Micky Maus Sonderheft #24
Micky Maus Sonderheft #24 marks the German-language debut of Carl Barks' 'Only a Poor Old Man' — the story universally recognized as Uncle Scrooge's first true solo starring vehicle — delivered to West German readers under Erika Fuchs' title 'Dagobert Ducks 13 Trillionen' just three years after its American publication. It is therefore the foundational Dagobert Duck (Scrooge McDuck) Barks showcase in the German market, the issue through which generations of German-speaking children first encountered the money-bin, the Beagle Boys, and the full emotional range of the character. As one of the final numbers in the 33-issue Sonderheft run before Ehapa folded the format into a bi-weekly schedule in 1956, it also sits at a genuine structural turning point in German Disney comics publishing history.
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The Micky Maus Sonderheft series was launched by the newly established Ehapa Verlag in 1951 alongside the main monthly Micky Maus magazine; the special-issue format existed specifically to accommodate longer, self-contained stories that could not fit the regular periodical. Dr. Erika Fuchs, appointed editor-in-chief of Ehapa's Disney line from the magazine's very first issue, translated and freely adapted all content throughout this period, coining the German name 'Dagobert Duck' for Scrooge McDuck and crafting distinctive speech patterns for each character. The underlying Barks story had first appeared in the United States as Dell Four Color #386 in March 1952; Ehapa brought it to German readers in the Sonderheft format roughly three years later, consistent with the series' pattern of reprinting recent American material. By 1956, rising readership allowed Ehapa to shift the main magazine to a bi-weekly schedule, making the Sonderheft format redundant — Sonderheft #24 was published in the series' final active year.
Trivia · 8 facts
- The issue presents the German-language adaptation of Carl Barks' 'Only a Poor Old Man,' the story originally published as Dell Four Color #386 (March 1952) and recognized as Uncle Scrooge's first dedicated solo comic-book feature.
- The German title is 'Dagobert Ducks 13 Trillionen'; the issue also contains a second Dagobert Duck backup story titled 'Der neue Tresor' ('The New Vault').
- Published approximately March–April 1955 by Ehapa Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart, as the 24th entry in the Micky Maus Sonderheft series (1951–1955), which ran to 33 issues total.
- The entire series was written, drawn, and lettered by Carl Barks, who worked anonymously at Dell and was unknown by name to most readers at the time of this German publication.
- Translator and Ehapa editor-in-chief Dr. Erika Fuchs rendered 'Uncle Scrooge' as 'Dagobert Duck' in German — a name she coined — and gave the character a grammatically precise, dignified register distinct from Donald's emotional volatility.
- The Sonderheft format was designed to carry longer, standalone stories impossible to run in the monthly Micky Maus magazine; Sonderheft #24 appeared in the series' final year before Ehapa switched to a bi-weekly main-magazine schedule in 1956 and retired the format.
- Barks' Dagobert Duck/Uncle Scrooge stories from these Sonderhefte were later reprinted in Germany through the Ehapa 'Barks Library Special – Onkel Dagobert' series beginning in 1993, attesting to the enduring editorial importance of this early material.
- Erika Fuchs served as editor-in-chief of the Micky Maus line from 1951 until her retirement in 1988 — meaning she personally oversaw the translation and publication of this issue during the formative years of German Disney comics.