Technically, Barks retired in 1966, although he contributed a handful of stories to various comic books throughout the '70s. Thankfully for fans, another talented cartoonist was ready to take his place. In 1986, Don Rosa called the editor at Gladstone Publishing, which was publishing Disney comics at the time, and more or less demanded the Uncle Scrooge job. After submitting a 26-page Harvey-award winning story called "The Son of the Sun," he got it, and Rosa spent the next two decades writing and drawing Scrooge's adventures for various publishers.

Rosa's work immediately caught on with Barks' fans. In 1991, Rosa penned The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, a meticulously researched 12-issue epic that draws heavily on Barks' original comics to tell the story of Scrooge's rise to fame. It was a huge hit, and scored Rosa the 1995 Eisner Award—basically, the comic book-equivalent of an Oscar—for Best Serialized Story (he'd win again in 1997, picking up the award for Writer and Artist, Humor).

Given that DuckTales draws so heavily on Barks' work, you'd think that Rosa would be a big fan, right? Not so fast. While Rosa claims that he likes the cartoon—he calls it "the best kids animated TV show of the '80s"—he seems pretty frustrated that people tend to link the comics and the show. In fact, he even puts a sign on his table at conventions saying as much.

"People say, 'Oh, DuckTales.' I'll say, no, and explain it to them.... It's pathetic that you have to explain that to Americans that these characters, which are the world's most popular comic book characters—and all they know of it is a kiddie TV show," Rosa says. "I try to tell people that Superfriends is to Superman and Batman what DuckTales is to Carl Barks' actual Uncle Scrooge stuff."

Basically? It's complicated.