The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa
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Book Reviews of The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck
Book Review: Back to My Childhood
Summary: 4 Stars
These stories originally appeared in the US shortly after I "grew up" and stopped reading Disney duck comics (my hey-day was during the reign of the great Gladstone Series I comics). Don Rosa has always been my second favorite duck artist/writer (one guess who's #1!). One flip through this volume shows you what a unique artist he is. He plays with every frame and fills it with a graphic splendor that really stands on it's own beside Barks' classic simplicity.
The stories themselves? In an effort to get from Point A to Point B, they lack the sweep of a classic Barks or Rosa adventure, but taken as episodes in a history, I guess they shouldn't be evaluated that way.
As a kid, I loved Rosa's tributes to Barks..."Last Sled to Dawson," "Return to Plain Awful," etc. Look in a copy of Uncle Scrooge #258 and you'll find a letter from a boy suggesting that someone should give us some duck history...perhaps how Scrooge earned his fortune, and a Duck family tree, and that Don Rosa was the man to do it. The editor's reply was that such a project was already in the works. (Of course, I wrote that letter.)
By the time the US got the stories, my interests had moved on, so it was with a sense of curiousity and nostalgia that I purchased this volume. I have to say that I find Rosa's rigid attention to Barksian detail a bit antithetical to the fantastic world of the Ducks. In hindsight, Barks' stories always had these references to McDuck's abstract past doing just about ANYTHING and EVERYWHERE to earn a buck, and I think I prefer that wild abstract version of his past. As Rosa points out, Barks' dates didn't always match up, but to me that only ads to the whimsy. Rosa has cataloged it all and removed the mystery.
But Rosa himself is the first to suggest that this is NOT a definitive history of Scrooge McDuck. Reading his essays (even more fun than the stories in some cases!) it becomes clear that this was a game for Rosa, a puzzle to put together, and seen with that sense of fun, he has succeeded brilliantly.
Book Review: A Pleasant Surprise
Summary: 4 Stars
Using details culled from vintage comics, Rosa takes a near-scholastic approach to this lushly illustrated graphic biography. Currently on sale for less than $12, this book is an exceptional value and appropriate for all ages. I'm generally not a fan of Disney but was drawn to this book by uniformly positive reviews from comic book aficionados.Book Review: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck
Summary: 4 Stars
My kids love this book! I love this book! The only reason I give it a 4 star rating instead of a 5 is because the binding is terrible. I bought 2 of these books and after a few times of handling the book, the binding pops off the cover and individual pages start falling out. Very frustrating.