What is it about wacky rich guys wanting to make spectacular purchases that they know are impossible, but they go on about it anyway?
Of late, our president has made a lot of noise (he does that so frequently, to where that's all it is - noise) about buying Greenland! ...Will he turn it into another golf course, and call it "Putting-Green Land"?
We don't do politics at this Blog, it's far too nasty for my tastes and sensibilities, and we're not about to start here - beyond noting the amusing absurdity of this particular instance of the "noise"...
...And, the haunting feeling that I've seen something like this before!
Today, I remembered exactly where I've seen it!
Yes, it was the opening panel of UNCLE SCROOGE # 46 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: December, 1963) - and reprinted in issue # 149 (February, 1978)! ...Story and art by Carl Barks!
...I wonder if Uncle Scrooge ever considered Greenland, when compiling that most incredible "shopping-list"!
What is it about wacky rich guys wanting to make spectacular purchases that they know are impossible, but they go on about it anyway? ...What, indeed? ...We may never know!
...BUT, if anyone is willing to help me become one of those "wacky rich guys", I'll be happy to tell you what I found out... when I try to buy Disney, Warner Bros, and the entire New York Metropolitan Area - and move the two-former, to the latter! ...Deal?
...Oh, it's the RICH part I need the help with... Not the WACKY!
8 comments:
Brilliant connection, that!
Mind you, a bit more's come to light about the whole Greenland business, and it actually wasn't the first time the American government made that particular offer: the first one predates the Barks story. Though the negotiations at the time had been secret, so it can't have had much of an influence on Barks, though certainly the general attitude of treating other people's countries like pawns to be disposed of at one's leisure must have.
(That first attempt, of course, being in the late 1940's, was so that America would have a foothold from which to push back against Brutopia… er, I mean, the U.S.S.R. This time around, it's, as I understand it, a matter of precious ores that Greenland is unwilling to exploit for ecological reasons, whereas America would have no such compunctions if it were up to them… that and some more cold-war-esque politicking, as they also want to block a potential arctic trade route from China.)
Achille:
Thank you! It’s a shame the intelligentsia in the United States doesn’t read Duck comics, because surely SOMEONE would have made that connection before me! …And exploited it for all the ink or camera-time that could be wrung from it!
The media here HAS poked, prodded, turned upside-down, pulled inside-out, and cavity-searched every angle and aspect of this outrageous matter, including that it was attempted, or at least considered, in the past. …And this single panel of Scrooge McDuck and his incredible wish-list would be perfect fodder for them!
…But it took this humble blogger to come up with it, because comics (at least those that aren’t turned into overblown cinematic CGI-fests) just aren’t a “real thing” in the US!
And, yes… This version of the United States would very definitely exploit the natural resources of Greenland! It’s nice to know that Denmark stands, metaphorically, as our “Junior Woodchucks of the World”… with a fitting emphasis on “World”!
So ironic that a device intended to be satirical and humorous has a real-life counterpart that makes the NEWS!
Don't forget that this Barks epic was re-printed in "Walt Disney Comics Digest #10." I did not even have to look it up, because it's so indelibly etched into my memory! This was a GREAT story! The Digest folks divided it into a two-parter within the same issue, a practice I wonder about and am not sure I agree with. But in this instance, they left off on a perfect cliff-hanger with HDL in great distress. Sure made me want to flip to the story's conclusion.
A heavily revised version of the story appeared on Duck Tales, with Donald making one of his rare appearances to excellent effect. In fact, it was episodes like this that made me wish they had incorporated Donald into the cast of regular characters instead of occasional guesting. It is one of my favorite DT episodes, just as this Uncle Scrooge tale is classic Barks. (I realize this is a later Barks tale, so some purists may feel he had passed his peak, but I consider some of the later CB work to be as good as if not an improvement on some of his earlier work. Just my personal assessment.)
Scarecrow:
“Lost Beneath the Sea” is actually one of my favorite Barks Scrooge adventures of the entire run! I, too, read it first in Walt Disney Comics Digest, via which I read many of the older issues of UNCLE SCROOGE in their first American reprints.
Naturally, I have a soft spot for the later Barks stories… (A:) They were the ones that introduced me to the character. (B:) As you know, I love the whole sixties humor and / or adventure esthetic in general!
What made this one stand out all the more was that, instead of typically working for Scrooge, Donald was working for HIS OWN advancement as a reporter! That was standing the “old dynamic” on its ear, eh?
…Oh, and of course now its predicting / parodying of certain outrageous world events over five and a half decades in the future! As you say, when “satire” actually becomes “the news”!
I wonder what old Unca Carl would think of that? …Moreover, I wonder what kind of wonderfully satirical stories he’d write about THESE… um, rather interesting times!
If Uncle Scrooge bought Greenland, would he rename it Greenbackland?
Ugh. Nevermind...
Actually, he WOULD!
And congrats on coming up with that pun before I did!
Although "Lost Beneath the Sea" is a personal favorite of mine (and I, too, first read it in Walt Disney Comics Digest #10), I have heard that Carl Barks later had second thoughts about it, and maybe also about "For Old Dime's Sake." Both stories implied that the old #1 dime really had some kind of magic power as a good luck charm. But, in later years, Barks said that the coin had no supernatural power. Its only value (apart from its sentimental value to Scrooge) was as a symbol of thrift and a work ethic, the true sources of McDuck's wealth.
TC:
So, tragically, Magica De Spell’s entire reason for being, was based on a misconception… or a later-recanted or disproven fact? …So sorry for her!
By now, she probably pursues the Dime out of the same habitually-reflexive, long-forgotten reasoning from which Wile E. Coyote pursues the Road Runner!
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