Disney has apparently banned two of Don Rosa’s Scrooge McDuck stories from future reprints and collections, both of which are tied to his legendary series “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”. This was according to a tweet from the DuckTalk podcast, that revealed Rosa received an email from Disney explaining the ban related to two of his Scrooge McDuck stories “The Richest Duck in the World” and “The Dream of a Lifetime” . These stories will not be republished or part of any collections moving forward and DuckTalks later noted that the “The Richest Duck in the World” ban may actually be for “The Empire-Builder from Calisota,” due to the fact that some regions of the world have given the comic that title.
The Message read
“As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, The Walt Disney Company is in the process of reviewing their library of stories. As a result, some stories that do not align with their values will no longer be published. This applies to two of your classic stories, ‘The Richest Duck in the World’ and ‘The Dream of a Lifetime’. These stories will not be part of any reprints or new collections.”
Rosa responded to the situation in Facebook’s “The Official Don Rosa Group,” and stated:
“I wonder what other Duck stories are now banned? Maybe only mine? Maybe not? But obviously all 12 chapters of my [Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck] are now banned because they can’t be published without the final chapter. I won’t even comment on what this will mean to the collector market.”
It should be noted that Rosa was referring to Chapter 12, which he titled “The Richest Duck in the World”, rather than “The Empire-Builder from Calisota”, which is chapter 11. That said, Chapter 11 is so crucial to the story that reprinting the series will not work without it, especially with regards to how things ended up as they are.
“The Empire-Builder from Calisota” was the penultimate chapter to “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck” and features an infamous incident first mentioned in the Carl Barks story Voodoo Hoodoo where Scrooge drove an African tribe off their land at the moment he succumbed to villainy ( remember, this was the time Scrooge was meant to be seen as the bad guy) and this led to his encounters with Bombie the Zombie, a character who was dispatched by the witch doctor named Foola Zoola. Bombie the Zombie would then appear in Scrooge’s dreams in the story “The Dream of a Lifetime,” a story that many feel the Christopher Nolan film Inception took some notes from due to the plot that sees the Beagle Boys invade Scrooge’s dreams to steal his fortune. It is very likely that Bombie the Zombie is the reason for the ban then.
No word yet on if the Carl Barks stories will be affected at this time.
Those interested can read our review of the complete Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck here.