Keskustelujen arkisto

I prefer Don Rosa's "piggy bank" definition of Scrooge's moneybin.
Every single piece of currency in that bin means something to Scrooge.

As to the argument that there aren't enough numbers to quantify
Scrooge's worth...

A googol is ten to the one hundredth power (The digit "1" with 100 zeros behind
it). A googolplex is ten to the googol power {That is, 10^(10^100)}. However,
while there exists numbers to quantify Scrooge's net worth, I doubt there are
enough accountants available to find the sum.

On a somewhat related note... Someone once asked the editors of Richie Rich
magazine how big his estate was. They said it was a bit larger than Rhode
Island.

And while I'm at it, does Scrooge live in a mansion, or in his moneybin? Given
his paranoia, I'd guess the moneybin.

One more question, then I'll shut up. Does Scrooge collect fine art?

Torsten "to the hundreth power" Adair adair_t at kosmos.wcc.govt.nz

>Marvel also seems to be publishing the Disney movie adaptations, as
>seen by the recent "Three Musketeers" comicbook.

Marvel is also publishing an adaption of "The Lion King". Gary Leach
said that Marvel will also be publishing three monthly disney comics -
Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and The Beast. I've yet to
see anything from Marvel confirming this.

>The only reason I bought the recent issue of Donald Duck Adventures
>was because of the adaptation of "Mathmagic Land" by Tony Strobl. I'm
>a bit partial to educational comicbooks, and I was curious to compare
>this story with the film.

I liked the film version more. Three reasons come to mind. First,
the ending in the comic book didn't work for me. I couldn't believe
that Scrooge would fall for such a trick. If nothing else, Scrooge
should have know that Donald was up to something when he proposed
such an outlandish deal. Second, I also thought the billard scene
in the movie was better. Lastly, the movie includes a trip inside
Donald's mind which the comic left out.

>Market Share Figures:
>(23) Gladstone .26% .45% .23% .43% .56% .41% .34%

I'm a fan, not a retailer. But, these figures worry me. Gladstone's
measly market share has shrunk over the last three months. Is this
just because the market is so bloated right now, or is Gladstone
really fading away?

>I remember a reference in a '50s Scrooge story where he quotes his net
>worth as "9 Fantasticatillion, 40 Billion Jillion Centrificalion dollars
>and 16 cents."

>Another way to determine Scrooge's wealth is may be by volumne. The
>volume of money is referred to as being "3 cubic acres" which again is
>an unfamiliar unit of measure.

I think the reason that Carl Barks used non-existant numbers like
fantasticatillion and volumes like cubic acres was to avoid questions
like these.

>WDC&S 591 just came out and contains a new William Van Horn story,
>"Magica's Missin' Magic."

What did other people think of this story? I love Magica de Spell and
usually enjoy William Van Horn, but I hated this story. I thought that
the basic plot was extremely conviluted. I also disliked the fact that
Magica's sole reason for wanting the box's content was because it might
help her get Scrooge's Number One Dime. Magica is a wonderful
character who has become thight cast in one role. I'm not sure where
Magica was located in the story, but I doubt that she was anywhere near
Mount Vesuvius in Italy. I really disliked Ratface. I though it was a
stupid name for a raven and I really disliked that he spoke perfectly
english. [As much as I dislike Ratface, I must admit that he is a
thousand times better than the horrible raven which appears with Magica
in DuckTales. That raven was really her brother who had been
transformed. One of Magica's reasons for wanting Scrooge's dime was to
fix her brothers condition.]

How did the story end when translated into other languages? **SPOILER**
In the english version the bug is singing "Brother Can You Spare A
Dime?". It is a good joke but it relies on a song which I doubt would
be familar to most Europeans. Likewise since the song is from the
depression era, I wonder how many children reading the story got the
joke.

>This story includes, as one of it's main characters, the whistling
>flea, Baron Itzy Bitzy. I know that I've read a previous Van Horn
>story with this flea in it - does anyone know off hand which story
>this was?

I seem to remember that Baron Itzy Bitzy first appeared in a DuckTales
story by William Van Horn. Baron Itzy Bitzy is one of my least
favorite characters in the Duck Universe. Every time I see the
character, I starting thinking about the Warner Brother's cartoon 'One
Frogy Night'. While 'One Frogy Night' is one of the best cartoon's
ever made, I don't think characters like this belong in the more
realistic duck universe.

>I don't care much for Strobl, but know he has his fans and agree he
>deserves a tribute - but why, when this is WDC&S, are they using only
>Strobl DUCK material? Didn't he draw mice. wolves, dawgs, etc. as
>well? Great, even with 64 pages Gladstone's WDC&S continues to be ALL
>ducks and mice..."

For all their faults, this is one place where Disney Comics were
better than Gladstone. Disney had some wonderful material in
WDC&S. I really dislike WDC&S being nothing but ducks and mice.

>New cover image by William Van Horn. - FC, 64pg $2.95
>["Cover image"? I'm starting to feel very afraid...]

One of the prevue magazines shows the cover. It doesn't look
gimmicky in any way. I was so happy when Gladstone's plans to
do a die-cut cover on D&M fell through.

James Williams

Dear Folks,

Well, I'm back. I've finished Scarpa's "Uncle Scrooge and the
Lentils from Babylon," so it's on target for U$A 30 as planned. It's
the longest Duck story ever to appear in this country (outside of
Disney's DT series, but those weren't "real" Duck stories), clocking
in at 71 pages. I fixed a few bad errors in the plot, but large
portions of the story are simply gold. I'm looking forward to its
printing here.

In the meantime, I also wrote an article titled "Lights Before
Dawn" about the pre-Barks Italian Duck adventures, which will appear
in DD 286. It's illustrated by a Pedrocchi drawing and a panel from
one Gottfredson story which influenced "The Secret of Mars": "Mickey
Mouse Sails for Treasure Island." This is the FIRST time ANY panel
from this story has been reprinted in the U. S. Sadly it is banned,
so we may never see the whole thing.

Mark Semich noted that "Magica's Missin' Magic" "includes, as
one of its main characters, the whistling flea, Baron Itzy Bitzy. I
know that I've read a previous Van Horn story with this flea in it -
does anyone know off hand which story this was?"

There have been two: US "Lost on a Dog," in US or USA at some
point c. 1988, and then the DuckTales "Whistling Ghost," in
Gladstone's DT 10. The first was just a short gag story, but the
second was a long tale that was truly inspired (esp. for Van Horn).
Yeah, that's right -- continuity between the Barks and DT universes,
at least Van Horn's version of the DT universe.

I view Van Horn's DT stories as the best argument why
Launchpad should be considered a legitimate add-on to the Barks world.
His characterization in those stories is very distinct from Donald;
meanwhile, Van Horn added NONE of the discordant elements that DT
introduced in his DT stories: I don't believe Webby ever appeared; I
think only Duckworth and Launchpad (and the absence of Donald) made
them DT stories. Also note: Van Horn used Duckworth in a DD story in
1990: "Snore Losers."

Thank you, Don, for recently acknowledging Gottfredson's
stature on the Mouse, by the way. I don't like the idea of MM being a
fictional character in DD's world, BTW... I prefer him to exist, but
if you don't want to show him, or Goofy, or Clarabelle, EVER, in your
Duck stories, that's fine.

As for Van Horn's views on that, he seems to perfectly accept
Mickey being in with the Ducks. The cover to DD 286 pictures Donald
and Mickey, only. No HDL or U$ -- in fact, I was shocked to see that
THIS was the cover... looked like a D&M cover to me, and I asked John
if the wrong image had been submitted to PREVIEWS for the ad. "Nope,"
he said, "that's not a D&M cover, that's DD 286 all right."

A fine cover (shows MM as fireman having just extinguished the
sixty candles on DD's birthday cake), but I would have preferred, for
example, a huge closeup of DD's face by Barks, surrounded by small
images of DD by other artists, with sunbeams in the background a la
the old cartoons; or else a scene of Donald being feted by many
characters, not just Mickey.

Well, time to go have lunch. The dining hall is closing soon,
and I've gotta fill up!

Your friend,

David Gerstein

"I'm de Fuller Brush Man. I'm givin' g'way free semple."
<David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>

P. S. (For Fabio) THANK YOU!!!!! I will send a more
detailed letter about your package tomorrow!!! THANK YOU!!!!
WHOOOOOPPEEE!!!

> From: Fredrik Ekman <d91fe at phoebe.pt.hk-r.se>
> Subject: Announcing easter issue of Kalle Anka & Co.
>
> This double-sized easter issue is the best I've seen for a
> very long time. It has one ten-pager and one one-pager by
> Barks. How long has it been since a regular Swedish issue
> carried two Barks comics? I can't remember any for a couple
> of years at least. It also has the latest Van Horn story;

Finnish 'K94-13' is different. It has 36 pages (normal is 32
including covers.)

It has a feature of making of the Disney cartoon with lots of cats
in it. (Aristocats?). Plus two full-page scenes from the movie.

Comic stories are:

DD D92325
BB D93090
DD WR/WDC 151 A
MM D92399

So, no Van Horns here.

-------

I could update Don Rosa and Van Horn indexes for Finnish books.
Can I update the files myself (and mess up everything...) or
can somebody tell where to post the information.

-----

DON and others:

I'm (really) sorry to hesitate you (again), but since
you consider Barks' stories as the 'real' duck-stories...

How can you explain that Morty and Ferdie appear in the
same panel with Granny Duck in one Barks made story
(Don't ask what story it is...), if the ducks are
living in different 'universe'.

And, if I remember right, Zeke Wolf has been in two of
Barks' duck-comics.

Of course you already know that, but...

------

/Mikko

I think it's possible to take the emotional aspects of the
physical money too far. Yes, Scrooge loves his money. But he also loves
making money, he is willing to spend money to make money, and I have
never noticed any disdain on his part for any honest means of making
money. It is untrue that he does not want to loan his money out for
interest; any number of stories involve Scrooge attempting to collect
debts. ("Any number" may be an exaggeration, but I can think of a
couple, anyway; the hypnotizer gun story comes to mind.) That's why I
think that additional reasons are needed to explain the phenomenon of the
money bin; I can't see Scrooge mindlessly hoarding all of his money if
that's a tremendously costly activity.
It's probably true that Barks used made-up terms to avoid pinning
down the amount of the fortune, as well as because of their implication
of immensity. Guessing at the amount of Scrooge's fortune is a harmless
pursuit, if only because no two estimates have ever been close. However,
I do think some of the other points that have come up in this thread have
been worthwhile.

JMB

Hi, Folks!

Lessee here...

Gladstone's status in the market:
================================

>Market Share Figures:
>(23) Gladstone .26% .45% .23% .43% .56% .41% .34%

On the chance that Gary Leach is still reading this (Per, is
he still subscribed, or when he stopped writing to us, did he also ask
that no further digests be mailed?), I will mention that there's been
an increased interest in Gladstone since the LO$ premiered, but that
several things seem to have very poor sales that I've noticed:

A) DONALD AND MICKEY -- this is cited as the weakest seller
by a wide margin by most comic shops I have visited, and I've been to
quite a few since Gladstone started the regular comics again. It
would seem to be due to the Studio stories with MM, because WDC&S does
very well at EVERY shop I have been to, and I know few people who
would not rather see foreign MM stories in this title.

B) DONALD DUCK -- sells better than the above, but sales are
still not that red-hot. I think that this is because there is only
one full story in it; if the number of short strips went down and a
foreign story supplemented the Barks story, I think sales here would
improve.

Here's what I'm getting at: The fact that after U$, there is
a three-week period in which nothing but DD and D&M come out, in that
order, causes comic-shops' purchases from Gladstone -- not to mention
consumer interest -- to fluctuate greatly and frequently.

Besides the suggestions I made above, I would like to suggest
that Gladstone up the publishing frequency of WDC&S and US.

Torsten wondered
================

"Does Scrooge live in a mansion, or in his moneybin? Given
his paranoia, I'd guess the moneybin."

I'd vote for the mansion. Scrooge is shown to live in a house
separate from his bin in many stories, although we *never* get a view
of the estate in Barks' work (only inside shots now and then). Later
creators -- foreign studios, particularly Egmont -- actually
show the mansion from the outside. "DuckTales" adopted the idea of
Scrooge living in a mansion, but they did not introduce it.

Examples of Scrooge being in a mansion, a la Egmont, include
"Who Needs People?" (US 284) and "His Master's Voice" (one that I have
dialogued, yet to be scheduled). In the latter story the mansion
looks much as it does on "DuckTales", but in the former, it
mysteriously lacks the terraced roof (and because of that, Gladstone
colored it differently, making it look -- I thought -- like an adobe
house in US 284!).

The foreign publishers all give Scrooge a fancy limousine.
Seems hard to imagine that he'd splurge for it, but Barks too gave him
one in a few stories. Gladstone's scripters took to referring to it
as a "Wadillac" and I've done this in many stories now. The limo was
adopted by "DuckTales" too, although I don't know if they drew it
consistently.

Ratface and other ravens
========================

James Williams, speaking of WDC&S 591, said that "I really
disliked Ratface. I thought it was a stupid name for a raven and I
really disliked that he spoke perfect English."

This isn't supposed to sound like a flame, but you speak as if
you have not seen the character before. Ratface has appeared in some
Barks stories -- including "Isle of Golden Geese" and "The Many Faces
of Magica De Spell" -- and also in Don Rosa's "On a Silver Platter."
He spoke perfect English in all of these, albeit using a lot of slang.
I did a Magica tale for Egmont last year, and flung Ratface into it
with great enthusiasm.

James also said that "For all their faults... one place
where Disney Comics were better than Gladstone [is that] Disney had
some wonderful material in WDC&S. I really dislike WDC&S being
nothing but ducks and mice."

You think so? WRITE IN! WDC&S sells very well these days,
which gives Gladstone no reason to alter the comic. They do have a
winner on their hands with a (usually) top Duck artist and -- it seems
-- the only sellable Mouse artist paired. What we letter-writers have
to convince them is that it can be made better. But I think the only
way that can happen is if the comic expands, because "Monarch of
Medioka" begins in #593 and I'm guessing that this story will take up
ALL the non-DD space for FIVE 32-page issues.

BTW, don't get sore about THAT, James. If you haven't read
"Monarch of Medioka" you'll soon see that this is the best Floyd
Gottfredson story of all time.

MM comic strip View-Master reels
================================

Andrew Krieg "just noticed a set of Mickey Mouse View-Master
Reels based on [the] Floyd Gottfredson stories ... "Mail Pilot",
"The Phantom Blot" and "Blaggard Castle" .... Usually, Mickey's cartoons
are used for these sets. Anyone have any inside info as to why they
went to the Gottfredson strips?"

There is a promotional campaign entitled "Perils of Mickey" at
Disney now, to build up the popularity of MM as a tangible character
in epic adventures ("Perils") rather than just a symbol. They have
decided that it's the Gottfredson mouse who is of course the natural
fodder for this. They picked the three stories which got wide
exposure in bookstores through _MM in Color_ (those you listed above)
a few years ago, and are now marketing them full-tilt.

*** NOTE *** THE TIME IS IDEAL FOR GLADSTONE TO TRY A FEW
ISSUES OF MM, AND USE "BLAGGARD CASTLE" AND "THE MAIL PILOT" AGAIN IN
THEM. ALTHOUGH PEOPLE ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE THREE STORIES BEING
FOCUSED ON IN THE PERILS OF MICKEY CAMPAIGN, THEY ARE NOT CURRENTLY
AVAILABLE IN THEIR ORIGINAL FORM, SO IT'S AS IF DISNEY WAS ADVERTISING
A MOVIE THAT THEY WERE NOT PUTTING OUT IN THEATRES! GLADSTONE HOLDS
THE COMIC BOOK LICENSE FOR MM, SO IT IS THEY WHO CAN DO SOMETHING
ABOUT THIS.

BTW, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the art in these reels
is original. I saw recently a "Phantom Blot" coloring book for little
brats, now on sale at most more respectable supermarkets, which featured,
almost exclusively, blown-up panels from the Gottfredson tale as the art
source. Again, part of the "Perils" campaign.

Another part of the campaign involved printing a new sequel to
"Blaggard Castle" in DISNEY ADVENTURES and following it up with a
(severely censored) version of "Lost on a Desert Island." And ANOTHER
part of the campaign involves releasing all black-and-white MMs on
laser disc (again, with the exception of four banned ones); half of
them have now been released in a set, with the others slated for this
winter.

Gladstone's apparent decision not to piggy-back on any of this
is a mystery to me, although it seems to me to be a wise idea to
print "Monarch of Medioka" again, which is being done.

The money bin not being Scrooge's whole fortune
===============================================

"Too many people don't understand that the money bin is
just Scrooge's private fortune, not all of his money."

Romano Scarpa understood in 1960's "Lentils from Babylon." I
won't reveal how, but Scrooge does lose his bin and its contents. The
story basically implies that Scrooge doesn't have much tangible MONEY
outside of the bin, but that he does have land and an estate, and he
keeps himself going on those for a while. But his business debts have
mounted up, and he has to sell nearly everything... An interesting
compromise. Scrooge does keep money other than his private fortune in
the bin in Barks, most notably in WDC&S 144 ("Spending Money").
Scarpa seems to have just come to the conclusion that most of the
money was there, but that Scrooge still had other things that were
convertible into money.
One odd thing about the story -- it DOES show Scrooge living
in his office building, as separate from his bin, however. This
struck me as wrong, so I made up some dialogue to explain it....

That's all for now, folks. BTW, I don't dislike Baron Itzy
Bitzy, and would not mind seeing him again, but feel he has NO
potential as a character with any depth. He's appeared in three
stories since 1988. I could see him appearing more often than that,
but more than once a year would be overkill.

David Gerstein
<David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>

TORSTEN:
Where does $crooge live? Well, certainly not in a mansion! That
would be very out of character. It was a problem to try to explain, in
that "Lo$" #12, why he was in a mansion with servants in "Christmas on
Bear Mountain", and also to get him outta there. I don't see him living
in the Bin, though I might convince myself of that without much trouble;
we know he doesn't have guards there... we've never seen them in Barks
stories, probably because they would get in the way of the U$/DD/HDL
plots. $crooge would want to live on the premises to protect the Bin at
night. However, I picture him living in a small flat in some boarding
house downtown. On the other hand, I can feel another urge to regard
that as something inexplicably taboo to deal with.
For the record, I can think of twice that Barks showed $crooge's
post-late-40's-mansion home, but both were in throw-away 1-page gags. In
one gag he lived in a small mansion-lookin' place, and in the other gag
he lived in a DD style normal house (seen in silhouette).
And does he collect art? Unless it was some artist's (realistic)
version of the Yukon or some other landscape $crooge has a personal
interest in, I can't see it. "I only treasure that which has value to
ME, not somebody else!"

ANDREW KRIEG:
Yes, there is a VERY odd phenomenon going on in toy stores using
Gottfriedson's classic MM strips. It started, I think, in a series of
storybooks, then was carried over into those Viewmaster reels and a set
of "action figures". It's very puzzling to me why some Disney licensee
would seek to make a profit based on a version of MM that the general
public has no interest in or knowledge of whatsoever, and I'm sure would
regard as very hokey and old-fashioned. It's like Gladstone going into
the toy business for sophisticated children... and you know how many of
those we have in America.
But I'm sure these are the modern sorta rip-off Viewmaster
reels, and not the classic TRUE Viewmasters which I don't think they
hardly make anymore. I mean, all they do now is take cartoon art and put
it in that limited sorta 2D 3D style, where you have several layers of
2D images, like in a 3D comic book. The REAL Viewmasters were back in
the 50s or so when they would hire someone to build fully realized
figurines and construct numerous series of tableaus with (Disney or ?)
characters in action. There were a few DD sets like this, and even an
UNCLE $CROOGE set (under the DD title) which may still be available; I
found one just a few years ago.
Anyway, it's not possible to achieve true 3D with drawings. I
assume these Gottfriedson MM reels are not fully constructed models,
right? I'm sure Viewmasters don't sell well enough to pay for that sorta
effort any longer.
Also, it should be pointed out that in all these storybooks and
Viewmaster reels and action figures based on Gottfriedson's MM, FG's
name is never mentioned. But you figured that, right?

MIKKO:
Without asking exactly which Barks stories you are referring to
wherein MM's nephews appeared, or even Zeke Wolf, I'm pretty sure that
these were in GRANDMA DUCK'S FARM FRIENDS issues of FOUR COLOR which
Barks drew but did NOT write. These stories employed ALL the Disney
characters -- there was even one where Dumbo flew by to visit Grandma!
That's as disturbing to my way of thinking as if I saw Dumbo fly to
Gotham City and visit Batman. It's plain weird! But those "Grandma Duck"
writers had a very simple-minded view of the comics... which is fine.
But those Grandma Duck stories were not "part of the canon", whether
Barks drew them or not.

JAMES WILLIAMS:
I loved your explanation of why $crooge would not be interested
in earning interest! Excellent! Actually, to please everyone, we KNOW
that $crooge has loaned money to earn interest... but just as you say,
that would be just cash. Since he didn't toil for it himself, it
wouldn't really mean anything to him.
Actually, I really enjoy playing around with the character of
$crooge to try to explain the reason he loves his money. As you say, he
doesn't love being "rich" for the buying power or status or power... he
loves HIS MONEY as mementos of personal achievement. I'll do more
stories about that in the future.

Hi everyone, I hope this is of interest:

>From the Weekend Australian March 26-27 1994 Fine Arts section:

Duck tales and Scotland Yarns

It is a foggy night on the moors of Scotland. In the distance is heard
the baying of a mysterious hound. "It's him, Donald. Like the man said,
the dreaded hound of the Whiskervilles". And what brings Uncle Scrooge
McDuck to this eerie place?

In subsequent frames of the 1960 Walt Disney comic The Hound of the
Whiskervilles (by Carl Banks [sic]), we learn that although he has
money, a silk hat and carries a cane, Uncle Scrooge has been snubbed by
Duckburg high society. "Maybe you need culture as the call it in
school," Huey suggests. "Yes," Donald Duck adds, "learn to talk about
highbrow subjects like the arts, for instance."

Soon they come to an art gallery. "Here's an exhibition of modern art
where you could learn much ," says Dewey. Donald agrees. "Talk windily
about modern art and people think you have culture." Near the entrance,
a board announces a show of modern paintings: "non-objective,
neo-obscurational, inter-humbuggial studies in abstracts".

Inside, Scrooge is particularly taken by a couple of pictures by "the
famous artist Angus McWhiskers", whose patterns of woven vertical and
horizontal bands remind him of "Scotch plaid". Later, after some spooky
adventures in Scotland, the hound is exposed as none other than Angus
McWhiskers, who confesses to having stolen his designs from a rare
example of the McDuck tartan.

{paragraph omitted}

As Andy Warhol and others had only started making their early Pop Art
staements in 1960, it seems that in parodying modern art, The Hound of
the Whiskervilles was aiming at the classic abstract paintings of Piet
Mondrian.

{end of exerpts}

The rest of the article is a non-objective neo-obscurational
inter-humbuggial study in the abstract of a bunch of "artworks"
consisting of computer generated bits of various tartans, of little
interest to philistines like me, and with no further duck references. I
thought this was interesting, to see U$ pop in in such an odd place.
Also, now we know who Carl Barks was taking a shot at.

Andrew Davies

P.S. Anyone collect clippings of this sort of thing? I'll happily mail
it to you if you want it.
P.P.S. I was going to be William Van Horn's defender at length in this
group, but I decided to simply refer to anyone who doubts his ability to
"Tracker", a 4 part series he started for Blackthorne, but which
tragically (to my mind) was never printed in it's entirety, only parts 1
& 2 coming out. Any Gladstone types reading this who can pass on my
praise? I got these comics from Mile High (Denver) a while back, when I
got Don Rosa's Comics and Stories 1 & 2 (Fantagraphics) as well. These
are well worth a look too. [Sorry Don, I'll bet you cringe when I
recommend them. BTW, why not send the ducks to the centre of the Earth
the same way - GLORP wasn't it? I loved it.]