"The Dream of a Lifetime" is a 2002

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

comic by

Don Rosa Keno Don Hugo Rosa (), known simply as Don Rosa (born June 29, 1951), is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his Disney comics stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck, and other characters which Carl Barks created fo ...

. The story was first published in the Danish '' Anders And & Co.'' #2002-49; the first American publication was in ''

Uncle Scrooge ''Uncle Scrooge'' (stylized as ''Uncle $crooge'') is a Disney comic book series starring Scrooge McDuck ("the richest duck in the world"), his nephew Donald Duck, and grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and revolving around their adventures in Du ...

'' #329, in May 2004. It appeared in the May 2004 issue of the

Scrooge McDuck Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company. Appearing in Disney comics, Scrooge is a Scottish-American anthropomorphic Pekin duck. Like his nephew Donald Duck, he has a yellow-orange bil ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

(''Uncle Scrooge'' #329). It is famous for sharing many similarities with the blockbuster

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Cinema of the United States, Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. ...

film ''

Inception ''Inception'' is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced the film with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltr ...

'', which was released eight years later in 2010. In February 2023 The Walt Disney Company banned this story from all future reprints.

Plot

While

is having a dream, the

Beagle Boys The Beagle Boys are a group of cartoon characters created in 1951 by Carl Barks for the Donald Duck universe. They are a family clan of Organized crime, organized criminals who constantly try to rob Scrooge McDuck. Their introduction and first a ...

invade his dream, via a device stolen from

Gyro Gearloose Gyro Gearloose is a cartoon character created in 1952 by Carl Barks for Disney comics. An anthropomorphic chicken, he is part of the Donald Duck universe, appearing in comic book stories as a friend of Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, and anyone w ...

, in order to steal the combination to his money bin. Since it is extremely difficult for a dreamer to stop themselves from correctly answering questions posed to them in dreams (according to the in-story dream science),

must enter his uncle Scrooge's dream to prevent Uncle Scrooge from blabbing the combination to the Beagle Boys.

Similarities with ''Inception''

Several similarities have been noted to

's film ''

'', including the plot similarities of entering dreams to steal secrets and falling to exit dreams. The idea of ''Inception'', however, was allegedly pitched to Warner Bros. by Nolan in 2001, while Rosa's comic was first published in 2002. Rosa himself mentions that ''Inception '' was already being worked on by the time the comic was published, and credits the story idea to a fan from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

who wrote him a pitch, but refused to be credited (Rosa states that he has hidden the fan's initials in the comic). Rosa also notes similarities between the comic and the plot of '' The Cell'', and observes that the movie was released two weeks before the fan sent his pitch to him.

References

External links

* Disney comics stories Donald Duck comics by Don Rosa 2002 in comics Comics about dreams {{Disney-Comics-stub