Epic Hero 1

[Tommy Tran]

(Well, it seems that this message to the list was stuck in a server
somewhere, so here it is again.  If you did get this, then I have no idea
what is
going on.)


This the first paragraph of a paper that I had written last year that I
though you all would find interesting.  The idea for the paper came out 
just after a conversation about epics, and who was the American epic
hero.  After just finished reading the LO$:King of the Klondike and
of course Scrooge popped into my mind.  Subsequent paragraphs will be
mailed later, I don't want to take too much of your time.  Hey, this 
may be going too far, but that's what I do.

On another note, I'd like to congradulate you Mr Rosa on LO$ 11.
There is something new to back me up if I hear one more time that
Uncle Scrooge is a "kiddie" comic.  It is, but kid are much
more mature that many tend to think.  I'd say that the few compete 
comics maturity wise (and maturity not meaning the inclusion of
excessive sex and violence) were Batman, the X-files, and sometime
the X-men.

Now that I've got my shpiel(?) out of the way, on with the paper.

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Tommy Tran
Mrs. Fanett
Independent Study English
24 May 1995

Uncle Scrooge McDuck
An American Epic Hero

	In 1987, the animated Disney television series Duck Tales was launched,
marking the passing of a torch to another generation.  It introduced thousands 
of young children and reminded many old of the adventures of one Scrooge
McDuck, 
a tightwad Scottish millionaire, the Richest Duck in the World.  The show's 
roots date back to 1947, when an anonymous comic book writer / artist named
Carl 
Barks created Scrooge McDuck as a bit character in a Donald Duck Christmas 
story.  The character's popularity grew, and around the world Uncle Scrooge
is a 
familiar name to any sophisticated comic book fan ("Barks, Carl" 39-40).
Carl's 
character had a profound influence in America as well.  "In its day, 'Uncle 
Scrooge' was in fact America's best selling comic book -- an early shared 
influence on a generation that would later, in the '60s, revolt against the 
uptight tedium of everyday affluence " (Miller 76).  Uncle Scrooge McDuck, ". . 
. the embodiment of home-grown pluck and made-in-U.S.A. materialism" (Cocks 78) 
deserves the status of an American Epic Hero, as his life story fits the 
characteristics of traditional national epics, ". . . Scrooge and his creator 
Carl Barks belong in the great mainstream of American folklore" (78).  Scrooge 
McDuck's life story, as chronicled in Don Rosa's serial, "The Life and Times of 
Scrooge McDuck", and Carl Barks' tale "Only a Poor Old Duck" contain the 
characteristics of a literary epic, including the epic hero: Scrooge McDuck.

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                                                -TOMMY TRAN
                                                ttt_42 at mail.utexas.edu


P.S.  Another conspiracy society would be the Illuminati.  Just thought
I'd say so.

P.P.S.  I recieved a 90 out of 100 on this paper (for the numerous grammer 
errors, but what do you expect at 2:00 in the morning).