Line #200 Creator/DonRosa


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6	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rosa.jpg]]
7
8	Keno Don Hugo Rosa (born June 29, 1951) is a big fan of Creator/CarlBarks who eventually got promoted to write the official [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Donald Duck]] stories in the spirit of ''The Good Duck Artist''. He is a writer who has managed to make an excessive use of ContinuityPorn into great stories, and is widely regarded as one of the best things that ever happened to Disney comics.
9
10	Up until his retirement, he had executive power over the Duck family canon, and brought the world some seriously great ArcWelding in the process.
11
12	He grew up as a fan of the Donald Duck comics made by Carl Barks. When he grew older he submitted self drawn comics to Donald Duck fanzines, as well as letters to some debates. He even corresponded with Carl Barks from time to time. Eventually he quit being a hardcore fan, but he never quit being a fan of Carl Barks. Years later a new Donald Duck publication arrived, and Don Rosa applied for the job as an artist. He wrote a letter there he told how much he wanted to be the artist, that he would write the stories in the spirit of Carl Barks and that he was born to make it. (Indeed, in the 1970s and 80s Rosa had done two comics for newspapers in his hometown of Louisville, ''ComicStrip/ThePertwillabyPapers'' and ''The Adventures of Captain Kentucky''. He later {{re\|cycledScript}}used several ''Pertwillaby'' storylines for his Scrooge stories.)
13
14	He got the job, and he created Donald Duck and Scrooge [=McDuck=] comics from 1987 to 2005. Because he was a great fan of ''[[Creator/CarlBarks The Good Duck Artist]]'', he created what can be considered an ExpandedUniverse based on the Duck-master's works. That is to say, he used ContinuityPorn, lots of Continuity Porn. Even Carl Barks told him he did too much Continuity Porn, but he didn't listen. He even dedicated all his comics to Carl Barks by hiding the word D.U.C.K. (Dedicated to Uncle Carl from Keno), usually on the first page of each story.
15
16	Rosa is known for his quirky drawing style and epic storylines, best exemplified by ''Comicbook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck''. Since Uncle Scrooge is his favorite character, Rosa's longest and best stories deal with the [[AntiHero complex]] elder duck. His drawing style stems from his education in architecture and technical drawing, with no formal education in art.
17
18	For those who consider Disney comics childish stories for five-year-olds, Rosa's style of making comics may be a surprise. The artist is known for [[ShownTheirWork doing ridiculously extensive research]], basing much of his adventure stories on real historical factlets and making sure all the possible science in his comics is valid. In ''[[Comicbook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck Life and Times]]'', he [[HistoricalInJoke drops famous people from the late 19th and early 20th century to Scrooge's life here and there]], but always makes sure they were around that area around that time.
19
20	Another notable feature of Rosa's work is his unveiling of the [[TangledFamilyTree Duck Family Tree]], based on random RememberTheNewGuy characters from Barks' stories.
21
22	As of 2009, due to fading eyesight, and after [[ScrewedByTheNetwork years of disagreements over low pay and never getting any royalties from publishers]], Rosa is more or less retired from comics. [[http://career-end.donrosa.de/ Here's]] his own words on the end of his career.
23
24	Rosa also wrote two ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' episodes, "I Only Have Ice for You" and "It Came from Beneath the Sea Duck".
25
26	[[index]]
27	[[folder:List of Works]]
28	* ComicBook/TheSonOfTheSun
29	* ComicBook/NobodysBusiness
30	* ComicBook/MythologicalMenagerie
31	* ComicBook/RecalledWreck
32	* ComicBook/CashFlow
33	* ComicBook/FitToBePied
34	* ComicBook/FirTreeFracas
35	* ComicBook/OolatedLuck
36	* ComicBook/ThePaperChase
37	* ComicBook/LastSledToDawson
38	* ComicBook/RocketReverie
39	* ComicBook/FiscalFitness
40	* ComicBook/MetaphoricallySpanking
41	* ComicBook/TheCrocodileCollector
42	* ComicBook/FortuneOnTheRocks
43	* ComicBook/ReturnToPlainAwful
44	* ComicBook/TheCurseOfNostrildamus
45	* ComicBook/HisMajestyMcDuck
46	* ComicBook/ForgetMeNot
47	* ComicBook/GiveUntoOthers
48	* ComicBook/OnASilverPlatter
49	* ComicBook/MakingTheGrade
50	* ComicBook/LeakyLuck
51	* ComicBook/ThePiedPiperOfDuckburg
52	* ComicBook/BackInTimeForADime! (his one and only ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' comic)
53	* ComicBook/TheMoneyPit
54	* ComicBook/TheMasterLandscapist
55	* ComicBook/OnStolenTime
56	* ComicBook/TreasureUnderGlass
57	* ComicBook/ReturnToXanadu
58	* ComicBook/TheDuckWhoFellToEarth
59	* ComicBook/IncidentAtMcDuckTower
60	* ComicBook/TheIslandAtTheEdgeOfTime
61	* ComicBook/WarOfTheWendigo
62	* ComicBook/SuperSnooperStrikesAgain
63	* ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck
64	* ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheLostLibrary
65	* ComicBook/FromDuckburgToLillehammer
66	* ComicBook/TheDuckWhoNeverWas (Donald's 60th Anniversary Special)
67	* ComicBook/TheTreasuryOfCroesus
68	* ComicBook/TheUniversalSolvent
69	* ComicBook/OfDucksDimesAndDestinies (Secondary story tie-in to ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck)
70	* ComicBook/HeartsOfTheYukon (Secondary story tie-in to ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck)
71	* ComicBook/TheIncredibleShrinkingTightwad
72	* ComicBook/GyrosBeagletrap
73	* ComicBook/TheLostChartsOfColumbus
74	* ComicBook/TheOnceAndFutureDuck
75	* ComicBook/TheTreasureOfTheTenAvatars
76	* ComicBook/AMatterOfSomeGravity
77	* ComicBook/TheVigilanteOfPizenBluff (Secondary story tie-in to ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck)
78	* ComicBook/AnEyeForDetail
79	* ComicBook/ALittleSomethingSpecial (Don Rosa's personal favorite, 50th Anniversary Special for Scrooge [=McDuck=])
80	* ComicBook/AttackOfTheHideousSpaceVarmints
81	* ComicBook/{{WHADALOTTAJARGON}} (60th Anniversary Special for Huey, Dewey & Louie)
82	* ComicBook/TheAnnualSpeedskatingRaceOfTheBurgOfDucks
83	* ComicBook/TheSignOfTheTripleDistelfink (50th Anniversary Special for Gladstone Gander)
84	* ComicBook/TheLastLordOfElDorado
85	* ComicBook/TheBlackKnight
86	* ComicBook/TheCowboyCaptainOfTheCuttySark (Secondary story tie-in to ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck)
87	* ComicBook/TheDutchmansSecret (Secondary story tie-in to ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck)
88	* ComicBook/EscapeFromForbiddenValley
89	* ComicBook/TheCoin
90	* ComicBook/TheQuestForKalevala
91	* ComicBook/{{Attaaack}}
92	* ComicBook/TheThreeCaballerosRideAgain
93	* ComicBook/TheSharpieOfTheCulebraCut (Secondary story tie-in to ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck)
94	* ComicBook/BeagleBoysVsTheMoneyBin (50th Anniversary Special for the Beagle Boys)
95	* ComicBook/TheCrownOfTheCrusaderKings
96	* ComicBook/ForgetIt
97	* ComicBook/GyrosFirstInvention (50th Anniversary Special for Gyro Gearloose)
98	* ComicBook/TheDreamOfALifetime (Secondary story tie-in to ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck)
99	* ComicBook/TrashOrTreasure
100	* ComicBook/ALetterFromHome
101	* [[ComicBook/TheBlackKnight The Black Knight Glorps Again!]]
102	* [[ComicBook/TheThreeCaballerosRideAgain The Magnificent Seven (Minus 4) Caballeros]]
103	* ComicBook/ThePrisonerOfWhiteAgonyCreek (Secondary story tie-in to ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck)
104	[[/folder]]
105	[[/index]]
106	----
107	!!Tropes used:
108
109	* TheAce: His take on Scrooge is probably the most capable of all (except maybe ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'') as Scrooge is portrayed as world's greatest adventurer, global hero and the "Richest Duck In The World" by being a complete SelfMadeMan. Best example is in the eight chapter of his [[ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck Scrooge-biography]] where Scrooge in a rage takes out a whole gang of bad guys on his own.
110	* ActingUnnatural: In "A Little Something Special", a Beagle Boy disguised as one of Donald's nephews (thanks to a spell by Magica) attempts to make Donald buy his disguise by talking "how cute lil' ducks talk".
111	-->'''Beagle Boy disguised as Dewey:''' ''(with doe eyes and feminine body language)'' We sowwy we talk naughty, unca ducky! Oo give-um big hug?\
112	'''Donald:''' Saaay... did somebody slip these kids some silly-pills down at that party?
113	* AndThisIsFor: Scrooge to [=BlackHeart=] Beagle in the above mentioned story: "Take ''that'' for 1880! And 1882! And 1902! And for Christmas 1947!"
114	* ArcWelding: Rosa loved this trope almost as much as doing sequel stories to Carl Barks comics. ''[[Comicbook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck Life and Times]]'' is the biggest example, but there's also ''ComicBook/EscapeFromForbiddenValley'' and ''ComicBook/ALetterFromHome''.
115	* ArtEvolution: Rosa is very open with the fact that his early Duck adventures are much rougher art-wise, and have an "underground comix" look to them (something pointed out by critics at the time). Though considering Rosa had not only never actually drawn any of the characters before, he hadn't even drawn a line since he stopped making ''Captain Kentucky'' four years earlier, the art is a lot better than you'd expect.
116	* AscendedFanboy: Started out as a fan of the ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse written by Creator/CarlBarks, and went on to become an author for them himself. And not just any author, but one who largely built his career out of writing sequels to Barks stories or expanding upon {{Noodle Incident}}s mentioned in Barks' stories. In fact, he literally wrote so much "Barks-originated" stuff that Carl Barks himself thought Rosa was overdoing it with the Barksian ContinuityPorn.
117	* AsYouKnow: {{Lampshade h\|anging}}ung in ''The Last Lord of Eldorado'' when Donald summarizes the events of ''Treasure Under Glass'' for new readers, only for Scrooge to point out that he was there for the whole adventure, so he doesn't need to have the whole thing explained to him.
118	* AuthorAppeal: Don Rosa wrote his Ducks comics to feature all of the things he personally most loved, and he elaborates on all of the things he loves in his personal commentary throughout the "Don Rosa Library" collection-books that gather his stories. His specific appeals:
119	** The vision of the Ducks universe held by Creator/CarlBarks.
120	** ContinuityPorn, especially in the form of Creator/CarlBarks references.
121	** The "Good Old Days" of the 1950s, as that was the era in which he was reading Disney Ducks comics as a child and it best matches the original timeline for Scrooge's history created by Creator/CarlBarks. This is why all Rosa stories are set in a "Present" of the 1950s.
122	** Historical fantasy, hence the abundance of "the Ducks find famous real-world lost treasures or get involved with real-world historical figures" stories.
123	** Extensive and accurate research.
124	** Rosa's love of classic Hollywood movies pops up in quotes and other forms of tribute from time to time.
125	** Rosa is an avid fan of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'', and thinks it's the best thing the animation studio ever did with Donald Duck. He loved it so much he used the trio in two stories ("The Three Caballeros Ride Again!" and "The Magnificent Seven (Minus 4) Caballeros!") making them the few non-Barks Disney characters he's used in his stories.
126	* AuthorTract: In his pre-duck comic series "Captain Kentucky", a weekly superhero spoof run in the local paper The Louisville Times, he realised that he could use the space between panels to air minor personal gripes and opinions unrelated to the comic itself, like complaints about TV, the projection-quality at his local cinema and the pronounciation of Louisville.
127	* BeenThereShapedHistory: In "The Once and Future Duck", the ducks accidentally inspire several pieces of Myth/ArthurianLegend during their skirmish with 5th century barbarian chief Arturius Riothamas, including the sword in the stone, the Holy Grail, and [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail a certain bad-tempered rodent]].
128	* BitingTheHandHumor: At the end of ''Nobody's Business'', having realized that Gladstone's luck means he will ''always'' lose if they compete in business, but still wanting to live up to his promise, Scrooge gives Gladstone control over a business in the one industry that Scrooge would never compete in -- because he doesn't believe there is any profit in it. What's that business? A comic book company!
129	* BreakingTheFourthWall: [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140729174910/http://cdn.zocoi.com/159/14.jpg The last panel of]] ''The Island at the Edge of Time'' has Scrooge telling the narrator to shut up.
130	%%* BunglingInventor: Gyro Gearloose.
131	* CelebrityParadox: Some of Don's Hidden Mickeys refer to Mickey's real-life status as a fictional character, while the Ducks are "real" people. Take into account that Donald started off as Mickey's co-star in the cartoons, and you see how this fits.
132	** That's nothing. Scrooge has a [=DuckTales=] comic as bathroom reading.
133	%%* ButtMonkey[=/=]TheChewToy: [[WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck Take a wild guess?]]
134	* ComicBookTime: Averted, Rosa set all of his stories (at least, the ones in the "present") sometime in the '40s or '50s, to be consistent with Barks' stories. He's even stated that the time line of his stories isn't the same as the order he wrote them.
135	* ContinuityPorn: Oh yeah! While he did write stories other than direct sequels to Creator/CarlBarks stories, though he still wrote plenty of the latter, even the stories that were truly original were full of verbal or visual references to events, treasures and characters from Creator/CarlBarks stories.
136	** Creator/CarlBarks himself thought that Don Rosa made too much Continuity Porn, and he encouraged Keno to write original stories without the influence of his stories that were made in the 50s. One of the main reasons behind this is that Carl Barks m.o. was to make all his stories original, and that he was ashamed of reusing elements from earlier stories, even if those stories turned out to be great.
137	* ContrivedCoincidence: The first Black Knight story uses this to an extent at the finale; Arpin is defeated after [[spoiler:a rug is pulled from under him and he falls to Scrooge's diamond stockpile]] a few stories below. Not only does he not hit any employees on the way, but this was also only possible because the vault just happened to be directly under Scrooge's office to stop Arpin from [[AndIMustScream falling directly to the earth's core]]. It's arguably a [[JustifiedTrope justified example]], as InUniverse it's treated as a lucky last-effort IndyPloy.
138	%%* CoolOldGuy: Scrooge, all the way.
139	* CreatorCameo:
140	** "W.H.A.D.A.L.O.T.A.J.A.R.G.O.N":
141	** The man exiting the comic book shop is Rosa's editor, Byron Erickson.
142	** The creators of Huey, Dewey and Louie, Ted Osborne and Al Taliaferro, appear as original members of the Junior Woodchucks.
143	** Rosa appears with his wife in ''The Dutchman's Secret'', as they've taken hiking trips in the region of the story in real life.
144	* CreatorInsignia: "D.U.C.K.", which stands for "Dear Unca Carl from Keno", Keno being his real first name. He wrote this more or less in plain sight in one of his earliest stories. Disney removed it, as they decided it went against their policy of not allowing artist signatures. Later, Don Rosa began hiding it in the covers and opening panels.
145	* CreepyTwins: Phishkisser brothers, the owners of "Oolated Squigs" fish company, whose ''heads'' are fish-shaped, with big lips, dog-ears resembling pelvic fins, and [[HairTodayGoneTomorrow remains of hair]] resembling dorsal and tail fins.
146	* DarkAndTroubledPast: As revealed in the ''Don Rosa Library'' commentaries, Rosa didn't have the best upbringing; he had a lonely childhood in the countryside, raised by two parents who hated each other, and had trouble making friends in the private school he attended. One of his sources of solace was the comic book collection his older sister left behind when she moved out, which included several Disney comics, written and drawn by a certain [[Creator/CarlBarks uncredited artist...]]
147	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Scrooge. Donald and the nephews have their moments as well.
148	* DeathTrap:
149	** In "Treasure of the Ten Avatars", Scrooge and Donald have to get out of [[DeathCourse an entire series of these]]. Among other things there's a DescendingCeiling and FakePlatform with SpikesOfDoom, TheWallsAreClosingIn, FedToTheBeast, and a SnakePit. Donald even lampshades it by the end when he points out that they've already been through every B-movie cliché.
150	** In "ComicBook/ALetterFromHome", Scrooge nearly gets himself killed by a concealed dropping blade trap hidden in the opening to the chamber that unlocks the hidden Vault of the Templars.
151	* {{Deconstruction}}: Although Rosa is a massive fan of Creator/CarlBarks, he has several times used this trope in his sequels.
152	** The premise of Barks's "The Golden Helmet" (considered one of his best works) the MacGuffin has, due to [[FindersRulers an old law]], theoretically power over all of North America. It is an ArtifactOfAttraction that turns everyone who carries it long enough into a greedy and power-hungry egomaniac. It even corrupts Donald and (very briefly) Huey. It's even scarier than [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the One Ring]], as there is nothing supernatural in it - its creator had no idea how dangerous it could be, and basically the idea that one who wears it rules America [[HumansAreBastards is enough to drive anyone into a]] FaceHeelTurn. The story doesn't end until it's tossed into the ocean. In Rosa's "The Lost Charts Of Columbus", the Helmet is rediscovered, and this time Donald fails to get rid of it before the media gets to see it. Yet in that story, it's turned from the Ring [[UnbuiltTrope before the Ring]] into just another artifact museums are full of. Basically, the plot boils down to the Ducks deconstructing the law itself, arguing that it is the most insane example of Western imperialism in history. Eventually, older and older artifacts are found, until UN eventually declares all the artifacts worthless in determining who rules America, and United States, Canada and Mexico keep their independence. The Duckburg Museum eventually manages to buy all the artifacts and their associated stuff. Basically, the sequel made the characters' actions original story out be completely pointless.
153	** In ''The Once and Future Duck'' Donald and nephews travel back in time and meet Myth/KingArthur, the legendary KnightInShiningArmor! Except it's not Arthur, it's the barbarian warlord Arturius, who the legend was ''based'' on, who promptly tries to kill them all.
154	** One Barks story has Donald gaining superpowers after drinking a bottle of isotopes that's supposed to be delivered to a secret lab, only to lose the power after a while, and losing his memory of the incident afterwards. Rosa would retell this story, but have [[FailureHero Donald's superheroic feats fail]] [[RequiredSecondaryPowers because of physics]] (e.g. he tries lifting up a boat from a sea, only to have it snap in half and crush him). There's also the reason of Donald drinking the isotope--in Barks' story, he drank it by accident because he mistook it as his stomach medicine, in Rosa's Donald deliberately drank the isotope in hopes of becoming a superhero that his nephews can be proud of.
155	* DidntThinkThisThrough: Magica in at least two stories.
156	** In "Of Ducks, Dimes and Destinies", Magica travels back to the day Scrooge earned his NumberOneDime because she thinks it'll be easier to steal it back then. As she's about to depart back to present time, she realizes that taking the dime with her from the past will prevent it from having the power that makes her want it in the first place.
157	** In "A Little Something Special", Magica [[VillainTeamUp teams up]] with the Beagle Boys and Flintheart Glomgold because she sees no overlap in their goals: she wants Scrooge's NumberOneDime; the Beagle Boys want the rest of his money; and Flintheart Glomgold just wants to drive Scrooge into poverty and steal his title as the world's richest duck. As Scrooge later points out, his first dime will be of no use for Magica once he's broke.
158	* DoingInTheWizard: Don Rosa openly dislikes the idea of Scrooge's Number One Dime being some kind of magical good luck charm that enables him to gather his riches, and from his pen Scrooge himself several times dismisses that as nonsense. It is "only" an important memento for Scrooge and a symbol of his drive to become what he is through hard work. However, losing the Dime may in some cases have a severe ''psychological'' effect on Scrooge to the point where his entire financial empire would eventually slip through his fingers.
159	** At the same time, none of this diminishes Magica [=deSpell=] trying to get her hands on the Dime. In several stories Don Rosa also plays with Magica's spell literally requiring the first earned coin of the world's richest person, which may not be Scrooge at any given moment. For two examples, see the above entry. In a third, Scrooge discovered the riches of Croesus complete with his own Number One Drakhma. Scrooge promptly handed that over to Magica to use in her spell, figuring it was a win-win situation: If the spell is successful, she will stop hounding Scrooge. If not, it proves he is richer than Croesus.
160	* DramaticThunder: Thunderbolts often have a knack for showing up at the most opportune time
161	* DurableDeathtrap: Whenever Scrooge and the other ducks go after an ancient treasure, boobytraps are likely to still be functioning. The best examples are the DeathCourse in "The Treasure of the Ten Avatars", and the concealed doorway blade in "ComicBook/ALetterFromHome".
162	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Magica [=deSpell=] in "A Little Something Special" is the only one who speaks up when Blackheart reveals that not only does he plan to steal Scrooge's money, but at the same time he'll also wipe out half of Duckburg's fondation with explosives. Although she quickly gets over it.
163	%%* EveryCarIsAPinto: Mocked.
164	* {{Fiction 500}}: Scrooge [=McDuck=], of course. What else can you call somebody with an entire trophy room full of valuable finds ''and'' a personal vault holding three cubic acres of cash?
165	* ForeignerForADay: In one of the stories, "His Majesty, Mcduck", [=Scrooge McDuck=] finds an old copper plaque that makes the Money Bin hill its own kingdom. He declares independence to evade taxes, but it backfires when the scheming Akers Maccovet teams up with the Beagle Boys to invade and conquer "[=McDuckland=]".
166	* FunetikAksent: Arpin Lusene/The Black Knight, to the point that it becomes a RunningGag. He not only speaks with an incredibly cartoonish French accent, he ''writes'' the same way.
167	%%* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In the spirit of Barks.
168	* FurryConfusion:
169	** In "The Magnificent Seven (Minus 4) Caballeros", Josè, the anthropomorphic parrot, is at one point seen communicating with a normal parrot.
170	** Similarily, many stories will show regular chickens existing in Rosa's universe. Donald's other friend, Panchito, is an anthropomorphic rooster.
171	* GenreSavvy: When the Ducks are pursued by a hungry Spinosaurus in ''Escape From Forbidden Valley'', Uncle Scrooge suggests taking a shortcut over a cliff across an old wooden log. His nephews immediately dismiss the idea and snark that the last movie their uncle has watched was probably at a 1904 science expo.
172	* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Rosa has this to say in the "Making Of" section for Of ''Ducks, Dimes and Destinies'':
173	-->"Often I put scenes in my stories that I know will not get past Egmont editor Bryon Erickson, [[TestingTheEditors just to give him a chuckle]]... or heart failure later on if he doesn't spot my mischief."
174	* GrayAndGreyMorality: A lot less so than Barks (for one thing irredeemably evil villains are the norm), but a lot of Rosa's stories have no antagonists and deal with the flaws of the protagonists themselves.
175	* GreatBigBookOfEverything: The Junior Woodchucks' Guidebook, which gets Lampshaded several times in Rosa's later stories. ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheLostLibrary'' revolves around ''how'' the Guidebook became a Great Big Book of Everything; it contains all the lost knowledge from the ancient Library of Alexandria and it's successors.
176	* GreenAesop: "War Of The {{Wendigo}}" was actually commissioned to provide a moral about the dangers of acid rain and deforestation. Rosa was happy to accept, especially as it gave him a chance to bring back the [[MagicalNativeAmerican Peeweegah]], the Pygmy Indians of Carl Barks.
177	* HaveAGayOldTime: In the first ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'' comic Rosa did, he changed the lyrics of the eponymous song to remove the verse "the three gay caballeros". In the second one, the line is [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140729175142/http://cdn.zocoi.com/210/34.jpg intact]]. You could almost swear there's a guy giving them a knowing gaze as they sing it that time...
178	* HistoricalInJoke: Naturally, as a lover of historical adventure fiction, Rosa squeezes as many history-based in-jokes into his stories as he can fit, although many are, as he admits, less than evident to somebody without a keen knowledge of history.
179	* {{Homage}}: The two stories with The Three Caballeros. Complete with them [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140729175142/http://cdn.zocoi.com/200/13.jpg performing the theme song]].
180	* {{Irony}}: Don Rosa most loved the historical fantasy aspect of Scrooge comics, with tales of Scrooge interacting with famous historical figures or discovering legendary real-world treasures like El Dorado or King Solomon's Diamond Mines being his favorite stories to write. But, in a very real sense, he was directly responsible for the end of such stories; by the time his career was over, he'd basically had Scrooge find every real-world lost treasure imaginable, from Xanadu to the Treasury of Croesus to the Lost Dutchman Mine and the Vault of the Templars!
181	%%* ItsAWonderfulPlot: ''The Duck Who Never Was'' does this to Donald.
182	* JailBake: The Beagle Boys visit their grandfather in prison, to celebrate the birthday of their gang. They bring a huge elaborate cake, of which not much was left after the security removed all sort of tools hidden inside. Including a flamethrower.
183	%%* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140729175142/http://cdn.zocoi.com/191/02.jpg This well-known panel (bottom left)]], for instance.
184	* LeftHanging: Some of the stories and Don Rosa's commentary leave the implication that Scrooge intends to return to Goldie someday (perhaps most notably at the end of ''The Quest for Kalevala''), an implication that never comes to fruition. Apparently, Don Rosa had intended to write the story where Scrooge faked his death and returned to live out the rest of his years with Goldie, but Disney editorials refused him this as it would go against the Duck universe "canon" of Scrooge permanently living in his money bin. Cue the mourning of Scrooge/Goldie fans.
185	* MegaMicrobes: In "The Incredible Shrinking Tightwad", Scrooge and Donald are eventually shrunk down to microscopic size due to the effects of a malfunctioning shrinking ray, and are menaced by a horde of microbes.
186	* MistakenForBadass: This is the RunningGag in both his stories about the Three Caballeros: Donald suffers some kind of slapstick accident and José and Panchito mistake it for an act of bravery.
187	%%* MoneyFetish: Scrooge swims in it.
188	%%* MrViceGuy: Scrooge and Greed.
189	* MundaneUtility: In "A Letter from Home" the villains are two Templars who are in possession of the Philosopher's Stone from an earlier story. They mainly use it to turn locks and chains into gold so they can break them easily.
190	* NoHonorAmongThieves: In "Dream of a Lifetime", the Dalton brothers whine about the Beagle Boys stealing the horses that they themselves had stolen the other day.
191	%%* NumberOneDime: Just don't call it "lucky".
192	%%* OlderHeroVSYoungerVillain: Scrooge to several members of his RoguesGallery.
193	* OlderThanTheyLook: Lots of characters in Rosa's timeline seem to have extraordinarily long lifespans, with Scrooge living up to the noble age of 100 and half of the characters he met in his youth still being in fine shape in the "present" (1950's), but one particularly outstanding example would be Blackheart Beagle, who back in 1880 already had sons who were old enough to wear moustaches.
194	* OrWasItADream: In "The Duck Who Never Was", Donald has such bad luck on his birthday that he [[ItsAWonderfulPlot wishes he were never born]] after running into a GenieInABottle. After seeing that virtually everyone is worse off without him and that Duckburg has become a hellhole, he corrects his mistake by wishing everything back. He wakes up in the normal world and assumes it was all a dream, but after he leaves the museum the genie mumbles from inside its bottle that Donald seems like quite the nutcase.
195	%%* PooledFunds: Scrooge, of course.
196	* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: In the second story featuring the Three Caballeros, Donald becomes especially depressed and Huey, Dewey and Louie decide to reunite the Three Caballeros in the hopes that it will cheer Donald up.
197	* RebusBubble: Famously in the story "A Little Something Special", when a bored Scrooge notices that the shadow being cast by Duckburg's mayor is that of Flintheart Glomgold, leading to a RebusBubble where the mayor plus Glomgold's shadow equals Glomgold plus magic, which equals Magica, which equals Glomgold plus Magica, which equals five exclamation marks.
198	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In ''The Treasury of Croesus'', Donald calls out both his Uncle Scrooge and Magica de Spell for their greed.
199	-->'''Donald:''' I've had a bellyful of both you eternal fools! Year in, year out, you bring grief on yourselves all for the sake of '''getting''' rich, '''staying''' rich, or getting '''richer''' still! You'll '''never''' be happy, because you always worry about what you'll do '''next''' to complicate your '''own greedy lives!'''
200	* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Deconstructed in "Super Snooper Strikes Again!". Donald briefly becomes a FlyingBrick after chugging down some AppliedPhlebotinum, and makes several attempts to impress his nephews with his new powers. He tries to travel around the world in an instant, but realizes that he still perceives the passage of time normally despite everyone else effectively being frozen in time while he's moving around at SuperSpeed, so the task could take him several months or even ''years'' to complete, and nobody would notice anyway. He also tries to use his SuperStrength to lift both a mountain and a sunken cruise ship, but the mountain starts falling apart at the base and the ship breaks in two due to years of rust decay to the hull. One could argue that Donald's failure to use his superpowers effectively is because he overcomplicates it--appearing to teleport from one side of the living room to the other or simply lifting a car in front of his nephews would have been sufficient to demonstrate his powers without the realistic drawbacks of his attempted super feats.
201	* RunningGag:
202	** In ''The Sign of the Triple Distelfink'', something implausibly unlucky for Gladstone happens, prompting a character to say "What are the odds of that?", to which Gladstone becomes increasingly more annoyed.
203	** In "The Dream of a Lifetime", whenever Uncle Scrooge sees Donald in one of his dreams, he says "Nephew, what the [[SymbolSwearing &#*%]] are you doing here?!"
204	* SceneryPorn: One of the reasons Rosa was a relatively slow comics artist were the luscious, researched and detailed backgrounds that helped make his work so interesting. Probably no other artist in the Duck Comic Universe has been so good at the painstakingly beautiful scenes in the ducks' adventures.
205	* SelfMadeMan: Scrooge. The point being that the "making" was more important to him than "getting made" in the first place.
206	* TheShadowKnows: In "A Little Something Special", Magica [=DeSpell=] gives Flintheart Glomgold a magical disguise but his shadow clues the heroes to his real identity.
207	* ShaggyDogStory: Scrooge, as he is unable to become a Junior Woodchuck and legally get his hands on a copy of their famous guidebook, goes hunting for the remains of the Library of Alexandria in an attempt to obtain something that can rival it in knowledge. [[spoiler:That Junior Woodchuck guidebook? Yeah, it's what the contents of the Library eventually got turned into... After chasing the library the world over, his goal ends up being the only book in the world he ''can't'' obtain]].
208	* ShoutOut:
209	** Rosa never wrote any Mickey Mouse stories, but that doesn't keep him from littering various Hidden Mickeys within his stories.
210	** ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' gets quoted at least twice.
211	** ''Film/CitizenKane'' is referenced three times.
212	** "The Three Caballeros Ride Again":
213	*** José quotes from ''Film/TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre'':
214	--->'''José Carioca''': "It's a great joke played on us by fate or greed or whatever you prefer, but whoever or whatever played it certainly had a good sense of humor!"
215	** Gold Hat keeps quoting from ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' as a RunningGag:
216	---> "Bandages? I ain't got no bandages... I don't need no stinkin' bandages!"
217	** "Escape From Forbidden Valley" is ridden with shout outs to ''Film/KingKong.''
218	** The final showdown in "A Little Something Special" mirrors the ending of ''Film/{{Saboteur}}'' as Scrooge and the villain end up on top of the giant statue of Cornelius Coot, complete with saving the villain from falling by grabbing his sleeve, only for the stitches of the sleeve to start tearing...
219	* ShownTheirWork: Don Rosa recounted a tale about him doing background research for the chapter of ''Life and Times'' which takes place in Australia: He talked to an expert in Myth/AboriginalAustralianMyths and asked what would be a suitable name for a certain kind of mythological being. The expert told him it didn't really matter, as Don Rosa was at a point where maybe half dozen people in the entire United States would notice anything was off. He still decided to not slack off there.
220	* TheStinger: An extra page for ''The Quest for Sampo'', in which the guardian of the Underworld swings by Scrooge's office to return Scrooge's hat at Vainmoinen's behest.
221	* StockScream: [[MythologyGag Goofy Holler]] is used when Donald [[ItMakesSenseInContext falls horizontally along the street and crashes to a wall]] in "A Matter Of Some Gravity".
222	* StrandedInvader: In "The Quest for Kalevala", the witch Louhi summons the monster Iku-Turso to once again lay waste to Finland. However, once they arrive in Helsinki, the two are confused by the 20th-century city they find, having expected a bunch of frightened villagers living in huts. Donald, who hitched a ride, steals Louhi's magic harp and lures Iku-Turso back into the sea, leaving the witch stranded and being forced to panhandle for food.
223	* TakeAThirdOption: Rosa had a bit of trouble with naming the star of ''Guardians of the Lost Library''. It starts with Donald and the nephews, but then once Scrooge comes in, the plot follows him, leaving Donald behind. So was it a Donald story or a Scrooge story? He decided to go with Scrooge, but when other countries labelled it as a Huey, Dewey and Louie/Junior Woodchucks story, he realized that made perfect sense yet never considered that as an option.
224	* TakeThat:
225	** Don Rosa is ''not'' a fan of superhero comics, and expressed that viewpoint in "Super Snooper Strikes Again!" on several levels: the titular ShowWithinAShow superhero is described as a mindlessly violent character whose feats consist of pummeling opponents with increasingly oversized and exaggerated things, which leads to Donald scorning him and suggesting that the nephews read "Marvin Monkey", which is clearly a pastiche of a WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse comic, instead, which the nephews initially deride as childish -- but are shown reading at the story's end and being enthralled, admitting that it's less violent but far more intelligent and charming. The story's main plot deconstructs the superhero archetype through the use of RequiredSecondaryPowers, showing Donald's attempts at showing off superpowers as pointless and unworkable, and ends with the nephews proclaiming Donald himself is a far better hero than Super Snooper, since he puts himself through all kinds of misery and strife to ensure that Huey, Dewey and Louie are given a comfortable life.
226	*** Made explicit in Don Rosa's commentary on the story in volume 3 of the Don Rosa Library, a collection of the Scrooge & Donald stories that he wrote. He denounces superhero comics as meaningless, lowbrow, violent dribble, which are only popular in North America and earn nothing but a pittance in comparison to the other styles of comic story published in other countries, and praises the intelligence of himself and other Disney comic fans for valuing the "morally superior" Disney comics instead.
227	** Downplayed/subverted in "Back in Time for a Dime!", his one and only ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' comic (and his only comic that he didn't draw himself). In his commentary on it in volume 2 of the Don Rosa Library, he states plainly that he does not like the show, considering it an inferior rendition of the original Creator/CarlBarks stories, but he does not harp on about his dislike and the story itself treats the characters fairly respectfully.
228	** One of his hidden Mickeys is a statue of said mouse in a museum. The plaque beneath the statue says "Ancient Demon Worship".
229	* ThisIsReality: In several stories, the characters will dismiss fantastical plans or suggestions by declaring such ideas "only belong in comic books".
230	* ThisWayToCertainDeath: In the Scrooge [=McDuck=] story ''The Treasure of the Ten Avatars'', Scrooge and Donald are exploring an ancient Indian city to finds the treasure stored away in the lower levels. Several thousand years ago Alexander's Greek Hoplites tried the same thing but failed to get past all the traps. The Ducks keep finding evidence of the soldiers' unfortunate deaths: armor left behind because whoever was carrying it was eaten, armour with holes pierced through them, armour ''squished like a pancake'', etc.
231	%%* ThrowTheDogABone: He did this to Donald in ''The Duck Who Never Was'', ''The Three Caballeros Ride Again'' and ''The Magnificent Seven (Minus Four) Caballeros''.
232	* TimeFreezeTrollingSpree: In one Scrooge [=McDuck=] story written by Don Rosa, the Beagle Boys steal a stopwatch from Gyro Gearloose that freezes time anywhere outside a ten-foot radius of the device. Naturally, they use it to rob Scrooge blind, but also to mess with him by for instance, sticking a hundred "thank you" cards to his body while time has been stopped.
233	%%* TimeStandsStill: ''On Stolen Time''; played with in ''Super Snooper Strikes Back''.
234	* TitleDrop: In "A Little Something Special", the one telling Scrooge in the end she has "a little something special" for him is Goldie.
235	* ToxicInc: The evil boss of the logging company in the Don Rosa ''Scrooge [=McDuck=]'' story "War of the {{Wendigo}}" goes really over the top with this when the [[MagicalNativeAmerican Pygmy Indians]] and their natural allies [[GaiasVengeance storm the building]] to stop him cutting down all the trees. He orders his workers to pump out lethal gasses to kill the bats nestled in the exhaust pipes, dumps acid in the drainage to boil the frogs clogging up the sewer, and when his employees decide ScrewThisImOuttaHere he goes completely AxCrazy with a flamethrower to burn the whole forest down.
236	%%* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Twice in ''A Matter Of Some Gravity''.
237	* VillainTeamUp: ''A Little Something Special'', the 50th Anniversary Special for Scrooge [=McDuck=], revolves around a team-up betwee Flintheart Glomgold, Magica [=DeSpell=], and the Beagle Boys, all organized by a mysterious mastermind: [[spoiler:Blackheart Beagle]].
238	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
239	** The second generation of Beagle Boys, last seen at the end of chapter ten of [[Comicbook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck Life and Times]] when Blackheart Beagle tells them to get married and start families [[IWantGrandkids so there would be more Beagle Boys]]. The next time Scrooge meets Beagle family is forty-five years later in chapter twelve, when it's already Blackheart plus his grandsons. The middle generation is never mentioned again.
240	** Donald's parents (his mother being Hortense [=McDuck=], Scrooge's sister) as well as his sister (the mother of Huey, Dewey and Louie) are last shown in chapter eleven, with no further appearances or mentions about what happened to them. We do see Scrooge's other sister Matilda in ''A Letter from Home'' living in their ancestral castle. Don Rosa had wanted to use Hortense in her place, but an editorial mandate stated Donald's mother is not to appear in a present-day story.
241	* YouAreNumberSix: According to ''The Beagle Boys vs The Money Bin'', the Beagle Boys ''themselves'' have no idea what their names are, as their parents would only refer to them by numbers. If you wanted to know your own name, they could be persuaded. Say, for two hundred bucks.

Context Creator / DonRosa