U$46 Lost Beneath the Sea

Some of Scrooge's dreams are of a more daring nature. In this story he has actual plans to not only purchase the Matterhorn mountain, the Taj Mahal mausoleum, and the Hong Kong region, but to also move them to be parts of his amusement park! However, time has shown that he did not succeed with any of his secret, high-rolling plans...

FC0275 Ancient Persia

Donald was nearly married on two separate occasions:
A genuine marriage was on its way in FC0275 Ancient Persia, when Donald was forced to the ceremony to be married to Princess Needa Bara Soapa. And in U$68 Hall of the Mermaid Queen Daisy dreamt that Donald was married to Queen Cleopickerel...

U$15 The Second-richest Duck

It seems to be a general misconception that Scrooge keeps his old Number One Dime because it brings him luck, but this is not necessarily the case. In U$36 The Midas Touch Scrooge says: Bah! Mere superstition! Thriftiness is the secret of my wealth! And this old dime is a symbol of that thriftiness - nothing more! Still, in the above panel it brought him luck...

MOC04 Maharajah Donald

In this story Donald earns the exalted title of Maharajah for defeating enemy forces. He grabs the honourable job, only to be told that he is now also automatically married to several wives - in fact a whole harem...

U$31 The Secret Book (1-pager)

Scrooge published a book once. It was called The Secret Of My Billions, and consisted of nothing but blank pages. The old miser always knew how to make money - and to keep a secret...

WDCS145 'The Hypno Gun'

We have often witnessed how Scrooge can juggle with ease, both small and large figures, when he is counting money, so it is somewhat bewildering to observe his addition on the blackboard...

WDCS112 'The Rip van Winkle Story'

Many different mind-expanding drugs were known half a century ago, but they were not considered to be the problem they are today. Barks did NOT write about that sort of drugs, but he wrote a few stories that could be interpreted as dealing with drugs.
In this one, Donald is exposed to ether which has a similar effect as some psychedelic drugs. In FC0062 Mystery of the Swamp the Ducks are doped with apples dipped in forgettin' juice, as the Gneezles call it, and in FC0328 In Old California! the Ducks fall into a dream for weeks due to special herbs...

FC0275 Ancient Persia

Death is almost never seen in the duck comics. However, in this story from 1950 Barks had a real problem, because the plot called for  - not one but - several characters to die. The story slipped by the editors, but for many years it was banned in many countries. Later, Barks got away with more fatalities without actually showing them. Examples: A group of spies in FC0308 Dangerous Disguise, and several soldiers in U$64 Treasure of Marco Polo.
Suicide is another taboo, but in FC0308 Dangerous Disguise Barks let one of the spies jump to his death from a window...

WDCS034 'Good Deeds'

Donald tries to do good deeds which, at one point, brings him into a close encounter with a hostile negro-duck tribe. Barks' editor said he would not in the future accept black ducks as that might seem racist in the duck universe.
Barks did indeed refrain from drawing African ducks with black skin, which seems rather odd and misplaced when white-skinned African ducks (sometimes with black, curly hair!) emerged from time to time. You can see examples in U$53 The Great Wig Mystery and U$61 So Far and No Safari.

WDCS071 'Dishonest Swimming Rules'

Quite often Barks showed secondary characters smoking in his stories; workers and cowboys smoked cigarettes, bosses and millionaires smoked cigars. In this story Barks even shows us a smoking kid! Apparently, the act of smoking was not as frowned upon as it is today.
A striking example of the new way of thinking is comic book Western hero Lucky Luke. His 'trademark' was always a cigarette. Later, Belgian artist Morris was forced to substitute it with a straw.

FC0300 Big Top Bedlam

Barks found great pleasure in drawing real people - i.e. characters without animal features - into his stories although the editor did not like it. This happened for example in FC0291 The Magic Hourglass and in FC0300 Big Top Bedlam. But in the following story, FC0308 Dangerous Disguise, Barks finally went too far as all the non-duck characters were real people. I was in deep trouble, Barks later shuddered. But due to an upcoming deadline the story was accepted...

WDCS110 'The Goldilocks Story'

Gladstone Gander is notorious for his immense luck, which makes work unnecessary to him. Usually, he has the ability to lure Donald into working for him if necessary. Still, he was working as a forest ranger in WDCS110 'The Goldilocks Story', because, as he said 'there's absotively nothing to do'. And in WDCS140 'Gladstone's Dark Secret' Scrooge and the Ducks stumble over Gladstone's best kept secret, a dime - the only wage he has ever earned...

WDCS127 'April Foolers'

Barks drew his story in 1950. On the first panel of the second page there is a book with a cover reading Mein Kampf. This is a book by Adolf Hitler, the initiator of the Second World War. Barks put this book on the trash dump to make a statement about Hitler who belongs in the lowest of places - the trash. This is the only instance where Barks made a direct political statement in his comics.

U$19 The Mines of King Solomon

The nephews' turtleneck sweaters must contain several hidden pockets enabling them to carry different and voluminous objects such as the Junior Woodchucks' Guide Book. The most striking example came when their pockets were emptied in VP1 'A Day in the Country' in which all their pocketed belongings were displayed at Grandma's kitchen table. Not even a live frog was missing...

FC0147 Volcano Valley

Donald's characteristic little red car is certainly not the kind of car that you will find roaming the streets in your hometown! It is thoroughly unique. In this story Barks 'divulged' some of its secrets, as the mechanic says: A 1920 Mixwell engine! 22 Dudge body! 23 Paclac axles! Wheels off a lawn mower! Barks is playing on words here: 'Dudge' refers to Dodge and 'Paclac' is a combination of Packard and Cadillac.

WDCS282 Bubbleweight Champ

According to the morals code that Disney's upheld via their publishers, drinking of alcohol was not acceptable in their comic books. Barks wrote several stories in which alcohol would have been a natural ingredient (just think of FC0456 Back to the Klondike where all the saloon guests drink coffee!), but he also drew a story in which the plot line called for Donald to indulge in a stimulant that resembles beer, namely WDCS282 Bubbleweight Champ. Furthermore, Barks made a major slip in WDCS127 'April Fools' Day' where he drew a building furnished with the words 'Tony's Beer Joint'...

WDCS142 'Houseboat Vacation'

Initially, the Swastika is an ancient, religious symbol formed as a cross with the ends of the arms bent at right angles. The symbol became infamously known as the main emblem of the Nazi party and the German state during the Second World War, and as such it is mostly remembered today. Therefore it is rather puzzling that Barks used the symbol in this story, and if this was not enough he had also used it in WDCS060 'Radar Tracking' from 1945 - the last year of the war - when he drew Donald wearing an Indian headdress. Hidden in the headband were two swastikas...

FC0386 Only a Poor Old Man

In  this story we learn several things about Scrooge's past:
In 1898 he dug gold nuggets out of the creeks of the Klondike, and in 1882 he punched cows in Montana. There he filed on a claim that contained one-third of the world's known resource of copper. He also fooled the brigands of Mongolia, and gummed up the James boys and outfoxed the Daltons. Furthermore, he salvaged treasure on the Spanish Main, and he learned the cormorant language by training thousands of them when in the pearl trade in Asia. And then he learned some tricks in Bagdad...

U$23 The Strange Ship-wrecks

Astounding as it may seem, the Beagle Boys have been involved in hard work several times. In this story 176-716 reluctantly reveals that they actually served as lighthouse operators for a period of two years, and in U$35 Gift Lion, they admit to have listened in on Scrooge's phone calls for 10 years...

WDCS033 'Lifeguard'

This story, in which Donald acts as a lifeguard for a beautiful lady-duck, marks Barks' first run-in with the editor. He had drawn the lady fully equipped with voluptuous breasts but was told to remove them. The end result is especially apparent in this panel where the bodies are quite inexplicably not touching each other.

U$34 Mythtic Mystery

It is a fact that no readers of Barks' stories have actually read an adventure story in U$34 titled Mythic Mystery! Not even many of the seasoned fans have noticed Barks' intelligent twist in his title that really reads Mythtic Mystery, thus cleverly presenting a self-constructed amalgamation of the two words Mythic and Mystic...