“The Fabulous Philosopher’s Stone” – September 1976
It can be hard to recognize true genius. When I was a lad, Jack Kirby’s art was completely impenetrable to me, but, now, I value his contributions like the king he is. Much of the recognition comes from time and experience. The more comics you read, the more you see how the work of the older guard influenced the new. You begin to see how Kirby built a foundation on which all super-hero comics are based. With someone like Carl Barks, it’s easier to see. A modern reader has to sift through decades of super-hero books to get to Kirby, but there simply aren’t any other comics like Barks’ duck comics. These stories are globe hopping adventure at its best with Scrooge and the boys hopping from one exotic port to another on the hunt for fabulous treasures and artifacts. The stories are skillful, expressive, and hilarious, and rivaled only by classics like Treasure Island and the adventures of Indiana Jones. What’s more, Barks, not content to simply master a genre, does so even while turning the hero archetype on it’s head, casting Scrooge, a character who, on the surface, has all of the characteristics of a good villain, as a protagonist that we can’t help but root for. It’s easy to love brave, selfless Doctor Jones, but greedy, selfish Scrooge? That, my friends, is genius. As for this story, it’s Scrooge in pursuit of the fabled philosopher’s stone, which turns any substance to gold. What more do you want?
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