Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "scrooge-mcduck"

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Kids of my generation grew up watching Ducktales. Though it was a kid's show, the prime attraction had to be Scrooge McDuck, the most dauntless adventurer to ever appear in kid's television. Most of us kids didn't know that Scrooge had a history in comics dating 40 years prior to Duck Tales. We also had no way of knowing how huge the Duck family was in Europe. We did know that Scrooge's back story seemed to be colored with an almost impossible number of adventures.

Many of these adventures came from the pen of the late Carl Barks. Dan Rosa sets down to write adventures that connect Scrooge's story into a neat narrative, inspired by Bark's tale.

The series appeared over a two year period in the 1990s and takes Scrooge from a young poor lad in Scotland to the richest duck in the world. The book features many of Scrooge's wildest adventures and real life characters such as Teddy Roosevelt, Wyatt Earp, and the James boys show up for their cameos along with long-time Scrooge baddies, the Beagle Boys and we get a peak at the Duck family tree.

Rosa does a superb job throughout. I like how he is able to help Scrooge's character develop realistically. The changes in Scrooge from the start of the book, to win he makes his first Billion are very believable. The book also does a good job trumpeting two important messages.

The first 2/3 of the book emphasizes the importance of hard work and going for your dreams, never giving up or giving in no matter how great the pressure we face. At times, Scrooge's pursuit of self-fulfillment and his dreams are almost like something of Ayn Rand. Yet, we're reminded, greed can be very dangerous, and we make a foolish mistake when we sacrifice people for things. These two messages can be hard to have in the same book, but Rosa weaves them in seemlessly.

In the end, what Rosa has written is a marvelous tale that's truly worthy of its larger than life star. It's a great introduction into the world of Duck comics and a worthwhile read for anyone who wants to learn more about Scrooge McDuck.



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