And in the beginning there was a comic
When writing about Scrooge, it must be remembered that he is primarily a character strongly associated with comics, and less with animations. This character was created in 1947 by Carl Barks . He is an old, anthropomorphic Scottish duck. He usually wears a red or blue frock coat, top hat, glasses and with a slight Scottish accent. His dominant character trait is his frugality, and in the context of the Disney fictional universe, he is the world’s richest character.
Named after Ebenezer Scrooge from the 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. He was initially presented as an antihero (like Charles Dickens’ original Scrooge). However, in later comics and animated shorts, he is shown as a sometimes generous but mostly frugal hero, adventurer, explorer, and philanthropist. Andrew Carnegie, born in 1835 in a poor Scottish family, could also be a historical inspiration. He, like Scrooge, emigrated with his family to the USA at the age of thirteen, where he initially worked as a laborer, then built a financial power on the production of steel, and Carnegie Hall in New York was named in his honor, the construction of which he initiated himself.
Scrooge was created by Barks as a comic book character, originally as an antagonist to Donald Duck, first appearing in the 1947 comic The Great Bear. The character soon became so popular that McDuck became a major character in the Donald Duck universe. In 1952, he received his own series of comics, entitled “Uncle Scrooge”, which is still published today. Scrooge is known mainly from comics by Carl Barks and his student Don Ros.
The old duck also appeared on the screen. Scrooge made his major animation debut (save for a brief cameo in the television series Mickey Mouse Club) in which he spoke, the 20-minute film Scrooge McDuck and Money in 1967, which dealt with issues related to economics. He later appeared as his namesake, Ebenezer Scrooge, in 1983’s Mickey Mouse’s Christmas Carol, an animated version of Dickens’ classic story. However, his most recognizable appearance remains in DuckTales from 1987 and the 2017 reboot, in which we were able to learn more about the secrets of the duck family and even see Scrooge as a father (although it was not without great fan criticism).
Excerpt from the 1947 comic “The Great Bear” by Carl Barks
Disgusting wealth
How much exactly is Scrooge’s fortune? The exact value of Scrooge’s fortune is unknown: Don Rosa described the contents of the treasury as 5 multiphantastillion, 9 megabillion, 7 imagillion dollars and sixteen cents. According to Forbes, in 2011, Scrooge McDuck gained almost $11 billion and with a fortune of $44.1 billion, he was ranked number one on the list of the richest characters in the world of fiction, ahead of Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne, and even Smaug .
And how old is Scrooge in the duck universe?
According to Scrooge creator Carl Barks, this old drake is 75 years old; celebrates his 75th birthday in a one-page comic titled “Watt An Occasion” from 1955. So that’s exactly it and ends this character in 2022. Later, in the comics of modern cartoonist Don Rosa, we see Donald’s uncle in his 80s, right when he met his youngest second-generation nephews. The way Rosa suggests this is by mentioning in the first chapter of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck that it is Scrooge’s 10th birthday, and showing the year 1877 on the cover of the comic, then in the final chapter showing that it is now 1947, which is 70 years later. In turn, in the animated version, during his on-screen adventures in Duck TalesThe old duck has 60 candles on his birthday cake. As you can see, Disney is not consistent with the date.
And what’s next?
Undoubtedly, there would be no DuckTales without Scrooge, and him without Carl Barks. When Barks was honored as a Disney Legend, Roy Disney stated, “Carl’s name is synonymous with Disney’s Ducks, and today his stories are the basis of the DuckTales franchise.” From the original Scrooge McDuck comic book stories to the all-new series of Duck Tales on Disney XD , the spirit of Carl Barks’ story lives on, and so does Scrooge. And just like in the reboot of the 2017 series, he will surely surprise us with more than one, adapting his business to the latest technologies, while remembering his first difficult steps in global business, which he took in the 19th century. Uncle Scrooge, 100 years, 200 years and even more!
