The Three Caballeros Ride Again! is a Disney comic written and drawn by Don Rosa. It serves as a sequel to The Three Caballeros.
After dropping the triplets off for a Junior Woodchucks event in Mexico, Donald laments about not having any true friends. When he goes to stop at the hotel though, someone dives into his car and asks him to drive away as he flirted with the girlfriend of a dangerous criminal known as Gold Hat. After they make it out alive, Donald discovers it's his old friend Jose, and after a brief stint in the desert, they run into the third member of their group, Panchito, who has gotten his hands on a map to a treasure; a silver mine once operated by Spanish missionaries. While the mine is long-since lost, the Caballeros find a stash of silver ingots in the ruins of an old church, but getting home with their prize is easier said than done, since Gold Hat is on their trail, and wants the treasure for himself!
It has a sequel in The Magnificent Seven (Minus Four) Caballeros!. In it, after Donald has a bad day, the triplets set him up to meet up with his Latin American friends in Brazil to cheer him up. The three quickly decide to go on an adventure together, where they encounter deadly snakes, evil Indians, and a legendary diamond mine!
Tropes used in The Three Caballeros Ride Again! and The Magnificent Seven (Minus Four) Caballeros!:
- All-Natural Gem Polish: Averted; the gems the main characters find in the Lost City were cut and polished by the original inhabitants, as it's built into a mine. The gems still in the rock face are bright and colorful, but otherwise shaped like any other rocks.
- Author Appeal: Although Don Rosa is known for being a Barks purist, he makes an exception for Jose and Panchito because, according to him, they are the only characters who simply like Donald for who he is.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: The Chief forces his native subjects to capture endangered jungle animals, stuffing them in cages so they can be sold abroad.
- Big Bad: Gold Hat in the first one, Chief in the second.
- Book Ends: Both stories end with the trio performing their signature theme.
- Call-Back:
- Jose and Panchito bring up some of the times they flirted with the ladies, which Donald gets nervous about given his relationship with Daisy.
- Donald picked up some history while treasure hunting with Scrooge, and he uses it to track down the silver.
- The triplets set Donald up for his trip to Brazil by reminding the Woodchuck General that Donald helped rebuild Fort Duckberg, doing a good enough job that they earn merit badges for guilt-tripping.
- Cardboard Prison: The police chief of the local jail doesn't even bother trying to arrest Gold Hat anymore, since his flimy and underfunded jail can't hold the outlaw for long. He's rather pleased at the end of the story when Gold Hat seemingly breaks back into his cell (due to falling out of the sky after his hat got caught in Jose's umbrella and he got launched off the runaway train they were on.)
- Cool Horse: Panchito is usually seen with his horse Senor Martinez.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The second story has the Caballeros all earning something from their trip: Jose's nightclub act takes off after he becomes famous for capturing Chief, Panchito sells the tribal necklace he was left with to buy the ranch he always wanted, and Donald found his smile again.
- Enmity with an Object: Senor Martinez has a rivalry with Donald's car in the first story, showing open jealousy towards the machine pretty much from the moment they meet. The fact that the car is just a non-living machine and can't possibly return said jealousy or even move without someone driving it doesn't seem to register with him.
- Faux Horrific: The Woodchuck General collapses in shock when the nephews ask for Donald to be allowed to use the Woodchuck Guidebook. He finally agrees to let Donald borrow an abreviated version that only covers facts about Brazil.
- Firing in the Air a Lot: Panchito does in celebration of finding the silver treasure, but since he's indoors the bullets start bouncing everywhere.Donald: No more of that til we get outside, ok?Panchito: Si!
- The Great Serpent: In The Magnificent Seven (Minus Four) Caballeros!, the Cabelleros run into a gigantic anaconda that looks more like a titanoboa. After their raft is destroyed, Panchito throws a lasso around its neck so they can ride back to civilization on the back of the giant snake.
- Great Big Book of Everything: The Junior Woodchucks Guidebook as usual, but also parodied - Donald is given an abreviated version, a ridiculous little pamphlet that wouldn't even fit a cell phone instruction manual, but somehow covers basically everything there is to know about Brazil and it's history, no matter how obscure.
- Honor Before Reason: The native tribe doesn't want to follow the Chief, and despises his criminal and corrupt ways, but sees themselves as obligated to obey him, mainly due to the valuable medallion he inherited from his (honest) father, which marks him as chief. One of the reasons Chief pursues the heroes is because Panchito accidentally got ahold of the medallion while saving Donald, and without that, the tribe might turn against him.
- No Sympathy: Daisy is more concerned that Donald got his shirt dirty again after she washed it than the fact that he's lying depressed and miserable on the sidewalk.
- Piranha Problem: The Lost City in the second story can only be reached by a mountain river that's teeming with piranhas, making it incredibly dangerous to travel on it.
- Rebus Bubble: The anaconda has one, noting that Donald is untasty but Chief is.
- Shout-Out:
- The second story's title is one to The Magnificent Seven
- Gold Hat is basically the same character as the villain of the same name from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
- In the second story, the Caballeros free a capybara from a pit trap. As it heads back to the jungle, it stands on it's hind legs to wave goodbye, and a few carefully placed plant leaves makes it look like Mickey Mouse, much to Donald's confusion.
- Too Dumb to Live: After getting sent sailing into the air with his hat stuck in an umbrella, Gold Hat decides to hack it apart with his machete! He's lucky he's a villain in a Disney comic, and all his idiocy costs him is a few bruises when he crashes through the roof of the local jail.
- Symbol Swearing: Donald does when faced with a bunch of natives take him.
- With Friends Like These...: Donald's life in Duckburg has hit an all-time low by the time the sequel story starts; Scrooge kicks him out of the money bin while demanding that Donald come in early the next day to make up for the time he lost while getting fired today, Gladstone literally wipes his feet on him while he's lying dejected in the street, and Daisy slaps him for getting his shirt dirty after he washed it, then reminds him they have a date that evening. It's no wonder Donald is depressed.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: The silver the main characters find in the first story turns out to be nothing but worthless quicksilver left over from when the silver mines were still active centuries ago. However, after the great adventure they had together, they don't really mind too much.
