theliterarystoriesauthors

WDCS107 'The Super Snooper Story' - 1949

Synopsis:
The nephews read some nonsense about a super snooper and Donald gets angry. But he accidentially acquires super powers himself...

Comments:
Barks wrote his story with Donald equipped with super powers like Superman, the brainchild of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

WDCS112 'The Rip van Winkle Story' - 1950

Synopsis:
The nephews want to skate but Donald makes them go down south with him. There they pull a trick on their uncle making him believe that he has been sleeping for twenty years!

Comments:
Based loosely on the American author Washington Irving's story Rip van Winkle about a Dutch immigrant to the USA, Rip van Winkle, and his twenty-year nap in the Catskill Mountains before waking up to a much-changed world.

U$06 'Tralla La' - 1954

Synopsis:
Scrooge is stressed and after having reached his breaking point he travels with Donald and the nephews to Tralla-La where the concept of money is unknown. Until they arrive...

Comments:
The initial idea was a desire to show a billion of something (in this case it ended up being bottle caps). This was combined with the 1937 Frank Capra movie Lost Horizon (adapted from a novel by James Hilton) which Barks had recently seen so he decided to place his ducks in the unwelcoming mountains of the Himalayas.

U$22 The Golden River - 1958

Synopsis:
Scrooge buys a valley for peace and quiet. But a waterfall there looks like it is flowing gold!

Comments:
Barks got the basic plot from the British philosopher and author John Ruskin's short story The King of The Golden River, a fairy tale set in the land of Stiria telling about the good-hearted Gluck and his mean older brothers, Schwartz and Hans, who seek gold and get their just rewards!

U$25 The Flying Dutchman - 1959

Synopsis:
Scrooge goes hunting for a mysterious gold-laden ship which sails without a crew. Donald tags along with his fishing rod...

Comments:
The basic plot comes from an old tale that tells about a Dutch captain who was renowned for the uncanny speed of his trips between Holland and Java, and was suspected of being in league with the devil because of it. During a storm at Cape of Good Hope the captain made a remark that he would not retreat, but would continue his attempt to round the cape even if it took until Judgement Day. For that blasphemous remark he and his ship were doomed to sail the high seas forever. The tale has enticed many writers. Among the most famous is the British author and naval captain Frederick Marryat who wrote The Phantom Ship.

U$26 Krankenstein Gyro - 1959

Synopsis:
Following a trip to the movies, Gyro is inspired to create life. Now he waits while his egg is being hatched under Cluckery Cluck...

Comments:
Judging from just the title there can be little doubt that Barks had the British author Mary Shelley's novel about Dr. Frankenstein and his monster in mind when he dreamed up his comic book version about creating life from dead objects.

WDCS231 The Wax Museum - 1959

Synopsis:
Donald is the new night watchman at the Wax Museum. It would be an easy job if the figures just wouldn't move around all the time...

Comments:
The museum is swarming with both real and ficticious characters. One of them is the British archer Robin Hood of whom many authors have written flattering and colourful tales. One of the most noted is Sir Walter Scott who used the character in his novel Ivanhoe.

U$29 Hound of the Whiskervilles - 1960

Synopsis:
Scrooge is reminded of his Scottish background and he travels to Scotland in order to find the family's tartan. But a special hound is waiting!

Comments:
Both the title and the basic plot are clear references to the British author Arthur Conan Doyle's novel Hound of the Baskervilles featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. In FC0308 Dangerous Disguise from 1951 Barks even made a caricature of the famous detective in the shape of a Scotland Yard policeman who suddenly emerged from under the passenger seat of a train.

U$49 The Loony Lunar Gold Rush - 1964

Synopsis:
Scrooge is talking about the folly of gold-thirsty people when it is announced that gold is found on the Moon. Now it's every man for himself...

Comments:
The brawl scene in the space ship was inspired by the poem The Shooting of Dan McGrew by the American Robert William Service.

WDCS288 Hero of the Dike - 1964

Synopsis:
A small hole in Duckburg's dike is discovered and Gladstone runs for help while Donald puts his finger in the hole to close it up. Not a longterm solution...

Comments:
Barks was inspired by Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge's story The Hole in the Dike, which describes a Dutch boy who saves a town by sticking his finger in the hole of a flooded dike.