Carl Barks invented a large number of characters for his numerous Disney comic book stories. Most of the primary ones still flourish today. This is also true for a character that was created to be an arch-nemesis for Scrooge McDuck. His name is Flintheart Glomgold and he is very popular in new stories in a number of countries. Still, Barks dropped him after just 3 adventure stories, because his personality did not contribute to Barks' storyline developments, and in interviews he aired his frustrations of having invented the character.
The first opus in the trilogy was the 20-pager U$15 The Second-richest Duck that was published in 1956*. It was a
popular Scrooge McDuck adventure story despite Barks' vexations; in a worldwide count a few years ago it came in as #3 (#1 was U$07 'Cibola' and #2 was U$18 Land of the Pygmy Indians). This is the story.

* The following were U$27 The Money Champ from 1961 and U$61 So Far No Safari from 1966.


 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Scrooge has dealt with many adversaries, but one can be considered his arch-nemesis, namely the biggest bragger in financial circles - Flintheart Glomgold. This upstart really brings forward the worst in Scrooge when the two compete in contests where they brag about their endless fortunes and assets. Flintheart also proves to be a worthy, though unscrupulous, opponent who seeks the title of the world's richest duck.
Whereas Scrooge's main sources of wealth are his numerous industries, Flintheart's main sources of wealth are his diamond and gold mines. But he also equals Scrooge on many points. Examples: They bathe in money. They wear jackets, spats, walking stick, and pince-nezs. They each own 1 multiplujillion, 9 obsquatumatillion, 623 dollars, and 62 cents.

Flintheart differs greatly from Scrooge in character by being a much darker version of him. Examples: His demeanour is that of a criminal, he is dishonest, miserly, competitive, and ruthless. His sociability is secluded, solitary, and he works alone. His personality is insecurity about his own worth.

Flintheart's appearance did not change at all in the 3 stories in which he was involved, although they were drawn in a timespan of 10 years.

 

STORY

U$15 The Second-richest Duck - 1956

Synopsis:

Scrooge gets into a contest with Flintheart on who is the world's richest duck. At the end it comes down to two balls of string, which they have been collecting and adding to for years.

Scattered comments:

The trip starts at Flintheart's Money Bin in the Limpopo Valley in South Africa and moves slowly (they are on foot!) 'right up through the heart of Africa', as Donald puts it, meaning through the grasslands. On the first night after having unwound miles of string the nephews gasp: 'There's enough string left to roll to Tripoli!'. Tripoli is the capital of the Mediterranean nation Libya, which is due north from their starting point. Still, most of the story takes place on the plains of Bechuanaland, which was named Botswana from 1966. Trouble is that these plains are situated directly west of the starting point (see more under Titbits!).

Right from the start Barks presents Scrooge's nemesis as he would continue to look and act. He also makes sure we understand that he is in a similar financial position as Scrooge (he has his own Money Bin). But it does not take long before it becomes clear that Scrooge and Flintheart have little else in common; after all Scrooge has a heart and a conscience! Flintheart has neither.

Barks dreamed up this story, in which not only the largest ball featured in his stories was the center of attention, but there were even two seemingly identical balls of twine on the roll. And roll they did stringing along across Africa in an attempt to find out which of the two combatants had the most string. Of course, they would not think of the quick, inexpensive, and easy solution of determining who had the most string - by simply weighing the balls...

Mankind has probably always felt the inexplicable urge to collect things, and this could come in handy, if the things were worthwhile collecting. But through time collecting lunacy has emerged in the most unusual areas. Take for example Scrooge and Flintheart who are both eager twine collectors. You don't see that on a daily basis anymore (see more under Titbits!)...

Scrooge travels through the greater parts of the Southern Africa in order to beat his nemesis Flintheart in a competition. In this story they fight for the rights to call themselves the world's richest, and in another they fight for the rights to buy a gold mine.

Scrooge is the owner of the Number One Dime, which he holds in high regard. He keeps it in different places; inside his vault, on a pedestal, around the neck in a chain, or loose in the pocket. But in this story he keeps it on a little piece of string, which turns out to be extremely lucky and decisive for Scrooge...

 

BARKS' COMMENTARIES

In the rough world of commerce, financial tycoons are always winning or losing monopolies on oil or rubber or something. Some even win monopolies on monopolies, and such tycoons become very, very rich. For many years Uncle Scrooge thought he had a permanent monopoly on the title 'World's Richest'. He got that way by being outrageously stingy, overbearingly aggressive, and undignified greedy. He never dreamed that another person in all the world would develop similar mastery of such an array of unsavory characteristics.
He meets such a person in this accounting of a titanic showdown in which he matches monopoly for monopoly with a master tightwad who has all of Uncle Scrooge's talents plus a little bit more. This guy is meaner, and that helps make the difference when the second-richest duck is crowned in a ruthless matchathon that dirties a strip of Africa from the Limpopo halfway to the Blue Nile.

Striving to find a duplicate for Uncle Scrooge, to show that there were other people just as ornery as he is, I invented Flintheart Glomgold, who is even more ornery than Scrooge. He takes unfair advantage of Scrooge to such an extent that Scrooge comes out being the sympathetic one. Some funny things in the story are the stinginess of those guys and the dirty things that they do to one another to save a penny. Also funny is rolling the balls of string through the heart of Africa to see which one had the most string. I don't know at what point I thought of that, but it must have been quite early in the formation of the synopsis, because I wouldn't have started out with that string-saving gag unless I had planned to use the unrolling scene. That led into action gags and comic menaces in Africa.

Years ago, saving tinfoil and string used to be quite a thing. The only tinfoil you ever came across was around chewing gum or inside of cigarette packages. It wasn't as common as it is now. People who saved tinfoil would get a ball maybe six inches across and feel quite rich. I don't know what they ever did with it - whether they really thought it had value - but it was something heavy.
People saved string back then because it was a good idea to save it. When I was a kid, you didn't get stuff in a paper bag. When you bought potatoes, the wrapping paper was folded around and tied with a string. So we always accumulated string around the house. We didn't have Scotch tape, so we used string for holding things together. Some people carried it to the point of seeing how big a ball of string they could accumulate. One old photographer had a ball over a foot across. He had been at it for years to get one that big. He couldn't explain any other reason for it except that he got satisfaction seeing how much bigger it had gotten. That's no crazier than collecting comic books...

 

GALLERY

 

TITBITS


It is impossible to follow the ducks' overall travel route through Africa as Barks is not consistent with his information. The northern city of Tripoli is mentioned and the western nation of Bechuanaland is visited and here the story ends. To top it all Barks mentioned in an interview that the ducks went halfway to the Blue Nile, which is due north of the starting point...


In real life you can find many articles on giant balls of twine on the Internet. Here is the supposedly 'World's largest twine ball made by one Man' from Darwin, Minnesota. It was started in 1950 by Francis Johnson and it took more than 30 years before the project was stopped due to his death. By then it was 3,4m high, 12,2m around, and weighed more than 8 tonnes!


Flintheart greets his miser opponent with a cannon, which can be said to be genuinely South African (just as Scrooge's which is said to have been in the South African Boer War). Still, Barks did not get the appearance quite right as it has a distinct, far too big collar muzzle and two interconnecting, seemingly telescopic, barrels (see more HERE).


Flintheart's home is almost identical to that of Scrooge's in Duckburg. The most telling example are their Money Bins, of which Flintheart's is decorated with a giant £ (stands for English Pounds). The currency was changed to Rand (R) in 1961.


Flintheart's hat is called a Tam O'Shanter and is worn by men in Scotland - often as part of a whole costume which includes a kilt. It is a knitted wool hat with a pom-pom on top. Why Barks chose a Scottish bonnet for a South African is unclear.


The two opponents exchange information on their personal wealth, listing items such as quantities of cash and precious stones, and the number of oil wells and farms they own. In the end they have to declare the winner as the one owning the most string...

 

 


 http://www.cbarks.dk/THEFLINTHEARTSTORY.htm

  Date 2017-03-27