#The life and times of Scrooge Mcduck

[doomedshipstournament]

Goldie and Scrooge: enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers they’re married they’re divorced they’re remarried they’re re-divorced they had violent hatesex off panel in an official Disney comic they still have violent hatesex to this very day and they’re halfway to 200 years old. They’re too stubborn to admit their feelings to each other. He wrote her a letter and never sent it to her. She has photos of him and one his con artist nephew in her wallet. Ben Schwartz is there.

Robotnik and stone: Eggman said ‘by the way I’m bisexual’ and then immediately exploded in space and his last livestream was dedicated to stone. what started out as a running gag about ‘oh haha his assistant is so gay for him’ ends up becoming a whole ass charecter arc and it’s a legit possibility that the next movie will involve stone going mad with grief over the loss of his crazy old man. Because that’s what Robotniks do best apparently. (Ask Maria… oh wait). Ben Schwartz is there too.

[thegoodduckfan]

The scene of Fergus' death is honestly one of my favorite moments in the entire Life and Times saga.

This hits so hard for me. In all of the chapters so far Scrooge has been trying to make money to support his family in Dismal Downs/Glasgow and now after his long journey, he's home but it doesn't feel like home anymore, so he leaves. He wanted to take his father, who supported him every step of the way chose to stay behind.

Seeing him with Downy was very bittersweet, especially after chapter 8 when Scrooge discovering his mother died via S. Slick:

And Scrooge's visit to his mother's grave ealier in chapter 9

It just feels really bittersweet to see them sending their kids off to a new, brighter future and meeting with the Ghost of Sir Quackly who has been wonderful in chapter 1.

And it all culminates beautifully in chapter 11, right after Scrooge committed a hate crime and his sisters left him, he argues with himself on what he should do, but only his father can get him into the right track again.

In short Fergus McDuck is absolutely one of my favorite Disney characters, even with his short screen time and in my opinion Don Rosa's best original character.

[yeyeducks]

Glittering Goldie, the Star of the North (and this scottish immigrant ig)

[ducklooney]

It's been a while, but happy birthday again to one of my favorite comic book writers and artists, especially Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics. And that is certainly Don Rosa. Happy 72nd birthday Don Rosa and thank you for the best comics!

And yes, his comics are not Ducktales and that should be clearly separated.

[popculturebuffet]

Life and Times B-Sides Retrospective: The Sharpie of The Culebra Cut (Patreon Review for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people. Last year thanks to some patreon reviews from longtime sponsor WeirdKev, I finally finished my long postponed retrospective on the life and times of scrooge mcduck (Which I intend to bring to Substack this year. Stay tuned.).

I reviewed all 12 chapters of the epic original story, a vivid and wonderful tale that strings all of Carl Barks various scrooge anctedotes and flashabacks into a story of a man's slow rise to power and descent from a kind trusting young man to an honorable but shady, bitter and selfish old badass what abuses his Nephew frequently. You can find links to the retrospective here.. inclduing a link pile in a link pile because of Tumblrs link limits. Gee I can't imagine why i'm considering changing platforms.

Shortly after it ended though Kev asked to do something I was already considering: finish the rest. Life and Times is the key to Don Rosa's scrooge work, his most rightfully celebrated story and a 12 part epic.. but he couldn't cover EVERYTHING in 12 parts. Scrooge's history was vast, and there were gaps in the story to be filled. Some were ones he wanted to but simply couldn't in the main story: Scrooge's Wild West reunion with his uncle at Buffalo Bill's show was planned but had to be scrapped as it didn't fit the overall arc, while Scrooge's doomed romance with goldie was such an epic it required THREE more stories, one he'd already done and two he did over the rest of his career with one being his last. There was also potetial to be mined like a reunion of Scrooge and Teddy Rosevelt, a what if where Magica swipes the dime that serves as a soft pilot. And as for the present there was the lingering plot thread of whatever happened to Matilda McDuck? Donald's mom was a mystery on purpose, we knew who she was but she was presumed dead or something. But did scrooge ever reconcile with his sister? And if not .. could he still? And finally a spiritual finale to both rosa's duck work and this series where Donald travels through time via dreams. There was a lot to do and Rosa did it.

So this year, a little later than planned but still over a year, we're covering all of it. The supplemental chapters as well as sequel letter from home and spiritual finale "Dream of a Life Time", aka my favorite duck story. I haven't read most of these prior to their reviews either, so buckle up. We also got a brucey bonus Rosa Review thrown in too for Scrooge's birthday, but that's all the hint your getting.

Originally I was going to cover these in order.. but Kev wanted this one for presidents day so I shuffled the order around. Which is fine by me as these stories weren't far as I can tell published in chronological order. And this is a great one to start on.

The Sharpie of the Culebra Cut takes place between chapters 10 and 11, during Scrooge's travels with his sisters on occasion. The fact theeir here dosen't completely jibe with him constantly leaving them home... but hey would YOU deny the world more Hortsense McDuck? Thought so.

Culebra Cut takes place during the construction of the Panama Canal, and finds a greedy billionare in the way of progress. Good thing that never happened again. President Teddy Rosevelt has to contend with Scrooge owning a portion of the planned land, a tyriancial general planning a power grab and his own sexism getting him punched in the gut.

As you can gather, this is a loose sequel to chapter 10 of life and times "The Invader of Fort Duckberg", bringing Teddy Rosevelt back as Rosa was both a huge fan and felt the two were so similar: both self made men, both stubborn, both independent and both having an appreciation of nature. They also each embody a diffrent dark side of that self made image... i'm not sure if this is a parellel rosa intended but it's one i'm certainly drawing: Scrooge shows how going for big riches can isolate someone and make them bitter, divorced from the needs of the working man and cruel, and Teddy shows how even a seemingly good man can easily follow dark paths like colonalism and racisim because it was the style of the time. BOth aren't the worst people in the world, but both are deeply flawed men.

HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY EVERYONE!

I'm glad for it: while not as good as the original, which is a very high bar, Invader is a great adventure and has fun with which stage Scrooge as at: this is Scrooge at his worst, most racist and most selfish, so while he's co-lead for this adventure, teddy is the real hero, trying desperately to help scrooge to keep the Panama Canal deal from falling apart. It also makes a sad but engaging contrast to the previous two teddy adventures: the first time the two were friends, with Teddy's words staying with scrooge all this time. The second time they were enemies thanks to a stupid mix up... but the second it was clear they were friends again and both had risen, Scrooge being a billionare and Teddy being president. Now it's not too far removed from the last meeting.. but Scrooge is at his lowest while Teddy has settled with age. He's still teddy rosevelt, teddy rosevelt's gonna fuck shit up and have adventures, but he's ahead of scrooge in having settled down, leanred from experince and has a empathy he dosen't. It's a meeting of two old friends.. but i'ts a friendship that's truly not the same as it was and with Teddy being long gone by the time Scrooge finds himself again it never will be.

So on that dour note join me under the cut as we witness the worst deal scrooge ever made... well someone made it for him anyway.

We open as most these stories do on Scrooge in his vault. Scrooge has his memento chest from life and tims out again so the boys take a chance to poke around and find something truly curious in a sack

They also find a seperate sack containing a treasure Scrooge is ashamed of. Despite donald's protests the children gotta know so Scrooge tells the tale

It was 1907. Panama had just been founded and Scrooge was trading with the local Guaymi people, an indgineous tribe. Scrooge uses his usual racist as fuck bead tactics. I give rosa props for having Scrooge be so racist and assholish he literally barters with beads. Granted a few points are deducted for having a tribesman actually fall for that in "Empire Builder from Callisota" but it's clear Scrooge is a fucking asshole and portraying one of Disney's greatest cash cows as a racist asshole is a bold choice and i'm shocked he got away with it.

The negotations .. aren't going great

I love this gag.. and the fact the two are just.. used to Scrooge's cruelty. You can tell from the expressions they don't like what he's become and can tell he's getting darker and meaner. Initially I thought this clashed with Empire Builder a bit, that they knew he was already bad... but honestly it enhances it. They knew he was resulting to bastardry now and was bad.. but assumed he'd get past it. This is their first sign his greed is overtaking him and his assault on the village not much later in the timeline was the last straw.

Scrooge needed to know where some gold from a mountain he bought was hidden but decides fuck it i'll just dig everywhere! While he does we cut to Teddy, whose overseeing the digging of the canal, something truly impressive.. and I did not realize it was dug through FUCKING MOUNTAINS. It's genuinely impressive what humans are capable of when their not being dicks.

Speaking of dicks we meet our secondary antagonist, General Esteban. He's your standard schemeing villian who wants any excuse to stage a coup. Pretty boilerplate scrooge villian honestly, the politics are the only thing that seperate him from your usual one off villianous treasure hunter. Rather than be a corrupt buisness type.. he's a corrupt politican. It's the thinest line but still.

Roosevelt is understandably worried as if Esteban seeizes power he'd become one of the most powerful dictators on earth.. but Teddy is here for more pressing issues. Turns out this isn't just a states visit, there's a crisis that needs handeled and it's once again Scrooge.. and unlike last time there is no miscommuincation: he claims rights to a mountain, the same one he's digging in.... that' sin the path of the canal. Teddy decides to go use his big stick and some rough riders turned canal police to go settle this since Scrooge keeps shotgunning anyone who gets close.

So while the cowboys run in fear of Hortense before she can cheat on Quackmore, Roosevelt finds out that sadly... Scrooge is in his rights. He bought it from one of the agents who sold the canal to the us. So Teddy has to negotiate an important piece of land away from Scrooge McDuck at his worst

So the quartet head to Teddy's personal train car to hash things out.. though hortense is busy flirting and when teddy tries to interupt her

I love Scrooge having the same expression in both time periods, as well as the boys being shocked.. while Donald, as he damn well should be, is proud.

Teddy is in a bind as Scrooge refuses to see reason and only sees dollar signs: So Teddy makes a backroom deal: He'll help scrooge dig up the mountain faster and in secret so scrooge will give up the mountain rights. Scrooge gets his gold, Teddy gets an adventure and saves this trade deal everyone's happy.

So that night Scrooge and Sisters join, though Teddy scoofs "This isn't work for women".. and the way Hortense stares at him he's very lucky she doesn't throat rip him then and there and put his severed head on her mantle as a warning to others.

The sisters do come in handy as they need a key to the steam shovels, so the girls try to seduce a card. We get a brilliant bit where Teddy is, like the audience, horrified at how he treats his family, saying they should be paid 30 cents (Which was a living wage back then)

The girls flirting works.. till the guy mentions he was in duckburg.. he remembers matilda fondly.. hortense not so much whic earns him a punch in the gut. Thankfully the secret service is around to ... tie the man up and hide him for the president's clandestine mission in Columbia, the only time in history fictional or otherwise that's been a GOOD thing.

So Teddy and Scrooge prepare to take off in the shovel, while they send HOrtense and Matilda to protect the first lady... but not before teddy gets a compuance for poking the bear one too many times as shooting and wrestling so many has apparently removed his sense for actual danger.

Huh.. so this is why roosevelt died. Though props to the man for lasting ten more years than anyone else would've.

So our heroes do some fantastic slapstick as Teddy TRIES to drive the steam shovel.. he instead does a series of flips that attract general "oh yeah he's in this storys" attention. I forget how good Don rosa is at slapstick sometimes. We get another great sequence when they deal with the chief who understandably hates Scrooge with the Guaymi having been screwed by colonalism ever since Columbus. Luckily Teddy is an actual politican and manages to seal the deal.. mostly. But he drinks a powerful sleep tonic that's part of a key ritual so Scrooge has to weekend at bernie's our 26th president.

So they have the gold location, but soon run into General Oh Yeah That Dude who uses their deal as a pretext for war, planning to that thing he coup and leaving Teddy as a hostage. Naturally the duo break out easily as you'd expect.. and badassly as Scrooge uses the seam shovel to lift their captors to the top of a hill and go on with his day

Back with the First Lady she is worried a bit.. if only because she senses Scrooge is as crazy as Teddy. She also shows Hortense and Matilda the first Teddy Bear, a prototype a candy store sent them. As that Chekov's gun gets put on the shelf to go off later, the secret service agent returns to update everyone... and to die a painful and preventable death

Look I try to be judicious with my panels as I encourage you to read the stories yourself... but every scene with Hortense in this is gold.

Back with the digging scrooge feels something is off.. the soil isn't like what he usually encounters. So he does something unlike himself.. take a break. It's a beautifully drawn scene, reminding me just how wonderful a talent don rosa is. I may disagree with him on some things.. but it's sad how much talent we lost when he lost his ability to draw.

It's a nice moment and a reminder of the scrooge buried under the bitter monster he's becoming.

The two soon find out WHY their having no success though as the ground shakes.. and a giant, gorgeous stone temple is found

They soon fine it's a mix of Mayan, Incan and Aztec work, as it was a place to offer to the guards long when it was all one contienet centuries ago. Scrooge naturally goes inside to raid this monument to history.

Teddy to his credit thinks it belongs in a museum.. but sadly... we're facing a scrooge who can only think of himself

I told you scrooge may be the protaganist of this story.. but he's also the villian. Roosevelt was a flawed man.. but I can buy his reaction. He can't let all this history be sold for money friend or no and stands firm against scrooge. IT's sad to see Scrooge faced with someone who genuinely shaped his life, a friend, a mentor, someone truly like him, possibly the only person like him with scruples.. and only see dollar signs. Only feel he's been cheated instead of doing the right thing. The same duck who did this

Is now ready to fight his friend to plunder a culture's riches for himself.

The two have the awesome fight you'd expect, doubled by the fact the temple is now sliding down the mountain.. but as funny and awesome a spectacle it is... it's still sad seeing these two come to blows.

Yup Scrooge beat Teddy Roosevelt. And he gets the claim could be tied up legally for years.. but since the Canal is needed NOW, Scrooge agrees to terms to be named later at dawn and Teddy has no choice but to concede.

This allows teddy to get some shine back as he BRONCO BUSTS THE TEMPLE down.. just as general oh yeah he's in this and his men are in a standoff with the canal police.. and busts into the middle of it.

Teddy soon realizes the issue though: EVERY country is going to want a piece of this, and it could cause a whole damn world war. So his solution.. is to bury it. Dig it up in a hundred years and hope to godfrey humanity is better. Spoiler warning: we were not, though we neve rhave gotten that story of the future clan mcduck.

General I've given up at this point tries to take some gold... but Scrooge made the choice to make sure the jaguar gets buried... and pulls a brilliant gambit: talk loudly about how the general is giving him the gold.. and frame him as his friend.. to the chief who hates his guts. Thus the Guyami get the gold and make sure general mouthface never gets back to panama.

So Scrooge naturally plans to milk this: He considers getting the rights to the airplane, or the motion picture camera, just reveling in the ideals. The only rule is one Teddy makes for damn good reason: while he won't go back on his word , he will delclare no take backs. Thankfully for world progress, one ghoul, far as I know, does not get control of film cameras or planes. The cheif left a gift.. the drink from earlier.. which scrooge drinks in a toast.. and falls into a coma. The remaning mcducks are given control as his proxy as the deal HAS to be made at dawn.. so they bargin.. for the teddy bear. A nice bit of revenge and a chekovs gun fired. Scrooge admits to the boys he would've bargined down to millions.. but far as he knows he got nothing

And then.. we get a part i'm not too happy about. The boys point out Scrooge DID make out pretty damn well.

My issue.. is Scrooge dosen't deserve the win even decades later. All he sees is a terrible deal he made and not how terrible HE was acting. This isn't teh same man who was awful.. but scrooge didn't deserve the win. Donald who he abuses CONSTANTLY, who Scrooge looks down upon deserve dit. Hortense deserved to trick him. Pointing this out.. just means scrooge won.

It's a problem with Rosa: He will NEVER let donald win because while he likes him as a character, I don't get the sense he respects him. That Scrooge must get one over on him. He gets the inherent tragedy: donald can enjoy life and scrooge can't. But he often let's Scrooge get a win when he raelly shoudln't but tends to be far stingier with donald. I get it if donald's being a jackass: his butt kicking in the christmas story was well deserved and he gave him the cabs ride again to show off donald rocks.. but there's times like this where he just dosen't seem to grasp how badly donald deserves at least ONE fucking win over scrooge. Scrooge has millions, pays donald next to nothing, berates him, fires him, genuinelly is shitty. I don't think Rosa grasped both how bad a look it is for a billionare to be doing this or how this didn't age well from the comics of his youth. I hate always getting into this shit because I do respect rosa, I dont' hate him.. but being a good critic.. means being honest. And Rosa honestly favors scrooge to donald. Maybe there's more stories wherehe dosen't, I hope there is, but it feels like he dosen't get sometimes Scrooge and Gladstone winning all the time was a flaw, not a key part of barks work.

Still.. this story is great. The ending is frustrating, but everything else.. works. Scrooge gets to be the villian again in a way that works, Roosevelt is played well and we get hortense punching sexism in the heart and testicles. It's a good story. It's not perfect: like Scrooge, Rosa puts Roosevelt on a pedistal as I don't buy he was this altrustic. Some people really are that good.. but not someone who belivied in colonalism this much. As you could tell I was also not impressed with the general and felt he had no reason to be in the story whatsoever. He adds nothing but a few pages. That's all. He feels like padding and ends up impacting nothing and is only a threat to our heroes because he has an army.. and even that.. really isn't one as we saw Hortense one shot a cadre of rough riders with a fucking broom. Her and scrooge together could take down the panamanian army.

Still flaws aside.. it's a good story a solid adventure and an excellent start to this retrospective.

Next Month: We begin our Goldie Three Parter. Scrooge Kidnaps her and Don Rosa desperately tries to make this not nearly as horrible as it sounds.

[lettheladylead]

forgot to share - over the weekend I went to the oddities shop of a very very old German woman who says things like "the youth of today have no appreciation for fine porcelain" and as I was looking at all of her very expensive items I saw....him

very cool Klondike scrooge statue made by Giuseppe Armani and it was like $1400 so. not for me. but very cool to run into him anyway

[generalstargazer]

I miss scroldie T^T

[gardencactus]

The human condition is the inability to consume every single piece of Disney Duckverse media in a lifetime and I think that’s tragic.

[icantthinkofagoodnameoranything]

what is a Duckverse take that would get you chased with pitchforks by the fandom?

[thenameslutley]

I wonder why I never posted this before...

Make new art❌

Post 5 years old drawings✔️

[ducktales-and-ducks]

The “canonical” last story about Scrooge’s life is one of the best ones I’ve ever read.

There are many reasons why this comic deserves such position in my opinion:

The way the family solve the mystery with the most clever clues and deductions is so fascinating.

Fergus decision to hide one of the family’s biggest secrets to only Scrooge is perfect and completely justified.

How the most epic treasure ever, Knight’s Templar treasure was the perfect way to close this series.

The implication that Scrooge was one chamber away to be a multimillionaire since the day he was born is an amazing and fitting plot twist.

The moment Scrooge finally let his inner armors fall and reveal why he does what he does to her sister is so cathartic and feels like something I’ve ever wanted to hear from him.

How he finally got the only thing he really wanted all these years from his now opened heart. His sister’s forgiveness.

I can mention a lot more, but the one I like the most above all, is that Scrooge finally accepted that even with all the money he got and collected in his giant money bin, he only felt really rich when Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie entered his life. He finally understood that the biggest treasure in life was in front of him since his very first day. That treasure is his family.

It’s been a whole enjoyment reading all both volumes of The Complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. His life of the real personification of the American Dream. If comics get a hall of fame, this story surely is there ❤️

[boingodigitalart]

My side of an art trade with the awesome @secret-tester !! This one she asked that I draw Scrooge and his family that I found fun to draw!! I Look forward to our next art trade again soon!!

[thegoodduckfan]

I was just in an art exhibition and I saw a painting from 1902 and I had to resist the urge to tell my dad everything Scrooge McDuck did that year (he left the klondike, came back home to Scotland rich, left Scotland for the third and final time, moved to Duckburg and had a whole fight with Theodore Roosevelt, the navy, the marines and whatever more Roosevelt threw at him). Overall the art was pretty cool.

[ducklooney]

Sorry for the delay, but of course, like every year the tradition of Donald Duck comics fans dictates that I wish of course a happy birthday to one of the best writers and artists of Donald Duck comics currently celebrating, and that is Don Rosa. Yes, Don Rosa celebrates his birthday on June 29. Happy 73rd birthday Don Rosa! I wish you good luck and health and thank you for the excellent comics you have written, not only about The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, but other comics as well. Especially my favorite The Three Caballeros Ride Again.

I would also like to mention the excellent comic called "The Duck Who Never Was" from 1994, where it is told how Donald went to an alternate universe where he does not exist, but in the end he returns to his family and friends where he enjoys a birthday party . I'm definitely posting on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of that comic, as well as Donald Duck's 90th birthday.

Happy Belated 90th Birthday Donald Duck, and Happy Birthday Don Rosa! Please like and reblog if you are a fan of Don Rosa and his comics. And yes, his comics are not and will not be Ducktales! But certainly his comics are one of the best!

[popculturebuffet]

Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Finale: The Richest Duck in the World "And As Usual, He Was!"

Hello all you happy people and welcome to the finale of my life and times of scrooge mcduck retrospective! It's been a duck blur, from starting this years ago, to a years long hiatus to Kev paying for me to finish it, btu we're finally here. The final chapter of Don Rosa's masterpiece. Coming out the other side of this LIfe and Times is still one of my faviorite comics of all time and I'm glad to finish it. Kinda. There are a ton of bonus chapters Rosa did throughout the rest of his career, as well as an upcoming new chapter from another author entirely, all of which i'm up for covering at some point. There's a few I definitely want to get to in paticuarl: The three goldie stories (one pre life and times two with the label) that help flesh out here and Scrooge's past, the wonderful "Letter From Home" that gives ups Matilda's return and ties up that loose end, and my personal faviorite "Dream of a Lifetime", a one shot tale that goes through just about every chapter of life and times via Scrooge's dreams for one hell of an epilouge. None of these are necssary but they all feel like good companion pieces to the story and i'm glad Rosa did these interquels among others. I also have an itch to cover more duck material in general as while it has the cynical boost of having more viewers than normal for my content, it's also something I forgot HOW much I loved in the content lull after Ducktales end. And as a wise man once said.. there's always another rainbow. What it'll be i'm not sure yet, but you can expect at least one duck adventure next month.

For now though we're finishing the main story and it's while a lot of plans changed or shifted over this 12 issue saga, one thing was always in the cards: he wanted to end the story where Scrooge's story began all those years ago, with the finale taking place the day after the bulk Night on Bear Mountain. For those less familiar, and I wasn't when I started this though i've since covered the story, Night on Bear Mountain is the very FIRST Scrooge story, with Scrooge inviting his nephews for Christmas to scare them but being impressed by the end and thus inviting them for CHristmas Diner. This story shows what happens in between while also explaning the discrepency between the Scrooge we see in that story and who he'd be in the rest of his meaty cagalogue. In night on bear mountain Scrooge is diffrent, wearing a long robe, living in an isolated mansion (Keep in mind comics scrooge just lived at the bin), with him being more myth than actual person Donald just.. visits every day.

This story bridges that gap, explaning how Scrooge got his groove back, shows his first proper adventure with his nephews, and how he went from only a poor old man to the greatest adventuerer who ever lived once again. If this sounds familiar Ducktales 2017 did something similar, having Scrooge having mostly retired after loosing Della and years of searching for her, with the boys and webby reignting that spirit in much the same way, with Donald busy with a job offer that turned out to be an elaborate scheme. I still love they did that and it's a testiment ot how much impact this story had on the reboot: while a lot of Scrooge's past was changed, including his parents still being alive, the comic was, as I belivie I mentioned in the first entry, required reading for staff and stands as an important inspiration for one of the greatest cartoons ever made and quite possibly my faviorite.

So let's dive into the bin one last time as Scrooge rediscovers himself, Huey , Dewey and Louie discover a legend and Donald won't shut the fuck up.

We open with a Citizen Kane Homage as Scrooge whispers goldie while holding a snowglobe. He isn't dead, won't be till the 60's in rosa's eyes. For now though he's become a recluse as a newsreeel overs over his life and how his last public apperance was 17 years ago, when he threw out his family seemingly for good. We get some neat cameos as we see Grandma Duck again, this time in her glory days, who hasn't seen Scrooge since she sold him most of her land bar the farm.. and Gus when he corrects her that the old coot also came by to forclose on the chicken coop. Gus is Donald's cousin. He eats a lot, sleeps more and is somehow lazier than our boy. Which is possible. We also see Gladstone, the bastard and donald who shoves a hand in the camera.

At this point the Bin is just a legend, with no one really knowing if it's actually full of cash, something four familiar fowl talk about as they watch the newscast: Donald and his nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie. After 12 chapters we're to the present day of duckberg and where it all began as they prepare for that christmas dinner I mentioned. The boys wonder if it could be true while Donald dismisses it: no rich person could've EARNED IT and he assumes Scrooge inherited it.. somehow. Which baffles me a bit as while I'm sure Hortense, like 2017 Donald, tried not to bring Scrooge up, she wouldn't of.. not brought up her childhood in scotland or the rest of her family. They didn't throw her out. Granted Donald does have a talent for self delusion and we don't know how young the kids were when she died, so there's wiggle room it just annoys me a little

What Annoys mea lot is Donald who throughout this whole story constantly says everything about Scrooge is fake. That he probably bought it on crusies. It annoys be a bit less this readthrough as having become fed up with most present day billionares.. yeah most do. This just happens to be the one whose a bastard AND worked hard to earn it. But it's still a very one note gag: Donald is up his own ass and dosen't know what we know or has seen what we've seen and thinks his uncle's only a poor old man.

It's not story breaking, but it is repetitive.

Thankfully we move on to the mansion proper as Scrooge's butler Jeeves, and no that's not me goofing up Duckworth was created for the show, ushers them in.. and as Scrooge slowly stirs.. we see him, in a truly awesome panel

I love all the detail here: the bits of stubble, the tired eyes, how sunken he looks in genearl. This is a Scrooge who has given up: he's retired from work to rot in a mansion, having nothing left and is a shell of what he once was and will be again. I also give Rosa credit for using Scrooge's first apperance design still: he had the time for Scrooge to change.. but him not having done so is a symbol of just how deep in the depression hole he is: as someone whose been in them I relate to clearly not having taken care of yourself in some time, just sitting there letting time pass as you feel you have nothing left.

The boys being their usual charming hive minded selves are delighted to meet their great uncle. Though we get a really sad bit as he notes most family he has has.. disappeared. He dosen't know matilda is alive, and he certainly heard what happened to Hortense. The boys do genuinely welcome him in but he balks, figuring their all after inheretiance. Donald claps back that you spent it all on this place ya jackass.

Scrooge insscensed decides the time has come to do something he rarely does but is sacred to the rich: flashing his cash. Specicially he has his butler.. dress him. Okay Scrooge you need either boundries with your butler or a more equal relationship if you want to keep fucking him. Trust me i've hit on the help too. The help was a gorgon's head but I didn't make her dress me.. hades didn't give me that option because their sane.

He takes them to the Bin, which is decayed.. though Scrooge has been keeping the booby traps fresh and keeps the weeds simply because it's good security: if a place LOOKS abandoned and unloved, people will think that. And it mostly has been, Scrooge having retired isn't using it. Still he kept the most important part of it, the cash ocean itself, but our heroes pass the second most important part first

This little tirade, while very in character.. is also very Rosa speaking his piece, as he hated stories (even barks own) where the Dime was implied to be magic. Whlie his old man yells at cloud behavior often has me shaking my head.. I agree on this one. The dime is better as a symbol that motivated scrooge than as a plot device and it cheapens the man's skill to say the Dime is responsible. I don't mind Magica trying to use it for a power source as THAT makes sense: it has a lot of emotional energy from being around scrooge as he got his fortune, the weight of having traveled the world with him for most of his life and being what started a great man on his path. I like the idea that kind of object with that kind of emotoinal baggage has power, kinda like what adventure time did with Hambo and PB's Shirt she got from marcy. It's magical yes but it fits the world better and makes it clear the dime is impressive because of SCROOGE not the other way around. Somehow Lorcana didn't get the memo

The description and image are perfect, as is the fact it's SHOCKINGLY powerful I just don't get why Number One Dime wasn't considered.

One he unveils the bin though it DOES shock his nephew and even DONALD can't say anything for a change

I do like that explination.. it dosen't scan with every Scrooge story as there are countless that say his bin really is the McDuck version of one piece, from the aformentioned Christmas for Shacktown to the very first Scrooge lead story "Only a Poor Old Man". I'm not against this: Rosa had a tendency to pick and choose which parts of Bark's stories to make canon to his stories, wanting a more cohesive universe and while clearly respecting the man to a sometimes stifling degree, recognized not everything from stories not really built to have a continuity was going to stick together. As reverent as he is to barks, to an annoying degree at times like his feeling put out at having to include Fethry despite being an entirely valid character with loads of potetial simply because one man didn't create him (Not saying barks isn't fucking amazing, he is, but it's a petty reason not to use good characters).. I can respect Rosa for knowing what he wanted in his own canon and what to keep as well as having said multiple times his stories dont' stack up to his idols. I disagree on that statment as while Barks IS better in some ways, for all I gripe about the guy sometimes... Rosa is a truly talented writer, one of the best duck writers there ever was and while Time's made me see the cracks in the guy.. ti dosen't make him any less special or any less vital to duck canon. Ther'es a reason most writers either honor his stories or consider them canon alongside barkses. The man has a degree of talent, care and love that's hard to come by and while I may disagree with some of his choices at times... I can't help but love the guy still.

So anyway that suspcious santa might have set you off.. turns out the santas near the bin were beagle boys, scoping out a hesit and lead by Scrooge's old enemy blackheart, whose descendants indeed got to fucking as he hoped.

As is duck story standard they easily capture our heroes despite scrooge being way more badass than all of them combined... Donald too honestly... the boys also. Honestly a paper bag could probably beat the beagle boys and they somehow win when the plot says so, though this time at least theirs a valid excuse; Donald and the boys are new at adventuering, having gone on a few solo adventures pre scrooge while Scrooge has given up on the world and thus surrenders to being thrown.. though he is pissed they once again bring up the lucky dime thing. So before he can snap out of it let's talk about this dperession and self loathing: honestly while he'd never say it, even Ducktales 2017 scrooge both hides what happened with Della from the kids and refuses to apologize to Donald for a decade despite being almost entirely in the wrong, it's clear loosing his sisters did hurt him: he had his money but nothing else and with nothing to really fight for and his lifelong goal achieved he just.. gave up. It dosen't feel like scrooge ... but that's the point: just as his horrible actions in africa weren't really him, not striving, not searching not trying to build his empire simply because he's seemingly won.. isn't him. Without anyone to share it with... his bin is just a pile of coins, memetos of better days.

So the thing that busts him out of his stupor... are his nephews. The boys search furiously for some way out, unlike Donald and Scrooge not ready to give up and find his old mining gear... while Donald.. well Donald inspires him in his own way

I love this and it's something I really hadn't thought about before but think of now, especially since again Woo-Hoo! takes some steps from this, having Louie take Donald's place as the doubting asshole, and have the boys as a whole, like Donald question if Scrooge really was this big or is just some old man, leading him to ragefully prove them wrong.. granted Scrooge's attempts in Woo-Hoo are more laughable as he plans to go diving to prove children wrong, something Beakley lampshades, but he still gets the step of showing them what he cna do by dealing with everything they unleash in his garage, similar to how here the combined menaces of Donald's jerkassery and the Beagle Boys scheme finally awakens the beast. I also love the subtle note of Scrooge taking off his coat, revealing his usual coat underneath. It's something I again hadn' tnoticed before this re-read, but ti's a very ncie touch... Scrooge the doddering old man given up on everything is gone. Scrooge McDuck, Last of the Clan McDuck, Master of the Missippi, Buckaroo of the Badlands, Raider of the Copper Hill, Laird of Castle McDuck, Terror of the Transyval, Dreamtime Duck of Never Never, King of The Klondike, Billionare of Dismal Downs, Invader of Fort Duckburg, Empire Builder from Callisota... THE Richest Duck in the world is back.

And since he's back he decides to go after the beagles, having the boys haul his trunk. I also really like this joke.

Look donald is my boy, and even in a story where he's not on his a game.. he's still Donald. He's bound to have at least one good moment or two.

The two notice scrooge a coming and take off.. but they left an other Sleigh which Scrooge quickly takes, and begins using a cavlcade of his skills. We've seen his mining, now we see his ablility to tame any animal. It's not as impressive as a lion but he dosen't have time to get to the zoo so a horse'll do.

We also get ANOTHER choice gag. While not all of rosa's comedy lands for me.. the guy really nails it a lot of the time and it's a part of his writing talent that dosen't get praised enough.

Honestly this chapter is easily the funniest next to the invader of fort duckberg, likely because with the dramatic part of Scrooge's life mostly worn down, we have more room for some comedy.

Blackheart has them step on it as he realizes he's no longer dealing with a hollowed out shell of a man but the guy whose beat him twice and is ready to abide by rule of three. We get some fun callbacks as scrooge uses his gold pan as a discus to knock out the driver of the beagle boys then takes out the rest, minus blackheart who grabs the dime for leverage, with his boomerang from his time in australia. This also leads to another fucking phenominal gag

Scrooge then ties up the rest of the non blackheart beagles using his roping tricks, with the officers that poor woman called rounding the boys up. All that's left is blackheart who naturally, as our big bad for the chapter, final antagonist of the story and the foe Scrooge has fought the most on this journey, gets the best takedown of all

Such an awesome moment: The same thing that finally brought Scrooge's dream to reality... is what helps cement his return to his truest self: he may be a mean old man.. but he's tougher than the toughies, sharper than the sharpies, smarter than the smarties and he made his money square.

That said the adrenline does wear off slightly.. until...

I had to share the scene in full.. because it's so damn good. After a whole journey, after seeing Scrooge at his lowest.. we see his core. Something that speaks against ageism: your body may age, but your never too old to start over, to have a second chance.. to chase another rainbow. The quality of your lives are what you make of them also really gets me.

IT's also a nice return to form as the bin being public.. dosen't bother them. Let them come: he's fought off worse and he'll fight them again. I also love him kicking donald's butt. He's just enough of a jerk in this story to well deserve it.

So Scrooge is now fully back: he decides to reopen the office, sell the mansion and get back to work.. and take the boys with them. While he dosen't say it being the stubborn old bastard we know and love... he needs these boys. Adventure is nothing if you don't have anyone to share it with.. .and once again he has someone to share it with. Once again he has family.

So he celebrates with a swim, with the boys astounded at his ability btu Donald unable to understand his uncle: all he seems to have is cold metal... but he could be wrong...

This ending gets me... a reminder it's both never too late (Something I need at only 32, which in tumblr years is 90), and that a life well lived is one not lived alone, that the things that make us who we are good and bad.. are the greatest adventure of all.

The Richest Duck in the World is a well done capper, feeling like a lost modern scrooge adventure, that missing piece in the story that Rosa happily filled in for us. Donald again can be a bit much, even in the stories final page he still hasn't quite got the hint, it's not one of his better stories.. but it dosen't take away from this as an ending.. and a beginning. Of a man who lost everything that mattered finding it again. Of an epic story of one man's life, what made him who he was, and what he gained, lost and ultimately found again.

Life and Times.. is one of the best comics of all time,the best duck comics story ever, and only not currently the best duck story PERIOD because ducktales 2017 is so freaking good. And even then while that series beats it over all as an individual story this 12 part epic still trumps it's worthy successor. It's a labor of love that's massive in scope, character work and gorgeous art work. It's a true masterpice that needs to be read again and again and one i was very happy to cover. I found stuff I disliked sure, a chapter or two had pacing issues, some things didn't land.. but ti's hard to deny what a fucking triumph this book is. Only one other comic I can think of comes this close to distilling a characters essence down into 12 issues, and even then All Star Superman, while excellent didn't also have the task of trying to be in continuity. Life and Times is a masterpiece and it was a joy coverinmg it and the dream of a life time finishing this journey> Thank you all for reading.. and see you next rainbow.

[ducktoonsfanart]

Scrooge McDuck vs Flintheart Glomgold - The Terror of the Transval and The Second-Richest Duck - The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck - Carl Barks and Don Rosa - Duck comics and Duckverse

Well, I haven't drawn the conflicts between Scrooge and Glomgold for a long time, so I drew them together again as a redraw of scenes from two comics. The first drawing is a redraw that I drew is from a scene from Don Rosa' comic "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" from the sixth part called "The Terror of the Transvaal" in which Scrooge McDuck goes to South Africa in search of a valuable fortune and finds the then drunkard and hunter Flintheart Glomgold, who is a Boer. After Glomgold stole things from Scrooge one night even though Scrooge saved his life, Scrooge still entered the saloon and shot Glomgold and threatened him with the words, "But you,…you just made me mean!" and shot the tar of mud and feathers and defeated Glomgold and took him to prison. Yes, Scrooge is like a cowboy in this comic.

The second drawing shows a redraw of a scene from the 1956 Carl Barks comic "The Second Richest Duck" in which Flintheart Glomgold makes his first appearance claiming to have earned the most money at one multiplujillion and nine obsquatumatillion, while Scrooge claims to have one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred and twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents and that's how their rivalry about who has more wealth began. And that's where the fight started, from which I drew my drawing. Only Rockerduck is missing and we have a complete scene. XD He will be invented by Barks five years later. Anyway, since I didn't get to do it in time for Carl Barks' birthday, I did this in his honor. Happy belated birthday to Carl Barks, who celebrates on March 27th and is the best writer of Donald Duck comics. Yes, I love Don Rosa as well as other writers and artists of Donald Duck comics that I enjoy a lot. I certainly drew both drawings in my own style.

I hope you like these drawings and these ideas and feel free to like and reblog this! Plus, happy belated tax day, which these rich people can't stand and it's celebrated on April 15th!