Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan

The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library #16

by Carl Barks

Worried about an earthquake that might swallow his money bin, Uncle Scrooge digs deep to secure his fortune — and discovers an underground civilization! Introducing the Terries and Fermies — the subterranean critters who can make earthquakes! Of special note, our presentation of this story restores two pages that were cut from its original publication. Then, Scrooge shanghais Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie to the Himalayas to help him recover “The Lost Crown of Genghis Kahn.” And when Scrooge is hypnotized to go back in time and learn the location of a pirate’s buried treasure, he thinks he’s got a clear shot — until he learns that Donald is also on the trail. And the race is on!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Adventure, Humor, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Animals

232 pages, Hardcover

First published May 23, 2017

About the author

Carl Barks was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of Scrooge McDuck. He worked anonymously until late in his career; fans dubbed him "The Duck Man" and "The Good Duck Artist". In 1987, Barks was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
Barks worked for the Disney Studio and Western Publishing where he created Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck (1947), Gladstone Gander (1948), the Beagle Boys (1951), The Junior Woodchucks (1951), Gyro Gearloose (1952), Cornelius Coot (1952), Flintheart Glomgold (1956), John D. Rockerduck (1961) and Magica De Spell (1961).
He has been named by animation historian Leonard Maltin as "the most popular and widely read artist-writer in the world". Will Eisner called him "the Hans Christian Andersen of comic books." Beginning especially in the 1980s, Barks' artistic contributions would be a primary source for animated adaptations such as DuckTales and its 2017 remake.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uncle Scrooge: The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan is a collection of Uncle Scrooge tales written and drawn by Carl Barks.

My dive into Carl Barks' work continues thanks to Fantagraphics' Carl Barks Library. The stories within range in size from one page gag strips to pages that would have encompassed an entire 32 page comic.

In this volume, Scrooge searches for the lost crown of Genghis Khan, encounters an underground civilization, goes treasure hunting, spends a trillion dollars on the only known sample of a new element, goes on a riverboat race against the Beagle Boys, and meets his doppelganger Flintheart Glomgold, the only duck in the world as rich/cheap as him.

So much of what would come later in Ducktales is straight from the imagination of Carl Barks. The Terry Fermies in this volume appeared in at least one episode of Ducktales and Flintheart Glomgold was Scrooge's arch-nemesis in that cartoon as well. The Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose, and the infamous Money Bin were also spawned by Barks.

This hardcover volume by Fantagraphics will last for a very long time. It's sturdy and the binding is heavy duty. The cover has enough flash to grab the eye and the interior color seems faithful to the originals. Bark's art continues to inspire new generations of Duck-artists with its clean lines and attention to detail. Barks doesn't go nuts with panel sizes and configurations, instead simply crafting stories in an eight panel grid.

The one page gag stories are good for a grin, mostly at the expense of Scrooge's tremendous cheapness. You don't get to be the richest duck in the world by throwing money away, after all. The longer tales are adventures akin to Indiana Jones, if he was the richest and cheapest duck in the world. The stories are written with children in mind but are clever enough for adults to enjoy.

With Uncle Scrooge: The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan, Fantagraphics shows once again why they get the lion's share of my comic book money. Four out of five stars.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, a delight.

[Nathan Dehoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

These comics, originally published in 1956 and 1957, recount more exploits of the world's richest duck, and showcase Barks's inventiveness. In the title story, the Abominable Snowman steals the crown from Scrooge's employees, and he takes Donald and his nephews to the Himalayas to get it back. I believe this story was made into a DuckTales episode, but I can't recall seeing it. I know it was referenced in the video game, but here Scrooge doesn't use his cane to pogo jump on the Yeti's head. Instead, he plays a trick to make Gu (apparently the Snowman's name, based on one of the sounds he makes) think he has the upper hand, and then strikes a deal with him, which is very much his kind of transaction. Barks has a clever explanation for why Gu doesn't leave tracks: he covers them by dragging animal hides. "Land Beneath the Ground" is one where I know I saw the DuckTales adaptation, and while I don't remember it that well, I think it left out some of the best jokes. When Scrooge fears an earthquake might hit his money bin, he has the ground underneath excavated, and he and his family end up in Terry Firmy, the subterranean home of the ball-shaped Terries and Firmies, distinguished by the Terries wearing bow ties and the Firmies four-in-hands. Scrooge's fears (which turn out to be well-founded, although fortunately the Terries and Firmies don't have any use for his money) drive home the danger of keeping so much money in one place, a recurring problem in these comics. "The World's Second-Richest Duck" introduces Scrooge's rival Flintheart Glomgold, and while the accompanying essay states how he differs from Scrooge in being dishonest and a loner, that really isn't shown so much in this particular story. As portrayed here, Glomgold is almost exactly like Scrooge, making their criticisms of each other hypocritical. Glomgold does end up cheating, but so does Scrooge, and only after they've fairly compared their assets and come up even. And Donald and the boys are mostly just bemused by the whole thing. Barks would write two other Glomgold stories that I haven't read yet, and his dishonesty and misanthropy might come into play in those. They definitely do in later stories by other writers. Another story, "A Cold Bargain," has Scrooge buy a rare element that turns out to be invaluable for ice cream production, and he's pursued by a spy from Brutopia, Barks's equivalent of the Soviet Union. There are a few tales here where Scrooge doesn't win out in the end, and two of them involve his trusting in fads. In "Faulty Fortune," Scrooge's belief in reading fortunes in coffee bubbles leads to his buying a lot of land that turns out to be useless, and his recklessness seems a bit out of character. The impetus for the plot has the tycoon finding a deed to a square inch of land in a cereal box, then proceeding to buy more. Was this an actual thing at one time? Another plays on the contemporary craze for regressing to past lives through hypnosis, leading both Scrooge and Donald to pursue pirate treasure. This time, the vision is actually true; it just doesn't indicate what the treasure actually is. "Land of the Pygmy Indians" has Scrooge relocate to the region north of Lake Superior to find peace and quiet, and runs afoul of a tribe of tiny natives who speak in the rhythm of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Hiawatha," who eventually succeed in scaring him off. The last full story is a flashback to Scrooge's younger days as a steamship captain on the Mississippi River, accompanied by Gyro Gearloose's grandfather Ratchet, who shares his grandson's penchant for weird inventions and tendency to come up with his best ideas after being hit on the head. Scrooge races Blackheart Beagle, the Beagle Boys' patriarch, for a shipment of gold. Don Rosa would later expand on this part of Scrooge's back story (as well as the rest of it).

[Mark Schlatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always like the Uncle Scrooge volumes better in this series than the Donald Duck volumes; even though Scrooge is more narrowly defined, I think his motivations make for more interesting storylines. My favorite in this collection is a story called "Land Beneath the Ground!" in which Scrooge, Donald, and the nephews discover a vast subterranean empire occupied by the Terrys and the Femrys (get it?), two related tribes of roly poly creatures that are responsible for all earthquakes. It's one of the trippiest Barks tales I've seen and well worth the price of admission. As par for the course, there's a tale or two that makes my head ache (e.g., Scrooge asserts his landlord rights over a group of Native Americans drawn in a classic bigfoot style and speaking in Hiawatha rhyme schemes), but those concerns are balanced by Scrooge's antics and the made up numbers Barks uses to describe Scrooge's fortunes.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the mid-1950s the focal point of Barks's duck comics had shifted from Donald Duck to Uncle Scrooge. While Donald's heydays ended more or less in 1953, Uncle Scrooge's finest moment had just started with the 1952 comic 'Back to Klondike'. This volume is a fine example of the flowering Uncle Scrooge period, with great adventures involving the Yeti, subterranean creatures, a rival from South Africa, and a mysterious element called Bombastium. Highlight, however, is the hilarious six-pager in which Uncle Scrooge's appears on a television quiz show. This volume also shows a first remake of an older adventure in 'Land of the Pygmy Indians', which is actually an updated version of the Donald Duck comic 'Mystery of the Swamp' from 1944. Even though I prefer the comics from 1947-1953, I must say Barks is in a fine shape, both in storytelling and in drawing. Highly recommended.

[Einar Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

My brain needed a break so I picked up a collection of tales (comics) about Uncle Scrooge McDuck by Carl Barks. The marquee story is “The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan,” but there are many other—far better—stories in this collection.

When I was a child, Uncle Scrooge was my favorite Disney character. Back then I appreciated his thrift and his ability to create a fortune measuring over “one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion” dollars while also having adventures with Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Now my values are different, and I can read these graphic novels with appreciation for Barks’s pokes at global politics, isms, stereotypes, and cultural trends. The volume includes essays from comics experts explaining some of those pokes as well as Barks’s process for creating and editing the tales. Actually, it wasn’t much of a break for my brain.

[Baal Of · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one has some pretty great stories that I remember fondly from childhood, in particular "Land Beneath The Ground" featuring the round Terrys and Fermys, which was adapted into a Ducktales episode, and "The second-Richest Duck" featuring an absolutely absurd contest between Flintheart Glomgold and Scrooge which all came down to balls of string. Another of my favorites was "A Cold Bargain".

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a few fun (and some of the best) of Bark's Scrooge tales are here. A delightful read.

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of my favorite stories of all time in this one - the Terries/Fermies and Bombastium come immediately to mind.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This entire series is a labor of love by Fantagraphics. If you've never read any Barks, I can't recommend his Duck stories enough.

[Heather Culley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only a small amount of racism, and very light on the colonialism.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always Mr. Barks serves up some fine duck stories with a side of wonderful artwork and lavishly garnished with humor.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duckburg is a surrealist paradise. In one of these comics, Donald and Co. interact with a penguin, a fellow avian, who can't talk and doesn't wear clothing. And in another, they interact with a wild mallard duck (in that same one, some waterfowl can be seen flying in a v shaped formation in the distance).

One of my favorite Scrooge comics from childhood, "Land Beneath the Ground" is included in this volume. The Terries and Fermies who make earthquakes (and talk like stereotypical 1950s Texans) is a treat to read!

"Land of the Pigmy Indians" is the most interesting. It's problematic because of its depiction of Native Americans, but also very prescient on the idea that nature needs to be preserved from the ravages of modern industrialization - and that the .01% are buying up wilderness for their own usage, and kicking the rest of us off.

If the Carl Barks Disney Library had been around when I was 10 years old, I would have been saving each and every penny, nickel and dime to purchase the next volume!

[Norman Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are early "solo" stories of Scrooge, mostly from 1956 and 1957. Barks was clearly having fun with this character, at this point probably not getting too much pushback from the "suits" at Disney. There really isn't a bad story in this volume, although there are some less than ideal ethnic depictions in a few places. Barks is slowly filling in Scrooge's backstory, with appearances by Flintheart Glomgold and other key members of the extended Duck family. Although Scrooge is a miser, he is clearly smart and hard working, and willing to take chances to increase his fortune. The satirical condemnations of consumerism and rampant industrialization are found throughout, ideas that were somewhat ahead of their time.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fantastic collection of old Duck stories. I loved reading most of them--the sense of adventure and fun is still very strong, and the humor is still great all these years later. I love the clever twists, and I love the old-time language, and the art is still beautiful as ever. Absolutely fantaastic. I wasn't so hot on some of the one-pagers, though, and the comments in the back, while interesting sometimes, were sometimes just boring retellings of the comics!

Still, absolutely recommended.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this volume - it has one of my favourite stories in it: “Land Beneath the Ground” - so I decided to read the reprints out of order to get to this one faster.

Like all of the Bark’s stories - these never disappoint me. Some are products of their time and require a slightly historical or pragmatic approach to read them. Many of them stand the test of time and are just good, fun stories.

This volume had a mix of both for sure.

[Krzyś Dz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite funny few longer stories. Personally I expected more for the title one, but I liked remaining ones. It's a pitty that there is only about 1-2 10 pagers. I definitely prefer "Donald Duck" issues of this series.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume contains the land beneath the ground AND the second richest duck, so that is already an amazing selection of stories. Even the Pygmy Indian story, which obviously contains outdated language, is great in how it treats the poor treatment of native land.

[I.D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

More classic Ducktales stories with globe trotting adventure and oddball science. The depiction of some races is a tad non PC but it’s a product of its time and never blatantly offensive. Fun stuff.

[Noah Satern · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories are so much fun. Carl Barks is a delight. However, because these stories are from the 1950s there are some very gross racial stereotypes.

[Neko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will always adore Carl Barks comics!

[Lexi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights include the first appearance of Flintheart Glomgold and some of the more prominent McDuck ancestors.

[L.C. Tang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up watching donald and daisy duck and liked reading this adult version of comics. This publication has 201 pages of uncle scrooge antics and the story notes start on page 203 followed by a bio of Carl Barks on pages 223-224 and a list of contributors on 225.