Bear Mountain and Lo$12

[Daniel van Eijmeren]

ARIE FACHRISAL, 27 FEBRUARY 2000:

> And also, i am a bit confused of the Lo$ story. Perhaps anyone can
> lighten me up a little? In Barks' Christmas on Bear Mountain and Lo$ 12,
> Scrooge is two different personalities. In Bear Mt, Scrooge has the 
> strength and ill will to "test" DD but in Lo$ Scrooge meeting DD for the
> first time seemed so "helpless" or "powerless"??? How can this be??? 
> i know my Barks knowledges are minimum but i am really confused about 
> this one so i thought i'll ask.

I think there are two answers to your question:

The first is simple and very factual, both stories were made by two
different artists with a different approach to the same character(s). 

As second answer, assuming the two stories are one big story, an 
"explanation" could be that Scrooge's visit to Bear Mountain gave him 
sad feelings about not having had a real family life himself, which 
briefly turns the angerness and bitterness at the beginning of "Christmas
of Bear Mountain" into the sadness at the beginning of Lo$12. For that 
reason, I think that the Scrooges in both stories could match together. 
I have more problems with the difference of character treatment in 
general (see answer 1), which in my opinion becomes very clear and 
even a bit forced when looking at both stories as if they're one.

So far my answers. Elaborating on the second one, I want to add that
I think that, when taking into account that Barks is not Rosa and vice 
versa, the "Life of Scrooge" is a masterpiece in making a coherent 
story out of the many many Barks stories. I think that a lot (if not all)
Duck readers/artists have dreamt up some kind of explanation of the Duck
family and history in their heads from time to time, so it's very exciting 
to see that one of them has actually been able to write and draw a real 
comic book story out of it. My opinion is that as long as one is strong 
enough to keep his/her own imagination of the Duck family and history 
intact, the 12-chapter "Life of Scrooge" is a great must-read and re-read.


Greetings,

--- Daniel

- "Phooey! Who's afraid of bears?"
- "You are! But let's go, anyway!"