Chapter 8: The King of the Klondike
Dates: 1896-1897
The beginning of Scrooge's glory days as a sourdough in the Klondike Gold Rush. "His exploits before this time were the dues he paid to make it this far," as Don Rosa puts it
. "His past adventures each taught him lessons about work and endurance (and people) and were all preparations for this moment, when he would finally get rich from nothing but his own hard work, perseverance and know-how." But before Scrooge strikes it rich with his unearthing of the Goose Egg Nugget (another monetary memento he'll never spend) on his claim at White Agony Creek, he faces a minor setback when he's kidnapped by Soapy Slick and a bunch of thugs. One destroyed river barge and one thrown grand piano later, Scrooge is a legend in the Yukon...
... and this is only "The Beginning".
This chapter provides examples of:
- Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption:Scrooge: I have a hunch I'll be repaying you before you can say...
Random townfolk: GOLD! - Awesomeness by Analysis: As soon as Scrooge arrives in White Agony Valley, he proceeds to investigate for traces of gold and finds the core vein easily.
- Bar Brawl: At the beginning of the story, Wyatt Earp begins a brawl with another thug in a saloon. Scrooge doesn't participate but ends up paying for the damage anyway, since Earp introduced Scrooge as his "friend".
- Battle Discretion Shot: We only see the consequences of Scrooge's rampage.
- Bears Are Bad News: Inverted, Scrooge is bad news for bears.
- Big "YES!": Scrooge ponders what he will do if the big, muddy "rock" he found really is gold: "Will clean air smell any sweeter? Will sunny days shine any brighter? Will starry nights hold any more wonder? Or will I lose all that? Do I really want to be... rich? (Beat Panel) YES!!!"
- Breaking the Bonds: Scrooge doesn't simply break the chains - he pulls them so hard that the ship's chimneys, which is he is chained to are torn apart, though the scene is told as if it might not truly be what happened there, as the incident is both denied and embellished through history.
- According to Scrooge himself during the events of Hearts of the Yukon, the chimneys collapsed due to a timely boiler explosion, and he took out Soapy and his gang in the resulting commotion. Whether he is just trying to downplay the events or not is left to the viewer.
- Corrupt Loan Shark: Soapy Slick is one of the few villains, alongside Flintheart, who has NO scruples or morals whatsoever, and even Glomgold would probably hesitate about mocking Scrooge for his mother's recent death.
- Call-Forward: Goldie mentions that with all the "sourdoughs and their gold dust, I expect to be glittering by spring!" Her future nickname is "Glittering Goldie".
- Although it doesn't happen in this story, a few allusions are made to Scrooge and Goldie's first encounter in Carl Barks' "Back to the Klondike"; First, when the people of Dawson make fun of Scrooge for not going to a honkytonk, Scrooge thinks that he just might someday to show them up.
- The Cameo: Goldie, showing up as early as page 7◊.
- Death Glare: A truly disturbing one by Scrooge, accompained by a "creeEEAAkkk" sound effect as he pulls his chains and colored either normally or with a fiery palette. His beak isn't completely shown, so his full expression is ambiguous.
- Disaster Dominoes: "Six hours and many miles back down the trail later, in Skagway —"
- The Dreaded: When Wyatt Earp realizes who he tried to bully into submission, he is utterly scared and starts listing Scrooge's terrifying nicknames. Scrooge then lists a few others, that he has earned outside the United States and remarks that Earp has traveled very little.
- And how Scrooge earns another terrifying nickname 'The King of Klondike' in this chapter.
- The End of the Beginning: This chapter marks the end of Scrooge's quest to become rich, but readers know that there is much more to come.
- Experienced Protagonist: Scrooge isn't the naive young duckling of the early chapters, but a certified badass and survivalist who doesn't take crap from no one. By this chapter, Scrooge is 30-years-old, in his physical prime, and has traveled and adventured in several continents.
- Fantastic Racism: Goldie's saloon doesn't serve moose.
- Fate Worse than Death: "I need more cash, but I can't waste any more time earning it! I must resort to desperate and shameful means! I need to (*shudder*) get a loan!"
- Flash Forward: Dawson City is introduced this way, contrasting the large city it would become later in the story from the two-building area it was at the dawn of the gold rush.
- Gate Guardian: The locals of Dawson City fear a monster supposedly guarding the way to a hidden valley, but Scrooge discovers that it is only the preserved corpse of a mammoth. It is standing thanks to the glacier around it.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Scrooge has them in one version instead of Red Eyes, Take Warning. Made even more effective as in the next panel, the only source of light is Scrooge's petawatt Death Glare.
- Grim Up North: The Yukon Territory is so cold even fires freeze, but Scrooge can take it.
- In Harmony with Nature: Subverted; Scrooge lives well with the surrounding nature, but already plans to replace it with lumber mills, mines and dams, such is his greed.
- Kick the Dog: Soapy Slick mocks Scrooge about his dead mother, a particularly low blow from any villain featured so far.
- Killed Offscreen: Downy O'Drake, Scrooge's mother, dies of an unspecified illness in this chapter. Scrooge (and Soapy Slick) learn it through reading correspondence from Scotland, and Downy's previous letters mention her increasingly poor health. Her death serves to fuel Scrooge's anger. At this point in the story, Scrooge had not seen either of his parents in 12 years, and had not regularly interacted with them in 17 years. Scrooge weeps when he learns of her illness, but is purely enraged when her death is treated as a joke by Slick and his thugs.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": ... Which leads to Soapy Slick and his goons give that reaction◊ upon noticing Scrooge's looks.Soapy: ...Oops.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Toyed with, in the depiction of Goldie. Scrooge enters Dawson City, with an enraged expression on his face, dragging Soapy Slick's broken body behind him. The entire population of the city gets the impression that Scooge is out for blood, and they hide from him in terror. Everyone except Goldie, who observes Scrooge unnoticed, seems very impressed with him, and smiles happily. While they have briefly met each other before, at this point they are strangers and her infamous theft of his gold has not happened yet. She seems attracted to his death glares.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: One of Soapy Slick's goon calls Scrooge a sissy because of the Scottish tradition of wearing kilts.
- Read the Fine Print: Soapy Slick doesn't use fine print to sucker Scrooge into a bad loan — He just leaves enough room on the contract to turn a 10% interest rate into 100%! While Scrooge could have easily contested this obvious fraud, Soapy flees to Canada with the contract. It isn't until after Soapy is deported back to Alaska that the contract is restored to its original terms.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The most impressive appearance of the glare Scrooge would later hang on the walls of his money bin.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against Soapy Slick.
- Scenery Porn: White Agony Valley is a piece of gorgeous untampered nature, with surrounding mountains, rivers and creeks that are equally breathtaking.
- Shrouded in Myth: The narration makes it clear that no one in Dawson fully knows what happened to Soapy's riverboat during Scrooge's epic rampage. "The whole incident was probably exaggerated in the many retellings that followed. Possibly, it didn't actually happen at all!"
- Strolling Through the Chaos: Scrooge doesn't care much for all the nonsense in Dawson.◊ Amusingly enough, Scrooge later crosses a completely silent Dawson, for he has just torn a steamboat apart and is dragging a body around. Even the police are afraid!
- Tap on the Head: How Soapy abducts Scrooge.
- Tranquil Fury: After his outrage, this is more or less Scrooge's mood as he brings Soapy Slick to justice.
- Unstoppable Rage: What happens if you push Scrooge's Berserk Button hard. Soapy Slick and his goons learn the hard way when Soapy mocks Scrooge's dead mother.
