Four Color #178
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFour Color #178 is the first appearance of Scrooge McDuck — Donald Duck's miserly Scottish uncle — in any medium, making it the foundational issue for one of the most globally beloved characters in Disney history. Carl Barks created Scrooge as a one-off antagonist to test Donald's courage, but the character proved so compelling that Barks returned to him repeatedly, ultimately spawning his own long-running comic series and, decades later, two separate DuckTales animated television franchises. The issue also captures Scrooge before his full design and personality were locked in, offering a rare snapshot of a character in the act of being born — rougher-edged and more genuinely misanthropic than the adventurous, globe-trotting tycoon readers later came to know. Its influence radiates across the entire Duckburg canon: virtually every major Scrooge storyline, from Don Rosa's biographical epic to modern Marvel revivals, traces its roots back to this single holiday comic.
In "Christmas on Bear Mountain," Donald Duck and his family spend the holidays in Uncle Scrooge McDuck’s remote mountain cabin, unaware that Scrooge plans to test Donald’s courage by pretending to be a bear. But when a real mother bear and her cub show up at the cabin, the festive atmosphere takes a wild turn—just as the ducks are trying to enjoy a peaceful Christmas.
In the frosty heart of the North Pole, Mickey and Goofy lend a hand at Santa's Workshop, where even the Seven Dwarfs and Dumbo are helping out. When Goofy is put in charge of Santa’s reindeer, he’s shocked to find Prancer missing—stolen by the mischievous Willie the Giant.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 21 grades ▾
Find on ebay
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Carl Barks was already several years into writing and drawing Donald Duck stories for Dell when he conceived 'Christmas on Bear Mountain.' In a 1975 interview he recalled that the assignment was simply to produce a Christmas story and that, casting about for a dramatic engine, he naturally gravitated toward the Dickens archetype of a rich, isolated miser — 'a rich uncle' who could give the plot its inciting premise and its tension. Barks submitted the finished art on July 22, 1947, and the issue went on sale in the fall of that year with a December cover date; the cover itself was painted by Dan Gormley rather than Barks, who handled all interior story and art duties. Barks later confirmed he originally viewed Scrooge as a single-use character and had no plans to revive him, but found after publication that the character's potential for adventure-driven storytelling was too useful to abandon, leading directly to Scrooge's second appearance in 'The Old Castle's Secret' (Four Color #189, June 1948).
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Scrooge McDuck (Uncle Scrooge) in any medium — created, written, and drawn entirely by Carl Barks.
- Lead story is 'Christmas on Bear Mountain,' a 20-page full-color tale in which Scrooge invites Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie to his remote mountain cabin, planning to disguise himself as a bear to test Donald's bravery — a plan derailed when real bears show up.
- The issue's indicia title is 'Walt Disney's DONALD DUCK, No. 178'; cover art is by Dan Gormley, not Barks.
- A second feature, 'Santa Claus Land,' with art by Don Gunn, features Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Dumbo, Doc, and Grumpy working at Santa's North Pole workshop, where Goofy discovers that Prancer the reindeer has been stolen by Willie the Giant.
- Two additional one-page Donald Duck gag strips by Barks also appear in the issue, rounding out 36 pages of full-color content at a cover price of ten cents.
- Barks drew Scrooge in this debut without his later-iconic top hat and frock coat; the character is depicted as bearded, bespectacled, and leaning on a cane — a design Barks would refine across subsequent appearances.
- Scrooge's visual design may have been influenced by a nameless Scottish 'thrifty saver' duck character from the 1943 Disney wartime propaganda short The Spirit of '43.
- The 'Christmas on Bear Mountain' story has been reprinted in numerous formats, including Gladstone's Carl Barks Library series (1994), Boom! Studios' Walt Disney's Christmas Classics (2009), Fantagraphics' Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 5 (October 2013), and Marvel's Uncle Scrooge and the Infinity Dime #1 (August 2024).
Cast · 10 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Donald Duck & Co #26/1957 (1957), Donald Duck & Co #1/1958 (1958), Donald Duck & Co #14/1959 (1959), Donald Duck & Co #35/1960 (1960), Donald Ducks Show #[9] (1964), Walt Disney's Christmas Parade #3 (1965), Donald Duck & Co #51/1965 (1965), Donald Duck & Co #48/1973 (1973), Donald Duck & Co #49/1973 (1973), The Best of Walt Disney Comics #96173 (1974), De beste verhalen van Donald Duck #10 (1978), De beste verhalen van Donald Duck #8 (1978), De beste verhalen van Donald Duck #24 (1982), The Complete Carl Barks #5 (1983), The Carl Barks Library #1 (1984), Gladstone Comic Album #13 (1989), Gladstone Comic Album Special #2 (1990), Kalle Ankas bästisar #34 (1991), Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures #9 (1991), Duckmobiles #[nn] (1991), Tegneseriebokklubben #83 (1991), Carl Barks Library of Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures in Color #8 (1994), Carl Barks Library of Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures in Color #25 (1996), Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #608 (1997) + 28 more
Key issues in Four Color
★
★
★
★
★
★
★Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.