Recently, I had to review the fourth volume of the same collection, which in terms of release was not very successful. How is it with this volume? Well, much better!
A little springboard
The next volume of the Don Rosa comic book series is really very interesting. Yes, he continues the intention of publishing the story of a Kentucky comic book artist chronologically, and thanks to this, it allows us to take a break from the biography of McDuck. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate this memorable story, but still another reissue, especially in such a short time, can get boring.
What constitutes a certain essence of this volume are two comics that are little known to Polish readers. The first is the Treasury of Knowledge.A really long and unique story presenting McDwacz’s relationship with the younger generation, which should be the essence of all the pictorial stories with these heroes. We are dealing with the Scrooge treasure hunt and the passion for discovering hidden in the heads of the Young Scouts. A story that was led like the plot of the new adventures of Indiana Jones and James Bond. Ducklings are trying to travel the world to discover the secrets of the Library of Alexandria. The story itself ends in a slightly humorous tone. The only thing that can offend is the attitude of the author himself, who, through the prism of Donald, tries to show us that watching TV is just mindless entertainment. This is a very damaging statement, but characteristic of the end of the 20th century. If this comic were made now perhaps there would be no such irritability to people who do not read, although they are not illiterate. It is known that today many programs enrich our knowledge, and series from the 80s and 90s have become a true classic. It was similar with the comic book. What is most interesting,The Treasury of Knowledge is considered Rosa’s most outstanding work (next to McKwacz’s biography), and the author himself, as we can read in the comments, considered his work to be overcomplicated and not very successful. What modesty, master!
The second new comic in the volume I am reviewing is The Longest Jump. The story is quite commercial, because it was created on the occasion of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994. Donald tries his hand as a winter sportsman, but Dude tries to thwart him in the Kaczgród qualifications. Oddly enough, fate is not entirely kind to Goguś, and our drake is shocking like Adam Małysz or Kamil Stoch with his performance. Still not convincing? This is what I want to tell you that Rosa did a great job by placing the traditional comic book Kaczgród of the 1950s in the reality of the end of the 20th century.
Fantastic extras on the level
In this release, the level of add-ons is probably a little higher than before. Well, we got the Donald Duck family tree once again, but it had to be in this collection. We also have some concept sketches that depict the greater role of Grandma Duck and Dabney (Abraham Kaczor) in Scroogeous Adventures, as well as the first family tree by Barks. In discussing his works, Master Don Rosa points out his mistakes, which he made in creating the Treasury of Knowledge.
At the very end, there is a gallery of additional covers from 1991-1994, including the one with the fantastic Diodaka universal translator, showing the name “Donald Duck” in various languages, and short stripes drawn by Rosa.
When I was a kid, all I wanted was comic books with Donald and Scrooge. Over the years, I have also come to appreciate the numerous additions that appear in these volumes. Thanks to this type of studies, the comic gains importance in the world, becomes the object of research, and provides ordinary fans with a broader context that will satisfy their curiosity. That is why it is worth collecting the entire collection of Rosa comics and buying the fifth volume in the series.
