"Blow your horn, you invisible juggernaut!" Donald Duck: the Old Castle's Secret

The most recent entry in Fantagraphics' Carl Barks Library is the Donald Duck collection dubbed "The Old Castle's Secret" after the first tale reprinted therein. It's another fine hardcover collecting Barks' Donald Duck stories circa 1948, featuring Donald, his nephews and some early Scrooge McDuck appearances, plus the very first tale to feature Donald's insufferably lucky cousin, Gladstone Gander. The titular story involves Scrooge inviting Donald and the nephews to his ancestral castle in Scotland to investigate the legendary ghost supposedly haunting the premises. Other lengthy tales include a trip to Africa to find rare butterflies in "Darkest Africa;" Donald entering a rocket race in "Rocket Race to the Moon;" and Donald becoming a lawman in "Sheriff of Bullet Valley."

In "the Old Castle's Secret," it's amusing to note the supposed ghost is intended to be one Sir Quackly, a member of the McDuck clan - and therefore, a duck. The ghost's shadow, however, is definitely not a duck's, which you'd think the Ducks would take as their first clue that there's something screwy about the hauntings. I suppose in the adrenaline of the moment, they didn't connect the dots. Or ligaments.

Uncle Scrooge was still a new character in 1948 and while his personality is mostly in place (although his buried conscience seems dug into a deeper grave in this collection than in later tales), visually he's just a little off from later appearances. His whisker-feathers are bushier than the length they'd eventually settle upon and his top hat wasn't yet his chapeau of choice (he doesn't wear any hats in this collection).

"Rocket Race to the Moon" is a fun little tale; Donald is often punished in his own stories for ignoring problems, unwittingly aiding antagonists and hindering people trying to solve problems (like his nephews); in this tale, Donald gets to be a true protagonist, naively playing a gentleman as he races his rocket against Baron de Sleezy, only for de Sleezy to prove himself less than a gentleman; who could have expected a man named de Sleezy to be such a reprobate?

In Fantagraphics' previous Carl Barks Library volumes, I'd previously encountered at least one story from each collection; this is the first collection to be all-new for me, so it's a fine treat; if you can spare the change, it's worth following the series. Don't we all deserve something a little fun?

A meditation on "Back to the Klondike"

I was eager to sample Fantagraphics' new entry in their Carl Barks library: Uncle Scrooge: "Only a Poor Old Man". It contains the first six issues' worth of Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge. Although I had already read the titular "Old a Poor Old Man," one story I was especially interested in sampling was "Back to the Klondike," a story which delves into some of Scrooge McDuck's past as he created his incalculable fortune.

The actual plot of "Back to the Klondike" involves Scrooge suddenly recalling he has a fortune in gold buried in the Klondike, so he hurries up north with Donald, Huey, Dewey & Louie to unearth the riches. The major complication in this tale is Goldie, a woman who once tried to steal Scrooge's gold and is now squatting on his one-time gold mine with her pet bear.

I understand there's a lot of interest in Goldie amongst Barks enthusiasts; apparently some fans consider her "the woman" of Scrooge's life (just as some fans consider Irene Adler "the woman" to Sherlock Holmes or Rebecca "the woman" to Wilfred of Ivanhoe). What I found most interesting about Goldie is a brief moment from the flashback scenes in "Back to the Klondike."

Goldie is introduced as a singer in the Black Jack Ballroom who takes a gander at Scrooge's goose egg nugget and forces her attentions on him, even though he has little interest in her (Goldie opens by offering coffee; presumably Scrooge accepts only because he won't turn down free refreshments). After learning about Scrooge's valuable claim, Goldie drugs Scrooge's coffee and steals all of his gold. Scrooge revives "six miles from town" and storms back to the Black Jack Ballroom, brutally pummels every man in his path, then reclaims his large gold nugget from Goldie. However, as the rest of his gold is gone, Scrooge demands Goldie write out an IOU for $1,000.

Even after obtaining the IOU, Scrooge isn't done with Goldie; he drags her out to his claim and forces her to work on his gold mine, declaring, "You're going to learn how hard a miner works for his gold!" Goldie works on Scrooge's mine for a month at just $0.50 per day. At the end of the month, Scrooge pays her off, but she throws the money in his face and storms off. "I dug more gold than you did, you tightwad!" she rages.

The difference in Scrooge & Goldie's reactions to valuables, crimes, rights and wrongs is what I find most interesting. Scrooge, for all his miserly ways, obeys the letter of the law (especially when it's to his advantage). He promises Goldie $0.50 per day and he pays her just so. Goldie, however, believes her work was worth more than what he promised as recompense; her pride won't accept it. Contrast this with the earlier gold theft: then, Scrooge is entirely a hapless victim (although his explosive reaction after the theft is probably partially enhanced by earlier attempted thefts of his gold, mentioned in passing); Goldie is completely in the wrong, robbing an innocent man. Thus, Scrooge will use the letter of the law to take advantage of others, but won't tolerate being anyone's sucker. Goldie thinks nothing of cheating someone of their property, yet she bristles at the notion of being cheated. The qualities Goldie hates most about Scrooge are those qualities she has in abundance in herself.

Say, perhaps there is something to Goldie as Scrooge's "woman?"