The Seasons are a’ changin! I always welcome the Fall after a hot summer here in North Texas and seeing these covers really puts me in the mood for a cup of hot chocolate and a few hours to simply kick back and read about Donald, Scrooge and the gang as they take me through their adventures throughout the holiday season. I’m not kidding either, I’ve already had two cups of the stuff and now I just need some time with these, as opposed to the history books I’m supposed to be knee deep in already. Anyhow, remember to keep an eye out for this years Giant-Sized Christmas Parade as well! In the meantime, here’s the latest on Uncle Scrooge from The Scoop:
Jelly on toast starts a peaceful morning for many of us. But peace is in the mouth of the beholder. For jam companies, your choice of jelly is really the final step in a furious advertising war! Why did you choose their brand? Why didn’t you choose another? As you eat, one plutocrat cheers while another goes ballistic!
Gemstone’s Uncle Scrooge #381, a new $7.99, 64-page Disney trade paperback, lifts the veil on this sticky-sweet corporate battle. Writer Bruno Concina and awesome Italian artist Lara Molinari, a celebrated creator debuting in North America this issue, serve “Breakfast of Champions,” our opening feature length tale. Desperate to outsell John D. Rockerduck’s Vitajam brand, McDuck Marmalade wants a celebrity spokesduck at any cost. Well, maybe not any cost. Scrooge specifically wants a celeb on the cheap, even if it involves creating one from scratch! And that means enlisting Donald Duck to become an extreme sportsman: skiing death defying cliffs, diving into the ocean’s depths, even climbing up the Eiffel Tower. What’s that you say? Donald usually flops at such daring deeds? Alas, you’re right. But Scrooge is in for a twist when Donald becomes more famous as a failure than he could ever be as a success!
Our backup stories this issue are no slouches either. In Mau Heymans’ “Half-Baked Bakers,” Gladstone Gander’s super luck is put to the test when Scrooge gives both Gladstone and Donald parkside donut stands to manage. Gladstone has never worked a day in his life, and expects to succeed without working now, either. But what happens when you succeed too well? Another look at that same question follows, as Scrooge is forced to unload surplus cash in Carl Barks’ “Spending Money,” a delicious comedy making its first ever comic book reprint in twenty years!
Two trials for Donald round out the book with class. In Jens Hansegård’s “Cleaned and Intervened,” our boy must run Scrooge’s businesses while the latter pays a forced visit to a health farm…except that without Donald’s knowledge, mistrustful Scrooge sneaks home in disguise to supervise things in his own absence. Then, in Kari Korhonen’s “Homeward Hound,” Don is put to the test when his infamous St. Bernard, Bolivar, mysteriously runs away. Where is the hungry hound headed? Might Donald have a startling surprise in store? Sit back for a tale revealing previously undisclosed secrets of the Ducks’ much-maligned mutt!
