Forget Roald Dahl, Dr. Seuss, even Mark Twain, now they are messing with a true classic of literature. Don Rosa’s The Life and Times of Uncle $crooge is having an entire chapter of his biography deleted.
The Life and Times of $crooge McDuck according to Wikipedia:
The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck (Lo$) is a serial of 12 comic book stories written and drawn by Don Rosa, lettered by Todd Klein (American editions), first published by the Danish publisher Egmont in the magazine Anders And & Co. from 1992–94 and later in English in Uncle Scrooge #285 through #296 (1994–96). The stories chronicle the in-universe biography of Scrooge McDuck before his introduction in 1947. The stories were later collected and published together in a single volume.
Don Rosa is acknowledged as the rightful successor to “the good duck artist” Carl Barks as far as the Disney duck devotees are concerned. Don recently revealed to his fans that the comic masterpiece will have a chapter removed. Don was notified by a publisher (not Disney) of his comics:
As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, The Walt Disney Company is in the process of reviewing their library of stories.
As a result of this, some stories that do not align with their values will no longer be published. This applies to two of your classic stories, “The Richest Duck in the World” [in the U.S. = “The Empire-Builder from Calisota”, i.e.: chapter 11 of Life of $crooge] and “The Dream of a Lifetime”. These stories will not be part of any reprints or new collections.
Bombie is in both the banned stories.
Uncle Scrooge encounters Bombie the Zombie and Foola Zoola in Africa, both Carl Barks creations.
Chris Braly at Bleeding Fool reports on the story and other details, but:
Obviously the depiction of the zombie is what bothers Disney’s woke-scolds, despite it arguably being less shocking than true life photos of Haitian voodoo priests and houngans that the BBC recently published.
Don is advising fans who were waiting to get the graphic novel to get it before prices skyrocket for the unexpurgated editions.
I have asked for an update from the source who notified me of the story ban (a totally reliable source) and I’m told “discussions are underway”.
Hopefully “saner minds will prevail”, and there’s some solution that will be reached. I’d say there is at least hope because, I repeat, the publishers are probably as upset about this as anyone since it will make them look bad even though it’s out of their control.
presentism at it’s worst.