It was brought to our attention by Don Rosa in his Facebook group that the Walt Disney Company has decided that it will no longer allow two of his classic stories to be reprinted or be included in any new collection books. You can see an excerpt from the email below:

The email references the two offending stories as “The Richest Duck in the World” and “The Dream of a Lifetime”. The Richest Duck in the World is a Christmas story of Scrooge McDuck inviting his nephew, Donald Duck, and his great nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, to his mansion directly following the events from Christmas on Bear Mountain. This story was originally published in October 1994, and it is the twelfth chapter of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.

It turns out that the banned story is actual the eleventh chapter of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck which is titled “The Empire-Builder of Calisota” which is sometimes referred to as “The Richest Duck in the World” in some European countries. This story was also published in 1994, and it chronicles Scrooge McDuck’s time from 1909 to 1930. In this story Scrooge makes a lot of his great fortune, and in that process alienates himself from all of the people that cares about him including his two sisters. This story also includes a witch doctor and a zombie, Bombie the Zombie that are from an African tribe. Scrooge destroys the village and tricks the witch doctor out of his land of diamond mines for a poor offer. The witch doctor curses Scrooge with a revenge plot of Bombie the Zombie. Bombie wants to hand Scrooge a cursed voodoo doll, and he chases Scrooge for years until Bombie is trapped on an island due to another witch doctor’s binding spell. The depiction of Bombie and the witch doctor from the Africa tribe could be seen as offensive which is why TWDC decided to ban the story. I would think a disclaimer would have worked like we have seen in front of other comic stories, but the direction has already been given to erase the character. I am sure that the original Carl Barks Bombie the Zombie story “Voodoo Hoodoo” from 1949 will also be included in the ban.

Since this story is a chapter of the Eisner Award winning “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”, this means that the complete story of Scrooge’s life will no longer be printed after the current inventory is SOLD OUT. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is my all time favorite graphic novel, and it is required reading for Disney Duck fans. The other story that will no longer be printed is “The Dream of a Lifetime” which also includes some comic pane scenes that include Bombie the Zombie. Donald Duck relives some of Scrooge McDuck’s Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck stories in an Inception like dream world. This is another classic story from the Don Rosa library. There are are a couple of collected editions from Fantagraphics that you can buy these stories before prices sky rocket, and the stories becomes Out of Stock and unavailable forever.

The Complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Deluxe Edition from Fantagraphics includes both “The Empire-Builder of Calisota” and “The Dream of a Lifetime”.

Order: The Complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Deluxe Edition

The standard editions of The Complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck from Fantagraphics also includes these stories. “The Empire-Builder of Calisota” is in volume one and “The Dream of a Lifetime” is in volume two.

Order: The Complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Vol. 1

Order: The Complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Vol. 2

Order: The Complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Vol. 1 and 2 Box Set

The Don Rosa Library Vol. 5: The Richest Duck in the World has “The Empire-Builder of Calisota”.

Order: The Don Rosa Library Vol. 5: The Richest Duck in the World

The Don Rosa Library Vol. 10: The Old Castle’s Other Secret has “The Dream of a Lifetime”. This volume is currently out of stock on Amazon.

The Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 7: Lost in the Andes has the story “Voodoo Hoodoo”.

Order: The Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 7: Lost in the Andes