One of Scrooge’s explorers returns from South America having found not precious jewels or valuable ores, but a new breed of nut that’s so tasty it sends everyone who eats it into spasms. Scrooge decides to launch an new brand of cereal, but a competitor chases him to the distant valley where the nuts grow to prevent him from getting the upper hand. The “Scrooge versus a competitor” storyline is one of the stock plots that you get over and over again,, but to complain about that would be like complaining about Ralph Kramden launching another get-rich-quick scheme. As long as it’s done well, as it is here, there’s no problem with it.

Pat and Shelly Block and Marsal contribute the three-page short, “The Secret Fishing Hole.” Huey, Dewey and Louie go fishing with Gus Goose, only to find that they have very different goals at the fishing hole. It’s a very cute little story that amounts to an extended joke with a great punchline.

Finally, we get a reprint of Carl Barks’s “Titanic Ants.” Scrooge and his nephews head to the annual Billionaire’s Picnic, which (as picnics do) gets invaded by ants. These ants, however, happen to be three feet tall, the result of an experiment by a nearby scientists. It isn’t one of Barks’s greatest efforts, but there’s nothing wrong with it. That’s the great thing about these characters – they work just as well in this plot borrowed from a B horror movie as they do in epic, Indiana Jones-style adventures.

The good in this issue outweighs the bad, and the art is universally fantastic. This is my favorite all-ages comic month after month, and if you’ve got kids you want to get into comics, this is the best way to do it.

Rating: 7/10