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The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library #20
Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: The Mines of King Solomon
When Uncle Scrooge decides to take Donald and the nephews on a world tour to inspect the many businesses in his far-flung empire, he never dreamed he’d wind up uncovering the fabled lost treasure of the even-more fabled King Solomon! Then, to settle a bet over who’s the better salesman, Scrooge and Donald wind up in Southeast Asia - and Donald’s winning! Until Scrooge notices something unusual about the local architecture in "City of Golden Roofs." And the Beagle Boys come calling again with a devious scheme to drill Scrooge’s money right out from under him! Plus: the oddball inventions of the ever-eccentric Gyro Gearloose! Carl Barks delivers another superb collection of clever plot twists, laugh-out-loud comedy, and all-around comic book brilliance.
200 pages, Hardcover
First published April 28, 2019
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About the author
Carl Barks
2,425 books258 followersCarl 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 30, 2019
Uncle Scrooge: The Mines of King Solomon is the 20th entry in Fantagraphics' Carl Barks library.
The stories in this volume appeared in 1956-1962. They run the gamut from 32 pagers to four pagers to single page gag strips. Uncle Scrooge takes on the Beagle Boys, looks for the mines of King Solomon, and screws everyone he can out of whatever he can. Scrooge is a hilarious old miser. "I bought these glasses for a dollar in 1885. Why should I pay ten dollars for a new pair?" pretty much sums the old boy up.
Scrooge, sometimes with Donald and/or the nephews in tow, goes on globetrotting adventures, inspiration for Ducktales years later. The tales are fairly timeless, as amusing as they were over a half century ago. While they're clearly geared more toward kids, there are jokes for adults to enjoy as well.
Unlike the previous volumes of the Carl Barks library I've read, this one features quite a few four-pagers starring Gyro Gearloose, future inventor of GIzmo Duck, among other things. These tales wound up being my favorites in the collection, partly because of Gyro overshooting his mark and under-planning the consequences, but also because of Gyro's nameless lightbulb-headed robot sidekick who is always doing things in the background.
Carl Bark's art is clean and crisp. His influence is apparent in many artists who came after, like Jeff Smith of Bone fame and also Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes. it's no wonder his big run with Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge is so revered among Disney aficionados.
Everything we think of when we think of Uncle Scrooge comes from here. The Mines of King Solomon is a set of tales for kids and adults alike. 3.5 out of five stars.
The stories in this volume appeared in 1956-1962. They run the gamut from 32 pagers to four pagers to single page gag strips. Uncle Scrooge takes on the Beagle Boys, looks for the mines of King Solomon, and screws everyone he can out of whatever he can. Scrooge is a hilarious old miser. "I bought these glasses for a dollar in 1885. Why should I pay ten dollars for a new pair?" pretty much sums the old boy up.
Scrooge, sometimes with Donald and/or the nephews in tow, goes on globetrotting adventures, inspiration for Ducktales years later. The tales are fairly timeless, as amusing as they were over a half century ago. While they're clearly geared more toward kids, there are jokes for adults to enjoy as well.
Unlike the previous volumes of the Carl Barks library I've read, this one features quite a few four-pagers starring Gyro Gearloose, future inventor of GIzmo Duck, among other things. These tales wound up being my favorites in the collection, partly because of Gyro overshooting his mark and under-planning the consequences, but also because of Gyro's nameless lightbulb-headed robot sidekick who is always doing things in the background.
Carl Bark's art is clean and crisp. His influence is apparent in many artists who came after, like Jeff Smith of Bone fame and also Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes. it's no wonder his big run with Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge is so revered among Disney aficionados.
Everything we think of when we think of Uncle Scrooge comes from here. The Mines of King Solomon is a set of tales for kids and adults alike. 3.5 out of five stars.
August 5, 2023
The story that lends itself to the title of this volume is the definite standout. As usual I prefer the longer Uncle Scrooge based adventure stories to the one-pagers, even when Barks is recycling some of his former frameworks. Wild flights of fancy abound, but then these are "funny animals" so imagination is king, and Barks has a lot of imagination. At first I wasn't sure I liked the Gyro Gearloose stories as much as I remembered, but as I read more of them I was reminded of why they endure. Gearloose is an inventor but in a world in which our laws of physics don't really apply, and more importantly, he is not a scienctist. There is not a shred of science to be found in these stories. They are pure fantasy with things magically working, but it helps to keep in mind that these stories were written for kids, not for the hard-SF market. Barks' true greatness as a creative master and great storyteller is revealed in the background activity of the nameless Helper with running gags and mini-adventures paralleling or reflecting Gyro's own, and of course sometimes becoming the one who actually solves the core problem. Another good collection in this series.
January 7, 2020
A fun collection of Uncle Scrooge stories and I liked the nice surprise that the last third of the book is Gyro Gearloose. I learned something in the notes - the reason for the Gearloose stories was the Disney company could use a loophole for paying less for postage IF they had a story in the comic that didn't involve characters from the other story. What an insane loophole. But lucky for us we get some super clever Gearloose inventor stories. Some might bemoan the fact it means less Uncle Scrooge but it is still Barks art and writing (which is amazing) and who doesn't love the background gags of Gearloose's assistant - the unnamed light-bulb robot. Lighty? Bulby? Flicker? EL-Trick? We need to start a poll to name this crazy robot.
As far as the Scrooge stories go - they are fun. The Mines story has a bit of a weird ending but the overall story was solid. City of Golden Roofs - very fun. A selling competition between Scrooge and Donald. One critic wrote it was a racist portrayal of the natives but I think that is being overly critical. Barks made up some natives with little knowledge of technology - let's not read too much into these stories for children. And the Golden River was a very nice morality tale, a rare case of Scrooge becoming a better person by the end of the story.
All in all, another great collection of the master storyteller and artist Carl Barks.
As far as the Scrooge stories go - they are fun. The Mines story has a bit of a weird ending but the overall story was solid. City of Golden Roofs - very fun. A selling competition between Scrooge and Donald. One critic wrote it was a racist portrayal of the natives but I think that is being overly critical. Barks made up some natives with little knowledge of technology - let's not read too much into these stories for children. And the Golden River was a very nice morality tale, a rare case of Scrooge becoming a better person by the end of the story.
All in all, another great collection of the master storyteller and artist Carl Barks.
March 13, 2024
What else can I say regarding these Scrooge volumes? They are fun.
This volume includes a bunch of Gyro Gearloose 6 pagers. My son had gotten tired of the Donald 10 pagers so I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about these but he loved them. Gyro ftw!
This volume includes a bunch of Gyro Gearloose 6 pagers. My son had gotten tired of the Donald 10 pagers so I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about these but he loved them. Gyro ftw!
December 27, 2020
Another great collection of stories!
A real highlight here was the Gyro Gearloose stories. The way Barks utilizes Gyro's little helper is truly inspired.
A real highlight here was the Gyro Gearloose stories. The way Barks utilizes Gyro's little helper is truly inspired.
June 29, 2019
Fantastic comic, again with a lot of tales that I did not get to read when I was a young whippersnapper collecting the things. It was a lot of fun revisiting the tales I had read, and a lot of fun reading others which I had not--including the one in the title. A special treat was the bunch of Gyro Gearloose stories in the back, each just four pages long but wonderfully inventive and funny. There were some weird things in those stories that I had hoped the notes in the back would explain, but they didn't--namely, in two stories a bunch of papers were in the background with silly rhymes on them, and they didn't really have any purpose in the stories themselves.
The notes in the back DID, however, explain why these Gyro Gearloose stories existed, and why the other duck characters never appear in them, and the answer is truly bizarre and worth quoting here:
"At the time, comics magazines mailed to subscribers under second class mailing regulations qualified for a discount on postage if the issue contained at least two stories at and least one of those stories featured characters that did not appear in any of the other stories in that issue. Why on Earth should such a combination attract a discount? Go figure! But that's why Western Publishing asked Barks to write these short Gyro solo outings."
Indeed, in one of the stories, Mickey Mouse's nephews Morty and Ferdie (WHO?!?!) appear. Apparently originally Barks used Huey, Dewey, and Louie, but because they had appeared elsewhere in the same issue, he had to REDRAW the comic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Or at least those panels.)
Another interesting note later was about a one-page comic that had lost a panel when the editor cut the panel out to include a declaration from Dell comics about how pure and wholesome their books were. That one panel remained lost for many years until by some miracle someone found a bunch of similar cut panels, and Barks' lost panel was amongst them. This is the first time the complete comic has EVER been published!
So... great comic!
The notes in the back DID, however, explain why these Gyro Gearloose stories existed, and why the other duck characters never appear in them, and the answer is truly bizarre and worth quoting here:
"At the time, comics magazines mailed to subscribers under second class mailing regulations qualified for a discount on postage if the issue contained at least two stories at and least one of those stories featured characters that did not appear in any of the other stories in that issue. Why on Earth should such a combination attract a discount? Go figure! But that's why Western Publishing asked Barks to write these short Gyro solo outings."
Indeed, in one of the stories, Mickey Mouse's nephews Morty and Ferdie (WHO?!?!) appear. Apparently originally Barks used Huey, Dewey, and Louie, but because they had appeared elsewhere in the same issue, he had to REDRAW the comic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Or at least those panels.)
Another interesting note later was about a one-page comic that had lost a panel when the editor cut the panel out to include a declaration from Dell comics about how pure and wholesome their books were. That one panel remained lost for many years until by some miracle someone found a bunch of similar cut panels, and Barks' lost panel was amongst them. This is the first time the complete comic has EVER been published!
So... great comic!
November 13, 2019
I love Carl Barks. Every time I read one of his stories I feel like I'm back in my childhood bedroom just waiting for the adventure and the laughs to unfold. So fun!
August 21, 2020
These stories from the late 1950s to early 1960s show Barks at his peak of creativity, although perhaps starting to get a bit tired and reusing some story elements from previous stories. The adventure stories, such as "The Mines of King Solomon" and "City of Golden Roofs," are the most interesting, combining globe-trotting action with real humor. Unfortunately, "City of Golden Roofs" contains some cringeworthy ethnic stereotyping. The stories where Scrooge is shown being a miser for miserly sake are less interesting. In fact, "The Money Well" seems to be nothing more than a reworking of the Scrooge vs. Beagle Boys that we've seen countless times, beginning with "Only a Poor Old Man" (1952), the first story with Scrooge as the main character. I find that when Scrooge is avoiding spending $10 by spending thousands of dollars runs completely contrary to what I think a tycoon would think.
The one-page gags mostly offer more humor showcasing the foibles of Scrooge's greed, although they also show his ingenuity in solving problems.
Approximately 40% of this volume is a collection of four-page Gyro Gearloose stories. These are meant to be purely lighthearted gags based on how Gyro's incredible inventing prowess is undermined by his klutziness and naiveté. Often the best part of these tales is the story in the background silently performed by Gyro's lightbulb-headed Helper.
The one-page gags mostly offer more humor showcasing the foibles of Scrooge's greed, although they also show his ingenuity in solving problems.
Approximately 40% of this volume is a collection of four-page Gyro Gearloose stories. These are meant to be purely lighthearted gags based on how Gyro's incredible inventing prowess is undermined by his klutziness and naiveté. Often the best part of these tales is the story in the background silently performed by Gyro's lightbulb-headed Helper.
July 28, 2024
A step up from the last volume. But I’m starting to think the magic is fading—and fast. The Scrooge material might be 75% of the book and the rest is made up of short Gyro stories: the highlight of which is definitely Little Helper and his antics. Maybe I’ve been reading too many of these in a row or maybe they really are lackluster compared to Bark’s peak.
February 17, 2021
Another great Barks story. If you like Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comics, it is hard to go wrong with these Fantagraphics reprints. The hardcovers are nicer than just having the Gladstone reprints in comic form. Another trip down memory lane if you grew up with these stories.
May 19, 2019
I liked the Uncle Scrooge stories (especially one where Donald challenges Scrooge to earn more money than him without the advantage of wealth), but the best stuff was the Gyro Gearloose short pieces.
December 5, 2019
Another great collection, leaning on some of the longer adventures - this time with more Gyro Gearloose, which is always a pleasure.
March 23, 2020
More solid Ducktales stories with a bunch focusing on Gyro. Sure these were meant for kids but they are timeless and well done enough for all ages to enjoy.
March 25, 2020
Barks genius - as usual
November 18, 2020
long form uncle scrooge stories were great, the shorts were hit or miss and the gizmo goose stores stank.
November 25, 2022
Exceptional as always
January 9, 2020
'The Mines of King Solomon' is a compilation of adventures by Uncle Scrooge and ten-pagers featuring Gyro Gearloose from 1956 to 1958. This was not Barks's most inspired period, and the only true classic is 'City of the Golden Roofs', even if that adventure is a recap of 'Land of the Totempoles' (1949). But the scene involving Shoeless Pashley is such a highlight within the whole Barks canon, it alone makes this adventure a must-read.
Much less successful is the title adventure, which has a tired and routine feel to it. 'The Money Well', again, is almost a re-telling of an earlier adventure, this time 'Only a Poor Old Man' from 1952, while 'The Golden River' feels trite and superfluous.
Even Barks's drawings start to waver in this volume, and the Ducks are sometimes drawn in awkward positions (e.g. Donald on page 30 3rd panel and page 66 4th panel). Nevertheless, Barks's command of expressions is in fine shape, and the Ducks show a wide range of emotions throughout the volume.
To my surprise, however, the real highlight of the volume form the ten-pagers featuring Gyro Gearloose. These are surprisingly inspired and gag-rich, and display nothing of the routine so present in the Uncle Scrooge stories. In these stories Gyro's little helper (called 'Lampje' in Dutch editions) is a highlight to watch. In one story he even takes the limelight, pushing his boss into the background of the panels.
Much less successful is the title adventure, which has a tired and routine feel to it. 'The Money Well', again, is almost a re-telling of an earlier adventure, this time 'Only a Poor Old Man' from 1952, while 'The Golden River' feels trite and superfluous.
Even Barks's drawings start to waver in this volume, and the Ducks are sometimes drawn in awkward positions (e.g. Donald on page 30 3rd panel and page 66 4th panel). Nevertheless, Barks's command of expressions is in fine shape, and the Ducks show a wide range of emotions throughout the volume.
To my surprise, however, the real highlight of the volume form the ten-pagers featuring Gyro Gearloose. These are surprisingly inspired and gag-rich, and display nothing of the routine so present in the Uncle Scrooge stories. In these stories Gyro's little helper (called 'Lampje' in Dutch editions) is a highlight to watch. In one story he even takes the limelight, pushing his boss into the background of the panels.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews