Donald Duck's wealthy uncle, Scrooge McDuck, came into being when comic-book cartoonist Carl Barks (a former story man for Disney cartoons) needed a miserly old relative for s story, "Christmas on Bear Mountain" (1947). In this tale, Scrooge serves as a mere story prop, a simple caricature of his namesake from Dickens's A Christmas Carol.
But Barks was able to draw more from Scrooge. The skinflint was back six months later in "The Old Castle's Secret" (1948), the first of many adventure stories in which he, Donald and Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, all played major roles.
This was followed by "Voodoo Hoodoo" (1949), another adventure story; and "Letter to Santa" (1949), featuring a farcical rivalry between Scrooge and Donald. By 1950, Scrooge was well established as a Duck Family supporting character, and other writers and artists were beginning to use him.
"Only a Poor Old Man", which appeared in Dell's Four Color Comics #386 (1952) was a milestone - the first story in which Scrooge was billed as the star, rather than as his newphew's supporting character. It was also the story that catapulted Scrooge's lifelong adversaries, the larcenous Beagle Boys, who had made a minor appearance in Walt Disney's Comic & Stories four months earlier to stardom.
Barks was the sole writer/artist on the Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge comic book series intil his retirement in 1967.
When Barks retired, Scrooge's adventures were continued by others - not just in America, but throughout the world. The most popular post-Barks version os Scrooge comics is that of Don Rosa, an American who works mainly for Egmont Publishing Service, a Copenhagen-based company that published the comic book adventures of Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and other Disney stars throughout Nothern and Eastern Europe and in parts in Asia.
1967 marked Scrooge's first appearance in an animated cartoon. Scrooge McDuck and Money, directed by Hamilton Luske, was one of several extra-length 1960s cartoons using Disney characters like Donald Duck and Goofy to explain basic but sometimes confusing facts.
In 1988, Scrooge became a TV star. Ducktales, which ran 100 episodes as an after-school kids' show and inspired an animated feature, was based, to a large extent, on the original Barks stories.
Today, Scrooge can be seen on licensed items ranging from beach towels to coffee mugs - but not in comic books, at least in his country of origin, as the U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where Walt Disney comic books are no longer published. |
