And Then I Read: THE DON ROSA LIBRARY VOL. 7

Cover art by Don Rosa, published by Fantagraphic Books. Image © Disney.

I received this handsome hardcover of Don Rosa’s Disney duck comics (writer and artist) because I lettered one of the stories in it, “The Vigilante of Pizen Bluff,” which I didn’t reread. I’ve read some of the others, but not recently, and I enjoyed all of them. My favorite is nearly the shortest, “A Matter of Some Gravity.” Like some other Rosa stories, it takes one simple “what-if” idea and explores it thoroughly for all kinds of wonderful humor. In this case, Scrooge’s sorceress nemesis Magica de Spell has a new magic wand that can change the force of gravity. First she makes Scrooge and Donald’s center of gravity horizontal, so the walls are “down” for them. Later she makes it even worse when the ceiling is “down.” In both cases, the two ducks are pursuing Magica, who has stolen Scrooge’s highly valued First Dime, and that pursuit takes them outside! Talk about a long drop…

The longer epics have their points. “The Once and Future Duck” takes Scrooge and his cohorts to the time of King Arthur at Stonehenge. “Treasure of the Ten Avatars” is an Indiana Jones type artifact hunt in the jungles of India. “The Last Lord of Eldorado,” my favorite of the treasure tales, sends Scrooge on a search for the legendary Eldorado, City of Gold, in South America, with rival Flintheart Glomgold interfering in every way he can.

There are more, but you get the idea. Hours of fun reading here. Recommended.