Ducktales: Solving Mysteries And Rewriting History
Ducktales: Solving Mysteries and Rewriting History recounts Scrooge McDuck’s epic adventures through journal entries written by the legendary duck himself. Scrooge has no qualms about embellishing the truth to burnish his image and further increase his legend. Luckily, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby get their hands on Scrooge’s manuscript, and their fact-checking notes cut his tall tales down to a more realistic size. They also infuse the book with their own outlandish personalities.
Enjoy the Duck clan’s journeys to the Lost City of Atlantis, the Golden Lagoon, and Mount Neverrest. Behold their battles with mummies, sky pirates, and a luck vampire. (And just what is a “luck vampire”? Readers of Ducktales will solve that mystery.) Witness Scrooge outwitting his archnemeses the Beagle Boys and learn all about subgroups in the sprawling gang of nogoodniks like the Glam Yankees, the Tumble Bums, and the Sixth Avenue Meanies.
Scrooge even divulges closely held secrets never before revealed, including his participation in the first Tour De France, his bitter rivalry with Charles Lindbergh, and his brief career as an international spy during the swinging sixties.
Though Rob was an avid cartoon watcher from a very early age, he didn’t become a comic book reader till years later. While vacationing in Michigan one summer, he discovered a rack of “funny animal comics” in the local drugstore. And the funniest (and boldest and best) of the funny animal comics were the ones with Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck, and their nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Rob got his hands on every single Duck story he could find and still collects them to this day. (More on that later.)
You can imagine how thrilled Rob was to get the chance to work with Scrooge, his nephews, and all the characters from Disney’s Ducktales television show. (Or maybe you can’t imagine it. On a Thrill-meter that goes from 1 to 10, his thrill level was 11!)
Rob’s co-author on this book was Rachel Vine, who actually worked on the animated show. Rob was not so lucky, although he did get a sneak peek at unfinished episodes before they aired. This was supposed to be serious author “research,” but really it was just a chance to watch more cartoons.
None of the more modern adventures of Scrooge McDuck would be possible if it wasn’t for Carl Barks, a self- taught artist and writer who is as legendary as Scrooge himself. Barks was a “story man” on the Donald Duck animation unit at Walt Disney Studios who found that the comic book format suited him better. He took the short-tempered Donald of the cartoons and turned him into more well-rounded character for his comic stories. He invented the town of Duckburg for Donald and his nephews to live in and filled it with an ever-expanding cast of original characters. Barks created Scrooge McDuck as well as the Beagle Boys, Gladstone Gander, Gyro Gearloose and countless others.
Rob still reads and collects Scrooge’s original adventures, and you can do the same. Fantagraphics Books is publishing every one of the more than 500 Duck stories created by Carl Barks.