Wednesday, October 8, 2008

My Latest Gemstone Script: UNCLE SCROOGE # 380.


UNCLE SCROOGE # 380 (Released today: October 08, 2008) contains my latest English language script for Gemstone Publications, which I titled “A Game of One-Cupmanship”.

The original story, as most are today, was produced in Europe by the very talented Kari Korhonen, and it is a sequel to a series of one-page gags by Uncle Scrooge’s creator, Carl Barks, where Scrooge continually finds ways to scam a poor diner owner out of a cup of coffee.

This was actually a fairly famous group of gags that appeared in DELL FOUR COLOR # 386 (Better known as UNCLE SCROOGE # 1), US # 7, US # 10, and US # 12, in the early-to-mid 1950s. All of these gags are also reprinted here, and are deftly scattered throughout the book to set up the issue’s conclusion with “A Game of One-Cupmanship” to marvelous effect! Just another of the many, many things Gemstone and its dedicated editorial staff do so skillfully!

What worked well in the classic one-pagers works even better in this new tale’s ten-page format – as the ante between the two caffeinating-combatants is steadily raised and the frustration level at each defeat for the java merchant brings things to a percolating boil! The escalating gags and superb pacing of Korhonen’s tale takes what Carl Barks did all those years ago to new levels of laughs!

Indeed, this is the outright funniest original story I’ve had to work with since beginning my freelance dialoguing work – and I’ve had some really good ones, particularly from writer Lars Jensen, so the bar is already pretty high! My editor, David Gerstein, told me that I really “…got into the spirit of what Kari was doing!” with a number of additions and twists of my own to add to the fun. Hope you enjoy it!

The issue’s featured story is Don Rosa’sIsland at the Edge of Time” (1993), another superb effort by Rosa which “does right” what the conclusion of the “Bubba Duck Serial” on DUCKTALES did so very wrong! (Watch the DVD, if you don’t know – or don’t remember – what I’m talking about!)


You should buy the book for that alone! But, if you crack a smile at “A Game of One-Cupmanship”, I wouldn’t mind at all! In fact, I might even treat you to a cup of coffee… provided I get it at the price Uncle Scrooge pays! Tough times, you know!

2 comments:

Chris Barat said...

Congrats on your latest writing credit, Joe! Watch for my review in a couple of days.

Nobius said...

I'll have to be on the look out for this issue Joe.