In this essay Don Rosa opined that "Barks... seemed to really disdain the use of a character with occult powers." I agree that this seems to be the way the villainess started out. In her first appearance (UNCLE SCROOGE #36, 1961), Magica appears at Scrooge's door, billing herself as a "sorceress" and asking to buy one of his dimes for a dollar. Scrooge, though laughing up his sleeve at the idea of a modern-day sorceress, takes her up on the offer, but mistakenly lets her take his "Number One Dime," the first dime he ever earned, and thus the foundation of his fortune. (Barks gets good comic mileage out of the rich duck's scorn for folkloric beliefs, only to reveal his own superstitions.)
For the rest of the story, Scrooge and his perpetual allies, nephew Donald and his three nephews, strive to get back the dime before Magica-- who is, interestingly enough, an Italian duck-witch, loosely patterned on Gina Lollobrigida-- plunges the Number One Dime into Mount Vesuvius, all to make the talisman into a "super amulet." In this tale and in Magica's next two appearances, the witch-lady shows no special powers, and can only defend herself with sleep-gas bombs. However, in the character's fourth appearance, Magica gains control of the wand of the ancient witch Circe, and from then on, Magica assumed the persona of a mystical powerhouse. Though Barks did not write/draw many Magica stories, it was this version of the villain that became enshrined in later comics and cartoons-- and, contrary to Rosa, I believe that Barks re-worked her to make her more "occult" so that she would prove a more formidable opponent.
"Oddball Odyssey" opens with Scrooge seeking out Donald and his three nephews to invite them to join him in seeking the treasure "that Ulysses took with him from the ruins of Troy." Scrooge's source of information is a letter written by a supposed descendant of the enchantress Circe, who claims that Ulysses left the treasure on her island. The three nephews observe that Scrooge seems enthralled by the idea of finding this mythical treasure, and that their uncle Donald, as soon as he catches the perfume on the letter, also becomes captivated with this grand quest. Once the nephews hear that the mysterious benefactor wants Scrooge to bring along his Number One Dime, they're sure that it's all a scheme of Magica De Spell. Unable to dissuade Scrooge and Donald from this exploit, the nephews go along on their one-sail boat all the way to some Mediterranean island.
The nephews' guess is confirmed when a disguised Magica tries to make Scrooge give up his dime in exchange for phony treasure. However, though the nephews rescue Scrooge, Magica's low-level con leads her to new heights. In her frustration, she kicks through a wall in the old temple where she's run the con, and breaks into a hidden room. There she finds the wand of Circe, and uses it to force the ducks to remain on the isle, just as the original enchantress did with Ulysses.
Magica also forces Scrooge to choose between his beloved dime and his beloved relations. Reluctantly, Scrooge accedes to the will of the sorceress.
Scrooge escapes being turned into an animal, but his relatives then carry the fight to Magica, using their various skills as animals-- Donald as "slow but steady" turtle, the nephews as pigs-- to thwart Magica's plan to melt down Number One.
Scrooge then shows up and manages to break the wand, thus returning his relations to normal. The ducks don't get detained on the island as long as Ulysses did, but their leavetaking is less dignified, since as they flee Magica tries to bean them with her phony treasure-trinkets.
Three issues later, though, Magica's back with a restored wand, and she evinces almost godlike powers. Scrooge's money bin is repeatedly assailed by lightning bolts and cyclone winds, and Scrooge explains to his relatives that Magica's still trying to acquire Old Number One.
For her part, Magica provides exposition for the reader about her great new powers, about having "scrounged secrets" from old temples and caves that have given her control over the elements. Most interestingly, Magica advances a fairly sophisticated theory for the origin of the Greek pantheon: "those gods were more likely live sorcerers than figments of ancient dreams." This theory allowed Barks to have his cake and eat it too: he doesn't have to show his witchy villain garnering power from either old gods or, for that matter, Satanic sources. Instead, it's implied that ordinary mortals can generate magic powers from study of the universe's secrets, which is certainly an odd thing to find in a Disney comic book of the period.
Magica journeys to Duckburg and makes more direct assaults on the money bin, but Scrooge counters her efforts with advanced technology. On top of this, one of Magica's assaults even makes Scrooge richer, thanks to the luck given him by the dime.
At last Magica uses her wand's shape-changing power on herself, capturing Scrooge and becoming his double in order to gain access to the bin.
However, once again those smart little nephews suss out the deception. Scrooge intervenes as well, stealing back his dime from her, only to get a few painful "souvenirs" of his tilt with the witch.
Barks didn't use the character much longer, but these prove his best stories with Magica, in that they show a clever opposition between the days of modern-day science and the eras of ancient mysteries.
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