Walt Disney Uncle Scrooge #46
Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge #46 is a prime example of Carl Barks at full creative throttle during his final decade of regular Duck comics work, delivering the 22-page undersea adventure 'Lost Beneath the Sea' — a story that uses Scrooge's talismanic Number One Dime as the engine for an outright science-fiction plot involving iron-hungry Martians under the ocean. The issue also showcases the Gold Key era's anthology format, pairing that lead adventure with shorter Barks-written or Barks-drawn backup stories and a Paul Murry Mickey Mouse strip, offering a snapshot of how Western Publishing managed the Disney comics line in 1963. 'Lost Beneath the Sea' proved durable enough to be reprinted multiple times across decades and was ultimately collected in Fantagraphics' Complete Carl Barks Disney Library, cementing its standing as a representative Barks adventure from his late-period Gold Key run.
In "Lost Beneath the Sea!", Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck dive into the deep with a bathysphere to recover Scrooge’s Old Number One Dime from a sunken ocean liner—only to discover a hidden undersea shipyard run by four-armed Martians salvaging iron from sunken ships. Written, drawn, and inked by Carl Barks, this 1963 adventure blends underwater mystery with classic Disney whimsy, all captured in the iconic style of Barks’ cover art.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
By late 1963, the Uncle Scrooge title had transitioned from its Dell Publishing identity to Western Publishing's Gold Key imprint — a shift that began around issue #40 in 1962 — though the indicia continued to list K.K. Publications Inc. as the formal publisher while Western Printing and Lithographing Co. handled production. Carl Barks submitted the artwork for the lead story on May 27, 1963, with lettering handled by his wife Garé Barks, a collaboration typical of their Gold Key-era workflow. The backup 'Lemonade Fling' was scripted by Vic Lockman with Barks on art — an editorial arrangement that appeared occasionally during this period when Barks would illustrate scripts by other writers. Alice Nielson Cobb served as editor-in-chief and Tom McKimson as designer, reflecting the Western Publishing production apparatus that supported the Disney comics line throughout the 1960s.
Trivia · 8 facts
- The lead story, 'Lost Beneath the Sea' (22 pages), was written and drawn by Carl Barks with lettering by Garé Barks; art was submitted to Western Publishing on May 27, 1963.
- The story features Scrooge's Number One Dime sinking aboard an ocean liner, prompting Scrooge, Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie to descend in a bathysphere — only to find the wreck in an undersea salvage yard run by four-armed, iron-hungry Martians.
- The story was originally developed under the working title 'Lost in Davy Jones' Locker' before publication.
- The issue also contains: a 4-page Gyro Gearloose/Little Helper story ('A Helper's Helping Hand,' Barks art), a 5-page Scrooge story scripted by Vic Lockman with Barks art ('The Lemonade Fling'), a 1-page Fireman Scrooge gag strip (Barks), and a 1-page Mickey Mouse/Morty/Ferdie strip drawn by Paul Murry.
- The cover was drawn and painted by Carl Barks; coloring throughout was handled by the Western Publishing Production Shop.
- All 32 interior pages are comics content or comics-related text — no interior advertising — with ads confined to the inside and back covers.
- The Hanna-Barbera characters indexed for this issue (Yogi Bear, Top Cat, Huckleberry Hound, Fred Flintstone, Pebbles Flintstone, George Jetson, Astro) appear in a Gold Key subscription advertisement on the cover pages, not within any story content; the blog record at Joe Torcivia's 'The Issue At Hand' explicitly notes that Uncle Scrooge #46 ran the 'MAMMOTH' Hanna-Barbera subscription ad alongside a Walt Disney titles subscription offer.
- 'Lost Beneath the Sea' was reprinted in Walt Disney Comics Digest #10 (April 1969), Uncle Scrooge #149 (February 1978, Western series), Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge Adventures #17 (Gladstone, November 1989), Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge Adventures in Color #43 (Gladstone, April 1998), and most recently in Fantagraphics' Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 30 (2026).
Cast · 18 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
An ocean liner bearing Scrooge's Old Number One Dime sinks in deep water, and Donald and Scrooge go after it in a bathysphere. They find that the ocean liner, and other ships as well, has been taken to an undersea shipyard manned by Martians, four-armed creatures who are salvaging the iron from the sunken ships for their own iron-poor planet. Things are complicated by Donald's latest job as a scoop-hungry newspaper reporter.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).