Promotional texts on Uncle Scrooge comics

[Daniel van Eijmeren]

The information in this email is supplied to me by Poul Frokjar 
in 1998 and 2000. 
 
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Promotional texts on Uncle Scrooge comics

In the 1960s, a lot of the Uncle Scrooge comics contained a promotional
text for the main story inside. At the moment I have no idea if they were
made by Barks himself, but the thought is interesting enough to list the
texts here. (They are removed in "The Carl Barks Library".) 

Uncle Scrooge No. 49 to No. 53 and No. 55 to No. 60 only have the title
mentioned, though a penciled alternate cover version for "The Swamp of No
Return" (US 57) contains the text: 

Uncle Scrooge
battles the
forgetting
machine in~
I DON'T REMEMBER ME! 

Goldkey reprints of Uncle Scrooge No. 63 and No. 65 have the same texts as
the original, but arranged differently. Issue 67 - which contained a
reprint - hasn't got a promotional text on cover. So, maybe this could
indicate that the texts were Barks' idea. But even if so, maybe some of
them were too weird for his editors, which may explain why there's suddenly
the simple line "exciting adventure" on Uncle Scrooge No. 68. 

Another exception could be "House of Haunts" (US 63), for which Barks
originally had the title "His Shining Hour", but was changed by the
editors. Reading through Barks' notes shows that the story was submitted to
the editors on August 3, 1965, while the cover was submitted on September
12, 1965. So, maybe this means that Barks knew about the title change in
advance? 

Also, it seems that after Barks' last story, "King Scrooge the First" 
(US 71), a couple of (Strobl) issues lacked the promotional texts. At 
some stage the editors got this up and running again. So, if Barks had 
no hand in the promotional texts, this would be a *very* clear example of 
coincidence in general. 

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Uncle Scrooge 54 

Why does an elephant have polka dots and a square trunk?
for the answer read THE BILLION-DOLLAR SAFARI! 

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Uncle Scrooge 61 

Follow the ducks on a wild African adventure...
SO FAR NO SAFARI 

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Uncle Scrooge 62 

YEEKS! Advance
to the rear! It's
THE QUEEN
OF THE WILD
DOG PACK 

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Uncle Scrooge 63 

It's spooky! It's kooky!
It's Scrooge and the Beagles in the scary HOUSE OF HAUNTS! 

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Uncle Scrooge 64 

Neither spies,
elephant flies nor
bad guys can keep
Uncle Scrooge away from
THE TREASURE OF MARCO POLO 

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Uncle Scrooge 65 

Tiny green visitors give
Scrooge a chance to make a billion dollars in
MICRO-DUCKS
FROM OUTER SPACE! 

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Uncle Scrooge 66 

A horse runs amuck with a duck out of luck...
THE HEEDLESS HORSEMAN

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Uncle Scrooge 68 

Exciting adventure:
HALL OF THE MERMAID QUEEN! 

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Uncle Scrooge 69 

YIPPY-KY-YI! Scrooge and
his cowducks ride high in
THE CATTLE KING 

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Uncle Scrooge 70 

It's bad luck in big bunches when
Scrooge buys THE DOOM DIAMOND! 

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Uncle Scrooge 71 

Scrooge has
a battle royal
in the royal palace
of Ancient Sagbad...
KING SCROOGE THE FIRST! 

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Best wishes,

--- Daniel