Post by Scrooge MacDuck on Sept 8, 2018 11:33:53 GMT
I'm all for using characters like Gideon, but (to play devil's advocate), does Marley McDuck really add something to the comics that the other characters don't already? If the main character conflict is "Scrooge is miser, but Marley is a spendthrift and Scrooge disapproves", isn't Marley's role too similar to that of Donald (or even Gladstone) in many stories?
Marley is something else entirely: he's Scrooge's philanthropist twin-brother, and, this is key, he is still a billionaire and made his money through digging for golds and still works his own mines and has a strong work ethics. He's got all the qualities Scrooge sees in himself as a tycoon, and he isn't stingy. With Donald or Gladstone, Scrooge can easily refute their examples by showing that they are a failure and an obnoxious aberation, respectively; with Marley he has no excuse; being his twin-brother who started from the very same place he did, Marley is an example of someone he very well could be, and, perhaps, should.
(Also, I can't seem to remember where the name "Marley McDuck" comes from? Even on the English Wikipedia, he's referred to by his Italian name, and I'm sure he's never appeared in any American publications. If they wanted to stick to the Christmas Carol references, I would've said "Cratchit McDuck" would have been more appropriate, since Jacob Marley was never a good guy, and only regretted his evil deeds because he was punished, not because of any moral compass. Although I guess that would ruin the alliteration in the name).
Again, it's nonetheless just a fanmade name, and I'm open to other suggestions.