The Book of Diabolical Stratagems is a book.
Description[]
The Book of Diabolical Strategme is a heavy book owned by Scrooge McDuck (it is unclear whether Scrooge wrote the manual himself, or if it is merely one copy of a widely-published effort). In 1953, he used the book's chapter on how to make reluctant people sell houses to try and oust Donald Duck from his home.
Known Contents[]
- Ways to make people sell homes
- Plagues
- Vermin
- Hideous Horrors
- Ghosts
- Banshees
- Werewolves
- Will-o-the-wisps
Behind the scenes[]
The Book of Diabolical Stratagems was first seen in the 1953 story Wispy Willie.
The story as originally printed only has Scrooge refer to it as "my book of diabolical stratagems" (with the comic font making it impossible to know whether it is capitalized or not), implying the book may have a different title and Scrooge was only describing its content. However, the reprint in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #566 seemingly added the title on the cover of the book, confirming it to genuinely be Book of Diabolical Stratagems. (It is unknown if the title was originally there in Carl Barks's original art and had been erased for the first printing, or if it was an apocryphal addition.)