Duckburg

Duckburg: the city of the ducks created by Carl Barks is the place where Phantom Duck acts and before him where Fantomius and Dolly Paprika performed their missions.
This page briefly shows its story, a map indicating the most significant places, the two most credible and reasonable hypothesis about its supposed geographical location (based on Barks' and Don Rosa's stories) and details of some mysterious and secret places shown in several adventures (some of those related to Phantom Duck) of famous Disney artists.
For those who want to know much more about this argument, there is a complete analysis of Duckburg history and facts based on Barks' and Rosa's universe in the interesting website by Sigvald Grosfjeld Jr.: Life and times in Duckburg.
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In 1579, Sir Francis Drake is the first European to step in the new land called Nova Albion, changing the name into "Drake Borough".
Francis Drake Cornelius Coot Built by the English, Fort Drake Borough which dominates the area, is given to Cornelius Coot in 1818 who renames it Fort Duckburg in the same period founded the Woodchucks Militia to protect the Fort against the Indians.
Clinton Coot In 1830 Cornelius' son Clinton Coot was born. In 1901 he founded the Junior Woodchucks to teach the young Duckburgians how to keep the good ideals, like making good actions, protecting nature and preserving knowledgement. For this purpose he uses the famous guidebook which is nothing more than the summary of the knowledge contained in the volumes of Alexandria's lost library.
In 1898, his son Casey Coot brother of Elvira "Grandma" Coot (Grandma Duck) gave the property of the Fort and relevant hill (Killmule Hill) to a young scottish gold-digger in the Klondike named Scrooge McDuck, who takes possess of the property together with his two sisters Matilda and Hortense in 1902. Casey Coot & Scrooge McDuck Duckburg 1902
Duckburg 1930 In a few decades, Duckburg is transformed from a small farmer village to a modern American city.
The first apperance of name Duckburg is shown in a traffic indication in the last sketch of a Barks' story published in WDCS #49 October 1944.

As for Carl Barks' indications, Duckburg is a city-state like the Italian San Marino or Vatican City. In this point of view, the state of Calisota where Duckburg is located can be considered like a nation itself a little bit bigger than the city.
A clear indication that Duckburg is a city-state comes from Carl Barks' story UNCLE SCROOGE "TREASURE OF MARCO POLO" where the Duckburg embassy (in a foreign country) and the relevant national flag (a duck on a green-blue background) are shown in a sketch.
If we analize some of Barks' stories, (Duckburg is on the US west coast, not far from the desert, not far from the mountains and from the city of Los Angeles, near the old California-Spanish missions area etc..) Duckburg can be logically placed along the California coast between San Francisco and Los Angeles aproximately in the Morro Bay area.
On the other hand, Don Rosa in chapter 10 of his saga The life and times of $crooge McDuck prefers to place Duckburg up to the north of San Francisco, practically in the same bay where corrently the city of Eureka is located.
The state of Calisota in this point of view is a real state of the union placed between a reshaped California and the state of Oregon.
Secondo Don Rosa
Secondo Carl Barks

Mysterious and secret places of Duckburg
NOTRE DUCK
The cathedral of Notre Duck certainly is one of the most suggestive and mysterious places in Duckburg, as is widely shown in Carl Barks' story THE PHANTOM OF NOTRE DUCK US#60 Nov. 1965.
The peculiarity of this old Gothic church, which is basicly a copy of the Notre Dame of Paris, are the wishing well, the various secret passages, the underground and mysterious traps well known and utilized by the worrying and mysterious lodger (maybe designer as well?) the Phantom of Notre Duck.
There are no indications about the period of the building of this huge church located in a California city. Therefore it must be a mediaeval fake probably manufactured, because of its impressiveness and relevant high realization costs, during the first decades of the twentieth century of growth and expansion of Duckburg due mainly to the presence and the investments of several managers and bilionaires, first of all Scrooge McDuck.



The Duckburg cathedral is also shown in a Brasilan story O CASAMENTO DO PATO DONALD of Irineu Soares Rodriguez, Luiz Podavin, Verci de Mello and Euclides Miyaura, in the occasion of the presumed (or better dreamed) wedding between Donald and Daisy celebrated in Notre Duck.
Notre Duck is shown again in a Brasilian story titled A VOLTA DO FANTASMA DE NOTRE DAME.
In this adventure, which clearly takes reference from Barks, Scrooge McDuck and his nephews meet the mysterious phantom again. This time they suddenly discover that it is not the same one as in Barks' adventure, but the witch Magica de Spell in one of her impressive disguises.



In the italian story PAPERINIK E IL TESORO DI DOLLY PAPRIKA (PHANTOM DUCK AND THE TREASURE OF DOLLY PAPRIKA) Marco Gervasio shows a very beautiful image of Notre Duck. In this interesting story there are also some indications about the possible connection between the mysterious Phantom of Notre Duck, the Mad Duke and the gentleman thief Fantomius.




THE CASTLE OF THE MAD DUKE OF DUCKBURG
This creepy manor (obviously another mediaeval fake) is shown in Barks' story HOUSE OF HAUNTS US#60 May 1966.
This dismal castle has the bad fame to be ghost-infested and it is considered a place to avoid because it is full of traps and a mysterious dead-end underground. In the above mentioned story, some of these are restored and utilized for a short time by Scrooge as a secret hiding place for his money.
Nothing is known about the building period of the castle or the identity of the mysterious Mad Duke. The only image of him is shown by Barks in a picture in the relevant story.
Considering the Duke outfit we can suppose that he was living no later than the end of 1500s, in this case the castle has been built long before the foundation of Duckburg, probably during the time of Fracis Drake thus around the year 1580 (The Mad Duke could have been part of Drake's crew). In this poin of view the supposed deeds of the Mad Duke could be only a legend passed down from the native population of the area to the first colonists placed in Duckburg after Cornelius Coot arrived.
But we can also imagine that the true Mad Duke of Duckburg was a descendant of the first castle builder, shown in the Barks' sketch, which in this case he presumably lived and acted in the Duckburg of the second half of the 1800s.


The mysterious side of this character and the fact, as Scrooge said, that he could imitate anybody, lets us reasonably suppouse that the Mad Duke could be in such a way related (an ancestor?) to the Phantom of Notre Duck. This hypothesis seems to be confirmed in the italian story PAPERINIK E IL TESORO DI DOLLY PAPRIKA (PHANTOM DUCK AND THE TREASURE OF DOLLY PAPRIKA) where in the Fantomius' mansion Villa Rosa some pictures of the Phantom of Notre Duck and the Mad Duke are present.




THREE TOWERS' CASTLE
This other beautiful example of a mediaeval fake is shown in the Italian story of Guido Martina and Massimo de Vita PAPERINIK E IL CASTELLO DELLE TRE TORRI (PHANTOM DUCK AND THE THREE TOWERS' CASTLE TOP. n°875-876 September 1973.
This castle is famed for scary legends, one of which says that a ghost is living in one of the castle's towers. We know from the story that he castle belonged to a certain Spokius Spektrus, who died in the second half of the 1800s who is described as a mad person who likes to scare the people with tricks and fake apparitions .
We don't have any images of this mad character, but his description, his maniacal taste for the creepy tricks, fit well to a supposed relative of the above mentioned Mad Duke as well. Or he could be himself the real Mad Duke of Duckburg, in this case the three towers' castle could have been buit in the same period as the Mad Duke one.





VILLA ROSA
Created by Guido Martina and drawn for the first time by Giovan Battista Carpi, this ruined (than destoyed) Villa, located in the country hill area outside the Duckburg city limit, is the hideout of the gentleman thief Lord Quackett alias Fantomius, and it is for sure one of the most mysterious and evocative Duckburg localities.
Both Villa Rosa and its mysterious owner are well described in the relevant pages: Villa Rosa e Fantomius.
Also in this case, it can be taken into account that due to the typical characteristics of the mysterious gentleman thief (eccentricity, ability to disguise, darkness, maniac for mysterious places full of traps, etc..) it is reasonable to think that this character could be related to the previous ones or even better, he himself could be the The Phantom of Notre Duck

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The indication of a probable connection between Fantomius, the Phantom of Notre Duck and the Mad Duke of Duckburg it is shown in the italian story PAPERINIK E IL TESORO DI DOLLY PAPRIKA (PHANTOM DUCK AND THE TREASURE OF DOLLY PAPRIKA). In this adventure the pictures of both these mysterious characters are visible in a room of Villa Rosa.




ERMINE's HOUSE
Created by Bruno Sarda and Marco Gervasio this other mysteroius hideout of Fantomius is located in the mountains several miles outside Duckburg. This place is fully described in the relevant page Casa dell'Ermellino.




VILLA LALLA
The summer hideout of Fantomius created by Fabio Michelini and Marco Gervasio is located near the sea in the north part of Duckburg bay. Also in this case this dismal mansion is fully described in the relevat page Villa Lalla.





PHANTOM DUCK's HIDEOUT
Created by Guido Martina, this hideout designed and built by Gyro Gearloose under Donald's house is certainly one of the most secret and well protected places in Duckburg. All the informations about this secret hideout are available in the relevant page The Hideout.





THE HADA's HOUSE
This creepy mansion in Duckburg's suburbs is shown in Marco Rota's story DONAL DUCK-THE HADA's HOUSE Anders & Co. n°31 July 1998.
The sinister but handsome Count Rothaz Von Hada lives in this mansion together with his butler Dalan Dedon. The Count, who seems to be a vampire, comes from one of the oldest and noblest families of central Europe. During the XVII century one of his ancestors settled in the Duckburg area long before the city was founded.
The house as in the best horrorfying tradition has a family cemetery, several secret passages and many traps. In this adventure Marco Rota hides in some sketches references to Barks (in a wall painting there is a caricature of the great artist, another one shows Barks' Zombie, and in one occasion Magica de Spell is mentioned etc...).




THE UNDERGROUND OLD DUCKBURG
Don Rosa in the story UNCLE SCROOGE IN A LITTLE SOMETHING SPECIAL shows us the old village of Duckburg as it was at the end of the 1800s and beginning of the 1900s, whose remains are still part of the modern city underground.
In this story the ghost underground village is utilized as a hideout by the baleful gang Magica de Spell, Beagle Boys, Flintheart Glomgold who together try to accomplish a devilish plan against Scrooge McDuck.




MONEY BIN's UNDERGROUND LIBRARY
Don Rosa again in the story GUARDIAN OF THE LOST LIBRARY shows us a uptil now unknown underground under Scrooge's Money Bin.
This secret place was realized by Sir Francis Drake under Fort Drakeborough as an escape tunnel and to hide several books raided from a Spanish ship. Those books were the summary of the remains of the famous and lost Alexandrian library.
The story tells that those volumes have been summarized in one single manual by Fenton Penworthy the last Fort Drakeborough survivor after the Indian's attack. This manual has been later found by Cornelius Coot who gave it to his son Clinton Coot. He utilized this book as a base for the Junior Woodchucks's infallible guidebook.








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