Uncle Scrooge (Carl Barks Stories)

Barks’s Uncle Scrooge stories center on the richest duck in Duckburg, whose money bin and restless competitiveness send him into schemes, travel and conflict. The Scrooge-led comic begins with “Only a Poor Old Man” in 1952.

The stories give a comic vice, avarice, enough depth to power many kinds of plot. Scrooge can be ridiculous, resourceful and vulnerable in the same adventure.

Adventure comedy supplies the main form. Wealth is both the character’s obsession and a way to test what he values beyond it.

Barks makes chases, contraptions and locations crisp and legible. His control of pacing lets large adventures retain the speed of a good gag.