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MIKE:
Oh, sorry -- the next Rosa story? I think the next one you'll see,
FINALLY, is the one I did called "Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies". It's a
shorter one, about 15 or less pages, that I did over 4 years ago, but which
was postponed since it deals with the day $crooge earns his first Dime.
While doing it was when Egmont asked me to do the "Lo$" and I realized that
chapter 1 would be set on that same day. So they stuck this other story in
the file cabinet so as, I assume, not to confuse any dim readers that it was
part of the "Lo$" series.
After that would be "An Eye for Detail", "The Lost Charts of
Columbus", "The Incredible Shrinking Tycoon", "Hearts of the Yukon", then
the one I'm doing now that might be titled "Knighttime" or "The Once and
Future Duck" or "A Calisota Yankee in King Arthur's Court" or... uh...

AUGIE:
> Van Horn did a pretty admirable job [on "Horsing Around" etc.]
I'll say he did. Some have complained about his work on the
story, but it seems to me that the complaints were just because
someone ELSE didn't draw it. Van Horn is obviously trying hard to
imitate Barks' style in this story, and he gets it pretty well,
except for HDL.
I think that the real charm in Van Horn's stories is his use of
language, so I can see why they're much more popular in the United
States than in foreign countries. If nobody minds me saying so, the
essential PLOTS of Van Horn's stories (at least those he writes
himself) are usually very simple, like Barks stories from around
1946. 1946 was a year when DD and the kids had innumerable fights
about very minor things, and that seems to be what Van Horn really
likes to do.

DON:
> I can't imagine what interest there could be in a story about the
> world's richest Duck getting richer.
Plenty, if Scrooge has a reasonable obstruction to pass on his
way to the kitty. Are you saying you don't like stories like "The
Status Seeker" and "The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan" because they end
with Scrooge being richer? Do you think that's a failing?
I DO get sick of formulaic, silly "Scrooge finds the treasure"
stories. But really GOOD ones I enjoy tremendously, even if Scrooge
ends the story "on top".
In my own "Return to Morgan's Island", the Ducks do get the
treasure, but only after one absolute hell of a struggle. And it's
only through a remarkable twist that Scrooge DOES get it. (That's
right, Scrooge is in this story. But I'm not telling you any more
about it until it's published.)
And, Don, in your own "Treasure Under Glass", Scrooge basically
did get the treasure, even if he didn't physically own that ancient
map of all the burial sites at the story's close.
I was actually kind of disappointed that Scrooge LOST Genghis'
crown in "Return to Xanadu," if you don't mind me saying so. That
means that if I set a story after yours, I can't show that swell
crown among Scrooge's riches, now, can I?
> The coloring of the "destruction" sequence in chapter 8 made you
> think it was like old photos of the event?
Same for me. If you wanted a dreamy effect, the colors to use
are pinks and reds (as in the Van Horn story "Pie in the Sky", US
243), I think. You could use yellows as appeared in LO$ 5 (with
Scrooge's ancestors in the clouds), too.

A FEW PREVIEWS:
DDA 34 will contain Ron Fernandez and Pat Block's "Secret of
the Dragon's Den." This is a 28-page (!) story, and as far as I'm
convinced, it's a REAL show-stopper. (I saw it as a work-in-progress
at the San Diego Con last year.)
WDC&S 599 contains "The Yawn Patrol" by Van Horn. This would
seem to be the 10-pager we list as "promising sleeping" (one which I
didn't see in its European publication). The conclusion of "Monarch
of Medioka" is also here.
US 294 contains LO$ 10, and presumably something else although
it isn't mentioned here. Don, you'd better tell Gladstone if you
expect to see one of your text pages in this (letter-columnless)
32-pages-including-covers issue!

David Gerstein
<9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>

HELGE (and DON):

> the splash panels are still there in
> the Gladstone 1-part version [of Lo$ 8]! Why?

The Gladstone version of the splash panels have a lot of extra drawings
where the "European" versions have the captions with the "what happened
previously" text.
Question to Don: how did you make those two versions? They don't seem
to be drawn twice. Did you xerox one of the versions, then filling in
the extra art (or covering it with the caption)?

----

"Catman vs. the Masked Marauder" was written by Frank Madsen, and drawn
by Jose Colomer Fonts (and maybe inked by some other from Colomer's
studio). I think it's especially David's dialogue that makes the story
very enjoyable. David added some references to Barks and Rosa stories.
(Though the ladies on page 2 [or so] also seem to have walked right out
of a Barks story).

BTW: J. Colomer Fonts also did stories for the Dutch editor. Some of them
are very good. He put a lot of background gags in his drawings.

--Harry.

Wes:
> Also I didn't mean to imply I approved of the censorship.

No, I understand that. I may have sounded a bit rough when I answered
you. I didn't mean to, although I certainly meant what I said in the
letter.

I my, not at all humble opinion, Disney's censoring is mostly plain
stupid, and I certainly don't want them to make Egmont use the same
policy. I don't mean that just any kind of stereotypes may be used,
though, but I do think the people of Egmont are able to chose their
material without anyone telling them how to do it.

As David said, we regard these old stereotypes, f.ex. Gottfredson's
Thursday, or Barks' Norwegians, as old cliches. They aren't meant
to do any harm, and I can't possibly see why anyone should be
offended by them. Everyone knows that Africans doesn't act or look
like Thursday. BUT, I do not think that any kind of sterotypes may
be used, as I said. Images of groups of people, whether this is
because of colour, religion, or whatever, with the purpose to hurt
them in any way, make me feel sick. None of the sterotypes used
in Barks' or Gottfredson's, or Herge's for that matter, stories are
of this kind. They are just old cliches, and should be viewed in a
historical light, and not just be pretended as nonexisting, like Wes
said.

> Perhaps if Barks had it to do over again, maybe he wouldn't have
> included such Degrading Stereotypes of Norwegians in "The Lemming with
> the Locket." ;-)

I wouldn't want him to. I think they are funny :-)

I certainly think it's a shame that some of Gottfredson's stories are
banned just because of some touchie souls. I do have these banned
stories in Norwegian (yes, it's mostly in that strange Italian format,
but still), and some time ago I would have thought that this was enough.
After having a read a lot of Barks stories in the original language, I
have indeed changed my mind (I found that I actually need the Carl Barks
Library in Color, so I have been subscribing to it for a while now :)
Everyone who has read Geir Hasnes' letters to this list will know why.

Well, after having thought about this matter of offending/not-offending
stereotypes, it struck me that I'm not so sure I really know what
I'm talking about. I belong to a group of people that has never been
rated as less worth by any other groups, so I haven't experienced this,
as some other of you (or your older relatives) may have experienced
(well, the romans used to call us barbarians, but they were probably
right, and the Swedes may have something to say, but they are Swedes ;).
But, anyway, most, or probably all, Norwegians, and this probably goes
for most Europeans, are so educated that they know the difference between
an old cliche which is just meant to be a good gag, or not meant as
anything at all, and something done in a matter to hurt someone. I have
never seen a Disney story misused like f.ex. Darwin's theories.

Jorgen

DON, and whoever is interested in it:

Here is now the full translation of that text about the Lo$ from
the Comic Speedline magazine. I hope there aren`t too many mistakes
in it. Hope it`s a bit interesting for ya!

Danny Coenen (!)

"You shouldn`t have poured it on so thick, Louie! Something tells
me we`d better off washing the dishes!"

$cooges Memories-
Don Rosa on the trace of Carl Barks

---By Martin Budde in Comic Speedline No.44---

His style is characteristic- bent on details, he uses the last square
centimeter for a bit more of structure or for one of his typical tiny-funny
sidegags. This makes the eyes remain on those panels, but somehow it makes
them appear in a Disney-unusual stiffness. But to regard is really
worthwhile- Without doubt, Don Rosa likes his job. And he does it exactly.
Rosa is a master of putting humor in his drawings- and he is more: His
stories are perfectly calculated, full of ideas, absurd constellations
and- speed. Just like a well-timed slapstick comedy. And finally there is
the "point of no return" where all the humor is coming out with the power
of an avalanche.
There are probably two reasons for Rosa being called the heir of Carl
Barks: On the one hand there is his incomparable style, and on the other
hand-like being mad- he takes on elements out of the duckman's
stories. Today the stories of all Duck artists base on Carl Bark's work,
but Rosa is the only real successor of him. He takes up the characters as
well as the action and the places his idol Carl Barks created. For example
he took his ducks back to Tralla La or to the land of the square eggs.
Rosa does not add new things- he completes. And so the ducks get something
like a memory, "real" life: a biography.
Biographic elements have also been used in Bark's stories. Especially $crooge
often told of his origin and of his life before he became the world's
richest duck. And that was necessary, because that was how he has been
developed by Carl Barks: more or less close by and out of nothing- although
adapted to Charles Dickens; from there his name Scrooge McDuck- for the
"Christmas on Bear Mountain" story (FC 178). Later some explanations became
necessary, but they have often been very vague. Only once in a while there
have been exiting stories basing on $crooges past, but those belong to the
best Barks ever wrote. The most famous are "The Old Castles Secret" (FC 189)
and "Back to the Klondike" (FC 456). But $crooges memories remain incomplete
and symtomatically indistinct.
Thus a challenge for Rosa- and what a hard work! It took him two and a half
years to investigate, assort and to translate this into a resolved comic
story. And what a story: on 211 pages divided into 12 chapters it describes
the The Life and Times of $crooge McDuck. Developed by order of the European
Disney publisher Egmont, to which Ehapa from Stuttgart belongs to, too,
Don Rosa fulfilled his wish of following the trace of Barks not only
sporadically, but continuous in one story. Right now half of the German
Onkel Dagobert- Sein Leben, seine Milliarden (The Life and Times of $crooge
McDuck) albums are available- 3 comic books including 2 chapters each.
[Up to today four of these albums are available]

The Last of the Clan McDuck

For his extensive work he wanted, and he had to use the comic books of Carl
Barks, because it was him who introduced $crooge and he fixed the start and
the turning-points of his career in the long stories mentioned above. So we
meet young $crooge , not even ten years old, in chapter one- The Last of
the Clan Mc Duck- in front of the castle of his poor family, the
Duckenburgh [this is the German name for this castle, I do not know the
original], an old, desolated building. It is the year of 1877- and this is
a novum and important in Rosas biography: the exact date. And- another novum-
we see $crooges parents (and Donalds mother). It is the dispute with the
insidious neighbors, the Whiskervilles what this chapter is all about. And
they have their origin in a totally different story (Hound of the
Whiskervilles, US 29), that was published much later. Here the way of Rosas
research becomes clear: He took all the comics of Carl Barks into
consideration and formed a chronological order out of them. For that he even
contacted the old Duckman himself. But above all he brought even the smallest
details together that could be connected with $crooges biography. And these
he found in the Barks-stories themselves.
But this procedure had its difficulties, too. Of course some contradictions
could not be avoided, as the details are totally scattered. Rosa had this
problem in the first part of the third chapter, where the Danish orderer
wanted him to include the story with the square eggs. Often there were just
little hints that completed his screen. Or stories told aside of the others.
For example the 2nd chapter bases on a PR-story for Disneyland, in Germany,
typically enough only published in the "Lustiges Taschenbuch" No. 8- as a pa
of Onkel Dagobert und der Zauberspiegel (Uncle $crooge goes to Disneyland).
Important in this story is the encounter with the pre-Beagle Boys and Gyro
Gearlooses grandfather. Here Rosa uses a hint to a remark that $crooge did
in another story- and that has unfortunately not been translated into German.
This is additional handicap for the German readers: The very popular
translations of Erika Fuchs are not always literally. Some more or less
unimportant things have sometimes been changed or even left out. So the
chapters 3 and 4 base on such remarks that Uncle $crooge did- in Only a
poor old man, FC 386. Accordingly he would not have been as a Cowboy and
copper prospector in Montana in 1882 but in 1892 in Argentinia, although it
could have been possible. And there is no explanation for John D. Rockerduck
appearing in the 4th chapter. The less so since $crooges rival with his
Italian origin started his sinewy activities in Germany not before the 1970s.
And Barks used him only one (!) time, in Boat Buster, WDC 255 that was first
published in Germany in 1963. And there he was called Cornelius Coot
(like the person who founded Duckburg).

The New Laird of Castle McDuck

The poor basis for yet two hole chapters of his biography of Uncle $crooge
shows on the other hand how much Rosa could do to complete the blanks. And
that he did like his idol mostly in the stories acting away from Duckburg,
where he includes authentic, contemporary facts. So $crooge meets
historical figures like Theodore Roosevelt or Murdo McKenzie in the Badlands
as well as the Brantewien- Brothers, who will punish him much later in US
56. And the bull seems to come out of one of the many western-movies of James
Steward. The sunken steamboat in the chapter before based on such a authentic
legend, too...
Finally the reason for Uncle $crooge coming again to Scotland was a victim
of the translation, too, as the German readers did not know that he bought
his glasses in The Money Well (US 21) in Glasgow in 1885. But the real
reason for his return is another- Rosa had to make clear why $crooges
family is very poor, but owns a such a huge castle. The explanation: Aside
from its state, as it is nothing else than a ruin- and that $crooge never,
even when he could afford it, thought of renovating it tells us everything-,
all money was needed to pay the taxes. So young $crooge has to give away
all the money he earned and has to- after he should even have been called
to his anchestors to heaven- start again to find his luck- this time in
South Africa. If he had known, that he would meet one of his most unpleasent
rivals there, (The Second Richest Duck, US 15), he would better have
retained his name...
Up to this pint $crooges Life is a single adventure- exiting and
entertaining- at least for the outstanding readers. He has not become
richer, but he gained a lot of expieriences. He is strong, sly and not yet
the miser and the grouch, that he will become later. All the setbacks
formed his character; and the picture of the young Duck in the Scottish
swamps that is determined to make it to a rich Duck is already recognizable.
But the point were the happenings at the Klondike change his life totally
is not far in the future- but there is also one big loss, and that is that
he loses the contact to his family, which was so important for him before.
All the work Rosa put into his research had an interesting side-effect,
and that was that Rosa had to make clear the complicate relations between
the Ducks. The Result: A totally new family tree, which bases on a script
of Carl Barks of the 1950s, which Mark Wooden completed in 1981. And both
together uncover some surprises. So Gladstone Gander is Donalds cousin,
but just a adoptive nephew of $crooge, as he is just related to Donald on
his mothers side, as he is forHuey, Dewey and Louie. Grandma Duck is
really the grandma of Donald and Gladstone, but not related to $crooge.
And Daisy does not belong to the family anyway. That most of them are
called Duck is just accidental. And remember, $crooge is not just a Duck-
he I the last of the Clan McDuck- and what that means, that shows Don Rosa!

HARRY: You ask when one of my Egmont stories will be seen in a
Gladstone comic. I don't know is the short of it. Sorry. BTW, I've
been gone for a few weeks, thus the delay in answering.

* Evaluation copy of Silver Xpress. Day # 181
--- via Silver Xpress V4.01 [NR]

Why is no one credited in Gladstone's edition of "Catman Vs.
the Masked Marauder"? I forgot to answer that.
Egmont is extremely erratic about giving story information to
Gladstone. In the 1980s, there was actually a rule that they
COULDN'T give it out, so when proofs to a given story came to
Gladstone, jet-black ink would be blotting out the names of the
writers and artists.
In 1990, cooincidentally RIGHT when Disney took over from
Gladstone, Egmont agreed to give out the names of writers and
artists. But in the earlier days, they did a very incomplete job;
around 1991, there are still a lot of stories that appear without
credits because Egmont couldn't offer them.
From 1992 to 1993, Egmont was very good at giving credits to
Disney Comics-Burbank, so complete ones usually appeared.
But starting in early 1994, they began doing a very poor job at
supplying Gladstone with credits. Sometimes Gladstone will have the
old problem of a story arriving with the artist's name blotted out
again, although there's no rule that this must be done now.
"Catman" was one such case, apparently. Jose Colomer Fonts'
art is very similar to that of a certain Scalabroni, and unless
Gladstone is supplied with credits they can't say for sure who did
it. (I had guessed it was Scalabroni, BTW.) If I could find out
something concrete -- such as Scalabroni being an inker at Colomer's
studio -- I'd be very pleased.
Still, now and then I'm surprised by how unwilling Gladstone is
to guess who did a story. "A Case of Too Much Money" (US 291) was
clearly drawn by Vicar, but since it arrived at Gladstone without
credits, it was printed without them, too.

David Gerstein
<9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>