MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Scrooge McDuck is one of the most widely recognized figures in popular culture worldwide. Since his creation by Carl Barks in 1947, Scrooge and his family have created a transnational fandom that has persisted across generations. Barks was called the Good Duck Artist for his superior skill and work ethic, and it was his fans that uncovered his identity and placed him as the greatest Duck artist to ever work. With Barks’s retirement in 1966, the only agreement on what constituted canon among the fandom was Barks’s original publications.

Don Rosa grew up reading Barks’s classic comics, and would eventually follow in his idol’s footsteps after a lifetime in the fan community. While his output was not as prodigious as Barks, Rosa was elevated to Barks’s unofficial successor by the fan community at large with the publication of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Rosa’s imitation of Barks’s style, attention to detail, in-depth knowledge of the Duck universe, and depth of his research has ensured his position as the dominant creator of Duck comics after Carl Barks, a fan ascended to the highest honors possible.

I examine Don Rosa’s position as both a member of the community and as a content creator. His work redefined the character of Scrooge, drawing together the disparate threads of Barks to create a fuller portrait of a character. Rosa drew upon his own memories of the character and his own extensive research to create new stories in line with the pre-existing canon, stories which would fill in blanks and answer questions that had lingered since their initial publication. Rosa wove a new narrative out of the tale of the Duck family, and created a wholly new entry into a self-contained universe (and fan community) that eclipses the original work in some ways.