Customer Reviews

Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge McDuck: His Life & Times

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I have had this book since the early 1980s. I read the stories to my son, and now to my grandson. My son made me promise that the book would be his when he had children. That's how good it is.

If you are a "Scroogeophile" like I am, this is the definitive Barks work. Not only is it coffee table sized, but in its original form, it included a signed, numbered print by Barks.

The color reproduction is excellent, and the book includes the most famous Scrooge stories: Christmas on Bear Mountain (the 1st Scrooge story), the "Horseradish" story (considered by most fans to be the best, although it is not my personal favorite), Micro Ducks from Outer Space and my personal favorite, The World's Second Richest Duck, where Scrooge and the boys face off against Flintheart Glomgold (what a perfect name) in a contest to determine who is the world's richest duck.

The book contains insights into Barks' relationship with Disney and also has some never before released sketches and drawings. There is a short biography of Barks and lots of neat info about Scrooge (how he made his fortune, how he got his first "lucky" dime, etc.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to own a money bin measuring three cubic acres, then you must get this book. Even though it is out of print, check every rare bookstore you can find to locate a copy. Mine is priceless.

P.S. If anyone finds a copy in good condition of the "Junior Woodchucks Handbook", let me know :-)

This book is known in collectors circles as the Celestial Arts book. At 13 inches tall, 4.5 pounds for the softcover edition, and 1.25 inches thick, this is a massive book. The hardcover edition of this book was released in 1981, and the first softcover version "First Trade Edition" was not printed until 1987. The year 1987 was important to the publishers as it was the 40th anniversary of the creation of Uncle Scrooge by comic artist Carl Barks. The story "Go Slowly Sands of Time" was written for this book. Very soon after the books fairly limited printing, copies were selling for $400 back in the late 1980's. The original hardcover can sell for $1,000.

Page 10 of the 1987 includes a special drawing by Mr. Barks commissioned just for this release. The introduction is by George Lucas, a big Carl Barks fan. Next is an essay by the Mike Barrier on the biography of Carl Barks. Next follows with 11 of the most stupendous stories about Uncle Scrooge including Tralla La, Trouble From Long Ago (the horseradish story), Island in the Sky, Micro-Ducks From Outer Space, The Many Faces of Magica De Spell, Land of the Pygmy Indians, The Second-Richest Duck, Land Beneath the Ground!, The Seven Cities of Cibola, The Lemming with the Locket, and Back to the Klondike. It has an interview with Mrs. Barks who did the lettering for Carl in the word balloons. It has a checklist of the original comics. One of the most important facets of this book is that Barks himself wrote comments for each story in the book. The recoloring of the panels in the book give it a very unique look, it was done by Peter Ledger. This is much more than the coloring you would see in a normal comic. For some reason the material used on the softcover tanned very easily non these, so that the finish usually looks older than it is. But it does not seem to affect the inside pages. All in all a wonderful book, I am glad I bought mine 23 years ago when it was published as know I will never be able to afford another.