The Maltese Falcon

[M.J. Prior]

Don Rosa's story "The Crown of the Crusader Kings" starts 
with a scene in $crooge's Trophy Room. At the bottom of 
the first page Donald dusts off a golden statuette of a 
falcon, encrusted with jewels. Several readers may have 
been wondering from which Barks-story this falcon might 
be. Several other readers may have recognized this falcon 
as the Maltese Falcon from the 1941 movie of the same 
title.

I saw this movie just yesterday and I realized that the 
Falcon's presence in the Trophy Room is not just a random 
funny reference, but something slightly more meaningful. 
"The Maltese Falcon" starts with a text screen which 
explains the Falcon's history:

"In 1539, the Knight Templars [sic] of Malta paid tribute 
to Charles V of Spain, by sending him a Golden Falcon 
encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels -- --- but 
pirates seized the galley carrying this priceless token 
and the fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a mystery to 
this day ---"

The similarities between the Falcon and the Crown are 
obvious: both are treasures of the Knights Templar, both 
are made of gold and encrusted with rarest jewels, both 
are sent away on a ship as a tribute to please a foreign 
monarch. It looks like Don has taken this text from "The 
Maltese Falcon" as a starting point for his story about 
the Crusader Kings. The Falcon's presence is not just a 
reference, but homage where homage is due.

And further: There is a striking similarity between 
Cleopatra's tomb in Rosa's "The Guardians of the Lost 
Libary" and "The Lost Charts of Columbus" and Cleopatra's 
courtroom in "Astérix chez Cléopatre", page 2. (Not only 
the huge falcon, but also some of the paintings on the 
wall.)

Best regards,

Michiel Prior.