Keskustelujen arkisto

me> The 43th issue of the Weekly Donald Duck this year contained
me> a very funny story drawn by Ben Verhagen.

David> First, do you have any more information on that Verhagen story?

me> Yes. 8-)

I'll be a bit more specific now: (**spoilers**)
code: H 91160
size: 19 pages

Description: the story starts with Scrooge having an annual inventors
demonstration day. This leads to various funny gags. Then an inventor
(no Gyro involved in this story) shows his 'vase-reading' machine. It
can read noises from a vase from the time that vase was made. Again some
very funny results.
One of the vases 'mentions' a ship with gold in the Himalaya, so Scrooge & co.
go find it.
(Donald: A ship in the Himalaya? What a nonsense!
Scrooge: Gold is gold. If someone wants to store it in a ship on a mountain,
he has the RIGHT to do so!)
The rest of the story is a bit like the Suheli story (Curse of the lost
Empress), published before by Gladstone. The Ducks find the ship (of course),
and they start some mechanism that eventually makes it rain gold in the
valley. Not very original, and a flaw is that the *reason* for all the
mechanisms is not explained.
But the first part of the story makes up for this.

--Harry.

An individual on the internet suggested that I contact you and ask to be
included in the Disney comics mailing list.

Thank you.
- Rhett
Rhett Shumpert | "Ladies and Gentlemen, take my advice.
EDS Systems Engineer | Pull down your pants, and slide on the
rshumper at missco02.med.osd.mil | ice." -- Dr. Sydney Friedman M*A*S*H*
(703) 578-5332 |

COMMENT ON #151:

Nothing other than to add, to the explanation of how to tell
Chip from Dale, the answer to the other part of the original European's
query... do they really look like Chipmunks, whatever those are.
Chipmunks don't have red noses. Dale doesn't look much like a
real chipmunk, but Chip is pretty similar to what an actual chipmunk
looks like and acts like (nervous and chattery). Chipmunks are like tree
rats (squirrels) except that they DON'T live in trees like Chip 'n' Dale
do -- they live in holes inna ground. They only run up trees to escape
dogs. And they are pretty cute, so it didn't take much for Disney to
cute-itize them.
Shall I tell you about hummingbirds next? Hummingbirds are what
we got to apologize for Poison Ivy.
And our mooses can beat up your mooses.

Actually, I don't really have much to comment on, but I would
like to ask you Egmont country folks about the newest Donald Duck weekly
with part 9 of the "Life & Times of $McD". What did you think of that
ending??? Was it a big mistake or an "instant classic"??? For you
Americans who won't see that chapter for another 1 1/2 years, it's an
ending unlike any that's ever been in a Disney funnybook, and I'm
curious as to how readers will react.

On the topic of technical problems with this list Henri Rantanen wrote:

> ... but, I do have had some strange problems, mainly that when I am
> trying to send something to the list, I got error message(s)...

Bounce messages from some sites are unfortunately pretty normal. They
generally come from Mailer-Daemon at some site, and say something like
"message couldn't be delivered to ... because of ..." and more often
than not include the message that wasn't delivered. I try to find out
what the problem is with those addresses when I note that messages
sent to them bounce.

> Also, I have gotten some people's messages about a month after they
> have sent them...

I guess that was some of Fredrik's messages. It seems like they
queued up somewhere when there were mail problems at his site, and
then got out long time after that.

Sigh, computers...

Well, anyway, here is something relating to Disney comics too. I was
at SerieExpo '93 last weekend, and got the latest issue of Carl Barks
& Co. (from editor Paw Mathiasen who was there). It's a fanzine on
comics and animation, that Freddy Milton (who also was at SerieExpo)
started and edited before Paw. It's in Danish, so maybe it's not
that interesting for most of you, but anyway I thought I should
mention it. It contains a feature on Aladdin (with lots of Jippes
illustrations), and interview with Daan Jippes, Marco Rota, Giorgio
Cavazzano, and Sonja Rindom (Danish duck translator). CB&Co. #20
(ISBN 87-87654-54-7) is 30 DKK from

Forlaget Sejd
v/Paw Mathiasen
J. Brochmandsgade 7, st.tv.
2200 Copenhagen N

I haven't read it yet.
-- "
Per Starback, Uppsala, Sweden. email: starback at student.docs.uu.se
"Life is but a gamble! Let flipism chart your ramble!"

> Actually, I don't really have much to comment on, but I would
> like to ask you Egmont country folks about the newest Donald Duck weekly
> with part 9 of the "Life & Times of $McD". What did you think of that
> ending??? Was it a big mistake or an "instant classic"??? For you
> Americans who won't see that chapter for another 1 1/2 years, it's an
> ending unlike any that's ever been in a Disney funnybook, and I'm
> curious as to how readers will react.

What did I think of Lo$ #9? Why, actually I think it's clearly the best
part of those that I have read so far. The art is great and the way you
show how $crooge's experiences from all over the world conflict with the
traditions of the locals. The explanation of how he got his coat was,
well, a little dull, but that doesn't matter compared to the whole. The
scene at the graveyard was brilliant. You really managed to capture the
scene with your art there. And the ending. Well, what can I say? This is
GREAT! The first time I read it, I was almost shocked and even though I
understood the scene completely, I had to re-read the last page to be
sure I got it right. One detail only; check the sun in the last few
panels. I can't really get it into my head how the angle of the sunshine
coming through the window can be correct compared to the scene of the
castle from outside. Details, details... The only thing I'm wondering
now is; how did the kids react to this? What about your kids, Geir?
Anyone else has children/kid brothers, et c?

> And our mooses can beat up your mooses.

Can NOT!

/Fredrik Ekman

Mattias:
So, at least for you that part 9 worked, sounds like. That
leaves about 249,999,999 other readers to worry about. But if you only
could see a story like that one in the stages of development -- it might
look (sometimes?) to be a simple thing to put a story down on the paper
once an idea for the plot is there. But in this chapter, as well as ALL
the chapters in this series, it is SO tricky to get the whole thing to
work properly. The idea of having $crooge's father die at the end of
this chapter is a simple idea in itself... but how to pull it off
properly is something else. Usually I'll know all the aspects that must
be... such as he must die in his sleep, yet $crooge should never know
that before he leaves (mostly to avoid a "scene" much too grim for a
Disney comic, even allowing what I did go with), plus he must be shown
to have a chance at a final goodbye with a character who can't be alive
at that point. It's like the "Return to Xanadu" story where it took me
two days to think of a set-up by which the Ducks could trigger the
flooding of Trala La, enter the valley, then be unable to get back to
the flood-trigger. Making the story work in these cases is exactly like
putting together a jigsaw puzzle; I have the pieces but I can't see how
they can fit together. In fact, now that I've completed the Lo$ series,
I (as usual) don't feel particularly proud of how I drew or scripted any
part of it... but I think I performed a miracle to get all the pieces to
fit together properly in a vaguely entertaining manor.
As to your few queries... my real idea of an afterlife? My
stories reflect the typical movie version of that idea which mixes
religion with supernatural elements (mixing gods with ghosts). I don't
really have any opinion on the subject; as an agnostic, my attitude is
that the truth is unknown and unknowable.
As for why I sometimes draw un-anchored Duck eyes, you have the
exact right idea. The small eyes make a character look "cuter"
(shudder)...so, therefore, yes, I see Matilda as being a bit prettier
than Hortense, just as her personality and temperament is milder.
Why did Pa get younger-looking after he died? That's just the
usual movie cliche. As usual, when I did that tale I had an old movie in
my head leading me on.... and in that case it was THE GHOST AND
MRS.MUIR; that's just how the situation was handled there.
And, hey, there's one more thing I need to ask YOU. It occurs
to me that I'm slowly gaining an "agent" in each Egmont country to send
me a copy of that version of my stories, but I still have no one in
Sweden. Actually, Simon Sahlberg sends me copies sometimes, but I feel
bad that such a young guy spends his own money to supply me with copies
when the Swedish publisher should be but is too thoughtless or cheap
to. Could YOU set aside a copy of #45 for me??? And actually I still
need #29-31 as well (part 8). I'm not saying I need you to SEND me the
copies right away... but if you could just set the issues aside for me
so I know I have some on hold, maybe you can send them to me at some
later date.

Fredrik:
Well, good, then there's another happy reader out there. But
don't you think some readers will object strongly to that tale? What do
you think MOST readers will think?
The part about how $crooge got his coat was dull? I don't doubt
it. But, again, I was hampered by the "facts" and how to fit them
together logically. I knew $crooge got his broadcloth coat at a rummage
shop in Scotland in 1902; he had to be a billionaire at that point. Why
would he have needed to buy a coat at a rummage shop when he had been
wealthy for 4 years? Why such a cheap coat? A used coat? And it had to
happen at exactly that point in the story -- any later would have
interfered with the main plot. THAT was how I fit those puzzle pieces
together.
The sun's angle in the last panel was wrong. I know. But as
careful as I am with details, I bend them when it suits the "drama". The
puzzle pieces in THIS instant were that Pa's window must face the front
of the castle. The sun must shine in his window. The front of the castle
must be visible as $crooge is seen leaving in the final panel. The sun's
rays must be a part of that last scene. I don't actually show the sun
there, but if you connect the rays, they'd meet above the distant
horizon. I might have shown the rays coming from "stage right" but
that's where the imaginary signpost was to be, plus I have a strong urge
to make certain scenes symetrical. Anyway, that again shows you that
LOTS of thought goes into even tiny details, even though I don't always
come up with the best final decision. This also goes to answer the other
commentor's remarks about the accuracy of how cartoonists treat the
shape or placement of the sun or moon. When I want a certain effect for
dramatic lighting or such, I don't let accuracy stand in my way. That's
the old "dramatic license". There's always a full moon when I need one
and it always happens to be in the right spot in the sky. You wouldn't
really want it any other way, would you?

Fredrik wroteabout Lo$ 9:
>The only thing I'm wondering
>now is; how did the kids react to this? What about your kids, Geir?

As is usual, we spared the comic book until bedtime when it arrived some
days ago. And we really enjoyed the whole thing. I was quite impressed
about the ending scene with Scrooges fathers death and I was very glad that
the death was handled in such a well-balanced and nice way. I would also
like to point out that Scrooges father and mother pointed out that their
work with the children now had ended, so now it was possible for them to
pass away.

My children enjoyed the story, as is usual, and we got a very good talk
about death and what comes after this life, and about what is told us about
eternal life and Heaven and the natural way of dying in old age. So it was
moving for me to be able to talk with them about such things out of a comic
book. Thank you so much, Don, for doing that scene. The earlier scene where
Scrooge for a short moment enters Heaven and talks with his forefathers was
a fun depiction of Heaven viewed from the McDuck family viewpoint, but not
with the depth of this scene.

Geir Hasnes