WALT DISNEY COMICS & STORIES #604-606
"The Universal Solvent"
Written and Drawn by Don Rosa
Colored by Susan Daigle-Leach

Published by Gladstone Comics

Reviewed by Alex Bernstein

Think about this:

One of the top five greatest modern comics creators hasn't been published in the U.S. for the last two years and may never be published here again. Oh, he's widely published - across Europe, Africa, Asia. And the irony is that both he and what he writes and draws is quintessentially American. I'm speaking here of Don Rosa, a man honored with no less than two Eisner awards and whom the SLINGS AND ARROWS COMIC GUIDE calls the "spiritual heir" to Carl Barks.

And what does Don do? He tells Duck stories. Phenomenal Duck stories. (That's Donald and Scrooge, et al, to you and me.) But no one in the U.S. wants to publish them; certainly not Disney. They say there's no market for them.

This my friends, is what we call a Great Crime of the 21st Century.

Let's get the obvious out of the way, first. If you've never read Duck stories, you need to. From the 40's to the 60's, Carl Barks (who died recently at 99) was the entire foundation for Disney comics - writing and drawing sophisticated, hilarious stories for "children" - paralleled only in the world by TINTIN and ASTERIX. Barks' sense of scope, history and comedy transcended "funny animal" comics. In the golden age of the industry, he was only ever matched by fellow masters Eisner, Kirby and Herge.

In "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" (and all his other Duck work), Don Rosa fully delineates Barks' universe, bringing to it a dynamic, modern-day sensibility without losing a whit of characterization or credibility.

From that famous first dime earned as a shoeshine boy in 1877, Rosa's saga is a triptych worthy of all Scroogiana. Mixing Barksian lore, Citizen Kane and his own extremely well-rounded sense of American history, Rosa takes Scrooge from Scotland to the Mississippi - from the old West to the Yukon. Finding fortunes and losing them, over and over, he inches ever closer towards his destiny of becoming "the richest duck on Earth."

Here we find the ultimate tale of American courage, fortitude and plain-old-fashioned stubbornness. "Every cent I made I earned it square!" But the greatest accomplishment here is Rosa's believably exploring the heart and mind of Scrooge in ways that simply wouldn't have occurred to Barks. In the final issues, we see an older and ever richer Scrooge, falling into isolationism, infirmity and even self-loathing. Only through the arrival of Donald and his nephews does Scrooge finally experience redemption and revitalization.

The story is at turns heartbreaking, poignant and triumphant. And always hilarious and brilliantly rendered and colored. Additionally, Rosa provides heavy annotation for all 12 (plus) chapters. And in his use of detail, Rosa is matched only (in comics) by Alan Moore. And Alan can't draw.

For me, Rosa stories are like eating candy. However, of all his works, "Life and Times" is not my favorite. No, alongside "Watchmen" and "The Coming of Galactus" (and a Barks' story, of course) I round out my personal Top 10 Greatest Comics Stories with Rosa's "The Universal Solvent" from WALT DISNEY COMICS & STORIES #604-606.

A gripping, breathtaking yarn with all the earmarks of classic Scrooge: the old duck, Donald and the boys head to the earth's core to retrieve a dangerous solvent literally threatening to destroy the planet. The story has brilliant twists and turns. It's educational. And, as an edge-of-your-seat thriller, it's perhaps the greatest use of serialization since Captain Marvel's Monster Society of Evil.

All of Rosa's comics in America were published by Disney (briefly) and the incredibly well-intentioned (and now 100% defunct) Gladstone Comics. The comics referred to above are still available online from Gladstone and at very reasonable prices.

Don Rosa continues to write and draw for audiences around the world who eagerly await new chapters about Ducks. Unfortunately, Don can only read English - and can't understand the various languages his work is printed in.

And what's worse, you and I can't read them, either.

Both stories HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for children and adults of all ages.
Alex Bernstein is the Reviews editor for PopImage.com.

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