Uncle Scrooge #1 (Review)

This Wednesday, Uncle Scrooge #1 (also numbered #405 for long time collectors) arrives from IDW Publishing at comic shops. The last issue of Uncle Scrooge was BOOM! Studios’ #404, dated June, 2011, which hit comic shop shelves four years ago. So for Uncle Scrooge and/or Disney comic collectors, this is a big day.

Perhaps to rope in all of those lifelong Uncle Scrooge fans, IDW selected for their first story Rodolfo Cimino and Romano Scarpa’s “Gigabeagle: King of the Robot Robbers,” which references in its title alone not only the classic Beagle Boys hijinx story in Uncle Scrooge #58, “The Giant Robot Robbers,” but the Duck Tales episode (s1e10) that it inspired, “Robot Robbers,” that is no doubt knocking around in the brains of a vast population of 20-, 30-, and 40-somethings. In the original Robot Robber stories, the robots were used by the Beagle Boys for pillaging, and the sequel runs true to form, with the main difference being the appearance of the robots. In the original Carl Barks story, the robots looked like the stepchild of something out of Planet Comics, and in the animated episode, they looked like children’s toys with hardhats as part of their design. In Cimino and Scarpa’s, the robot looks like a Beagle Boy.

The story starts with some character scenes, in which Uncle Scrooge decides to go looking for trouble because he hasn’t seen the Beagle Boys in months. Scrooge’s tension hits a “crisis mode” described as “terror level nuclear!” and when his nephews take him to their house for some TLC, Scrooge repays them by nervously consuming the contents of their refrigerator and ripping their curtains down in a frustrated rage. What finally slows down Scrooge is a beverage that has never made an appearance in Carl Barks’ stories or Don Rosa’s stories set in Carl Barks’ 1950s era universe. “Courage, Unca Scrooge,” says his nephew, “Have an energy drink! It’ll give you wings!” And of course to the contrary McDuck, it has the reverse effect, finally pinning him to the couch with a purple haze swimming above his head, so that he can be persuaded to take a vacation with his nephews in the Black Forest.

While Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie are sleeping contentedly in their bean bags, Donald is struck with an insomniac fit due to a can of bad beans. When he hears a rumble in the woods, he goes to investigate, and due to the title of the piece, you already know what Donald is going to see by the light of the full moon.

This sequence is a great showcase for Romano Scarpa’s work, and hence another reason why IDW decided to lead with this story. Scarpa is an excellent artist that draws a great Donald and a lovely background. Like Barks and Rosa, Scarpa’s backgrounds vary from the detailed—especially in cinematic, suspense building scenes like this one–to the puffy and cartoony, which is preferred in humorous scenes.

It should come as no surprise to Disney comic enthusiasts that any battle between Scrooge and the Beagle Boys is going to have a clear victor, but the denouement is not by the Disney formula but more by Rube Goldberg’s cartoon physics, and it is amusing to watch it unfold.

Scarpa and Luca Boschi’s “Tinker, Tailor, Scrooge and Sly” is probably the more entertaining piece in this first issue, however, as it is not only a clever crime story about textiles (!!!) but it includes a rare U.S. appearance of Uncle Scrooge’s “Betty,” Brigitta MacBridge, and a rarer appearance of Uncle Scrooge in a dress.  In addiition to these two longer stories, there is a one page gag strip, “Pure Viewing Satisfaction,” by Alberto Savini and Andrea Freccero.  This is a bona fide “uncle joke” that will make you groan.

Parents would probably like to know whether this is a sachharine children’s comic that they’ll dread reading to their kids or genuine all-ages fare that they might enjoy as much or even more than their kids. It is an honest question, and one that I have asked myself recently when I was re-reading the Captain Carrot comics from my childhood only to discover that they were monotonously written at a children’s level only, unlike the Carl Barks and Don Rosa stories that I find myself enjoying more each year that passes. Even in today’s sophisticated comic book market, you still find a few all-ages comics that don’t pass the all-ages test of appealing to the adult reader, although there are a great many that can be enjoyed by any reader, such as Adventure Time, My Little Pony, Spongebob Comics, Oddly Normal, TIny Titans, and Superman Family Adventures. Uncle Scrooge is so far in this last category of comic book reading, with two stories that write to the level of every reader. Sometimes the jokes are “uncle jokes,” but this is Uncle Scrooge, so there isn’t really a better place for them. While these stories aren’t masterpieces of the all-ages comic genre, like the original “The Giant Robot Robbers,” they are successful examples of it and they show the editorial direction of the book.

Uncle Scrooge #1 is enthusiastically recommended for you this week, and based on this first issue, you should add it to your pull list if you’re looking for quality all-ages comic fare either to share with your kids, nieces or nephews, or as a tonic to counter all that gritty mainstream stuff you’re reading. While this isn’t a classic Uncle Scrooge #1 story that will be read for decades, like the original Uncle Scrooge first issue story “Only a Poor Old Man,” IDW’s #1 is a quality first issue of a new entry in the all-ages comic market, and you will be entertained while you read it.