The Don Rosa Library

Fantagraphics debuted the first volume of the Don Rosa Library, The Son of the Sun, in 2014. Since then, they have released two volumes each year. In November 2018, the tenth and final volume, The Old Castle’s Other Secret, will be released. The library will contain the complete chronological collection of all of his Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck stories. There were a total of 88 stories by Don between 1987 and 2006.

The Last of the Clan McDuck

Don Rosa Library Vol. 4 is 196 pages, and it includes stories published between 1992 and 1995. Vol. 4 was released on November 9th, 2015. The majority of the pages are the stories, but there are also some supplement sections with a biography about Don’s life as well as behind the scenes pictures and stories about each and every story that is included in this edition. We also get treated to covers that Don drew for other duck comics. It is like bonus features on a blu-ray, and it is full of great and interesting information. I am glad that it is included in this volume and every volume of the Don Rosa Library.

Don Rosa Library Vol. 4 is available in hardcover and Kindle versions. It is also included in a two pack that includes both Don Rosa Library Vol. 3 and Vol. 4. A link to buy this book can be found at the end of this review.

Included Stories

There are 8 Disney Duck stories included in the Don Rosa Library Vol. 4:

• Of Duck’s and Dimes and Destinies

• The Last of the Clan McDuck
• The Master of the Mississippi
• The Buckaroo of the Badlands
• The Raider of the Copper Hill
• The New Laird of Castle McDuck
• The Terror of the Transvaal
• The Dreamtime Duck of the Never Never

In Of Duck’s and Dimes and Destinies, Magica’s latest plan to try and steal Scrooge’s number one dime is to go back and time to 1877 and steal his dime before he gets it. This is the only story from this volume that is not one of the 12 issues that make up the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.

In The Last of the Clan McDuck, Don starts the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck in 1877 with the detailed story of how Scrooge earned his number one dime which inspires him his entire life to work hard.

In The Master of the Mississippi, Scrooge heads to America to find his uncle Pothole McDuck. Pothole, Scrooge, and Ratchet Gearloose go on an adventure on a riverboat to find a sunken treasure in the Mississippi River. It is not an easy adventure as the Beagle Boys are introduced into Scrooge’s life. In fact Scrooge gives them their name. I am originally from New Orleans so I loved reading about Scrooge’s time working on a river boat.

In The Buckaroo of the Badlands, Scrooge heads west on a train and ends up with a job as a cowboy herding cattle. He takes on the alias Buck McDuck for his cowboy name, and he even saves the life of future president, Theodore Roosevelt.

In The Raider of the Copper Hill, Scrooge tries his luck being a prospector. He has no luck finding silver or gold, but he ends up finding some copper. Copper is in high demand because electricity is now a thing. Scrooge meets the dad of one of his biggest rivals, John Rockerduck. Howard Rockerduck teaches Scrooge how to dig prospect properly. They find the Anaconda Copper Mine vein that would make Scrooge rich, but he agrees to a $10,000 settlement when his father Fergus requests that he comes back to Scotland to help with a crisis with Castle McDuck.

In The New Laird of Castle McDuck, Scrooge comes home to Dismal Downs to fight off the Whiskervilles and pay off the back taxes on Castle McDuck. He meets some of his ancestors from Clan McDuck when something goes wrong.

In The Terror of the Transvaal, Scrooge heads to Africa in search of gold. Instead he meets a new familiar foe that teaches him the lesson to never trust anyone. What was that duck’s name again?

In The Dreamtime Duck of the Never Never, Scrooge is in Australia searching for gold. Again, he is too late to find the gold, but he does stumble upon an aborigine wiseman who he rescues from a robber. Scrooge and the aborigine stumble upon an ancient egg shaped opal relic which is stolen by the robber. Scrooge gets the relic back, but he later returns the egg because it was the right thing to do. Through a cave painting and the help of the aborigine’s crystal reflecting off of Scrooge’s dime, Scrooge sees a vision that he translates that the place of Northen Lights (The Klondike) is where he will find his fortune.

Final Thoughts

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck has been long out of print, and the book sells on the secondary market for a lot higher price. We are lucky that Fantagraphics has the stories that make up the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck in vol 4 and 5 of the Don Rosa Library. This is actually the second time that I have read these stories, I have read a lot of comics, and this 12 part story is the best written episodic comic adventure that I have ever been on. Fantagraphics will be re-releasing the 12 part story of the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck in one volume in February 2019.

The one story that is not from the official 12 part story of the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck fits in well in this volume because it is sort of a prequel to the adventure.

It would take a lot of time and money to compile a comic collection that included all of these stories. Anything that takes a lot of time and money would not be approved by Scrooge McDuck.

The bonus content on Don Rosa’s life and the behind the scene content on each story really completes this volume for a comprehensive experience.

I am really looking forward to continuing the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck with the Don Rosa Library Vol. 5.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

You can order the book at the following link:

Don Rosa Library Vol. 4: The Last of the Clan McDuck

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