The Complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Vol. 1

Although I am a fan of Disney's Donald Duck and other related characters, the original Ducktales cartoon was before my time and so I never watched it growing up. I had heard good things about its 2017 reboot however and at the time bored, with little else to watch, I decided to give the show a shot. The first two episodes impressed me enough to continue watching and I am glad I did. The series had so many of the same elements that made the cartoons I grew up with memorable and the show has the potential to be a defining one for this generation. Both the reboot, and the original series, have their roots in the Disney Duck Comics. Now, I must admit to having a very limited knowledge of these comics. I had read somewhere though, that this 12 issue Limited Series in particular was a major influence on the new Ducktales specifically. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is written and drawn by Don Rosa, considered to be by many the successor to the original Duck Comics legend Carl Barks. I've read exactly one Barks' story to date but I did enjoy it for what it was. Rosa himself is a huge fan of Barks' work, and was known to weave in references and easter eggs to his idol's stories into some of his own, and even wrote a few follow-ups to Barks' as well. The Life and Times is kind of the logical conclusion to this. It is meant to be the definitive origin of the character of Scrooge McDuck, tying together almost every known Barksian fact about his life into one cohesive narrative. This may seem like a lot of information coming from a self-professed novice on the material but that is because this edition of the book proved to be very informative. It might have seemed ill-advised to invest in a book of this price with only a limited knowledge of the contents beforehand, but the payoff was well worth it. As a special edition aimed at collectors, it was something I just couldn't resist. It is an oversized hardcover volume which comes in a beautiful Slipcase with a removable replica of Scrooge's #1 Dime set in the front cover. In a lot of ways this presentation reminds me of the DC Comics Absolute Editions, but significantly bigger even than those books. It can be a bit cumbersome to read at this size, even when compared to an Omnibus, but I find it to be a worthwhile tradeoff for the quality of this product in both artwork and story. The Life and Times fully told is truly amazing, although it took me longer to get through than I originally intended. I read through the first two issues pretty quickly when I first got the book, but didn't pick it back up again for almost a year. Not to say I wasn't enjoying the series, but it didn't quite grab me then so I ended up setting it aside for several other books I'd been wanting to read. When I did eventually come back to it, I found myself hooked and couldn't read anything else until I'd finished. This is a truly incredible story, one which highlights the complexity of the character of Scrooge. It is very much much a story about rising from little means to wealth and prosperity through hard work and sharp wit but losing something of oneself along the way and by the end maybe finding that piece again. The Life and Times is an exciting and action filled story but at times deeply introspective. It will take the reader all over the world in its course, weaving itself at times into and between real historical events. This of course with a little leeway as far as accuracy is concerned, when needed. Beyond the original 12 chapters, this edition includes 6 follow-up stories written after the original issues that fill out some gaps left in the story, as well as 4 relevant to the series tales from Rosa's time on the regular Uncle Scrooge comics. As I mentioned before, everything here is written and drawn by Rosa. Through his writing and artwork he exhibits a real fun wit. His art is especially spectacular to behold at this scale. Rosa himself helps curate the collection, which is packed with extras throughout the volume. Best among them the "Making Of" essays by Rosa himself that follow every chapter of the book. These include invaluable insights into how this Eisner Award Winning series took shape. Most of the details I've relayed in this review come from these pages, but all I've said is just the tip of the iceberg. This book hits all the right notes for me. It transported me back to my childhood in the best way possible. To a time where adventure and discovery felt like they were right there waiting. If anything I've said in this review has piqued your interest, then this just might be worth purchasing. This edition is certainly worth it. I absolutely loved this story. Circling back to the beginning of this review, if you were a fan of the 2017 Ducktales, or even the original 1987 series, I expect this will be an enjoyable read. 5/5

Amazing product like piece of art

The book comes in its own cardboard box with an image of Scrooge McDuck and a sticker on the front and some more information on the bottom. Once you open it, you're greeted by the great artwork present on the sleeve cover and the shiny dime replica that can be popped out of it once the book is removed from the cover. The book is wonderfully decorated with embossed drawings giving a 3d feel and the spine of the book is made out of cloth with golden writing. The inside is wonderfully printed on rather thick paper with a shiny finish. It is the complete edition of the first 12 chapters plus the additional extra chapters in their own section at the end of the book. I fully recommend this purchase because it is one of a kind, wonderfully made and beautiful to just admire. Will make your eyes smile! Mind that the book is quite heavy and large and with the cover on it becomes a behemoth!

This book will only go up in value. Insanely cool collectable, in so many ways. Just look at that quality, the size, the gold and silver. A book Scrooge McDuck would demand to be nothing less.

I wish I had this book when I was 10-15. It is simply amazing. The art of Don Rosa is enchanting and the best way to enjoy it is with these big-sized comic panels. With that being said, you have to keep in mind that this book is massive, it weighs over 5 kg and is giant in size, really hard to hold in your hands and read from, and also hard to store. But these are little problems, for once you open the box and gaze at the wonderful slipcase and its colors, you will forget about everything else and just spend the whole day feasting your eyes upon this little treasure and reading the incredible stories. The book comes with small articles after each chapter written by the author Don Rosa himself, where he explains the story behind each chapter and presents all the details he hid here and there.

A chance encounter with a Gladstone comic book in 1986 changed the life of cartoonist Don Rosa forever. Don Rosa grew up showing great artistic talent. Rosa went through grade school and high school submitting strips for various educational and local publications. Despite working towards a degree in civil engineering at the University of Kentucky, Rosa continued to fine tune his craft submitting art for a pair of fanzines devoted to Carl Barks and the Disney ducks as well as the college paper, The Kentucky Kernel where Rosa contributed a strip devoted to political satire. Despite not considering himself a political cartoonist, Rosa won an award in 1969 for his work and was later named one of the top college artists in the nation by The Journal of Higher Education. After graduating, Don Rosa went to work at his family's construction business which was started in 1900 by his grandfather, an Italian immigrant. Rosa was resided to work primarily in the family business while moonlighting part time as a cartoonist with a weekly strip called The Adventures of Captain Kentucky that appeared in The Louisville Times. However, the endeavor was far from satisfying for Rosa and in 1982, the cartoonist retired outright. It appeared that fate had destined for Don Rosa to work the rest of his days selling the Italian tile and marble products that his family had become legendary for. Then one day fate changed Rosa's career path once again. Upon stumbling upon a Disney comic published by Gladstone, Rosa learned that Disney was once again publishing books based on their properties in the United States and were in need of American writers and artists to fill those pages. Rosa grew up a fan of Carl Barks' Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge adventures and he felt destined to be the one to usher in the next generation of Duck tales. Rosa contacted editor Byron Erickson who agreed to a tryout. The result was a globetrotting search for treasure between Scrooge McDuck and the dastardly Flintheart Glomgold in 'The Son of the Sun.' In 1987, Rosa's Disney debut was nominated for a Harvey Award for Best Story of the Year. After a few more stories, Rosa prayed ways with Disney as the company had a policy that would not return artwork back to the artist. However, Rosa's affiliation with the residents of Duckburg was far from over. The hit syndicated cartoon DuckTales brought forth a resurgence in both the original works of Barks, along with Rosa's newer adventures. After learning about how popular his Disney stories had become in Europe, Rosa freelanced for the Denmark based Gutenberghus, now know as Egmont. In 1990-91, word started to spread that Disney was wanting to issue a miniseries on the long and stories life of Scrooge McDuck. Rosa encouraged Egmont to select one of their employees for the task as the international publisher had an impressive team of artists and writers that could execute the job successfully. Egmont's editors agreed and recommended Rosa for the job. Beginning in 1991, Rosa crafted The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. The 12-chapter miniseries chronicled Scrooge's Scottish childhood fraught with poverty and lessons in hard work through his numerous failures in business until Scrooge finally struck gold literally in the Yukon Gold Rush of the late 1890s. The story comes to a close right where Carl Barks introduced the world to Scrooge McDuck in the 1947 story 'Christmas on Bear Mountain.' Having become the richest person in the world, Scrooge lives alone as miser until he decides to test his remaining relatives, nephew Donald Duck and his grand-nephews Huey Dewey and Louie, in order to see if they are worthy of inheriting his countless riches. Building upon the foundation Carl Barks laid decades earlier, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck answers questions long posed by Disney comic readers. How did the Beagle Boys come to be a perennial thorn in the side of Uncle Scrooge? Why does Flintheart hate McDuck so much? Why is that first dime so important to Scrooge? Plus, the entire family tree of Clan McDuck is explained, giving away many of the secrets of the old family castle as well as finally understanding where Granny, lucky duck Gladstone Gander and other residents of Duckburg relate to Scrooge McDuck and his kin. In 1995, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck won the Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story from appearing in issues of Anders And & Co. from 1992-1994. American audiences would be introduced to the story in the pages of Uncle Scrooge #285-296 beginning in late 1994. Over the following years, Rosa would craft several 'fill-in' stories that added to the mystique of Scrooge McDuck's life but do not have to be ready in any order in relation to the 12-part miniseries. An emergency surgery as the result of a detached retina would be the final straw in a career marred by low pay, creative differences and royalties in regards to intellectual property rights leading Rosa to ultimately retire from comics in 2008. He still continues to tour the convention circuit and conducts semi-annual signing tours in Europe where he enjoys superstar status.

After almost 50 years Scrooge is still my favorite cartoon character. His genealogy is fascinating. The art work is meticulous and the blurbs are funny. I never knew that a sunken tree stumps was a sawyer. Wow!

It arrived in excellent condition, almost two weeks ahead of schedule.

O produto chegou muito bem acondicionado, em uma caixa temática, além da própria caixa da Amazon. Já o livro é pura arte desde o estojo, feito em papelão duro, revestido com papéis metálicos e o desenho do Tio Patinhas, até o livro em si, que é muito bem construído e impresso em papel de alta qualidade. O conteúdo do livro nem se fala. São os 12 volumes escritos pelo Don Rosa que contam a biografia o Tio Patinhas de uma forma mais cronológica, levando em conta vários fatos criados pelo Carl Barks muitos anos antes, além de várias curiosidades sobre cada volume escritas pelo próprio autor. É um produto caro, mas vale cada centavo.

This is an amazing collection! The book is huuuuuge and the quality is as you would expect for the price paid! If you are a fan I recommend 100% I still remember finishing the whole series when I was young and I am so happy I have this deluxe collection! Delivery in the UK was super fast and book in perfect condition!

Definitely worth buying even if expensive! Mostly for collectors to be honest cause reading it is a challenge because of the size

Siempre me encantó el personaje desde que lo ví en la televisión de niño y leí los viejos libros de mi madre que recopilaban sus aventuras. Esta es la manera más digna de recopilar está historia tan hermosa y lo que más ame es la moneda, en definitiva es un esencial para todos los amantes de uncle Scrooge o Donald duck