Coffee for Two

"Coffee for Two"
"Coffee for Two" first appeared in Four Color #386 in 1952
Story code	W OS 386-03
Story	Carl Barks
Ink	Carl Barks
Date	March 1952
Pages	1
Layout	4 rows per page
Appearances	Uncle Scrooge Hobo Diner waiter
First publication	Four Color #386

"Coffee for Two" is a one-page funny animal comic book gag story. The story was first published in Four Color #386 (March 1952) on the inside back cover in black and white. Issue contents include the 32-page Uncle Scrooge story, Only a Poor Old Man and two other gag stories: "Soupline Eight" and "Osogood Silver Polish". Only a Poor Old Man and the three gag stories have been reprinted many times.

Plot

Coffee for Two stars Uncle Scrooge, and features a hobo and a diner waiter. A hobo idling on a street corner twice asks Uncle Scrooge for a dime to buy a cup of coffee as the old tightwad hurries back and forth about his business. The third time, Scrooge takes the hobo to a diner. The old miser orders a cup of coffee. He notices a sign on the wall reading, "Second Cup of Coffee FREE!" He tells the waiter to give his free cup of coffee to the hobo.

Analysis

Barks's Uncle Scrooge gag stories over the years generally presented the tightwad's stinginess as the subject for laffs. This gag story however is one of the few that presents Scrooge in a kinder, more generous light. Here, Scrooge is presented as a charitable man concerned about a less fortunate fellow citizen. This picture of Uncle Scrooge taps into Dickens's philosophy in A Christmas Carol which asked the fortunate to offer his less fortunate fellow human beings a hand up in the struggle of life.

See also

• List of Disney comics by Carl Barks

References

• Grand Comics Database
• Barks, Carl (2012). Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge: "Only a Poor Old Man". Fantagraphic Books, Inc. pp. 34, 231–235.