Don Rosa Kalenteri 2003 - June
Title: Don Rosa Kalenteri 2003 - June Year: 2002 Publisher: Aku Ankka/Egmont Code: Qfi/VK2003 G Size: 29.0 cm  x  41.5 cm Published: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway. Don Rosa's comments: JUNE: ONLY A POOR OLD MAN Did someone know that "Only a Poor Old Man" is my favorite $crooge story when they made it the pin-up for my birth month of June? What a nice present! This was Barks' very first actual "Uncle $crooge" story, the contents of the American first issue of the UNCLE $CROOGE title in 1952. And yet, when this was my favorite of my sister's comic collection, I had no idea that it was UNCLE $CROOGE #1.the number shown on the comic was actually "386" as an issue of another series before later being awarded its own numbering system with #4. Why did I love this story so much? Looking back on it now, I'm not quite sure of the reasons. The tale's very best qualities are more intellectual than due to the humor or action. Was I so deep and philosophical when I was about 5 years old? I'd like to think so! (But I doubt it!) Yet I loved how Barks seemed to use the last page of the story to sum up the personalities of both Donald and $crooge. Especially potent, perhaps the most potent single panel of $crooge that Barks ever drew, was that panel showing $crooge pondering what Donald has just told him, that even though $crooge is so wealthy and powerful, he's locked into a life of worry and work that makes him "only a poor old man" at heart. I can see in $crooge's eyes his life flashing before him. "Am I really nothing but a poor old man?" That is such an important panel that I made it the focal point of my pin-up - that's it on the coin in the center. But the next 4 panels of Barks ' original story show $crooge's decision! "Bah! Kid talk! No man is poor who can do what he LIKES to do once in a while!"; "And I like to dive in my money like a porpoise!"; "And burrow through it like a gopher!"; "And toss it up in the air and let it hit me on the head!" What a profound ending! What a grand philosophy of life! The other highlight of that tale was the scene of the dam on Money Lake bursting wide! The way the timbers are thrusting outward, the way the water is sweeping down in graceful curves, the way several coins are flying "out" of the art as if in 3D! I've seen double page spreads in superhero comics by Jack Kirby or his ilk, showing galaxies exploding. but to my eyes no other single scene in comic book history has the action or drama of this mere half-page panel! As with the panel of $crooge contemplating the "meaning of life", I knew my pin-up would need to include a rendition of this dam-burst panel! (D.U.C.K. spoiler: this is a better hiding place to make up for the stinker in the May pin-up! The dedication is in the wood grain in the end of the out-thrusting timber next to $crooge's top hat.)	Scan of "Don Rosa Kalenteri 2003 - June".
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