Review by Frank Plowright
After presenting 33 collections of Uncle Scrooge Adventures by Carl Barks, reprinting the first 34 Uncle Scrooge solo comics in chronological order, this volume is an anomaly. Uncle Scrooge Adventures 33 left off in 1961, but these stories drop back to the late 1950s and material Barks produced to be included alongside those featuring other Disney stars in what were for the times audacious oversize specials. Uncle Scrooge goes to Disneyland clocked in at a hundred pages overall, not all of them featuring Scrooge, and sold for an unheard of 25 cents in 1957.
What’s here called ‘The Fantastic River Race’ is unusual for Barks in several respects. Firstly it has him repeating an idea, just two years after ‘The Great Steamboat Race’ (see Uncle Scrooge Adventures 11), and secondly it’s a flashback story, a technique Barks used very sparingly. While Don Rosa would later conclusively prove an alternative view, Barks believed Scrooge was at his best as a crochety old man hoarding every penny of his fortune in the present day. Thirdly the art on this and ‘The Forbidium Money Bin’ is an expansive six panels to the page, very different to the look of Barks’ usual panel-packed pages.
As seen on the sample art, Barks draws the younger Scrooge almost as he draws Donald Duck. Scrooge is challenged to a race by the Beagle Boys, who of course have no intention of playing fair. The result is Scrooge and engineer Ratchet Gearloose constantly having to overcome the trickery they’re subjected to, leading to some good gags, and some fantastic illustration, especially chaos occupying a full two-thirds of a page toward the end. However, the ending is a little too contrived to have this rank amongst the cream of Barks.
Scrooge and Gyro Gearloose are partnered in both remaining stories. The cover shows a new money bin Gyro’s designed, made from impenetrable forbidium, the only access being via a seventeen digit security code. What could possibly go wrong? The solution requires a trip to space, and it’s visually inventive, quite silly and a lot of fun.
The final story has both Scrooge and Gyro experiencing medical symptoms, the solution to which is stop working and have fun, something neither are capable of doing. It’s perhaps a sly comment on Barks’ part, and certainly of greater relevance to today’s working culture. The pair try a variety of vacation locations, but in each fall back on old habits. It’s to the point, beautifully drawn, and the jokes are good, but there’s a very abrupt ending not displaying Barks’ usual finesse.
The 21st century Fantagraphics collections present the Barks stories chronologically, and these are found respectively in The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan, The Twenty-Four Carat Moon and Island in the Sky.
