Flintheart Glomgold
Flintheart Glomgold | |
---|---|
Donald Duck character | |
First appearance | "The Second-Richest Duck" in Uncle Scrooge #15 (September 1956) |
Created by | Carl Barks |
Voiced by | |
Alias | Duke Baloney (DuckTales reboot only) |
Relatives |
|
Nationality | South African American (DuckTales) |
Flintheart Glomgold is a cartoon character created in 1956 by
Glomgold is one of Scrooge's main rivals along with the
Comic history
Under Carl Barks
Glomgold was originally created in 1956 by Scrooge McDuck artist and creator
Glomgold first appeared in "The Second-Richest Duck", first published in September 1956. In this story, Scrooge, who holds the title of the Richest Duck in the World, learns that a businessman from the valley of the Limpopo, South Africa has also claimed this title. Scrooge decides to confront this claimant to his title and travels to South Africa along with his nephew Donald and three grandnephews. The rest of the story concentrates on comparing and contrasting the two rivals during a race through "The Heart of Africa" (a recurring phrase in the story), by seeing who has the largest ball of string, because they are shown equal in everything else, from cash to gold mines to even who has the most pumpkins. The race is supposed to determine which one of them deserves the title.
The two characters resemble each other both in appearance and behavior though their main common point seems to be that they are extremely competitive, and neither of them can accept the idea of someone else being equal or superior to them. Flintheart, like Scrooge, keeps a percentage of his fortune in his own Money Bin, identical to that of Scrooge (with the exception of the external logo: a dollar sign on McDuck's and a pound sign on Glomgold's), while the rest of his fortune is invested in a worldwide financial empire of his own that equals that of Scrooge, although Scrooge's main sources of wealth are his industries, while Flintheart's are his diamond mines.
However, the main difference between them seems to be their way of life. Scrooge's Money Bin is at the center of
The solitary South African re-appeared to challenge Scrooge to a rematch in The Money Champ, first published in September 1959. This time the confrontation takes place in Scrooge's grounds in Duckburg with the city's population witnessing the event, and they only count their wealth in cash and not their investments, so they have to liquidate much of their fortunes. Flintheart uses a number of underhand plots against Scrooge, but his plans backfire when their cost in money also costs Flintheart his chance at victory. The story adds little to what was established in the previous one. However, for the first time, some panels concentrate on Flintheart's thoughts, revealing that his insecurities about his own worth are the driving force behind both his efforts to best Scrooge and his dishonest tactics (since he doubts his ability to win in a direct confrontation), and that Flintheart believes said tactics are betrayals of his "dear old mother's fondest hopes".
Barks would use Flintheart for a third and last time in
When Scrooge manages to reach the Kalahari Desert, Flintheart's plane is revealed to be a bomber as well. Flintheart bombards Scrooge and his nephews, but misses. When he returns for a second bombing run, the Ducks have dressed some rocks with their clothing and have taken cover elsewhere. Flintheart mistakes the rocks for his targets and destroys them, noting that his rivals are now dinner for the jackals. His victory is short-lived, however. Because he was flying low, the bomb explosions damaged his plane's fuel tank. He crash-lands the plane and finds himself in no better condition than Scrooge. The rest of the story presents Scrooge's and Flintheart's rival efforts to cross the Kalahari and reach the auction. The end of the story finds them at the auction, tired from their difficult treks, but still rivaling each other, while an exhausted Donald has fallen asleep. (Who finally obtained the gold mine is not revealed.) It is considered Flintheart's darkest appearance and among his strongest and most memorable ones.[by whom?]
After Barks
During the ten years that followed his creator's retirement the character made infrequent appearances, appearing only in four comic book stories. He was not nearly as recognizable as other rivals of Scrooge, like Italian sorceress Magica De Spell, who appeared far more often. Flintheart returned to prominence in 1979, when Egmont editors Lars Bergström and Stefan Printz-Påhlson decided to revive the character. Since then, Flintheart Glomgold has appeared in more than 100 Egmont stories, some of which depict him as an influential member of Duckburg's Billionaires Club (which also includes Scrooge and John D. Rockerduck).
In Werner Wejp-Olsen and
In Lars Jensen and Marco Rota's 2005 story "The Glomgold Heritage", Flintheart's father, Brickheart Glomgold, and mother appeared briefly. It is also revealed in this story that Flintheart's grandfather, Stoneheart, was a Scotsman who moved to London and later on, together with his son Brickheart, traveled to South Africa after being wrongly accused for theft. From this experience, the Glomgolds learned that the world was unfair and cruel, and that they had to look out for themselves even if that meant acting outside the law.
In the 1988 DuckTales comic book story "The Smart Nephew" by Bob Gregory, Cosme Quartieri, and Jorge Sanchez, another nephew of Glomgold appears: the smart and brave Junior.
Under Don Rosa
In 1987
Rosa, who admits to have a soft spot for the character, has used Flintheart in a growing number of stories and has offered him a sort of origin. In his stories, Flintheart is a
Don Rosa also revealed in at least two stories another thing that makes Flintheart a
Notable is the fact that Flintheart Glomgold's first coin could not be a rand, because the
Animation and other appearances
An animated version of the character appeared in the TV series
Glomgold is also a recurring antagonist in the DuckTales comic book series, notably the series Scrooge's Quest. In the final chapter of that series, "All That Glitters Is Not Glomgold", Glomgold has taken advantage of Scrooge's long absence and distraction to buy out all of Scrooge's assets and seize control of Duckburg. While Scrooge was a more benevolent businessman, Glomgold is determined to soak the city's people for as much money as he can, charging exorbitant prices for food and services, while keeping their lives as closely regimented as possible. Scrooge cannily uses Glomgold's own paranoia against him, wandering around town, making apparently innocuous inspections of Glomgold's businesses, and causing Glomgold to tear apart his own holdings, looking for Scrooge's sabotage. By the end of the comic, Glomgold has destroyed all of his assets in Duckburg, and Scrooge has regained his own fortune. As Scrooge explains to his nephews, "Glomgold is so evil and sneaky that he thinks everyone is as evil and sneaky as he is." Yet, in the final pages of the comic, Glomgold seems to be perfectly content, living in a wooden shanty in Duckburg's slums, sharing a meager meal with one of his former clerks. As Glomgold explains, now that he has nothing left, there's nothing further that Scrooge can do to him, and Glomgold is looking forward to making himself rich again, since making a fortune is much more satisfying than having one. In this he reflects much of Scrooge's own philosophy.
In the
Flintheart also appears in the 1989 DuckTales video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). After Scrooge completes all the regular levels, Flintheart challenges him to a race in which the winner will take all of the treasure Scrooge has acquired. Glomgold also appears in the 1993 video game sequel DuckTales 2, also for the NES, once again trying to obtain the treasures that Scrooge had collected and also kidnaps Webby in order to get Scrooge to hand over the treasure. When he does Glomgold is revealed to be the final boss the D-1000. In DuckTales: Remastered, Glomgold is voiced by Brian George (Hal Smith had died in 1994), and his role is greatly expanded. In Remastered, Glomgold attacks Scrooge in the Himalayas, attempting to shoot Launchpad out of the skies, but is thwarted by Scrooge. He appears again on the Moon, attempting to collect the Green Cheese of Longevity before Scrooge does. Later, he forms an uneasy alliance with Scrooge to help him rescue his nephews from Magica De Spell, but later reveals that he was in cahoots with her all along in order to get Scrooge's Number One Dime from him for her own purposes. As in the original, Scrooge must race Glomgold and Magica in order to reclaim his Number One Dime in the end. Glomgold appeared in Ducktales: Scrooge's Loot, and also as Boss in the RPG card game titled The Duckforce Rises for the Android and iOS.
Glomgold is the main antagonist in the PC game DuckTales: The Quest for Gold. In the intro scene, he barges into Scrooge's office, lamenting about he is tired being the second richest duck in the world, and challenges Scrooge to a wealth contest sponsored by Dime Magazine: in the next 30 days, the one who collects the most treasure shall be the Duck of the Year. The contest is held in the Isle of Macaroon, which is a homage to the four-parter "Catch as Cash Can" episode, except that the contest gives 30 days, not 10. Just like in the episodes, Glomgold hires the Beagle Boys against Scrooge and his nephews, and will constantly try to race Scrooge to the treasure locations, or snatching treasure from other locations. The ultimate goal of the game is to collect more money, thus, beating Glomgold and becoming Duck of the Year.
Glomgold appeared on the 2012 list of the Forbes Fictional 15, a compilation of the wealthiest characters in fiction. A spike in the price of gold during the late 2000s and early 2010s allowed Glomgold to become the second-wealthiest fictional character. His nemesis, Scrooge McDuck (who has appeared in most of the Fictional 15 lists to date), surpassed him in the 2013 list, in which Glomgold did not appear.
Glomgold, now voiced by Keith Ferguson, returns as Scrooge's nemesis in the 2017 reboot of DuckTales. While Glomgold now appears much stouter than in previous versions, his outfit and personality remains relatively unchanged from the 1987 version.[2] He is also the head of Glomgold Industries, through which he builds up his fortune through personal branding and making products as cheaply as possible. Throughout the first season, it was initially implied that this Glomgold is South African but pretends to be Scottish in order to outdo Scrooge McDuck.[3] This is confirmed in the second season episode, "The Ballad of Duke Baloney!", where it is revealed that Glomgold was born Duke Baloney, a shoeshine boy who did Scrooge's shoes and given a dime as payment to teach him self-reliance, only for Duke to instead feel cheated and create his "Glomgold" persona over the years to get revenge.[4]
Predecessor
A few years prior to Flintheart's debut, another character was described as the World's Second-Richest Duck. His only appearance took place in Carl Barks' story "Turkey With All the Schemings". In that story, Donald found himself unable to afford a Christmas dinner and decided to trick Scrooge into paying for dinner for him. To do so, Donald posed as a
References
- ISBN 978-1578068586.
- ^ Speelman, Tom (July 31, 2019). "How Disney's DuckTales Reboot Changed Flintheart Glomgold". CBR. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- ^ "DuckTales exclusive: Meet the new faces of Duckburg! | Entertainment Weekly". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
- ^ 11/03/18 12:30PM (November 3, 2018). "The weathered backstory of Flintheart Glomgold makes for an unexpectedly ominous DuckTales". Tv.avclub.com. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
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External links
- Flintheart Glomgold at Inducks
- Flintheart's profile in a Who is Who in Duckburg
- Flintheart's profile in the Disney HooZoo
- Hal Smith at IMDb(Flintheart's voice actor)