Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: Hawaiian Hideaway

Gladstone Comic Album Series #11

by Carl Barks

Uncle Scrooge buys an island near Hawaii where he and his money can live but even before he can pack up his belonging trouble strikes.

Genres: Comics

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

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

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one of the more interesting volumes in the Gladstone series.

First off, “Hawaiian Hideaway,” is a delight. Scrooge buys a private island near Hawaii with an eye toward storing his money there--sort of an early take on the infamous offshore account. Naturally, the Beagle Boys get wind of this scheme and seize the chance to steal it. And naturally they are defeated in the end (not a spoiler. Have you seriously not read any Uncle Scrooge comics?) with the help of the menehunes--essentially Hawaiian elves. It's a lovely tale that makes good use of its somewhat exotic setting. Barks’ comic timing is in fine form, and the final panel is every bit the wonderful payoff that it should be.

The second story, “Krankenstein Gyro,” featuring Gyro Gearloose, is quite fun. After watching a movie about a scientist who creates life (“See Doctor [Krankenstein] Build Living Creature! From Atoms!” touts the poster), Gyro is inspired to try it himself. It's all a setup for a gag reveal in the final panel, but it's an interesting study in tone. With just a few tweaks, mainly in the art, this story would become a positively Lovecraftian tale. Take the dialogue in the third to last panel, for instance. Gyro and a chicken are gazing at an egg he’s had her incubating that's just starting to hatch. “What is hatching, Cluckery Cluck? What great thing have we produced?” Gyro cries. This would take on an entirely different significance if it were illustrated by, say, Junji Ito …

The untitled final story is also fascinating, partly, I think, because I recently read Hypercapitalism by Larry Gonick and Tim Kasser. It's a rather good example of what they were referring to in their book. A freak set of circumstances disperses Scrooge’s fortune amongst the local populace, but he regains it through outrageous price gouging. Donald’s final comment, “Disgusting!” about sums it up. I’m likely reading too much into what is, after all, a comic book story originally written with an audience of children in mind. One could also argue that the story points up the importance of workers in keeping a capitalist system running. Anyway, my recent reading gave the story added resonance that Barks probably didn't intend when he wrote it.

All in all, this is one of the better volumes of this series. Highly recommended!