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. With the release of Volume 10, The Old Castle’s Other Secret, the Don Rosa Library is now complete. All 88 Disney duck stories by Don that he worked on between 1987 and 2006 are now available in this magnificent must own collection.

The Old Castle’s Other Secret

Don Rosa Library Vol. 10 is 224 pages, and it includes stories published between 2002 and 2006. Vol. 10 was released on November 13th, 2018. 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. I am glad that it is included in this volume and every volume of the Don Rosa Library.

Don Rosa Library Vol. 10 is available in hardcover and Kindle versions. It is also included in a two pack that includes both Don Rosa Library Vol. 9 and Vol. 10. A link to buy this book can be found at the end of this review.

Included Stories

There are 6 Disney Duck stories included in the Don Rosa Library Vol. 10:

• The Dream of a Lifetime!

• Trash or Treasure
• A Letter From Home, or the Old Castle’s Secret
• The Black Knight Glorps Again!
• The Magnificent Seven (Minus 4) Caballeros!
• The Prisoner of White Agony Creek

The Dream of a Lifetime! feels like a great tribute story to Don Rosa’s career. His role in creating stories for Carl Bark’s duck characters really was a dream of his lifetime, and in this story Scrooge McDuck goes through several dream sequences that takes the reader through many of the settings of his the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck as well as well as some of the additional supplement stories of that literary masterpiece. Those dreams quickly become nightmares when the real Beagle Boys “borrow” an adventure from Gyro that will allow them to go into Scrooge’s dream to try and get the combination to enter his Money Bin. Donald enters Scrooge’s dream as well to rescue him from the Beagle Boys. This was a great story that had a best of Don Rosa feel to it, and it is a perfect fit for the final volume of the Don Rosa Library.

Scrooge McDuck is a hoarder. If he throws anything away, for him, that is the same as throwing away money. In Trash or Treasure, Donald helps him clean out a closet that is in much need of some organization, but one duck’s trash may be another duck’s treasure.

A Letter From Home, or the Old Castle’s Secret is a continuation of a story from the Don Rosa Library Vol. 9, The Crown of the Crusader Kings. In this story, we get the return of Scrooge’s sister Matilda. She is currently thw living caretaker of Castle McDuck when Scrooge, Donald, and the boys visit Dismal Downs on a hunt for the Treasury of the Templar. This is a great treasure hunt adventure that also adds some reconciliation for the relationship between Scrooge and his family.

The Black Knight Glorps Again! is the third and final story revolving around the Universal Solvent that we were first introduced to in the story The Universal Solvent from the Don Rosa Library Vol. 6. The second story in the saga was The Black Knight from the Don Rosa Library Vol. 7. In this story, Arpin Lusene is in Duckburg looking for his Black Knight armor. What makes the armor so special and dangerous is that it is covered in Universal Solvent so Arpin can use the armor to break into steal anything that he wants, and he has his sights on Scrooge’s Money Bin and treasure collection for a final score before he retires. Scrooge and Gyro have the armor hidden in a secret hiding spot.

The Magnificent Seven (Minus 4) Caballeros! is an absolute gem in this volume’s collection. Here we are treated to Don Rosa’s second story featuring the Three Caballeros. Huey, Dewey, and Louie notice that Donald has lost his smile. They send him to Rio to deliver some Jr. Woodchuck badges, but their hidden agenda is that Donald meets up with Jose and Panchito after he delivers the badges. The Three Caballeros go on an adventure through Brazil that leads to them being heroes by stopping a wildlife trapper, and they end up discovering a mine of jewels. I loved this adventure story, and I would read an entire series of Three Caballeros stories by Don Rosa. Unfortunately, he only wrote this one and The Three Caballeros Ride Again which is in Don Rosa Library Vol. 9.

We head back to the Klondike in The Prisoner of White Agony Creek for another supplemental story in the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Goldie slips something into Scrooge’s coffee in an attempt to steal his golden goose egg. Scrooge decides that he needs to take her to his claim to teach her how hard it is to find gold the right way. They spend the month together and get quite attached. A rescue team of western legends try to rescue Goldie, but does she really want to be rescued. Don’t miss their first kiss. I am not normally a shipper of fictional characters, but I ship Scrooge and Goldie. (Note: Don’t forget to remove the shipping comment before publishing review.)

Final Thoughts

It is hard to pick a favorite Don Rosa Library volume. It is like picking which kid is your favorite. With that said, this volume is definitely one of my favorites from the series. There is so many great stories and content in this final volume.

Fantagraphics has been a great supporter and friend of our show and blog with allowing us to go on this journey and educate ourselves in the works of Don Rosa. I refer to these books as comprehensive text books, and I feel like this library is must read required reading for Disney Duck fans. Thanks again Fantagraphics.

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 behind the scenes content on each story really completes this volume for a comprehensive experience.

There is an extensive collection of different comic covers in the back of the book. Along with the comic covers is a section featuring pinup posters that Don created. I want to own these pinup posters. The posters are all stunning, and I can’t wait to hear which one is your favorite. I hope to see some at a comic convention soon…especially the Flintheart Glomgold version.

A fitting finale for the Don Rosa Library is a bonus comic story by Thomas Schroder and Marco Rota titled A Hot Meeting. In the story, Scrooge goes to a comic convention to meet Don Rosa to get a copy of the Don Rosa Library Vol. 1 signed. Magica follows Scrooge to try to catch him off guard to steal his number one dime. Don saves the day and defeats Magica by feeding her a bowl of his homegrown chiles that he keeps at his booth. Anybody that has been to a comic convention to meet Don Rosa knows about Don’s homegrown chiles.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

You can order the book at the following link:

Don Rosa Library Vol. 10: The Old Castle’s Other Secret

Don Rosa Library Vol. 9 and 10 Combo Pack

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