Keskustelujen arkisto

Andrew Davies writes:
> Finally, a nit pick: duckbill dinosaurs didn't have teeth!

True, but then neither do ducks!

Wilmer Rivers

Here is contents of Finnish Aku Ankka 27/94:

D 92378 Very good fishing-tale with poor Egmont art.
D 93126 Stupid Duck Tales 2-pager.
WDC 264 A Barks' ten-pager. Donald as 'crasher'.
D 93481 Conclusion to Marco Rota's excellent viking adventure.

Is Kalle Anka identical?

/Mikko

Don,

I was thinking about this yesterday and decided that I also agree that the
simple, less detailed covers are more eye appealing. On the other hand, I
vastly prefer your very detailed internal art to any of the other duck
artists, and all that extra effort certainly does pay off in my view. For
the covers, what about taking the point of view that it's a new challenge
for you to design the simple but striking ones that seem to be more eye
catching? From what I've seen you write in this group, you seem to be the
type of person who likes to push himself to be better each time he does
something. Why not challenge yourself to design a cover that has a simple
and perfect composition, and that you can sit back when you're finished and
be proud of--even though it lacks the Rosa detail? I kind of doubt any of
your fans would pooh-pooh an effort like that!

Using my nearly useless memory, I can remember one cover of yours that I
particularly liked. It's the one with the Viking or Neanderthal or whatever
it was--basically a *big* person of some type--(I told you my memory was
bad) whose head was obscured by the cover logo. I really liked that effect,
but I remember others here didn't. I'm sure I could find other covers of
yours that I liked if I looked back through my collection, but that one in
particular I remember liking.

--Steve Crooks scrooks at ingr.com 74101.3471 at compuserve.com

MATTIAS:
Oh, and I would never have even suggested you mention me or my
work at any Barks meeting, as I know it's the last thing he'd want to
hear! In fact, for the past few years, and especially during my last
trip to Europe when I knew Barks was on his way, I have made a point of
advising interviewers to be sure NOT to bring me up in order not to
spoil their interview, and I decline to explain that in depth as long as
they knew it would not go over well in their talk. I don't think I'll go
out of my way to tell people that any longer -- I mean, now I feel kinda
stupid for HELPING The Weasel to repress me. So, in the future I plan to
just let the chips fall where they may.

STEVE CROOKS:
Again, your advice is good... but it's advice I'll never take. I
simply cannot bring myself to consider a simple cover to be something
I'd be proud of. I just can't think that way. I've tried that sort of
idea a bit, and I find it makes me very uncomfortable that I'm goofing
off and stealing the cover fee.

JAMES WILLIAMS:
Gladstone tells you it's YOUR job to find an artist for a story
they've accepted? Or do you just want to help them? I can imagine that
they NEED your help, simply because it's virtually impossible to find
artists to put any effort into work that pays so little, requires so
much extra reworking (for free) to please the Disney people, pays no
royalties, and which the artist never gets returned. Why would any
artist want to do that sort of work when virtually any other form of
cartooning lets him share in the proceeds of his own efforts? Good luck
in your search.

>Gladstone tells you it's YOUR job to find an artist for a story
>they've accepted? Or do you just want to help them?

Gladstone didn't ask me to do anything, I'm simply trying to help
myself. To the best of my knowledge, Gladstone only has two
artists under contract - Pat Block and Vic Lockman. Pat Block
works with Ron Fernandez. Vic Lockman writes and draws (the lucky guy
;) ). Therefore, there isn't anyone at Gladstone to draw these
stories. If an orphaned artist shows up; I've got first dibs.

The problem is that no one is beating down the doors to work for
Gladstone. When you and William Van Horn starting working for
Gladstone, they were the only game in town. Now, they are the smallest
market for a Disney writer/artist. First, when you and WVH moved to
Egmont, you opened a door. Now, a bunch of talented Americans work for
Egmont. Many of these people never worked on Disney comics in the US.
Second, Disney Adventure Digest runs about 20 pages of all new material
every month. Third, Marvel has started a serious line of Disney
comics. Soon they will be publishing 6 montly comics (Beauty and the
Beast, Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Disney Afternoon, The Lion King and
Gargoyles) with all new material.

James Williams

KNUT:

>I was kind of wondering if you had heard about this list, Geir, I have thought
>about sending you a mail and telling about it, just in case. Welcome you are
>(for all I know you may have been here much longer than me...). Perhaps we
>should start a disney at sintef.no :-)
>
>Knut Hunstad

Thanks, Knut, and even though we have already met as a consequence of your
mail, I wanted to thank you in public for your thought. I have been around
for a year, but I have had little time to join into the discussions lately.

EVERYBODY:

Barks trip to Norway, part two.

On Sunday, Barks was flown in a small plane to view the Norwegian fiords
and mountains and glaciers, and they visited Lillehammer with the Olympic
arena. Barks told me that he had been impressed by the ski jump, he would
not even dare to walk on that slope.

On Monday 6th the Norwegian Comics Forum had rented the Nobel institute
auditorium and filled it with appr. 120 eager Duck fans and collectors
(space limitations). Bjoern Are reported from this event earlier, he also
videotaped Barks, who arrived at 1715 and greeted the audience waving his
hand and wearing a huge smile. He sat down to answer questions and was very
humourous. Grandey had to repeat some of the questions to him, mostly
because of bad pronounciation from the audience. After that we walked out
on the roof in order to have photographs taken, and the 10 Duck experts of
the panel (among them me) got to meet Barks first. The kind Carl welcomed
me and talked about his impressions of Norway and I introduced him to some
of the various people of the panel. The Norwegain DD & Co. editor got quite
lost out there, he panicked and shouted: No autographs and We got to go now
and This takes too much time and so on, but Barks was content and smiling
and didnt feel the audience threatening. He posed for photographs for a
long time and talked with a lot of people. I got much more than my fair
share :-) , well, we all did, the event lasted much much longer than the
expected 15 minutes with prepared questions on beforehand (yes, that trick
was also skipped). It was great! And I do think Barks thought it was great
also.

After Barks had left, we sat down to talk about Ducks and the editorial
policy and Rosa and all those controversial themes. It was a real occasion
as so many Duck experts of Norway (if I may call us that, or should I
rather say celebrities) had come together, and after we had to leave in the
evening, we went over the street to a restaurant where we continued talking
into the light summer night.

There I was told about how the Norwegian editor (whom I shamelessly attack
here amidst the protests of the kind Don) had held back and sabotaged the
attempts to arrange this meeting; he could never say anything and all the
time stated how old Barks was and how unclear everything was and a lot else
in the same way - the same he did with me when I asked how I could possibly
see Barks. Krogh, who arranged this comics forum meeting, had to strike the
table to get Soeland to promise anything at all, he was exhausted by having
to ask and ask without getting to know anything. When I asked the
translator who had earlier been the editor, for details about the trip and
the plans, he said that he knew nothing about the events - Soeland never
told anyone. Not even at the editorial office at DD & Co. was there anyone
who knew anything. And I just tell 1% of it, which is enough for this
forum. Let me just add that I thought it was humiliating to call Soeland to
know about Barks? whereabouts, I was told about a private dinner for
collectors but I had to ask if I was intended for that one, which I wasnt.
I was told about a private visit to a museum, and again I had to ask. I
mean, we fans did have a right to know, although we shouldnt pester the old
man, and Soeland knew what this event meant to us. I am of course happy
because I was included on the Viking ship trip, but I think of the other
fans who werent. Only two days before I left Trondheim, I got to hear about
this Monday event, which I had to call for myself. When a fan has got a job
and kids, he cant just leave on some minutes notice. And I do think that my
research for Barks should have allowed me some notice at least a few weeks
before the event. But everything I knew was because other fans sent me
plans and schedules and because I had those humiliating phone calls with
Soeland.

On Thursday the 7th I first went to the University to look at the auitorium
for my talk and prepare the projector and the slides and so on, and the I
went to Tusenfryd, a childrens amusement park some miles out of Oslo, whose
name literally means the flower Daisy. This park has earlier arranged Duck
exhibitions and rented the 313 replica which I helped build in Trondheim
some years ago. This time a duck fan called Erik Hoerthe had arranged a
huge Duck and Barks exhibition, a fantastic thing really. And he did it for
free, all that work! I am ashamed on his behalf. Barks went out there at
noon to open the exhibition, and then to pose for photographs. Although it
was nice weather, there were surprisingly few people attending, although
there was a long queue before Barks? table. I was interviewed on the 2nd
national TV channel about the event and when Barks left I was given the
paper cup he had used to drink water - wow, what a collectors item! I then
had to leave to reach what happened to be the greatest event of all, the
seminar at the University.

Some fans drove me there as they were also attending, and we reached it
just in time for the support act. This was a well known Norwegian language
professor, who talked about the good language of the translations for 15
minutes.

Then I gave a talk with slides for an hour, about Barks for adults:
Sexuality and Conscience in the Duck stories, much of it from the Pinnacle
Rock story, the Frosty Postman story, the Gladstone?s dime in the safe
story, Luck of the North and Back to the Klondike (A shortened version of
my 90 minutes talk in Bodoe last year and Trondheim in May). The auditorium
was filled to the brim, there between 600 and 700 seats and people were
standing far into the hall outside. It is a fantastic experience to have so
many people laugh and laugh and laugh and even be told afterwards that they
even understood my serious points. The biggest laugh was when I told about
Donald after he had sent Gladstone after that uranium mine and cant get to
sleep at night. I closed that section with that, not telling what happened
next, and a guy in front asked about what happened with Gladstone. In
Norwegian, the question implies that you could not be sure if Gladstone
managed to stay alive. I just had to keep quiet for some seconds, and then
I told the audience what this guy had asked about. I think they laughed for
a whole minute.

At last I finished and got ovations, flowers and a t-shirt from the
arrangement committee, who were students at the maths and natural sciences
faculty at the university, many of them the same people who had invited Don
some time ago.
When the murmur had died down and I had seated, Barks arrived. He was
greeted with a standing ovation that seemed to have no end. Then he seated
on the first row (I sat just behind) and was greeted by a professor
(English term, the Norw. is more complicated) with slides about his
influence on the students for all these years. Barks also got an order
(Bear order, polar bear in green silk band) and held a short talk at the
end. I think all the people in the audience were moved by this fantastic
93-year old, and lots of people came to me afterwards to ask for sources
for Barks material.

Barks was then taken to the top of a huge building to look at Oslo and to
give a few interviews for the university radio and newspaper (Grandey: no
controversial questions, an interviewer asked about Don, Grandey: thats a
controversial question), and I managed to join in. He also made a drawing
for the students, which will be framed and hung at their club room (I got a
photo copy), and after that I managed to talk a little with him thanking
him again for all he has done for me and us in Norway. I think he was
overwhelmed and a little moved himself, he had certainly not awaited this
response. If you look back you can see how it builds up from the Saturday
in the viking ship via the comics forum and the exhibition to this huge
meeting.

That was that, Barks left and I was invited by the students to talk and
drink and eat, all of which for free. And after that I danced with the girl
who had prepared the order for Barks, for seven hours while Sturle who
arranged the seminar, was the disc jockey (you remember him, Don?), but
that is another story which has just begun.

It was a splendid trip, it was incredible, and I will always remember it.
Barks fulfilled all my expectations and did his best to make us feel
comfortable with him, and just the way he lit up in a smile and waved his
hand every time he saw me (me, little me) was a gesture which meant so much
for me you cannot imagine.

I dont have to report from all the people who noticed me on the street or
the teenage girls who looked at me and smiled and then loudly acclaimed:
It?s him! and then Oh God, what am I doing! or the people at the dancing
places who talked to me after getting courage from a few beers or the girls
who wanted to dance because they knew they had seen me before or all the
other nice people I met ( I havent managed to send that video tape with
Silly Symphonies and conductor shorts like Symphony Hour and Band Concert
yet to the symphony orchestra conductor I met). In a short time my TV
appearance will have been forgotten, I have to take advantage of it as long
as I can. I draw attention because of Barks, and now I have begun thnking
of doing something myself instead of building my reputation on expertise in
some other guy?s creations. Maybe I shall begin to write duck stories
myself? :-)

On Wednesday the 8th, when I had come home to Trondheim, the Norwegian TV
channel broadcast an hour long program about Barks, lots of it very good,
some of it silly, but all in all one of the better things I have watched on
TV. Don showed us his shelves, Geoffrey Blum reported as researcher under
the Golden Gate, Barks himself was quite a guy. Lots of people in Norway
were impressed. Yes, of course I taped it, now only to get Bjoern Ares
video on the same tape!

Thats it! A short report from the Norwegian part of the Barks trip. Could
you Danes and Swedew tell a little more from your parts? Or were we
Norwegians extremely lucky with what we got?

Geir Hasnes

DON:

>I'm not sure why you blame the Norwegian editor (Svein Erik Soland?) for
>the manipulation of the fans and press, or for the deletion of mention
>of Rosa from all press releases. Of course, he's at least partly
>responsible, but he had little choice.

I shall not blame Soeland for the deletion of mentioning your stories
although I find it weird and hypocritical, I cant imagine how Grandey can
have that much influence. But I blame him for being the guy who shall
control everything and everyone and therefore cannot tell of plans to
anyone. And I blame him because I feel humiliated by the way he threatens
me and I know the other fans feel the same. You see, I dont think we
Norwegian fans are anything like the creepy picture of brainless fans we
get from the States, I think we are responsible, reasonable people who can
communicate on a high level with Soeland, but he doesnt want to. I dont
want to stand there like a dog waiting for a snack from the dinner table,
but Soeland makes me feel like that.

> Your telling the VG people about the "schism" was nice of you,
>but I wonder how wise? I hope they didn't blow it out of proportion...
>and if they did mention it, if they blamed any of it on Barks without
>singling out the Weasel instead, it wasn't right. But I thank you for
>the thought -- maybe you can send me a copy of that article sometime?
>

I shall have it translated. The article was written so that people who know
will understand that the journalist knows, but people who doesnt know will
not find any harm there at all. There is nothing in there about the Grandey
stuff, but I give the "real" reason about why Barks travel at the age of 93
and why he doesnt think highly about your following in his footsteps. I
think Even will translate it when he has finished his holiday.

And my dear Don (not patronizing, mind you!), even though you are a bad
artist, your comics sparkle - they are the only ones worth reading today,
except for a few van Horns now and then. A friend of mine who is an artist
explained to me about your art and why it sucks (an expression I picked up
in another newsgroup) and well, yes, OK, but that doesnt change anything in
my adoration. In fact, I feel your remarks about your bad artwork affected.
Dont become angry now, I know you mean it! but dont tell us! I dont want to
hear that you think so badly about your own work! You spoil my fun! You
destroy my joy! I love every series you have made! And all the people I
show your series become enchanted: Wow, I never knew todays Donald duck
comic was that good! Don, you keep me from pestering Soeland with questions
for a Rosa album series or Rosa books in Norway! Did ever Beatles compose a
symphony? Do you think Ringo Starr could play the drums? Or John Lennon the
guitar? I mean in the eyes of the clasically trained artist?

Keep on with all your details, all your wild ideas, I love all of it. In
Oslo at the students social event, we studied your 60 year comic and
laughed wildly about everything. In fact, the whole DD comic is rooted in
the 50s and almost nobody has even tried to depict the 90s problems in it.
You were the first to bring the DD comic into the 90s with your 60th
birthday story. It is a literary event, although nobody understands it. But
VG understood and brought it on the front page!

Have a nice summer. I have bought a 10 seat bus and the other day got my
bus drivers license, here we go!

Geir Hasnes

Don,

Thanks for the reply!

>I don't know if it's just your way of phrasing it,

It is just my way of phrasing stuff. I realize that these people
are freelancers and aren't really under contract. Personally, I
would be very hesitant about working "under contract" for any
publisher.

>And I'm not sure about all these Americans you think are working
>for Egmont.

Off the top of my head I can think of: Don Rosa, William Van Horn,
David Geirstein, Dave Rawlston (I may have his name wrong), Michael and
Janet Gilbert, and Robert Ingersol. Granted most of these people only
do a little work for Egmont, but that is still a bunch of people.

>But when they start buying again, they are the people to work
>for!

Two years ago, (at your recommendation) I tried out for Egmont and never
heard back. My writing has improved tremendously since then. I'd love
to work for Egmont and I might someday in the future. But, I don't plan
to approach Egmont again until I have more experience.

The hardest part of becoming a professional is getting that first
story published. I have to start somewhere and John Clark and
Gladstone seem like a terrific place to start.

>Their page rates for writing are TWICE what the highest American
>page rates are for those super-hero things.

Egmont's pay is very good. I saw the scale two years ago.
Unfortunately, Super-Heroes also pay well. Sure the page rate is
less, but they sweeten the pot with roality payments.

James Williams