John D. Rockerduck - Character Biography

Character Biography

Barks never gave Rockerduck an origin. Don Rosa later provided him with one, in his series The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. According to Don Rosa, Rockerduck has several differences from both his fictional rival and his historical namesake. Rockefeller and Scrooge were born in poverty and worked to earn their fortunes. John D. Rockerduck was born c. 1878 (this is arguably in contrast to many stories where he seem to be at least 20 years younger than Scrooge) to Howard Rockerduck, an American millionaire who had earned his fortune in the California gold rush of 1849. While John's father was a shrewd businessman but a mild-mannered man, his mother was a rather snobbish woman who spoiled her son. Much to his father's disappointment, John learned at an early age to look down on everyone less affluent than his family as a "peasant". While his father tried to remind him that he was once poor too, John became as snobbish as his mother.

John's first meeting with Scrooge occurred in 1885, in Butte, Montana. At the time John was around 7 years old and Scrooge was 18 years old. Howard Rockerduck was heading to a meeting with Marcus Daly, an Irish businessman known as the "Copper King", to discuss his investments in "The Anaconda Copper Mining Company". Unsure of the way, Howard stopped to ask for directions. The person he asked was young Scrooge, at the time an unsuccessful copper prospector. Despite John's protestations, Howard started having a friendly discussion with the inexperienced prospector and ended up teaching Scrooge the secrets of the job, and helping him earn ten thousand dollars. While Scrooge had to leave for Scotland to attend to family business, John again protested against his father's relationship with the "filthy peasant". Howard, to whom Scrooge resembled his younger self, introduced his son to corporal punishment in an effort to teach him some manners. (Judging from his later behaviour, this did not work.) John Rockerduck would later inherit his father's fortune and grow to become a rival of Scrooge.

The appearance in The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck was the only use of the character by Don Rosa.

The story 'Il matrimonio di Zio Paperone', created by Massimo DeVita (art) and Elisa Penna (story) tells another tale about the origins of Rockerduck's wealth and his rivalry with Scrooge. The story is told by Scrooge's secretary, Ms. Quackfaster, to Scrooge's nephews Donald and Huey, Duey and Louie. Many years ago, when Rockerduck was not as rich as he's nowadays (he was a starting millionaire), he ran into Scrooge in the Millionaires Club. They started arguing and decided to settle their argument with a game of golf. If Rockerduck was to defeat Scrooge, he would win half of Scrooge's entire fortune. It looked like Scrooge was going to win. However, a bee stung him while golfing, so he missed the last hole, leading Rockerduck to win. He then won half of Scrooge's fortune.

Other stories have further traced the Rockerduck family history. Although some depict John as a distant cousin of Scrooge, through an unspecified genealogical connection, others have traced their rivalry to their ancestors. Arguably the most notable among the later stories is an eight-part saga named Storia e gloria della dinastia dei paperi ("History and glory of the Duck dynasty") by Guido Martina, Romano Scarpa, Giorgio Cavazzano and Giovan Battista Carpi, first published April 5-May 24, 1970. It depicts their family history, as a family feud that begun in Rome during the 1st century BC and continues to the 20th century.

In one story where Rockerduck was trying to ruin Scrooge's deal about cleaning the statue of Cornelius Coot, Jeeves sheepishly tells him "You have no conscience, sir", to which Rockerduck replies "That's not true. I had a conscience a long time ago, but I'd rather not talk about that".

According to the story Whatever Happened to Scrooge McDuck?, Rockerduck (as well as Flintheart Glomgold) was made bankrupt by Donald Duck, after the latter had inherited Scrooge's fortune and turned it into a charity company. However, the end of the story reveals that it actually takes place in an alternate future, caused by Scrooge travelling 100 years into the future to retrieve his #1 dime.