Same Story, Different Cover: Some folks drive the bears out of the wilderness

L: Four Color #178 (December 1947), pencils and inks by Dan Gormley
R: Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures #9 (February 1991), pencils and inks by Rick Hoover
(Click picture to bruin-size)


Of course, since Disney comic book stories are frequently reprinted every few years (especially the great ones like this), that's not the only two covers you'll find Carl Barks's classic "Christmas on Bear Mountain" behind. Here's a few others:



Note the Walt Disney's Comics and Stories reprint in the lower left-hand corner, featuring a grimacing Uncle Scrooge. Why, that's adapted directly from Carl Barks's art from the story itself!



Why the focus on Uncle Scrooge in a Donald Duck story? For a very simple and historically important debut: it's the first appearance of Scrooge McDuck in this very story, not quite evolved into his final form (he's a bit of a grumpy, misogynist trickster in "Christmas on Bear Mountain.") This story is actually such a vital and lynchpin moment in Duck history that it's commemorated on stamps published in the Commonwealth of Dominica...



...and Guyana!:



It's such a vital point in Scrooge's ficto-history that acclaimed duck storyteller Don Rosa sets the final chapter of his Life & Times Of Scrooge McDuck saga immediately following "Christmas on Bear Mountain," beginning the transformation of the early Barks Scrooge into the high-adventure character he later became. Rosa's attention to detail is so precise that even the scene setting in the panels below are the same for Barks (top) and Rosa (bottom)!



Keeping in the Christmas spirit, here's a poster by Don Rosa celebrating the many Christmastime adventures of Scrooge McDuck!



So if you're in an irritable and cranky mood, or just feeling sad and sorry for yourself...



...then snap outta it! (in my Cher voice). Just go and read yourself a Carl Barks or Don Rosa Uncle Scrooge or Donald Duck Christmas adventure. Like watching one of those heartwarming christmas commercials like the guy coming home to Folger's coffee or the Santa Claus who can speak German or the Santa skiing on the electric razor, it'll cheer your heart and bring a little bit of Christmas special to you that'll last all the way through tomorrow's delicious roast duck dinner.

Merry Christmas from Duckburg, everyone!