Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library #12

by Carl Barks, George Lucas (Introduction), Carl Barks

Since Fantagraphics' first release in this series focused on Donald Duck, it is only right that the second focus on Carl Barks' other great protagonist, and his greatest creation: The miserly, excessively wealthy Scrooge McDuck, whose giant money bin, lucky dime, and constant wrangles with his nemeses the Beagle Boys are well known to and beloved by young and old.

This volume starts off with "Only a Poor Old Man," the defining Scrooge yarn (in fact his first big starring story) in which Scrooge's plan to hide his money in a lake goes terribly wrong. Two other long-form classics in this volume include "Tralla La" (also known as the bottlecap story) and "Back to the Klondike," in which we meet Scrooge's old gold-digging gal, Glittering Goldie. Each of these three stories is famous enough to have its own lengthy Wikipedia page.

Also in this volume are the full-length "The Secret of Atlantis" and over two dozen more shorter stories and one-page gags.

Newly recolored in a version that combines the warm, friendly, slightly muted feeling of the beloved classic original comic books with state-of-the-art crispness and reproduction quality, the stories are joined by "Story Notes" featuring fascinating behind-the-panels essays about the creation of the stories and analyses of their content from Disney and Barks connoisseurs.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Fiction, Comic Book, Adventure, Comedy

240 pages, Hardcover

First published July 17, 2012

About the author

Carl Barks was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of Scrooge McDuck. He worked anonymously until late in his career; fans dubbed him "The Duck Man" and "The Good Duck Artist". In 1987, Barks was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
Barks worked for the Disney Studio and Western Publishing where he created Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck (1947), Gladstone Gander (1948), the Beagle Boys (1951), The Junior Woodchucks (1951), Gyro Gearloose (1952), Cornelius Coot (1952), Flintheart Glomgold (1956), John D. Rockerduck (1961) and Magica De Spell (1961).
He has been named by animation historian Leonard Maltin as "the most popular and widely read artist-writer in the world". Will Eisner called him "the Hans Christian Andersen of comic books." Beginning especially in the 1980s, Barks' artistic contributions would be a primary source for animated adaptations such as DuckTales and its 2017 remake.

Reviews

[Mohammed Arabey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Pleasure to get those classic comics treasure collection, which I grow up reading and learning from it -At the Arabic edition of Mickey's Weekly Magazine and Arabic Uncle Scrooge Adventure. It wasn't as amazing clear lovely colorful as these treasury pages.
And I was amazed with George Lucas' Introduction for that comics books, he also grew up with the Carl Barks' amazing,smart and clever stories and rich comics.


1- Only A Poor Old Man
*****************************

It's may be about the theme of the whole volume , nice and funny and perfect introduction to the Poor Old Scrooge.
Just the "action" plot wasn't that convincing for me since I may used to got more clever plots from Carl Barks.

2-Back to the Klondike
*****************************************
Can I Please Please Add more 5 Stars for this one?

One of the perfect comics stories EVER for Scrooge McDuck.

You'll see how He's not just Greedy Old Man , You'll find out He's got a Golden Heart in the size of a Golden Nugget that made me full of emotion and almost "in tears" with the ending..
I remember reading it years and years before -was almost 7, 8 years old- and it was the Real reason for me being captured forever by that old man..sorry old Duck.


3-Somethin' Fishy Here
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In a few pages story, Carl Barks present a Very Great ,Smart and funny plot where you Know well that even If $crooge McDuck's Money became worthless...$crooge McDuck will Never Be a Poor Old Man. He always can make a new kind of..Fishy Fortune.


4-The Horse-Radish Treasure
**************************************************

I guess it was a real thriller one. Carl Barks introduces us to a very serious Villain..who threaten our beloved greedy Uncle to take all of his fortune for an old delivery that his great-great-grandfather couldn't made it..

So it's a thriller new Treasure hunt for $crooge McDuck,our Beloved Donald and the kids.
A treasure hunt with a dead line...A different kind of treasure, A Horse-Radish Treasure.. With a real dangerous Villain after them..

Loved it since I was 8, It's really smart and got a twisted ending.

5-The Round Money Bin
*************************************
Like the Plot but didn't love it.. another "escaping the money" from The Beagle Boys into a new Place, this time a rounded Money Bin.
Still clever mind that Old Man.


5-The Menehune Mystery
*************************************

Another "escaping the money" from The Beagle Boys into a new Place, this time into an isolated Island in Hawaii ..where Uncle $crooge,Donald and the kids face a famous Hawaiian Mythology....The Menehunes.

I always love when the comics introduce me to a new real world legend or mystery.


to be continued ....

[John Porcellino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a cartoonist, I've heard over and over about this guy Carl Barks, the so-called "good duck artist." And it was always something I meant to get to someday, but never felt too serious about. Like when my friends twenty years ago would try to get me into the Beach Boys, and I'd be like, "Sure, but it's still songs about cars and surfing!" And then I finally heard Pet Sounds and became the biggest Beach Boy fan around.

Well, I finally read Carl Barks! There's nothing about this collection that doesn't absolutely impress. The writing is stellar -- hilarious, sly, thoughtful, and fun. The art is so beautiful it feels like you're looking at the real world -- a real world full of ducks and beagle boys! Everything that needs to be there, is there, in its proper place.

Throw in the impeccable production values Fanta has bestowed on this work -- beautiful coloring that never detracts, solid printing, nice soft paper, and helpful and interesting endnotes that put these duck stories in the context of Barks' career, and the larger world of comics, and there's nothing more I could ask for. This book is perfect! I can't wait to read more...

[Sean O'Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The other day I saw an article about how the CW is planning a TV series based upon Battle Royale. Of course, you know it's only a matter of time before teenyboppers start accusing the network of ripping off The Hunger Games, never mind that BR came out years earlier.

But this is hardly a new phenomenon. Many of us who grew up in the '80s assumed that DuckTales was just Disney ripping off Indiana Jones. A very good ripoff to be sure, but a ripoff nonetheless. Ancient temples, mine cart chases, treasure hunts. Yup, just like Raiders of the Lost Ark. But the truth is the other way around -- DuckTales was based upon a series of comic books written by Carl Barks in the 1950s which in turn inspired Lucas and Spielberg (several scenes in Raiders are straight out of the comics, including the iconic one of Indy running from a rolling boulder).

And now Fantographics has undertaken to release the complete run of Barks' Uncle Scrooge comics in beautiful hardcovers, starting here with the first half dozen or so comics. (This volume is actually numbered as "12" due to the fact that Fantographics is also releasing Barks' earlier Donald-centric comics.)

If you're familiar with DuckTales, many of the stories here will be familiar, though there are more than a few differences -- the pilot who flies Scrooge to Tralla-la, for instance is just a generic guy and not Launchpad McQuack, and the Beagle Boys are much smarter than on TV -- and there are several stories that weren't adapted for DuckTales, including the titular "Only a Poor Old Man."

There are some issues with ... outdated thinking. This is very much a comic aimed at American boys -- there's no Daisy or Mrs. Beasley here, nor any female character of note, and foreign locales are depicted with exoticism. When Scrooge tries to hide his fortune on a Pacific island, there's of course a fat native who no speak good English, and the natives of Tralla-law are colored yellow and drawn in clothing right out of The Good Earth, suggesting that Barks wasn't fully aware that not all of East Asia is Chinese (and that's not even getting into the whole infantilization of the Tralla-laans as people too pure and naive to understand greed). But if you accept the book as a product of its time, it's not too bad -- there were certainly far worse comics published in the 1950s.

Fantographics did a stellar job in reproducing Barks' art -- it probably looks better than the original comic books did when they were brand new. And yet, however good the reproductions are, the art itself isn't always the greatest. Barks stuck to a standard layout of two columns of four panels each. Occasionally he'll shake things up by having one row consist of one double-wide panel, but that's as daring as it gets. The one occasion when he does a more complex layout, it really stands out. Within the panels, the art is likewise pretty staid -- everything's done in long shot, no close-ups on the character who's talking, nor extreme long shots that show the characters tiny against sweeping vistas, nor even dramatic camera angles. The action's always clear and the background's well rendered, but it's like watching a movie from the early 1930s when sound equipment was massive that the camera couldn't move.

On the whole the book is enjoyable enough, provided you can accept it's not a modern comic in the slightest.

[Alex Sarll]

Carl Barks is the sort of comics creator praised by the sort of comics creators whose comics bore me rigid. But set against that, if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have DuckTales, and thus apart from anything else the world would be missing TV's third best theme tune. Obviously there are some differences in approach, what with these comics being from seventy years ago, but there are still elements here which are recognisable from the recent series, from Scrooge's old sparring partner Goldie to that iconic image of him swimming in money ("I like to dive around in my money like a porpoise! And burrow through it like a gopher! And toss it up and let it hit me on the head!"), which plays a more central role than usual in the opening story. This begins with Scrooge lecturing Donald about the security brought by wealth, in terms still painfully familiar – "You'd have to do without movies and vacations and silly pleasures like that" – before going on to show what a constant source of anxiety his fortune is, even before the Beagle Boys start plotting to steal it. And that's the biggest difference (well, apart from all of Donald's dialogue being as easy to follow as anyone else's); here, Scrooge is much more of a Scrooge, paying his nephews what I can only assume were risibly low wages even at the time, forever penny-pinching to the extent that it sees him lose much larger sums down the line. If they'd carried on with this angle then, instead of being the loveable adventurer as whom David Tennant mostly played him, a modern Scrooge would have ended up a perfect Warners exec or shortsighted fossil fuel tycoon. Despite which, the endnotes by various Barks scholars largely talk about Scrooge in terms of his virtues, the determination of the self-made man and all that rot. Which, OK, is a lot truer in his case than with the largely hereditary class of modern plutocrats, but nevertheless a pretty wild reading of a character we're laughing at much more often than with.

[Relstuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carl Barks invented the Duck universe. He wrote Donald and Scrooge stories from 1942 (starting at the age of 40) to 1966. While many people in my generation may not know about him people they do know as popular story tellers (Like George Lucas who writes the into for this volume) were influenced by Barks. One of the great story tellers of the 20th century in America and one of the great cartoonists.

[Nate]

Been a bit since I’ve read one of these Carl Barks collections. I still want to read them all, and then the Don Rosa books.

This is the first of these Fantagraphics volumes devoted to Uncle Scrooge solo comics. Most of the stories here come from the first issues of his solo series published in 1953. These are mostly long adventures, and while some are better than others, it’s a fun read as always with Barks’ stuff. The obvious highlight is “Back to the Klondike,” where, for the first time, we glimpse Scrooge’s softer side. It seems like this story really laid the groundwork for his depiction going forward in comics and other media. In other stories, Scrooge (always with Donald and the boys in tow) go to Hawaii, India, and Atlantis. The ones with the Beagle Boys get repetitive. The “fish as money” ten-pager was hilarious. I also noticed a single-page gag that’s remarkably similar to the Pixar short, Geri’s Game. I wonder if it was an inspiration.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is part of my review from The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa, but it fits here as well

As kids my brother and I collected comic books. One day we found a HUGE box of old comics at a swap meet, which we promptly convinced our parents to buy. When we got home we divided up our loot Jeffy (my brother) got the Spiderman, X-men,and Fantastic Four, while I got the Batman, Ironman and Daredevil, and we divided up the rest of the superheros Jeffy took most of the Marvel stuff because we liked them the best(thats the way older brothers are) and I got the D.C. ultimatly we were both happy. There was however still a large pile of leftover stuff that neither one us wanted like Richie Rich, Archie Comics, Disney, and all the different war comics you could ever want. Unable to just let them go I took them and stuck them in the back of my collection. Well monthes passed and I read all my superhero stuff and my brothers (despite his protest over my tresapassing into his collection) and suddenly it was over I had gone through the aforethought endless supply of funny books, it was devastating in some small way. Unable to cope with my loss I reluctantly made my way to that box with all the "junk" in it. I began with the war comics Sgt. Rock, The Unknown Soldier, The Losers, Blackhawk, etc. they were, at least books about war. Turns out they were quite good (but thats another review for another day) but all too soon I had gone through them all. I pressed on. Archie Comics were next and again I was pleasantly surprised. Next was Ritchie Rich, Casper The Friendly Ghost, etc. these were O.K., better than I expected but I knew I had reached the bottem of the barrel. All that was left to quell my appetite was the Disney Comics. Ah the Disney Comics. They were at the bottom of my bottom pile of comics and on the bottom of the Disney pile lay Uncle Scrooge. I had never even heard of Uncle Scrooge. But alas, like so many times in life theese unwanted, unread, books turned out to be some of the best stuff I have ever read. To this day I've found few others as good. Of course they were written by Carl Barks an underapperciated genius famous only in comic book lore, but a genius none the less.

[Bob Mackey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's interesting to think of how many comics from Uncle Scrooge's era feature characters built on one sole trait who aren't nearly as interesting—no apologies to Richie Rich, Little Lotta, and the rest. The difference here is what empowers Scrooge also fills him with anxiety; he uses his vast wealth to easily solve problems, but inevitably spends more time tearing his feathers out trying to preserve it. What I'm saying here is that Richie Rich would be improved if he had a violent nervous breakdown every three pages.

Barks finds plenty of material to mine from this fairly simple equation, even if this collection is a little front-heavy with repetitive "Scrooge hides his money from the Beagle Boys" stories. This is my first time taking on so many Scrooge stories in one go, and while Barks' layouts grow a little too repetitive for someone who grew up on '90s comics, these 70-year-old stories don't feel as stuffy as kids' entertainment from this era inevitably should. In fact, the best comic in this collection feels a touch subversive for post-WWII America; in it, the introduction of currency to a peaceful, thriving, remote society brings about their downfall. (It's a good thing this story never passed through the absolutely melted brain of Fredric Wertham.)

Now that some of the Don Rosa stories are being taken out of circulation by Disney, you kind of have to wonder what the fate of these comics will be in the passing decades. Sure, there's some unfortunate racial stereotyping going on here, but as someone introduced to him in his more cuddly DuckTales form, there's also a certain naughty charm to seeing Scrooge firing a rifle and using napalm (yes, napalm) against his enemies within the first 30 pages. But I think Disney will still let him act politically incorrect as long as these antics are housed within $30 hardcovers for the adult collector that have serious essays in the back.

[Ioan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remembering the ole days when I used to read translated stories in Romanian published in magazines, I am astounded, for this volume reveals a wealth of great stories starring Unca $crooge, and in many of them, he shows himself to be a character much deeper than I ever got to know him... And the crowning jewel, Back to the Klondike, only serves to enhance the amazement - never before has one seen a more bada** $crooge than in these scenes, especially the whole flashback with the bar fight and his way of dealing with Glittering Goldie. Nonetheless, it is also amazing and a bit depressing to see what a beast a man/duck can become when money becomes his sole purpose, but Barks' mastery of storytelling manages to coax colorful rays of hope from places where we may have forgotten to look. Great stories also include the Trallala trip, where Barks shows his satirical side, every bit as mean as Kurtzman would've done it, yet still graphically wondrous, and the great Horse Radish Trip, where we are introduced to a truly vile character - if I ever felt the need to reach beyond the funny pages and slap a fellow real hard, it's been mostly in the cases of Segar's Wimpy and Barks' Chiseler McSue. Adding the short stories and gags that highlight $crooge's imagination (unparalleled when employed for avoiding any sort of spendings), I can say pretty certainly that this FB book beats its predecessor, Lost in the Andes.

[Emanuele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficile pensare a un personaggio dei fumetti più ambiguo di Paperon de’ Paperoni. Magnate avido e opportunista, ma pieno di debolezze; proprietario di immense ricchezze, eppure tanto solo; self-made man con un passato glorioso che trascorre gli ultimi anni di vita in una gabbia di metallo fuori dal mondo; uomo gretto e spietato, ma capace di notevoli slanci di bontà. Non sempre è stato così, però: la sua complessità è frutto di una lenta e graduale evoluzione, che il suo stesso artefice, Carl Barks, ha tentato di ricostruire in varie interviste, individuando un punto di svolta cruciale in una storia ben precisa: Zio Paperone e la disfida dei dollari.

Continua su Fumettologica:
https://bit.ly/36mcpdL

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I said this somewhere else once already, but it bears repeating: These 60+ years old stories are some of the best comics I've read in a long time. I've dismissed the Disney comics for a long time as silly funny-animal stuff, buy, boy, was that a mistake. Carl Barks is a legend for a reason, and his scripts pack in plenty of fun, adventure and sly social commentary that still holds up today. (Plus, his artwork, especially the backgrounds, are often stunning.) Great, all-ages stuff that should appeal to anyone and everyone.

[Ruz El · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tore through this one pretty quick. Just an amazing bit of work. The stories are fun, exciting and beautiful to look at with deceptively simple looking cartooning. Lots has been said about Carl Barks prowess on these comics, and they are absolutely right, it's fantastic stuff.

Don't confuse being suitable for all ages with being the same thing as dumb comics for kids, this is the good stuff!

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rereading most of these stories, reading it with my son.
Carl Barks made great comics and Uncle Scrooge, here elevated from supporting character to lead character is immediately amazing. It’s astounding how good these first few stories are. Atlantis is so-so. But Only A Poor Old Man, followed by Back to the Klondike, and shortly thereafter both the horseradish story AND my personal favorite Tralla La? It’s nuts. What an incredibly strong start to the Scrooge title comic.

[Baal Of · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doesn't really seem to be a need to review this book. It's Carl Barks at the height of his powers. It's Fantagraphics finally giving us a complete collection of the master's works in beautiful hardback, with restored artwork, beautifully done colors, and commentary on the stories written by people who care. What more could I ask.

[Ahmado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothin to say about it, because George Lukas wrote "a priceless part of our literary heritage " on the cover, you can see the writing on it if you zoom in. Well said my man, well said.

I must say all these years of ignoring this volume and Chasing after mediocre stuff like Dan Brown makes me feel stupid, well you live and learn.

Little Lolo and Mickey Mouse you are next

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scrooge being a stingy jerk being the only punchline for most of the shorter stories and strips makes this volume drag but is amazing to see just how many stories in the original Duck Tales series were taken straight from the comics.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read my review on No Flying, No Tights.

[Matt Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m glad I got over my adolescent “Ducktales is for babies” hang-up and enjoyed the beautifully drawn and slyly written adventures of an imperfect family who happens to be composed of ducks.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mainly because of the Ducktales animated series, I was looking forward to this more than Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes , but I ended up enjoying that book more than this one. As silly as the statement may sound, Uncle Scrooge is a character with more depth than Donald. While Scrooge's overexaggerated ingenuity and thrift, along with the vast resources that come from his wealth, may be one note, it’s a hell of a lot more depth than Donald’s blank slate character, who in comics is neutered of his famous temper. This works in Donald’s favor though, because the real joy in these adventures come from the sense of wonder, and for Donald, the possibilities are endless, while Scrooge is limited to two basic formula’s; protecting his fortune from his enemies or hunting treasure. As a fan of the Ducktales TV series, I was hoping for more of the latter, but this book contains mostly the former.

The presentation of this hardcover is very nice. It's sturdy, white all over and waxy. There is no dust cover and has a fitting retro look. This is the kind of book you can feel proud to display on a mantel or a shelf. Whoever picked the art examples for the cover had a sense of irony, as our hero, wearing a blissful smile dives into a pile of gold above the title, below the antagonists, the Beagle Boys, gather by candlelight around an empty table with forlorn expressions. One even has a tear in his eye.

This book contains four 32 page adventures, two 22 page stories, two 10 pagers and a 5 page fill in story that was originally used to fill space left by a section of “Back to the Klondike” that was self-censored by the editors. (It is restored here.) There are eighteen single page gag strips.

The adventure stories are very good, but become rather samey. “Something Fishy Here,” “The Secret of Atlantis,” and “Tralla La” that last one probably being the most famous thing Barks ever wrote, all share the recurring theme of economics. They all explore the philosophy of currency and how a culture gives it its worth, and how human nature drives this.

“The Secret of Atlantis” is my favorite story in the book, because of its epic scope. At first it seemed like a farce in which Scrooge’s greedy, Goldfinger-esque scheme leads him to comic misadventure, but this segues unexpectedly into a globetrotting treasure hunt accompanied by wonderous discoveries. The Atlantians kind of look like Charles Burns's Big Baby.

“Only a Poor Old Man,” “The Round Money Bin,” and “The Menehune Mystery” all are about Scrooge defending, and ultimately having to win back, his fortune from the Beagle Boys, “The Horseradish Treasure” has a similar conflict with a litigious scammer. I suspect there was an all-things-Hawaiian fad when “The Menehune Mystery” was written and that the editors asked for a Hawaiian adventure as well as the travelogue style “facts” that are worked into the story. It’s only a theory.

While “Only a Poor Old Man” gives some exposition about the origin of Scrooge’s fortune, “Back to the Klondike” delves extensively into his past, while simultaneously taking him on a present day treasure hint. The final story “Outfoxed Fox” was basically filler.

Uncle Scrooge: Only a Poor Old Man is a product of its time. It is unfortunate, but “The Menehune Mystery,” and “Tralla La” feature characters who’s physical appearance and way of speaking feature racial characteristics which may make some of today’s more sensitive readers feel offended.

The one page gags are very clever, but lack the thematic variety of Donald’s. Every one of them is a demonstration of how penny-pinching Scrooge goes to great lengths to gain or avoid spending small sums.

I like the way the content here is organized better than in Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes which put all the long adventures together at the front followed by all the 8 page stories and all the one page gags at the end. Here they are spread evenly throughout (with content grouped together more-or-less by the comic book issue they originally appeared in) and it’s more satisfying, because, who wants to read all those gags all at once? The notes at the end are worth taking a look at, and most of them have more interesting things to say than Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes where the notes basically summarized the stories I’d just read, these notes actually have some interesting things to say. However, the notes for “Outfoxed Fox” were asinine. Praising Barks fore using eight panels in four rows of two for most of the story (he does that throughout the book) and comparing it to a metronome ticking off the pace of the story (talk about reading something into nothing.) Then he goes on to compare Barks to Jamie Hernandez for using this layout style. Now, I love Love and Rockets and I don’t think Hernandez is inferior to Barks, but these are such different animals that there is simply no grounds for comparison. (Moe Howard appeared in many black and white films, so you see how he is very much like Lawrence Olivier.)
Since you have read my entire review, you may now enjoy my little egg hunt. Perhaps we can call them “duck eggs,” yes, let’s call them that. First of all, check out that wierd picture on Scrooge’s wall on page 38, panel 6, but you ain’t seen nothing yet, because what the heck is going on in the background in Page 183, panel 5?

[Riley Roogle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Billionaires suck and that includes Scrooge mcduck unfortunately. Thanks to Peter for letting me borrow this. I didn’t know I didn’t want to read it !!

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Includes an introduction by George Lucas, full color comics, story notes, and a brief biogrpahy of Carl Barks

Only a Poor Old Man: The Beagle Boys steal Scrooge's fortune but the wily duck isn't licked yet!

[Osogood Silver Polish]: A saleman tries to sell silver polish to Scrooge.

[Coffee for Two]: Scrooge "buys" a homeless man a cup of coffee.

[Soupline Eight]: Scrooge asks an autodealer questions about a fancy car before investing in a raffle ticket.

[Fare Delay]: Scrooge hails a cab.

Back to the Klondike: Scrooge's memory is failing and he returns to the Klondike, the source of his fortune, to rekindle memories. It's his origin story.

Height of Finance: Scrooge needs to replace a burnt lightbulb but reruses to pay for a ladder.

[The Checker Game]: Scrooge wages a billion dollars on a checkers game.

Somethin' Fishy Here: Donald tricks Scrooge into believing fish is the new currency.

[Barber College]: Scrroge refuses to pay for a haircut and trims his sideburns himself.

The Horse-Radish Treasure: Due to an ancestor's mistake, Scrooge stands to lose his fortune if a shipment of horseradish from a sunken ship isn't delivered.

[Follow the Rainbow]: Huey, Duey and Louie ask Scrooge if they can keep what they find at the end of a rainbow...Scrooge's treasure house.

[Itching to Share]: After sharing treats with circus animals, the boys shame Scrooge into treating some animals.

The Round Money Bin: Scrooge transfers his money to a new storage unit only to have it be stolen by the Beagle Boys.

[Ballet Evasions]: Scrooge's ballet lessons prove handy.

[The Cheapest Weigh]: Scrooge figures his weight without having to pay the scale.

The Menehune Mystery: While transferring his treasure to a secret island, his ship is hijacked by the Beagle Boys.

[Bum Steer]: Scrooge pays a homeless man .10 to carry bags of money to the bank.

[Hospitality Week]: To avoid becoming a social outcast, Scrooge invites the perfect guest to his house for dinner for Hospitality Week.

The Secret of Atlantis: Scrooge's attempt to make a 1916 quarter rare and valuable backfires in a spectacular way. First appearance of Scrooge's worry room.

[McDuck Takes a Dive]: Scrooge dives off a cruise ship after a dime.

[Slippery Sipper]: Scrooge "treats" Donald and the boys to a soda.

Tralla La: Scrooge has a breakdown and wants to go somewhere money doesn't exist.

[Oil the News]: Scrooge reads about his oil strike at the library's newspaper room.

[Dig It!]: Scrooge digs up an entire beach searching for the nickel he had lost.

[Outfoxed Fox]: Scrooge tries to trick Donald and his neighbor, Jughead Jones, into selling their homes so he can build a wallet factory.

[Mental Fee]: When someone says, "A penny for your thoughts.", Scrooge takes him up on the offer.

[Nathan Dehoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

As you may know, Barks invented the character of Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck’s uncle, richest man in the world, and user of a dollar sign in his name long before Ma$e or Ke$ha. He’s obviously named after Ebenezer Scrooge, and had the chance to play his namesake in Mickey’s Christmas Carol, but I don’t think Ebenezer was Scottish. Anyway, I think part of the cleverness in the Scrooge comics lies in taking a character you might be inclined to dislike, due to his greed and cheapness, and making him a hero. Sure, he’s a jerk sometimes, and enjoys tricking even his own family, but the comics also showcase his initiative and resourcefulness. Far from being some wimpy trust fund kid, Scrooge gained his money through a series of adventures, and continues with this adventuring in his old age. He’s sort of a prototype Indiana Jones, except more concerned with profit. During the stories in this book, Scrooge and his nephews discover both the sunken city of Atlantis and the valley of Tralla La (Barks’s version of Shangri-La). I grew up with DuckTales, as I’m sure many of you did, and the show is largely based on Barks’s comics. In fact, at least three of the stories in this particular volume were made into DuckTales episodes. In “The Horse-Radish Treasure,” Scrooge settles a debt with the nasty Chisel McSue. In the cartoon equivalent, the villain (here renamed Fritter Away, perhaps because “chiseler” wasn’t as common of a term in the eighties) actually gets a hold of Scrooge’s fortune for a while and uses it to buy stupid stuff, while Scrooge himself is forced into temporary homelessness. Anyway, getting back to the comics, they’re a good mix of adventure and humor. The Beagle Boys appear as villains in a few stories, and they’re more competent than they’re often portrayed in later media. It’s also confirmed that the ability to swim in money is a trick on Scrooge’s part that apparently no one else can do (the Beagle Boys are knocked out when they try), although it’s obviously not explained. I think Scrooge has monetary super powers.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

As much as I love Donald Duck, I think Uncle Scrooge's stories are where Barks's talent really shines. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that Scrooge is entirely his character, whereas Donald has Disney's influence still clinging to him - but the stories are funnier and more imaginative, and the dialogue snaps along at a impressive pace while retaining its intellectual and emotional depth.

Nearly every comic in this volume is fantastic, from the longest to the shortest. The title story, "Only a Poor Old Man," is brilliantly written and gives Scrooge the kind of backstory he needed to make his obsession with money understandable. He's no longer the villainish foil to Donald; Scrooge is literally swimming in his money because he worked hard to earn it and genuinely cherishes every last dime, remembering exactly when he acquired it and the difficulties he pushed past to keep it. And, as "Back to the Klondike" shows, when push comes to shove, he's got a heart made of gold, too.

Scrooge is a selfish miser, of course. The one-page gags all revolve around a common theme: finding a way to save every last penny, even if it means tricking others. But Barks shows Scrooge's surprising capacity for kindness in the longer stories, making these jokes palatable. The clear affection between him and Donald - and the three little nephews - brings additional nuance to the stories. Even when Scrooge is trying to wiggle out of his promise of payment (twenty whole cents an hour!), they're family, and they're always ready to band together against any outside threats. Like the Beagle Boys, clever and devious nemeses who stretch the Ducks' ingenuity to their limits.

Whether it's in Duckburg, on the high seas, or under the sea, Scrooge and his family are always ready to face any adventure. And boy is it fun to go along for the ride.

[Matthew Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, there are some great stories in here, including "Only a Poor Old Man", in which Scrooge fights to save his money from being stolen by the Beagle Boys and reveals some of his history, showing that his money is important to him because he can remember how we earned every dollar of it. Also, he swims around in it, which is always fun. "Back to the Klondike" is a nice story about Scrooge's past, revealing a nice bit of humanity in him under his greedy exterior, and even giving him a long-lost love interest. "Tralla La" is a cool adventure to a hidden Himalayan valley where money doesn't exist, with a nicely cynical twist in which Scrooge ends up destroying their idyllic society by introducing bottle caps as a currency. But I think I liked "The Secret of Atlantis" best of all, because it's one of those stories that just marches in a ton of crazy directions, starting with Scrooge collecting a ten-cent debt from Donald, then deciding to make a random coin ultra-valuable by buying every other instance of that particular coin and disposing of them, then going on an undersea adventure to retrieve one of those coins and ending up trapped by the fishy denizens of Atlantis. It's crazy, and it even makes time for a massive pie fight in the middle of the story. I love Carl Barks; his duck comics are just so much fun, full of amazing artwork, great jokes, exciting adventure, and nice character bits. More, please.

[Michael Emond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll try to keep this short. I love this series by Fantagraphics reprinting all the Duck Tales by the comic legend Carl Barks who drew and wrote all of the stories in this volume. If you are a fan of Uncle Scrooge (like I am) then this collection is perfection. Beautiful reproduction of the art on high quality paper. I'll never fail to be astounded by how amazing Barks' art is. Or fail to be impressed by his creativity at creating clever stories, characters that have full back stories and worlds with such imagination.
Now, it would be a lie to say that every story is a masterpiece - if you want that, get a Best Of collection. What you get in this series of books is completeness. Every story Carl wrote and/or drew. In this collection you get Back the Klondike (classic), the Journey to Atlantis (classic but one I don't love as much as others do), the Tralla La bottle cap story (classic) and a tale of the Beagle Boys - Only a Poor Rick Man (fun but not classic), the Horseradish delivery (Classic), and another tale of the Beagle Boys (Hawaiian island caper). You know, I was wrong. Almost every story in here is a classic. The Beagle Boy stories are both unique but the premise for both is "I need to hide my money from the Beagle Boys but I only made it worse".

Put any doubts aside - if you are a fan of Uncle Scrooge and Carl Barks THIS is the collection for you.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I happened to enjoy the format of this particular item for some reason. The slightly muted colors reminded me of books from the library when I was younger. The size wasn't too unwieldy.

The beautiful thing about Barks' work is that it was already written and drawn about as good as it could be made for it's given original format, and this was pretty close to original printed comic size. Making every page glossy or blowing it up to 3 times its original size just detracts.

The one thing I would have changed is the cover -- going with a traditional graphic novel softcover would have easily shaved $5 off the price of this thing. Every dollar less in price translates into more books into the hands of readers, and there are proportionately so few comic readers out there today one cannot justify the exclusivity that hardcovers translate into.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book collects the first six full comic books (from 1951 to 1954) featuring the classic character Uncle Scrooge. Carl Barks was one of the finest comic artists and storytellers ever, and it's been a long time since I read any of his stuff. These stories are hilarious adventures, filled with the decidedly unsympathetic actions of the world's richest man (who is beloved by Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie anyway). I particularly loved the one where Scrooge discovers Donald gave him a 1916 nickel and decides to make that coin worth a fortune by amassing every other 1916 nickel in circulation and dumping them in the sea where they land in the lost city of Atlantis whose inhabitants capture the ducks and refuse to let them go home until the Junior Woodchucks introduce the Atlanteans to boogie woogie. But the whole book is a joy.

[Geoff Sebesta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so thankful to live in an era where Carl Barks books with excellent printing and thick critical analyses in the back can be found, for free, at the public library.

These are as great as you've always heard they were.

Here's another fun detail: it looks very much like the movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy" was either inspired by one of Barks's Uncle Scrooge strips or they were both drawing from a common well.

The introduction by George Lucas is of casual interest because it contains so much of what makes Lucas great and terrible. For example, there's a casual retcon contained in his introduction. Yes, George Lucas cannot even write an introduction to a book without retconning it.

[Stven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six issues' worth of classic Uncle Scrooge material from 1952 to 1954 is collected here, the one-page gags along with the unforgettable stories like "Back to the Klondike." The reproduction is impeccable -- perfect clean pages, proper four-color comic book coloring indistinguishable in style from the original -- and really, no more is needed to make this volume a treat for any longtime fan or anyone lucky enough to be reading these stories for the first time. There's a bit of biographical material on the artist and a paragraph or three of praise for each story (sensibly put at the BACK of the book), but the real treasure here is Uncle Scrooge -- the definitive Uncle Scrooge as written and illustrated by the peerless Carl Barks.

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of Barks Scrooge storeis, a mix of one-pagers and longer stories, many of which are classic Scrooge adventures--"Only a Poor Old Man," "Back to the Klondike," The Secret of Atlantis," and "Tralla La" being the most notable instances. Scrooge's mania for money is at times unseemly (more often in the one-pagers than in the longer adventures) but more often primarily amusing and secondarily a satirical commentary on acquisitiveness. The story notes add occasional worthwhile tidbits. The recolouring here seems smoother than in the previous volume I read, as well. Overall, an excellent way to re-experience some great classic comics--or to experience them for the first time, for that matter.