Epic Hero 4

Tommy Tran ttt_42 at mail.utexas.edu
Sun Oct 15 18:54:02 CET 1995


DON: Sorry about the little mistake about Magica.  I was in a rush at the time
I was writing this paper, and my High School library did not have many resources
available to me for the research of comic books. Many of the "facts" I tried
to recall from memory and some of the "Duck Tales" universe, as there was
where I started following the adventures of $crooge.  I'm one of those 
bookstore readers, who read many of the Gladstone Uncle Scrooge graphic
novels, without having the money to buy them.  When you see my bibliography,
you will see how limited my resources were for research.

Off the top of my head, I remember that in the story that the Magica/Dime
concept was introduced, Magica was collecting the coins of many rich
"people", because she believed that those coins contained some element of 
the luck that helped them make their fortunes.  Magica is sold
McDuck's dime by mistake, and Scrooge ask for it back. etc...

>From what I remember, Magica does believe in the power of the dime's luck,
which she wants to enhance through the spell.  To her the dime is very
powerful because it has been near him for so long.  I figure that Scrooge
is so worried about loosing his dime, that he pays little attention to the
rest of his fortune, much of which is managed by him alone (why spend money
hiring more managers than he needs). But I'll find out how the aura surrounding 
the dime is resolved in your later stories.

I was wondering if you had anything to do with the "Duck Tales" episode of
Scrooges life story, and (because I only vaguely remember it) how much of
it transfers between the two versions.

Well, that is all of the first part of my rambling.  Si erro, monetis me.
If I err, remind me.  (i'm studying for a Latin test, so I decided to
get some practice in.)  On with my paper:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Epics must also contain a grand sweep that embodies the history and 
culture of the country it represents (Merchant).  This is definitely the case, 
as Uncle Scrooge lives through almost 100 years of the countries history.  He 
meets historic characters that both inspire and impel him.  In the grand 
tradition of Mark Twain, Scrooge works for a time on the Mississippi, were he 
searches for the gold of the Drennan Whyte (an actual legend ship of the time) 
(Rosa 2:31).  As the "Buckaroo of the Badlands", he fends off the Jameses and 
"fights in the cattle wars of the old frontier" with Murdo MacKenzie (and
actual 
cattle baron) (Rosa 3:16).  He also receives a great deal of inspiration from 
Teddy Roosevelt in his adventure in the Badlands, who becomes one of Scrooge's 
role models (3:16).  After many adventure, he finally becomes rich in Jack 
London's Yukon.  He meets Wyatt Earp himself, only to have Earp cower to 
"Scrooge McDuck!  The Buckaroo of the Badlands!  The Maverick of the Montana 
Cattle Wars!  The Pizen of Pizen Bluff. . . !  Let me buy you a drink, Mr. 
McDuck" (Rosa 8:2).  McDuck comes to his peak when he is fighting his way
from a 
seedy steam boat owned by a cut-throat:
	"The whole incident was probably exaggerated in the many retellings. . .
But this was the era of the birth of legends, and the non-stop life of 
        Dawson paused that day to watch a new character enter the storybooks 
        alongside Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill . . . Scrooge McDuck, The King of 
        the Klondike!" (Rosa 8:23)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                -Tommy Tran

P.S. BTW, what is the name of the program uses for the variable computer
lettering and what kind of systems does it run on?  If it was mentioned,
I missed it earlier.




More information about the DCML mailing list