CASH FLOW
AR 106

This is a translation of Don's forewords to Cash Flow from the 3rd Finnish Rosa-book, The Quest For Kalevala. It's translated directly from the Finnish translation, so it isn't exatly as Don wrote it. Translated by Arttu Salminen.

Just like The Son of the Sun, this example of an early, rude Rosa-art is a Duck-version of a story I draw to my college's paper in the beginning of the 1970's. I had already made a story about a chemical that (instead of a ray-gun) removes all friction. Into the Duck-story came also a new interesting device, that reverses the law of motion's continuity or inertia. Most probably these thoughts are from my mechanical engineering grade, to which I aimed in college. (Years later, after I had left machines to draw comics, I realized I could've spend that time much more usefully in a drawing course!) There are some things difficult to translate, so I hope it's in Finnish as good as in English.

Looking it now, afterwards, the most interesting in the story are my references to those Barks-stories which I grew up with. This was just my second Scrooge-adventure (and the first one with the Beagle Boys). So, I feasted on the thought that I, Don Rosa myself, wrote and draw stories, that were based on Carl Barks' adventures - the sames, that I so much liked as a kid!!! (I still like them!) But it seems I cathered these Barks-references to smacks all over the story. The first page alone is almost like a sketch to my The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck -series, which I started four years later.

So, here are the references in the order I managed to spot them. The Beagle Boy number 176-167, who's crazy about plums. The silly professor fond of cabbages, who invented the petrifying ray, and the Beagle Boys recalling these events. A mention of Goldie O'Gilt. Mention of Super Snooper. The door of the vault, that has seven combination locks - in English "Oso Safe" is spelled like "Oh, so safe". Mention of the "impervium"-metal, that Scrooge got from Gyro and built his Money Bin of. The knowledge that Duckburg's storm sanitation is done by Scrooge. The Tulebug River. The statue of Cornelius Coot decorating the park. The city's landscape, which includes the "Old Demontooth"-mountain and two other lower peaks. Those Barks draw into a story where Donald sold feather mattresses. The "wanted"-sing, where I draw my first Magica de Spell. And even Carl Barks himself in another "wanted"-sing, copied from a certain story's background detail: "Wanted for being bad!" All these reference to objects and happenings, that appeared in my youth's Barks-stories - I could count over which belongs to which story, but it would be awfully hard to the Finnish translator to translate every title... So, the Barks-researchers that are reading this, will just have to recall, which stories are they. You all others just have to believe me.

D.U.C.K.-spoiler: the dedication is written to the dollar bill, that you can see immediately in the first panel (not very clever, eh?)