The one that started it all — The Son of the Sun is the very first Scrooge McDuck comic ever created by Don Rosa, and the fulfillment of his childhood dream to follow in the footsteps of Carl Barks. Very loosely based on a story he'd written for his comic strip The Pertwillaby Papers called Lost In (an alternate section of) The Andes, which was itself a homage to the Barks story Lost in the Andes!, The Son of The Sun was originally published in July, 1987, to immediate acclaim. The story was nominated for a Harvey Award
, and established Don Rosa as a major Disney talent.
At the Duckburg Museum, Scrooge is giving Donald and the nephews a tour of the new exhibit he's sponsoring, allowing the public to see all the historical artifacts and other treasures he's discovered during his adventures (much to Donald's annoyance, who points out the rest of the family were with him for most of that) such as The Golden Fleece, the incredibly rare 1916 quarter coin, the Crown of Genghis Khan, The Candy Striped Ruby, the Philosopher's Stone (on loan from the International Money Fund), and most importantly, as would soon become apparent, a series of Inca artifacts.
However, when the first visitor of the exhibit arrives, he isn't impressed - Flintheart Glomgold, who is at the museum to loan them a collection of priceless gems from his mines in South Africa for another exhibit. Sneering at Scrooge's accomplishments, Glomgold claims that he worked for his fortune, rather than found it lying around in old temples and ruins, much to Scrooge's outrage, who dares him to think of something Scrooge couldn't find. Glancing around, Glomgold spots the collection of Inca relics, and points out that the Inca gold Scrooge has found pales in comparison to the gold the Incas had already mined by the time the Spanish invaded, most of which has never been found. The two agree to a bet that whoever can find the lost gold would earn the title of greatest adventurer.
However, as Glomgold leaves in a huff, he shoves Donald aside, knocking him into the display case and damaging one of the urns, which turns out to have a golden plaque hidden inside. With the help of the museum curator, and even more help from the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, the plaque turns out to be a map to the hidden temple of Manco Capac, the semi-mythical founder of the Incan Empire, somewhere in the Andes. The Ducks are off to South America, unknowing that Glomgold has been eavesdropping on them...
In the village of Cuzco, Peru, Scrooge looks to charter a plane to travel into the mountains, while the nephews talk with the natives, who reveal that the area is in bad shape due to an extended drought, and, ironically, they're too poor to be able to pump up the water from the massive volcanic lake the village is centered around, leaving them with nothing but the desperate hope that Manco Capac will save them. Scrooge manages to find a pilot, but as soon as the plane is in the air, he reveals himself to be Glomgold in disguise, who steals the plaque at gunpoint and then parachutes out, leaving the Ducks to their fate. Scrooge tries to regain control of the plane (despite not knowing anything about flying), but ends up tearing off most of the belly of the plane, stranding Donald and the kids on the ground, while the remains of the plane disappears into the mountains with Scrooge. Due to the crash having scared off his hired porters, Glomgold forces the Ducks to help him, and they begin their search for the temple.
A week later, Glomgold and his unwilling assistants discover an ancient rope bridge allowing access to a remote mountain peak, atop of which sits the temple of Manco Capac, shrouded in the mists of a volcanic vent on the summit. Rushing inside, Glomgold is besides himself with glee at the massive treasure horde, gold artifacts of all shapes and sizes, only to be confronted by a huge figure dressed in gold armor. Is it the spirit of Manco Capac himself?
Nope, it's Scrooge, very much alive and well, who's been at the temple for a whole week since the plane crashed right on top of it, and has not only already found the treasure, but used the plane radio to contact the authorities and claim his discovery. The Ducks are happy to reunite, while Glomgold rages at having been foiled once again... or has he?
The nephews points out that the plaque only refers to the gold being moved to the temple, implying that it already existed, but if the gold isn't the mythical treasure of Manco Capac, what is? Sneaking off with the plaque and the Woodchuck Guidebook, Glomgold explores the temple further, and comes across a seemingly empty chamber with an overturned altar, which has a slot on top that fits the plaque perfectly. Inserting the plaque and letting the sun shine on it activates an ancient mechanism, and the Ducks come running in just in time for the wall to slide open and reveal an enormous sunburst disc made of platinum, and decorated with enormous gems - The Eye Of Manco Capac, and the REAL Treasure of the Temple!
A squabble ensues when Glomgold points out that Scrooge only filed legal claim for the gold, which there is none of on the sunburst, and pries the disc off the wall, only to lose his grib, causing it to roll down the stairs and wedge itself into the volcanic vent in the courtyard. The pressure quickly builds, and the entire mountaintop explodes, sending the temple and everyone in it flying, finally crashing into the lake in Cuzco many miles beneath, sending a torrent of water everywhere. The Ducks turns a tapestry into a makeshift parachute and floats to safety, but the gold, the sunburst and everything else is lost in the depths of the lake. However, the villagers are jubilant, as the flood has irrigated their terrace fields and filled their water stores for the forseeable future. Manco Capac, the Son of The Sun, has saved them after all.
While it seems no one wins the bet, Scrooge has one more ace up his sleeve - he outright buys the lake from the villagers, promising to fund a pumping station in case of future droughts, meaning that he still owns the treasure, even if he can't get to it! This makes him the winner of the contest by default, and the greatest adventurer of all time.
Tropes:
- Accidental Truth: The Old Man states that the ancient Inca threw the gold in the bottomless lake to deny it to the invading Spanish, which the nephews point out is almost certainly just a myth, since Pizarro used the area as his base camp. However, by the end of the story, that's exactly where the gold ends up.
- The Alleged Car: Glomgold's plane is an old freight plane that looks ready to fall apart even before Scrooge gets it ripped in half.
- The Bet: Don Rosa decided to take Scrooge and Flintheart's rivalry in a different direction; instead of comparing their total wealth, they would compete to win various wagers.
- Call-Back: This was Rosa's first outing in Barks old playground, and he took full advantage, though not to the extent he would with The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Aside from the treasures Scrooge found during Barks adventures, there's also the old South American man from Lost in the Andes!, and Donald mentioning he's sick of Scrooge and Glomgold's contests over who is richer, referencing The Second-Richest Duck and The Money Champ.
- Exact Words: Glomgold almost wins the bet by pointing out that Scrooge only filed a claim for the gold in the temple, having no reason to think that wasn't the whole treasure. The Sunburst doesn't contain any gold (except a layer on the back), and is thus still up for grabs to whoever found it. This bites him in the ass during the ending when Scrooge becomes the legal owner of the lake and everything in it, since the bet was over who could find the greatest treasure, not if they could actually access it.
- Here We Go Again!: Huey, Dewey and Louie's reaction when they realize that Scrooge and Glomgold have gotten into another petty contest.
- I Reject Your Reality: Glomgold sneers that he's always been the richest duck in the world, no matter that those "silly contests" (in Barks's universe) may have made him appear differently.
- Great Big Book of Everything: The Junior Woodchucks Guidebook, as usual, which contains knowledge on the Incas that the museum curator doesn't even know after decades of research.
- Karmic Jackpot: Scrooge offers to build the villages a pumping station so that they can irrigate their crops with water from the lake instead of being dependent on the rains. Glomgold scoffs at Scrooge's pointless generosity, until Scrooge adds that in return the villagers sold him the lake for one peso, making him the legal owner of all the treasure, and thus the winner of their bet. Rosa said he wanted to portray Scrooge as a slightly different type of corporate tycoon than Barks, a canny opportunist who nonetheless manages to combine genuine charity with profit. This also makes him a foil to Glomgold, who loses the contest simply because such an act of charity would never occur to him, even if it benefitted him in the long run.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Glomgolds pilot outfit, which is really just sunglasses and a hat, with his iconic "beard" feathers fully visible. The Ducks still fall for it though.
- Power of the Sun: The Eye of Manco Carpac can only be found by using the golden disque to reflect the rays of the sun on a specific spot on the temple walls.
- Visual Pun: One of the gems in Glomgold's collection is known as the "Jack of Diamonds", and is shaped like a knucklebone gamepiece, aka "jacks".
