Chapter 11: The Empire Builder From Calisota
Dates: 1909-1930
This is the chapter where Don Rosa had to address a Noodle Incident most Scrooge fans try to ignore: the story
◊ from Voodoo Hoodoo about how Scrooge hired a band of thugs to chase an African tribe off their land so he could use it for a rubber plantation — a blatantly criminal, despicable, completely unjustifiable act not at all in sync with making money "square." Don Rosa initially considered just ignoring this story altogether, dismissing it on the grounds of Characterization Marches On (and its somewhat controversial racial content). But after closer consideration, he instead decided to make it the turning point in Scrooge's life — the trigger that set him down the road of greed and cynicism toward becoming the hardened, villainous character he was when Barks first introduced him to the world. After crossing the line he swore never to cross since he earned his #1 Dime, Scrooge avoids Duckburg and his sisters for 27 years. When he returns, he has achieved his dream of becoming the richest man in the world, but loses his family in the process, after meeting his nephew for the first and last time for 17 years.
Don Rosa was double burdened by having to cover the longest timespan of any chapter along with portraying his hero as an unscrupulous robber baron. You can read what the experience was like for him here
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This chapter provides examples of:
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Scrooge takes 20 years to go back to Duckburg and reconciliate with his family because he smells business opportunities everywhere.
- Chairman of the Brawl: Scrooge uses a wooden chair to fight Copperhead McViper and his gang.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Scrooge acted as one in this story. It drives his honest family away from him.
- Covers Always Lie: This chapter's cover shows Scrooge escaping from the sinking Titanic by carefully stepping on floating pieces of iceberg. What happened in the story is much less awesome - he escaped in one of the lifeboats.
- Darkest Africa: Scrooge journeys there to con native tribes into selling their lands for pennies. It's very fitting that Scrooge experiences his Darkest Hour in the inhospitable jungles.
- Darkest Hour: One of the darkest days of the story is when Scrooge decides to take something he wants illegally and by force, driving a whole village away from their rightful land. And his main motivation here isn't greed. Foola Zoola, the local chieftain, denied Scrooge's efforts to buy the land, criticized Scrooge's lack of morals, and kicked him out in a humiliating fashion. Scrooge seeks a misguided revenge, fueled by anger and a hurt pride. He is also under the impression that the villainous actions will regain for him the respect of his sisters, while they end up driving them away.
- Downer Ending: Although Scrooge finally becomes the richest duck in the world, he lost everything that once meant something to him in the process. He breaks with his family and becomes a lonely miser. His final victory laugh reads less like a moment of joy and more as a mad cackle.
- Evil Pays Better: Scrooge begins to wonder if it does.Scrooge: Why should I have to be the only honest man in this cockeyed world?
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: When Bombie catches up to Scrooge while the latter is onboard an "ocean liner", the panel showing the zombie climbing aboard the ship is at a Dutch Angle... only for the next panel to reveal an iceberg. As it turns out, the angle wasn't for aethetic purposes, but rather because the ship is beginning to sink...
- Floating Advice Reminders: Scrooge struggles with his younger selves for the justification of his odious acts. An image of his dead father reminds him that self-respect should be what drives him to act, not greed.
- Historical Rapsheet: It turns out that Bombie the Zombie is responsible for sinking the Titanic. Back in 1909, Scrooge ran into Bombie at the North Pole, who then fell into an ice crevasse. Three years later, Foola's curse draws Bombie back to Scrooge during one of his travels across the North Atlantic, dragging the iceberg with him.
- Ignored Epiphany: The end of Scrooge's arc to full-on villain concludes with several fleeting moments where he realizes how badly he screwed up with his family in his quest for riches. If only the "Roster of the Rich" (revealing that he is now the wealthiest person on the planet) hadn't caught his eye and made him forget all about it.
- Implacable Man: Bombie the Zombie is told to follow Scrooge forever until he is killed; not even having to cross entire oceans stops him.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Scrooge becomes meaner and more obsessed by money the richer he gets, to the point that when he has a change of heart and tries to reconciliate with his family, his newly discovered status as richest man in the world distracts him away from his family for 20 years.
- Knight of Cerebus: Bombie is a good deal more sinister than he was in his debut story, where Scrooge basically laughed off the old curse. Here, it's a direct threat to his life whenever he appears, and Bombie just keeps showing up at random moments.
- Land of Tulips and Windmills: During a Travel Montage showing Scrooge's business dealings around the world, there's a panel where he's in the Netherlands with a windmill in the background. Somehow he managed to sell the locals wind.
- Literal Ass-Kicking: After Scrooge sends his family away (despite this being their first meeting after more than 20 years), Donald lingers behind to give him a kick in the butt. Scrooge would return the favour in the next chapter.
- Lonely at the Top: The ending. Scrooge doesn't realize it yet, but Hortense knows all too well that all her brother is now left with is his money.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Shouted word by word when Scrooge repents from having driven a village of autochtones away from their lands.
- My Greatest Failure: Scrooges is not the least bit proud of the one time he gained something in a villainous way.
- No Endor Holocaust: The sinking of the RMS Titanic is presented mainly as the background to one of the zombie's chases after Scrooge, not looking like the tragic disaster which killed 1503 people at all. Even the casual way Scrooge found himself a place in a lifeboat, even though he was neither a woman nor a child, makes the whole thing less tragic.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Albeit an important one and an in-story justification for Characterization Marches On.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Scrooge tricks the village shaman and later Bombie the Zombie to think he's someone else by hiding his whiskers and removing his glasses.
- Retcon: The only major one in the series: in Voodoo Hoodoo Scrooge claimed he was in Africa in 1879 ("70 years ago") to make his second billion. Don Rosa just ignored the date. Carl Barks wrote the original story in 1949, and it predated Scrooge's two main origin stories Only a Poor Old Man (1952) and Back to the Klondike (1953), which both established that Scrooge became rich in the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899). Although he was a Jerkass in his first appearances, a robber-baron Scrooge in the 1870s does not fit with his later characterization by Barks.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: His newfound attitude. Early in the story, Scrooge uses con-artist tactics to buy choice lands for absurdly small prices. Then he employs cut-throats and mercenaries, and simply steals the land from its owners.
- Shout-Out:
- The leader of the African tribe shouts "M'gawa niktimba!", a phrase lifted from the Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films where it was a made-up exotic phrase used on several different occasions to mean whatever was needed for the script. Here it apparently means roughly "Grab him, stick him into the most embarrassing getup you can think of and then throw him out."
- Matilda says "He has money and all that money can buy", which is a line spoken by Mr. Scratch in The Devil and Daniel Webster.
- Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer: Deconstructed: Upon having his epiphany over what his quest for money has caused him to do, Scrooge proceeds to race back to Duckburg in order to make amends with Hortense and Matilda... only he kept getting distracted by other venturesnote to the point where, when he did finally get home, 27 years had passed, and he had become so harden and jaded that he blew off both of his homecoming celebrations, just so he could return to monitoring his finances.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Scrooge has adopted this philosophy by now.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: As commented on by Hortense.Hortense: Getting richer and richer, and meaner and ornerier! That's all you do.
- Tricked into Signing: During Scrooge's darkest hour as a robber baron in Darkest Africa, he tricked the voodoo priest Foola Zoola into signing away his tribe's land to him for a pittance by disguising himself. Foola Zoola puts a curse on Scrooge in revenge, sending Bombie the Zombie after him.
- Unscrupulous Hero: Scrooge has developed into one — and even a borderline Villain Protagonist — by this story. His life experiences have hardened him to the point that he has become a corrupt robber baron, he mistreats his family, and only derives joy from getting even richer. He remains a good guy only because of his brief but ignored epiphany moments.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: It is implied that Scrooge is indirectly responsible for the sinking of the Titanic. The iceberg just so happened to be the same piece of Arctic ice Bombie the Zombie fell into several years prior, and the Voodoo curse continually pulled him to Scrooge's location. Which just so happened to be the Titanic.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Hortense's and Matilda's letter after they leave Scrooge.
