Uncle Scrooge
| Uncle Scrooge | |
|---|---|
 Uncle Scrooge #21 cover. Art by Carl Barks | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Dell Comics, Gold Key Comics / Whitman, Gladstone Publishing, Disney Comics, Gemstone Publishing, Boom Kids! (Boom! Studios) |
| Genre | Funny animal |
| Publication date | 1952 - 1984 1986 - 1998 2003 - 2008 2009 - 2011 |
| No. of issues | 404, including 3 issues of Four Color |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Carl Barks, Tony Strobl, Vic Lockman, Phil DeLara, Jack Manning, Pete Alvarado, Daan Jippes, Don Rosa, William Van Horn, Gutenberghus/Egmont Group (Vicar, Daniel Branca, Joel Katz, Dave Angus, Tom Anderson, Gail Renard, et al.), John Lustig, Pat McGreal, Dave Rawson, Michael T. Gilbert, Romano Scarpa, and others |
Uncle Scrooge (stylized as Uncle $crooge) was a comic book starring the stingy Scrooge McDuck ("the richest duck in the world"), his nephew Donald Duck, and grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and revolving around their adventures in Duckburg and around the world. It was first published in 1952, and the most recent issue to date (#404) was released in 2011. It has been produced under the aegis of several different publishers, including Western Publishing (initially in association with Dell Comics and later under its own subsidiary, Gold Key Comics and its Whitman imprint), Gladstone Publishing, Disney Comics, Gemstone Publishing, and Boom! Studios, and undergone several hiatuses of varying length. Despite this, it maintained the same numbering scheme throughout its six decade history.
Besides Scrooge and his family, recurring characters included Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, Emily Quackfaster, and Brigitta MacBridge. Among the adversaries who made repeat appearances were the Beagle Boys, Magica De Spell, John D. Rockerduck and Flintheart Glomgold. It was one of the core titles of the "Duck universe."
Its early issues by famed writer/artist (and creator of Scrooge McDuck) Carl Barks formed the inspiration for the syndicated television cartoon DuckTales in the late 1980s. Several stories written by Barks and published in Uncle Scrooge were adapted as episodes of DuckTales.
Writers and artists
The first 70 issues mostly consisted of stories written and drawn by Carl Barks. The 71st issue had a story written by Barks and drawn by Tony Strobl. Subsequent Gold Key Comics issues combined reprints of earlier Barks tales with new material by creators such as Strobl, Vic Lockman, Phil DeLara, Jack Manning, and Pete Alvarado.
When Gladstone Publishing relaunched the title in 1986, a new generation of American creators began contributing to the title, including Don Rosa, William Van Horn, John Lustig, Pat McGreal, Dave Rawson, and Michael T. Gilbert. As before, their work was intermingled with Carl Barks reprints, as well as with translations of European Disney comics by such creators as Daan Jippes, Fred Milton and Romano Scarpa originally published by Oberon, Egmont (originally Gutenberghus) and Disney Italy/Mondadori.
U.S. publication history
- Dell Comics: 1952 - 1962 (Four Color Comics issues 386, 456 and 495; issues 4-39)
- Gold Key Comics: 1962 - 1984 (issues 40-173 as Gold Key, 174-209 as Whitman)
- Gladstone Publishing: 1986 - 1990 (issues 210-242)
- Disney Comics: 1990 to 1993 (issues 243-280)
- Gladstone Publishing: 1993 - 1998 (issues 281-318)
- Gemstone Publishing: 2003 - 2008 (issues 319-383)
- Boom Kids! (Boom! Studios): 2009 - 2011 (issues 384-404)
Scrooge made his first appearance in the Donald Duck story "Christmas on Bear Mountain" as a curmudgeonly man who decides to test Donald and his nephews to see if they are worthy of inheriting his wealth. Barks found the character and his wealth a useful springboard for stories and re-used him in a number of subsequent Donald Duck one-shot adventures and ten pagers appearing in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. By 1952 the popularity of the character convinced Dell to give Scrooge a try-out as a lead character in the seminal "Only a Poor Old Man" in Dell's Four Color anthology series, a story Barks expert Michael Barrier has termed a masterpiece. After two further Four Color appearances Scrooge was granted his own title starting with issue number 4 (counting the try-out issues as one through three).
The series continued uninterrupted (though not always on a monthly schedule) until 1984, when Western Publishing (the parent company of Gold Key/Whitman, who were publishing the title at the time) withdrew from the comic book business. Western had held the Disney comic book license since the late 1930s, and their withdrawal left the license, and Uncle Scrooge, in limbo for two years, when it was acquired by Another Rainbow, who had been publishing hardbound compilations of Carl Barks's work for several years, acquired it and launched Gladstone Publishing, resuming the title where Whitman had left off.
Gladstone continued publishing Uncle Scrooge until their license expired in 1990. At that point, the series shifted over to Disney Comics with little change in editorial direction. It was one of only three monthly titles to survive the "Disney implosion" of 1991 (the others being Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and Donald Duck Adventures), and continued to be published by Disney Comics until 1993, when Disney Comics folded and the license was reacquired by Gladstone Publishing. Gladstone went through their own implosion in 1998, and Uncle Scrooge was briefly converted into a double-sized (64 page), "prestige" format series, before Gladstone ended publication entirely later that year.
No further issues were published until 2003, when Gemstone Publishing (whose editorial staff included several former employees of Gladstone) acquired the license and resumed publication of Uncle Scrooge. Gemstone maintained the prestige format previously adopted by Gladstone, and continued to publish the series until November 2008. Financial difficulties at Gemstone ended its run then, and the license was acquired by Boom! Studios, who reverted to the standard 32 page format when they began publication in late 2009. Boom's run ended in 2011, when the Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Marvel Entertainment lead to the consolidation of all Disney comics licenses under Marvel Comics. To date, Marvel has not announced plans to resume publication of Uncle Scrooge or any other titles set in the "Duck universe."
Other titles and spinoffs
Over the years, Scrooge McDuck has proven popular enough to appear as the main character in a number of other comic book series. Many of these series include republications of stories originally written for the "main" Uncle Scrooge title in the United States or various European countries.
Scrooge often appeared in The Beagle Boys alongside his frequent adversaries, published irregularly by Gold Key from 1963 to 1979.[1] When that title ended, it was relaunched as The Beagle Boys Versus Uncle Scrooge in March 1979 and lasted for twelve issues, until February 1980.[2]
In 1987, Gladstone Publishing began publication of Uncle Scrooge Adventures, which they would continue to publish until 1998, excluding the period from 1990 through 1993, when Disney Comics held the license to publish Disney comics.
Scrooge was also a major character in three different comic book titles tied in with the DuckTales television series. The first of these consisted of 13 issues and was published by Gladstone Publishing from 1987 to 1990.[3] The second consisted of 18 issues published by Disney Comics from 1990 through 1991.[4] The final (to date) was published over six issues by Boom Kids! in 2011.[5] Several DuckTales comics starring Scrooge would also appear in the pages of Disney Adventures in the early 1990s.[6]
Finally, The Adventurous Uncle Scrooge McDuck, published by Gladstone, ran for two issues in 1998. A third issue was planned but cancelled along with the rest of Gladstone's output other than Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney's Comics and Stories following a collapse in comics sales.[7]
Issues
 |
| Number | Date | Stories | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1(Four Color #386) | 1952 | "Uncle Scrooge (one-pager)", "Only a Poor Old Man" | |
| 2 (nine Color #456) | 1953 | "Back to the Klondike" (Carl Barks) | |
| 3 (Four Color #495) | 1953 | "The Horseradish Story" (Carl Barks) | |
| 4 | 12/1953 | "Ballet Evasions", "The Menehune Mystery", "The Cheapest Weigh", "Bum Steer" (all Carl Barks) | |
| 5 | 03/1954 | "The Secret of Atlantis" (Carl Barks) | |
| 6 | 06/1954 | "Tralla La" (Carl Barks) | |
| 7 | 1954 | "Ye Olde Wishing Well" | |
| 8 | 1954 | "The Mysterious Stone Ray" (Carl Barks) | |
| 9 | 1955 | "The Lemming with the locket", "The Tuckered Tiger" | |
| 10 | 1955 | "The Fabulous philosopher's stone", "Heirloom watch" | |
| 11 | 1955 | "The Great steamboat race", "Riches, riches everywhere" | |
| 12 | 1955 | The Golden Fleecing (Carl Barks) | |
| 13 | 1956 | Land Beneath the Ground! (Carl Barks) | |
| 14 | 1956 | "Lobster" short, "The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan" (Carl Barks), Gyro Gearloose Wall story, Uncle Scrooge Coffee Bubbles story, "Beach" short, "Firefly" short | |
| 15 | 1956 | "The Second-Richest Duck" (Carl Barks) | First Appearance of Flintheart Glomgold |
| 16 | 1/1957 | "Minerals" short, "Back to Long Ago" (Carl Barks), Gyro Gearloose Prediction Machine story, Uncle Scrooge Quiz Show story, "Fuel Oil" short | |
| 19 | 4/1957 | "Dollar" short, "The Mines of King Solomon", Gyro Gearloose House story | |
| 21 | 2/1958 | "Money Dream" short, "The Money Well", Gyro Gearloose Scarecrow story, "Dog" short, "Vault Door" short | |
| 23 | 4/1958 | "Hay Wagon" short, "The Strange Shipwrecks", Gyro Gearloose Swimming Pool story, "The Fabulous Tycoon", "Roll" short, "Electric Rates" short | |
| 24 | 1/1959 | "The Twenty-four Carat Moon", Gyro Gearloose Tornado story, "The Magic Ink" | |
| 25 | 2/1959 | "Taxi Fare" short, "The Flying Dutchman", Gyro Gearloose Wishing Well story, Uncle Scrooge Pyramid story, "Butterfly" short, "Newspaper" short, "Kittens" short | |
| 26 | 3/1959 | "The Prize of Pizarro", Gyro Gearloose "Krankenstein Gyro", Uncle Scrooge Ghost Town story | |
| 27 | 4/1959 | "The Money Champ", Gyro Gearloose "The Firefly Tracker", "His Handy Andy", "Crawls for Cash" short | |
| 28 | 1/1960 | "The Paul Bunyan Machine", Gyro Gearloose "The Inventors Contest", "The Witching Stick", "Money Hat" short | |
| 29 | 2/1960 | "Island in the Sky", Gyro Gearloose "Oodles of Oomph", "Hound of the Whiskervilles" | |
| 30 | 3/1960 | "Pipeline to Danger", Gyro Gearloose "War Paint", "Yoicks! The Fox!" | |
| 31 | 4/1960 | "All at Sea", Gyro Gearloose "Fishy Warden", "Two-way Luck", "The Secret Book" short, "The Balmy Swami" short | |
| 32 | 1/1961 | "That's No Fable", Gyro Gearloose "That Small Feeling", "Clothes Make the Duck", "The Homey Touch" short, "A Thrift Gift" short, "Turnabout" short | |
| 33 | 2/1961 | "Tree Trick" short, "Billions in the Hole", Gyro Gearloose "You Can't Win", "Bongo on the Congo", "The Big Bobber" short, "Thumbs Up" short | |
| 34 | 3/1961 | "Mythic Mystery", Gyro Gearloose "Wily Rival", "Chugwagon Derby" | |
| 35 | 4/1961 | "Hurry Birds" short, "The Golden Nugget Boat", Gyro Gearloose "Fast Away Castaway", "Gift Lion", "Bird Bait" short | |
| 36 | 2/1962 | "The Midas Touch", "Duckburg's Day of Peril", Gyro Gearloose "Money Bag Goat", "The Bends" short, "Green Stuff" short, "Memory Man" short | |
| 37 | 3/1962 | "The Windy Story" (short), "Cave of Ali Baba", Gyro Gearloose "The Great Popup", "Deep Down Doings", "Cash-Cart", "Can't Take It with You", "Night Out", "Over Weight" (shorts) | |
| 41 | 3/1963 | Toll Bridge short, "The Status Seeker", Gyro Gearloose "Snow Duster", "Typhoon Tycoon", Rocket Digger short | |
| 44 | 8/1963 | "Crown of the Mayas", Gyro Gearloose "The Fizzle That Drizzled", "The Invisible Intruder" | |
| 51 | 8/1964 | "How Green was my Lettuce", Ludwig Von Drake "Pigeon Panic", "Let Donald Do It" | |
| 55 | 2/1965 | "McDuck of Arabia", Limousine short, Zoo short, Gyro Gearloose "Scientific Sleuth", Parrot short, Fight short | |
| 60 | 11/1965 | "The Phantom of Notre Duck", Gyro Gearloose "The Drippy Diamonds", Uncle Scrooge Desert Outing short | |
| 68 | 3/1967 | Antique short, "Hall of the Mermaid Queen", Gyro Gearloose "Hypno-Clock" | |
| 69 | 3/1967 | "Yipi-Ki-Yay" | |
| 71 | 10/1967 | "King Scrooge the First" (Carl Barks and Tony Strobl), "Outdoor Thinking" (Phil de Lara and Vic Lockman) | |
| 76 | 8/1968 | "Bye, Bye Money Bin", Gyro Gearloose "The Hopeless Helper", "The Luck Tycoon" | |
| 92 | 4/1971 | "The Magic Ink" (reprint), "Two Way Luck" (reprint), Gyro Gearloose "That Small Feeling", "Tattletale Dime" | |
| 113 | 8/1974 | "Crown of the Mayas", Gyro Gearloose Cyclone short | |
| 161 | 2/1979 | "The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan", Gyro Gearloose untitled short | |
| 172 | 1/1980 | "The Magic Ink" (Carl Barks), "The Round Money Bin" (Carl Barks), "The Bad Bargain" (Kay Wright and Vic Lockman) | |
| 179 | 9/1980 | "The Lemming with the Locket" (Carl Barks), "Wishful Excess" (Carl Barks), "Sidewalk of the Mind" (Carl Barks) | Very rare; fewer than 200 copies thought to exist |
| 198 | 1982 | "The Mini-Bin Vacation", "The Wreck of the Merry Lark", "The Collectibles", "The Educated Cane" | |
| 199 | 1982 | "Jillions in Jeopardy", "Return of the Bin-Buster", "Payday Blues", "The Educated Cane" | |
| 204 | 1982 | "The Magnetic Curse", "The Fragrant Vagrant", "The Double Diamond", "The Rare Stamp" | first story with personal computer |
| 214 | 2/1987 | "A Sticky Situation" (Gutenberghus Group), "The Tuckered Tiger" (Carl Barks), Uncle Scrooge short, "An Alarming Development", Uncle Scrooge short | |
| 217 | 5/1987 | "The Seven Cities of Cibola" (Carl Barks) | |
| 219 | 7/1987 | "The Son of the Sun" (Don Rosa), "Portrait of the Artist as a Duck Man", short article | |
| 221 | 9/1987 | "Green Attack" (Gutenberghus Group), Uncle Scrooge untitled squirrel short, Uncle Scrooge untitled quiz show short | |
| 228 | 8/1988 | "Chugwagon Derby" (Barks), Beagle Boys "The Pigeon Plot", "The Generosity Ray", Donald Duck short | |
| 238 | 10/1989 | "Ducking the Press" (Netherlands), "A Witch in Crime" (Denmark), "Trouble Indemnity" (Carl Barks) | |
| 244 | 7/1990 | "The Adventurers Club Award" (Avenell, Vicar, Foster, Clark, Daigle-Leach), "The Toothless Tiger Auction" (Anderson, Vicar, Foster, Clark, Daigle-Leach) | |
| 272 | 11/1992 | "Canute the Brute's Battle Axe" (Anderson, Gabner, Vicar, Davidson, Daigle-Leach), "Fare Delay" short (Barks, Daigle-Leach), "Charity Donation" short (Barks, Daigle-Leach) | |
| 276 | 3/1993 | "The Island at the Edge of Time" (Don Rosa), "Skywriting for Scrooge" (Carl Barks) | |
| 277 | 4/1993 | "The Great Steamboat Race", "Immovable Miser", "Much Luck McDuck" (all Carl Barks) | |
| 278 | 5/1993 | "North of the Yukon" (Carl Barks) | |
| 279 | 6/1993 | "Back to Long Ago!", "Moola on the Move", "Long Distance Collision", "Classy Taxi" (all Carl Barks) | |
| 292 | 6/1995 | "King of the Klondike", two Donald Duck untitled shorts, untitled Uncle Scrooge short | |
| 300 | 10/1996 | "The Sunken Yacht" (Barks), "Coin of the Realm", "Go Slowly, Sands of Time", "Nobody's Business" | The raising of "The Sunken Yacht" using ping pong balls was confirmed as plausible by the Mythbusters in 2004. |
| 302 | 2/1997 | "Monkey Business" (Barks), "Barrel Bargains" (Gorm Transgaard and Torres), "The Telltale Hand" (Tony Strobl), "Beagle Boys meet Abner the Actor" (Tony Strobl), "Too Bee or Not to Bee" (Torres and Per Diemer) | |
| 357 | 9/2006 | "Return to Xanadu" (Don Rosa), "Comet Get It!" (Kari Korhonen and Tino Santanach), "Dr. Invento" (Janet Gilbert and Marsal Bresco), "Through a Lens Darkly" (Frank Jonker and Bas Heymans) |
Reprints
| Carl Bark's Greatest Ducktales Stories (Printed in the order of adaptation into Ducktales Episodes. | |
|---|---|
| Volume 1 | Four Color #456 Uncle Scrooge #13, 65, 9, 14 & 29 |
| Volume 2 | Uncle Scrooge #58, 12, 3, 41, 38 & 6 |
| The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library. | |
|---|---|
| Volume 1 (Volume 12 overall) "Only A Poor Old Man" | Four Color #386, 456, 495 Uncle Scrooge #4-6 |
| Volume 2 | TBA |
See also
- DuckTales, 1980s cartoon television series based on the comic book
- Disney comics in the USA (general overview)
- Other notable Disney comic titles in the USA:
- Mickey Mouse and Friends (since 1933; originally Mickey Mouse Magazine, also Mickey Mouse)
- Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (since 1940)
- Donald Duck Four Color (since 1952; today Donald Duck and Friends)
- Huey, Dewey and Louie Junior Woodchucks (1966–1984)
- Uncle Scrooge Adventures (1987–1990, 1993–1997)
- Donald Duck Adventures (1988–1990, 1993–1997)
References
- ^ "The Beagle Boys". DCW: Disney Comics Worldwide. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ^ "USA: The Beagle Boys Versus Uncle Scrooge". I.N.D.U.C.K.S. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ^ "USA: Ducktales". I.N.D.U.C.K.S. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ^ "USA: Ducktales (Disney Comics)". I.N.D.U.C.K.S. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ^ "USA: DuckTales (Boom)". I.N.D.U.C.K.S. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ^ "USA: Disney Adventures". I.N.D.U.C.K.S. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
- ^ "The Adventurous Uncle Scrooge McDuck". DCW: Disney Comics Worldwide. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
External links
- Uncle Scrooge at Inducks
- Uncle Scrooge on Disney Comics Worldwide (DCW)
- Cover of all issues of Uncle Scrooge on outducks.org (click issue numbers)
- Uncle Scrooge sales figures, 1960-present on Comichron