The Empire-Builder from Calisota

Last updated
"The Empire-Builder from Calisota"
Life&TimesofSMcD Issue11 cover.jpg
Original cover of The Empire-Builder from Calisota. Art by Don Rosa.
Story codeD 93288
Alternative title"The Richest Duck in the World"
Story Don Rosa
Ink Don Rosa
Hero Scrooge McDuck
Pages24
Layout4 rows per page
Appearances Scrooge McDuck
Hortense McDuck
Matilda McDuck

"The Empire-Builder from Calisota" or "The Richest Duck in the World" is a 1994 Scrooge McDuck comic by Don Rosa. It is the eleventh of the original 12 chapters in the series The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck . The story takes place from 1909 to 1930 and details Scrooge finishing his quest to become the richest man in the world, during which he becomes hardened and overall hostile towards others.

Contents

The story was first published in the Danish Anders And & Co. #1994-15; the first American publication was in Uncle Scrooge #295, in December 1995.

In February 2023 the story was banned from all future reprints by the intellectual property holder (The Walt Disney Company) of the character Scrooge McDuck. [1]

Plot

When Scrooge visits his Money Bin to see his progress on becoming the richest man in the world, Matilda and Hortense, tired of being left to watch the office while he goes globe-trotting, demand that he either stay in Duckburg to run his business empire, or let them accompany him on his next trip. He reacts to his new secretary Emily Quackfaster with shock and allows Hortense's fiancé Quackmore Duck the position as office manager only on the pretense that "his greedy hope for an inheritance will keep him honest".

Hearing of prime land for diamond mining in Africa, Scrooge takes his sisters with him there and down the Mumbo Jumbo River, where he purchases mining lands from a local tribe for a mere quarter-dollar. This shocks his sisters, to which he responds by dismissing how honest he was in the past due to how long it took for him to get rich, saying that he has "decided to develop new methods".

Scrooge goes to purchase more valuable land for rubber tree plantations from a voodoo tribe, but their chief, Foola Zoola, refuses to sell, angering Scrooge and getting him kicked out in front of his sisters. Humiliated, Scrooge returns with hired mercenaries to burn down the village and tricks Foola Zoola into signing the deed giving him their land, committing the one dishonest deed in his life. He returns to his campsite, only to find that his sisters have returned to Duckburg. Scrooge tries to justify himself with his hardships, but then he hears his deceased father Fergus talking to him about self-respect. Scrooge is ridden with guilt and hopes to make amends, but bumps into a zombie named Bombie, sent by Foola Zoola as his revenge. However, Scrooge is able to escape when Bombie is confused by his real appearance.

Scrooge goes to a railroad to follow his sisters home, but the next train back home won't leave for another week. He takes a cheaper ride by boat to Europe, where he spends a year increasing his profits. At the polar ice cap, he tries to finance Robert Peary's expedition so he can buy the North Pole, but is turned down. He then comes across Bombie again, and during another attempt to fool him with his appearance, Bombie falls into a crevice and gets sealed in ice. Later, Scrooge receives a telegram from Saint Petersburg inviting him to the palace of Czar Nicholas II of Russia, where he buys Fabergé eggs in bulk; Nicholas points Scrooge to the Candy-Striped Ruby that inspired the eggs, and Scrooge retrieves it from bandits in the Asian steppes.

Scrooge begins to return home on the RMS Titanic, it crashes into an iceberg containing Bombie, freeing him. As the Titanic sinks, so does Bombie, and Scrooge escapes on a boat, during which he realizes that a lot of cargo and treasure had gone down with the ship. Seeking opportunity, he delays his return home again to search the Titanic for treasure and continue his worldwide expedition. He begins to use a train to ship his collected money home. In Baghdad, he is attacked by bandits and shoved off a cliff, but lands inside one of the train's loads of money, and he develops his famous "money swim". He also tries this with a load of coal, only to wind up with a smashed noggin.

Years later, in the South Pacific, Scrooge makes an offer with a village chief for their coconuts, during which he comes across Bombie once again. He pays the chief his Candy-Striped Ruby in exchange for having the witch doctor cast a spell that will bind Bombie to their island for at least 30 years, freeing Scrooge to continue his global journey.

After 27 years of buying properties and increasing his profits, Scrooge finally returns home to a newly-grown Duckburg, now a cold, hard man. He rejects the key to the city (smashing it over the mayor's head) and blows off a large group of beggars in front of the Money Bin. He comes home to a welcoming gathering from his family, including Hortense and Quackmore's children Della and Donald. However, he ignores them too and orders Quackfaster to install booby traps outside for the beggars and give him an audit of the money in the Bin. Hortense yells at Scrooge for blowing them off, but he refuses to listen. Sickened by this, his family leaves, and Donald kicks him in the tailfeathers. After remembering his childhood, Scrooge is overwhelmed and goes to apologize, but he then finds out from a letter that he has passed the Maharajah of Howduyustan and finally achieved his life's goal: he is now the richest person in the world. The comic ends with Scrooge letting out a loud cackle in triumph as Matilda laments that now he only has "money and all that money can buy".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scrooge McDuck</span> Disney comics character

Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 for The Walt Disney Company by Carl Barks. Appearing in Disney comics, Scrooge is a Scottish-born American anthropomorphic Pekin duck. Like his nephew, Donald Duck, he has a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a red or blue frock coat, top hat, pince-nez glasses, and spats varying in color. He is portrayed in animation as speaking with a Scottish accent. Originally intended to be used only once, Scrooge became one of the most popular characters in the Disney comics world, as well as Barks' signature work. Scrooge is an extremely rich duck who lives in the fictional city of Duckburg in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota, whose claimed location is in real-world California, United States.

<i>The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck</i> 1992–1994 Disney comics series

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck (Lo$) is a serial of 12 comic book stories written and drawn by Don Rosa, lettered by Todd Klein, first published by the Danish publisher Egmont in the magazine Anders And & Co. from 1992–94 and later in English in Uncle Scrooge #285 through #296 (1994–96). The stories chronicle the in-universe biography of Scrooge McDuck before his introduction in 1947. The stories were later collected and published together in a single volume. Rosa later published additional stories which expanded on Scrooge's biography. These were released as The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clan McDuck</span> Disney comics characters

The Clan McDuck is a fictional Scottish clan of cartoon ducks from which Disney character Scrooge McDuck is descended. Within the Donald Duck universe, the clan is related to the American Duck family through the marriage of Hortense McDuck and Quackmore Duck, Donald and Della Duck's parents, giving both of them partial Scottish ancestry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gyro Gearloose</span> Disney comics character

Gyro Gearloose is a cartoon character created in 1952 by Carl Barks for Disney comics. An anthropomorphic chicken, he is part of the Donald Duck universe, appearing in comic book stories as a friend of Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, and anyone who is associated with them. He was also featured in the animated series DuckTales. Gyro first appeared in the Carl Barks comic "Gladstone's Terrible Secret", and was the regular lead character in 4-page backup stories in Barks' issues of Uncle Scrooge, starting with issue #13 and continuing through #41.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flintheart Glomgold</span> Disney comics character

Flintheart Glomgold is a cartoon character created in 1956 by Carl Barks. He is a South African American Pekin Duck and the business rival of Scrooge McDuck, usually portrayed as an ambitious, ruthless, and manipulative businessman who shares many of the same qualities as Scrooge—the drive for massive wealth, and the cunning and creativity to obtain the same—but he lacks any of Scrooge's tendencies towards generosity and compassion. In Don Rosa's The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, he is said to be a Boer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Duck universe</span> Fictional universe involving Donald Duck and related Disney characters

The Donald Duck universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting of stories involving Disney cartoon character Donald Duck, as well as Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Scrooge McDuck, and many other characters. Life in the Donald Duck universe centers on the city of Duckburg and is a part of the larger Mickey Mouse universe. In addition to the original comic book stories by Carl Barks, the Duckburg cast was featured in Little Golden Books, television series such as DuckTales (1987–1991), Darkwing Duck (1991–1992), and the DuckTales reboot (2017–2021), and video games such as DuckTales (1989), QuackShot (1991), Goin' Quackers (2000), and DuckTales: Remastered (2013).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beagle Boys</span> Disney comics characters

The Beagle Boys are a group of cartoon characters created in 1951 by Carl Barks for the Donald Duck universe. They are a family clan of organized criminals who constantly try to rob Scrooge McDuck. Their introduction and first appearance was in "Terror of the Beagle Boys", although in this story they only appear in the last frame and have no lines. They appear again in the next issue in a similar fashion, in The Big Bin on Killmotor Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duck family (Disney)</span> Disney comics characters

The Duck family is a fictional family of cartoon ducks related to Disney character Donald Duck. The family is also related to the Coot, Goose, and Gander families, as well as the Scottish Clan McDuck. Besides Donald, the best-known members of the Duck family are Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Donald's triplet nephews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John D. Rockerduck</span> Disney comics character

John D. Rockerduck is a cartoon character created in 1961 by The Walt Disney Company for the Duck universe. He is one of Scrooge McDuck's main rivals in Disney comics. His name is a play on that of John D. Rockefeller, the American capitalist and philanthropist. Though a relatively obscure character in the United States, Rockerduck is an example of a character who has become notable in the foreign market, particularly in stories produced for the Italian market. He made his first animated appearance in 2019, in the second season of the DuckTales reboot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Old Castle's Other Secret or A Letter from Home</span>

"The Old Castle's Other Secret", alternately titled "A Letter from Home", is Don Rosa's 2004 sequel to "The Crown of the Crusader Kings". The title is a reference to "The Old Castle's Secret", which was the second story to feature Scrooge McDuck and was the first in which he was a starring character in an adventure with his nephews.

"The Money Champ" was originally published in Uncle Scrooge #27 in September, 1959 and is the second of three stories written and drawn by Carl Barks in which Scrooge's rival Flintheart Glomgold appears. Glomgold first appeared in "The Second-Richest Duck" in Uncle Scrooge #15.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">His Majesty, McDuck</span>

"His Majesty, McDuck" is a Donald Duck story by Don Rosa, first published in Uncle Scrooge Adventures #14 in August 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Richest Duck in the World</span>

"The Richest Duck in the World" or "The Recluse of McDuck Manor" is a 1994 Scrooge McDuck comic by Don Rosa. It is the twelfth of the original 12 chapters in the series The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. The story takes place on Christmas Day, 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Invader of Fort Duckburg</span>

"The Invader of Fort Duckburg" is a 1994 Scrooge McDuck comic by Don Rosa. It is the tenth of the original 12 chapters in the series The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. The story takes place in 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Billionaire of Dismal Downs</span>

"The Billionaire of Dismal Downs" is a 1993 Scrooge McDuck comic by Don Rosa. It is the ninth of the original 12 chapters in the series The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. The story takes place from 1898 to 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Beagle Boys vs. the Money Bin</span>

"The Beagle Boys vs. the Money Bin" is a 2001 Donald Duck comic by Don Rosa. Rosa's inspiration for it was mostly to get a chance to thoroughly demonstrate the Money Bin, invented by Carl Barks.

"The Sharpie of the Culebra Cut" is a 2001 Disney comics story by Don Rosa. Rosa intended it as an "in-between" story to accompany his anthology The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, happening chronologically between chapter 10: "The Invader of Fort Duckburg" and chapter 11: "The Empire-Builder from Calisota". The story is set in 1906.

"Last Sled to Dawson" is a 1988 Scrooge McDuck comic by Don Rosa. It is Rosa's third full-length Uncle Scrooge story after The Son of the Sun and Cash Flow, both published the previous year. Last Sled is the first story in which Rosa delves into Scrooge's past life, on his journey to becoming the richest man in the world, and so acts as a spiritual sequel to Carl Barks's classic Scrooge story "Back to the Klondike", describing his experiences as a gold prospector during the Klondike Gold Rush.

References

  1. Schreur, Brandon (2023-02-14). "Disney Reportedly Permanently Bans Two Don Rosa Uncle Scrooge Stories". CBR. Retrieved 2024-01-22.