Keskustelujen arkisto

Don Rosa:

>CHRISTER:
>...who is still looking for the "D.U.C.K." in the splash-panel of "Vigilante
>of Pizen Bluff" sez:

NOT ANY MORE!!!!:-)))))

I've found it, well, not exactly. After staring and staring on the
splashpanel 'til my eyes hurt and not finding anything I asked my wife to
have a look. And what do you know, she found it after 30 sec's!! And there
it was as clear as the sky. How could I miss it!!!

Christere - Going to sleep well after at last finding the hidden "D.U.C.K."

On Jan 11, 2:31pm, (Email removed) wrote:
> Subject: Dog thoughts, Harpies & Translation

> About the translation of the characters' names: I'd say we should
remain in
> continuity with what already exists, i.e. find *good* french names
for new
> characters whose name is obviously a pun in english.

Myself, I always liked the French name for Goofy: "Dingo."
At least I _assume_ the connection is the French word for
nutty or goofy, "dingue."

--Dwight Decker

Didier:
Last but not least, I want to add my dime :
Here in Germany I started reading disney comcics 16 years ago... As a child
I read Duck "German pronounciation" (like in book) instead of the English
pronounciation... and the "Duckburgh currency" is Taler (used in Germany some
centuries ago)... as I grew up with it, I wouldn't like it to be changed,
though... For me (personal view) Entenhausen (German name for Duckburg) is
linked to Taler and Dagobert for $crooge and so on... thus I felt a $ sign on
the bin is better than a "T"...
For me, Duckburg was a kind of parallel world not necessarily somewhere on
planet earth... In my opinion, anything drawn by the authors like dollar symbols
and so on should stay the same as it would change the art to redraw parts... but
names that have been used for a long time should stay... when growing up, it
weas ok for me that Onkel Dagobert is $crooge in other countries...
Last: I must admit I don't quite remember the situation in France, the
considerations are for my horizon of knowledge (i.e. Germany). If there were
other facts in France, that might change a lot...
However, hope you could find out a point of view out of this mess of a
statement...
Soeren

I just picked up my second last issue of WDC&S yesterday,
seeing how the Canadian price is now $9.95, and that money was
spent on 8 measly pages of Rosa. (C'mon..."Trekking with Alice"?
"Pluto's Parade"?) The only reason I'm getting 610 is for "
A matter of some Gravity" (yay! complete in one issue!)
and I will indeed buy any C&S that has a full Rosa story in it...
but otherwise, too bad.

Anyway...I mention this becuase my copy of 609 has absolutly
nothing written on the squarebound spine...no "Best selling
comic book of all time" or nothing...Was mine the only copy
like this...or are they all like that or what?

GLADSTONE:
Just a suggestion...put the Barks paintings on the cover, and
use the not-so-great Noonan/Kelly stuff on the title
page...the book might get more respect that way.

-Shaun

Marco asked for list membership statistics that I have posted,
> But also, if possible: how many of these have been subscribers for
> at least -say- six months? (I have always wondered what is the
> percentage of those who unsubscribe after just a few weeks).

Maybe that would be interesting, but I think it would be too much
trouble to get those statistics. The membership record is really just
an address. The percentage is pretty high though. There are always
people passing through; addresses get bad and start bouncing all the
time; sometimes a bunch of addresses from the same school subscribes
at almost the same time, most often to unsubscribe soon after again
(to have to join a mailing list is not an uncommon assignment in
Internet classes); etc. etc.

A "Top Ten List"? That would perhaps be interesting. It would need
some editing though, as some persons don't use the same email address
all the time.

--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V97 Issue #8
****************************************

Don

Delurking as is my habit when historical subjects get really interesting (or
puzzling), just a question on your amusing "Vigilante in Bluff" story.

> In fact, the historical references in that story are the MOST accurate of
> any I have ever done! Everybody in that story was out west in 1890. I made
> sure P.T.Barnum was on a western tour and that Buffalo Bill was back from
> Europe, and that the "mysterious Indian" was making Wild West show
> appearances, and that "Old Jacob" was, indeed, making his last trip to his
> mine for gold. I don't know where the Daltons really were in 1890, but at
> least they were still alive, and I even went to some trouble to use the
> correct names and looks and even clothing preferences for each. It's ALL
> 100% accurate!

Are you sure that "mysterious Indian" was out west at that time? I thought he
was rather stuck down in Florida (as Scrooge states on pg 4, second panel).
At least he never did "escape" as Gokhlayeh himself says in panel 3 (or is
that the "evil translator's" work?), translated back by me now to "I escaped to
find jobs for my family". After Sep 86 I guess he was rather guarded?
And on another nitpicking note, on pg 8, panel 6 he offers to "help get the
evil men before I return to the reservation". I imagined that In 1890 that
particular Apache had no reservation to return to, just various prisons in
Florida and Alabama. About 1895, those deported to Florida was allowed a
place in Oklahoma (Fort Sill), however not earlier. As far as I've seen.

Sure you're not mixing him up with S. Bull (who neither escaped much after
1881)? Well, you may be right as the mysterioes one did travel to various
fairs and exhibitions, even if I thought it was somewhat later.

BTW, there's a full one page presentation of you, "Duckburg's Saviour" in
todays "Dagbladet", the third largest paper in Norway, by a Sindre Kartvedt
who visited you at home!. Seems a rather accurate - and positive - portrayal!
Its great to see how much the ducks are loved in Europe/Norway - and found
interesting for the tabloids!

Bjo/rn Are

(Email removed)
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The Weaver in the Web that he made
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- Our minds were moving parallell
Because they never met

Hi! Time I caught up on a couple of discussions here...

Dwight Decker wrote (regarding the Larkies):

<<Hmm...I know I came up with the idea on my own and it would have been
before the date of your proposal. The point is, as you say, that the idea has
occurred to more than one person independently because it's an obvious idea.
I've never pushed very hard for it because of the counter-objection that
"larkies" has been in that story for so long, it's become part of the canon,
like it or not. Scrooge album #12 has recently appeared but I haven't cracked
open the shrinkwrap to see if Gladstone made the change -- I somehow doubt
it, though. Did other-language-than-English editions use the local version of
"harpy," by the way?>>

Since I'm not getting the Scrooge albums (I decided several years ago
that one of the first things to go from my expanding collection were reprints
of stories that had already appeared) I don't know, either...but I suspect
not. I confess I'm more or less inclined to agree with you and Don Rosa about
the Larkies having become memorable creations in their own right, much like
the Nomes in L. Frank Baum's Oz books (he dropped the traditional "G" in an
era when spelling reform had many prominent advocates, including
then-President Theodore Roosevelt). Or, for that matter, Falstaff in
Shakespeare's two HENRY IV plays...I've never seen any movement afoot in
recent performances to restore his original name (from the first several
*years* of performances) of Sir John Oldcastle...a historical figure who was
indeed a friend of Prince Hal (later Henry V) but rejected thereafter (under
circumstances far more violent and tragic than Shakespeare showed). He also
turned out to be the adoptive ancestor of a prominent backer of Shakespeare's
company, who wasn't pleased with the treatment he got...hence the change.
So I'd say, however silly the name, the Larkies have earned their place
in the pantheon of fiction, alongside the Nomes and Falstaff... a place
distinct from whatever Harpies, Gnomes, and Oldcastles they originally were
intended to be. And the world of fantasy is better for all of them...

But Dwight later adds:

<<But I fear you're missing the point. Harpies was what Barks
said in the first place because that's what he meant. That's
what the characters are. Some editor objected to it for
some stupid reason that doesn't apply now, and "larkies" was
the last-minute desperate expedient to save the story from
complete rejection. Completely different case from your hypothetical
Beagle Boys/Bugle Boys analogy, I regret to say. Again, Barks
didn't make the word "harpy" up, so the choice of name was
not arbitrary. Harpies are what they are, and it weakens the
story to have them called something else.

Well, I do see your point. Then again, would you also favor changing
"Falstaff" back to "Oldcastle" if someone like Kenneth Branagh makes a movie
of HENRY IV? After all, "Oldcastle" was what Shakespeare wrote, what he
intended, and a historical figure changed for reasons that no longer have any
applicability today. Of course in that case we're dealing with 400 years of
tradition rather than 40, but isn't the principle the same?

Harry Fluks wrote:

<<Remember I asked for information about Little Helper a few weeks ago? I
passed all the information to the journalist who asked for it, and he sent me
a prelimiray version of the article he is writing. The journalist also asked
the Disney press division in Florida about Little Helper. He got the reply:
"Little Helper? Never heard of. But when you find him, will you send him this
way? We sure could need some help!">>

It's hard to describe the Helper in words, but when I tried to do so--a
cute little robot with a light bulb on his head, who can't talk but proves an
invaluable assistant--I realized how perfectly that also described R2-D2 in
the STAR WARS movies! We know that George Lucas did read comics, and was
influenced by at least some of them (a debate's currently going on on one of
my other lists as to whether he was influenced Jack Kirby's "Fourth World"
titles at DC, but I can't believe Darth Vader in his mask had no inspiration
from Kirby's greatest Marvel villain, Doctor Doom), and I've even heard it
claimed that he was inspired by Barks at least once (the death-trap at the
beginning of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK struck someone as uncannily like one
that Uncle Scrooge had faced), so it's not outside the realm of possibility!

David Gerstein wrote:

<<About sixty years ago, a lot of Jewish immigrants in this country
(including some of my relatives) tended to work as merchants or
shopkeepers. Gottfredson noticed this trend, putting yarmulkes on the
shopkeepers in "The Miracle Master" and "Oscar the Ostrich". I guess there
were some religious taboos HERE in the 1980s, because in the American
reprints, the yarmulkes were removed. (In fact, the shopkeeper in the strip
for 2/22/36 had his entire head replaced with that of a bill-collector from
strip 10/14/34!)>>

We've mentioned this excessive Political Correctness at recent Disney
before, mostly in regard to the Indians...oops, I mean Native Americans...but
applying to other minorities as well. It's well known that many classic
cartoons were similarly censored: THE THREE LITTLE PIGS re-recorded the Big
Bad Wolf's dialect at one point where he'd originally put on a Jewish
accent...but that was certainly more of a (potentially) stereotyped image
than anything Gottfredson used, and one that didn't really contribute
anything to the story... unless, that is, the Wolf hoped the Pigs would think
a Jewish wolf would keep kosher and never *think* of eating a pig?

<<"I start seeing bottomless conspiracies everywhere I look!
Everyone starts looking suspi... WAIT! Who are you? Why are you asking all
these questions? Are you one of THEM?!?"
Who do you mean by THEM?!? Outer-space aliens, maybe? Well, you might
say I have an interest in Pluto!>>

I've long thought that the Disney dog was named after the planet, which
had been discovered only a couple of years before and must have been on
everyone's minds at the time. But what's obvious to one generation is often
obscure to the next. If Charlie Brown and his friends last into the next
generation (as they probably will due to TV specials, though Charles Schulz
has said the strip itself won't...which means, no doubt to Schulz' delight,
that the name "Peanuts" will receive as blank a stare from next century's
Charlie Brown fans as "Thimble Theatre" does from all but today's most
dedicated Popeye fans...) who will even remember that Woodstock was named
after a rock festival?

Arthur DeWolf wrote:

<<In Greece all stories have Dollar-signs. I don't know if it is also stated
that Scrooge has Dollars in stead of Drachmen, cause my Greek is not what it
used to be. I also remember seeing Dollar-signs in Italian Zio Paperone. But
I've also seen Lire-signs in other Italian comics. >>

Well, most international investors in the real world maintain some funds
in other currencies...a great many Americans invest in Deutschmarks and Yen,
for instance...so why should $crooge be any different? Too, as a native Scot
who's constantly travelling all over the worlld, he must have to deal in
local currency quite frequently, entailing either constant exchange fees
(surely something $crooge would hate!) or wandering around with foreign
currency on him (I still have a $20 Canadian bill in my wallet, left over
from a trip last November).
No, I'm sure the money bin contains not only dollars but Deutschmarks,
Yen, Drachmae, Lire, and every other kind of currency...so when (say) $crooge
has to go to Italy to thwart Magica DeSpell's latest scheme or seek out
Crassus' missing fortune (or has he already *done* that? When the memory
starts to go...), he'll simply pull out some Lire for trip expenses!

Wes Anderson wrote:

<<I must say I'm looking forward to this story. Will you be drawing on any
of the history of the Boy Scouts of America in that story? I've always
assumed the Jr. Woodchucks were the scouts in disguise. When will this story
be printed in America, do you think?>>

Actually, Barks has said the Woodchucks were based on the Cub Scouts, a
younger version of the Boy Scouts for boys between 8 and 11 (the approximate
age of Huey, Dewey and Louie as I see them). Hence the "Junior;" I'd guess
the plain "Woodchucks" would be the Boy Scout equivalent. (Do H, D and L
belong to the (plain) Woodchucks in the new cartoon series in which they're
teenagers? I confess I haven't as yet had the stamina to watch it...)

Matt Sommer wrote:

<<DIDIER- what you describe here is kind of hard for me, or maybe most
americans, to understand... being the cultural elitists that we are (he says
with tongue SORT OF in cheek), we never really had much popular culture or
entertainment imported from other countries, hence we never faced this kind
of thing... do YOU really think having the characters be from a different
country ruins things, or at least makes them less enjoyable? I'd really be
interested in hearing. I tend to think that kids have an inherent
fascination with foreign cultures, so who knows? maybe it'd be even more
exciting! :)>>

I certainly never had trouble with characters from other cultures, even
as a very young child. I remember reading a lot of stories set in London, and
a great many fairy tales set in imaginary countries (like Oz) or real
countries with kings, queens and princesses (something we never had in
America). Even before the Oz books, there were series like Ludwig Bemelmans'
"Madeline," set "In a small house in Paris/All covered with vines." Nobody
would have been crass enough to change the setting to New York, or white out
the Eiffel Tower and change it to the Empire State Building...let's face it,
many American kids never get to go to Paris (I didn't till I was 22), but
quite a few never get to New York, either.
I always felt a bit insulted by the TINTIN translators' insistence on
"genericizing" the stories, placing Tintin's home in London (in the versions
I read) rather than the original Brussels. (What's the difference to an
American child, anyway, for whom London is just as exotic a city as Brussels,
if not more?) The whole richness of the world and other places, seen even in
a simple picture book like "Madeline," is largely absent from most of the
Herge books...and, given his talent for showing imaginary countries like
Syldavia and real ones like China, it didn't even *need* to be!

Don Rosa wrote:

<<Disney has refused to allow "The Incredible Shrinking Tightwad" to appear
in the United States without several dozen panels being deleted, totalling 2
to 3 pages of the story. These panels deal with A) a flea on a Beagle Boy. B)
a prune in a Beagle Boys pocket. C) a Beagle Boy sneezing. D) a Beagle Boy
scratching his head because of the afore-mentioned flea. The new politically
incorrect concept that readers will no longer be allowed to see referred to
in a Disney comic book is:
*personal hygiene*.

An Indian scratching his head is *absolutely* out. Don't even THINK about it.

Well, it *could* be argued that the flea on a Beagle Boy at least
flirts with breaking your own stated rule (implying that they *are* dogs,
rather than, as you've insisted, people with doglike faces) but the concept
is so perfect and funny that I too think the Disney censors haven't got a
clue. The Beagle Boys may be people, but they're dirty people, and they're
also the villains of the series. (I could see the Disney people complaining
about fleas on $crooge or Donald or the other good guys, but the whole point
of villains is that they're *not* supposed to be role models.)

Rich Morrissey

I've been meaning to bring this up...Scrooge's accent. Don's point about
him gradually losing his accent is indeed quite valid, BUT, Carl Barks
himself has admitted that HIS creation DOES HAVE a Scottish accent.
Although, I do agree the Alan Young version is a bit too "cheerful". I'd
have preferred a more "grumpy" voice, one more suiting the miser aspect
of his personality.

DANIEL:
Although there is probably no way I can solve your mystery, would it be
possible for you to send me a copy of "Sport Goofy"? I've been searching
for this for a very long time, because unlike most Duck comics fans, I
really like all the animated shows too. You can contact me through e-mail
or whatever's conveinent. If I remember correctly, it has the only
animated appearance of Gyro's Helper, who I don't ever recall seeing on
DuckTales!

-Shaun