Keskustelujen arkisto

Poul Frokjar, Denmark at the keys:

Ole R. Nielsen wrote:
>Some time ago it was discussed if Don Rosa's art for "On A Silver
>Platter" had been "censored" by the Dutch editors. Even Don >denied =
that, but someone on this list has an original page from the >story, and =
claims that many details have been whited out.
>Maybe he can be talked into restoring it into it's original state?
>At the risk of putting the Disney Property Division on your trail:
>Poul S. Froekjaer, please join the discussion!

Don Rosa wrote:

>I once counted the corrections and noted that I make an average
>of about 12-15 white-outs for various reasons in *each panel*.

Ole further wrote:
>Now, I believe I remember Poul saying that he had compared the >two and =
found some differences. But I could be wrong (it was a year >ago), and =
I'm not even quite sure if he has *your* originals, or the >Oberon (now =
GP) copies?

First of all: yes I am the fortunate owner of Don Rosa=B4s page 6 from =
"On a Silver Platter". I still think that is one of Dons very best =
pages, but that is of course my very own opinion.

The page is (for sure!) the original thing and not a copy of any kind. =
It has indeed "white-out" ink in about 12-15 per panel as Don counted as =
average. But these corrections are (mostly) very, very minor. Some of =
the major ones are a couple of Magica=B4s hairs being whitened out and =
Donalds foot made a tiny bit smaler. "Errors" I am sure Don would be the =
only one to spot if they hadn=B4t been corrected.

I have just (again) compared my page with the printed in USA 20 =
(Gladstone 1st series) and can surely conclude that there are no =
differences between the pages. Excepted though are colors and texts of =
any kind.

For your information I can tell you that also page 7 from OaSP is in =
Denmark. The two (together with a third) were imported at the same time =
some 6-8 years ago.

The third page is a little special as that was from a story that was =
colored by Don Rosa himself (or so it was claimed in the add..). I have =
only seen the page once, but as I remember it, it was not the coloring =
used in Gladstones print. Coloring was done lightly in colored pencil =
-very nice. I can=B4t remember the stories name ready handed, but the =
page was a gag-page of Donald using a bloodhound to track down the kids.

Sorry for the late answer Ole, but I am about 10 digests behind my =
schedule.

-Poul Frokjar=20

> While I'm on the topic, have Rockerduck and Glomgold ever pooled their
> resources in a plot against Scrooge? If not, this would make a great
> story.

Well, it would... But I don't know if it would turn out ok...

I mean... Glomgold is devious, more cruel and false whereas Rockerduck
never been truly evil and often holds his word...

I think Rockerduck is the one that would loose most in such a
scheme.

I agree that it would be an interesting story... Especially if Don Rosa
or some other of our noted authors would do it.

Steamboat Willie

ANDERS (sp?) wrote:
<<In 1994 i taped many of the Disney Club
transmisions from TV. I saw one yesterday;
Tale Spin, you know with Baloo and Louie
from the Jungle Book...
The reason why I am mentioning this here,
is that in this episode, some spies,
a colonel and a general from a country
called Sembria appeared.
I don't know what the country was called
in the original series...>>

In the American (English) version, the country was called "Thembria." As in
"US vs. THEM" (Cold War overtones).

<<Well, at least I always saw this Sembria, as
a "copy" of the Barksian Brutopia, that being of
course the former Soviet.>>

If it's not a direct "copy" (and I don't think it is, since Thembria is a
country of warthogs, whereas the Brutopian ambassador in "A Cold Bargain" was
a dogface), then it's a remarkably similar "version" of the same basic idea.
The Brutopian ambassador and Thembria's diminutive Colonel Spigot (the short
warthog with the nasty temper) could engage in a truly memorable "Newspeaking"
contest if they ever met.

-- Christopher E. Barat
(Email removed)
http://members.aol.com/cebarat/home.htm

Long message.... but stay tuned for the surprise ending...

I'm back from the San Diego ComicCon! And as always, with all the e-mail
awaiting me when I've been away for a week, it takes me a while to get
caught up, and then a while more to get back to seeing if there have been
any questions for me here...

From: Vidar Svendsen
>>>>DON ROSA:
You're right about "Notre Duck" being without any
obvious religious symbols, but I've always considered
it to be a church. But I don't object to that - nor do I
(as a pastor-to-be) object to your having Scrooge
crash into (what I hope you'll agree undoubtably is)
a church in part II of LoS ;-)

What about my having Donald beating up a nun in "Last Lord of Eldorado"?
Actually, I have never hesitated in putting Christian symbols in my stories
when historical accuracy or background details demanded or suggested it. If
Di$ney censors my stories, that's their problem. I recall the Norwegians
disliked my use of an Irish cross in "Lost Charts of Columbus", but they let
it go. And I see the nun-beating episode made it into the Gladstone
editions! (For those who read this but don't read my stories, it wasn't
*really* a nun, okay?)

From Jeff Bingham:
>>>Don Rosa: I would like to thank you for answering all of these questions,
I
wrote you a letter a while ago asking a few questions and for your
autograph, I was truly amazed when you replied. Very few people of noted
status have ever acknowledged my requests.

(Why did I leave this paragraph in? Just so people will know that whenever
anyone writes me, they always get a reply! It's immediate if it's e-mail,
and rather slow nowadays if it's "snail"mail, but I answer 100% of my mail.
I consider it an obligation... )(I just wish I could afford to hire a
secretary!).

>>>Now for a question: Scrooge's persona has changed little by little
over the years by his development by Barks and other cartoonists, on the
other hand you have seemed to be the factor that has generalized Scrooge
and smoothed out rough spots that sometimes left readers wondering if
these instances were truly Scrooge-like character.

Yeah... and some people hate it when I do that. I can't understand their
attitude, but this is not my character, and they have as much right to say
how these stories should be done as I do.

>>>What in your opinion
was the hardest of the "anomalies" to gap when you wrote your stories on
Scrooge's life?

Aside from the direct contradiction of (a very few) facts in dates or such
in old Barks/U$ stories, easilly the hardest anomaly to gap was the evil
$crooge of "Voodoo Hoodoo", and how to incorporate that into the "Lo$"
rather than simply ignoring it, as with the other few details. I wrote about
that in my annotations to the hardback collections.

>>>>Also, of late you have been creating stories that finish
or play off of Barks' work, I have really enjoyed these stories, but my
more favorite stories have been those that you have made up out of whole
cloth, are there any projects that you are planning in the future?

I am now working on that story of U$'s search for the Lost Dutchman's Mine.
That would be a "whole new" story. Then again... some will say it's not. It
is a sequel to "The Vigilante of Pizen Bluff", and that was a story based on
the fact that Barks once said that U$ was in a town called Pizen Bluff once
upon a time... and by their odd logic, that means I swiped the whole story
from Barks, simply because I built the tale around one tiny element in an
old Barks story.
Seriously though, this relates to another comment I saw when scanning the
Digests of the past week... that someone here thinks that I do sequels, or
the "Lo$", because I lack ideas of my own. I don't mind if someone says that
I draw lousy or my stories are boring or that I suck donkey waste... but
when (a few) say that I write sequels to save myself from thinking up new
ideas, that rather miffs me. As I've said (but I guess I need to repeat),
firstly, the editors and readers *ask* for those sequels. But most of all,
the sequels are *far more* difficult to write and draw than the "all-new"
stories, due to the extra effort to be true to the original in scenery or
spirit, and still think up a new plot angle that won't screw up the original
idea. I could collect more pay if I skipped doing the time-consuming
sequels... but people ask for 'em, my boss orders 'em... and I think they're
*fun* to do.

Projects for the future? Actually, I *haven't* done a direct Barks-sequel in
a long while, and I might go to my list of requested ideas and look for one.
The one I've thought about doing next is a sequel to "The Golden
Fleecing" -- U$ stole the Harpies' Fleece, but why didn't they ever come
after it? It was plainly shown that they can travel around the world very
easilly. Maybe Magica would hop across the Adriatic and team up with them?
I'll think on it.........

From Claudio Eckert:
>>>>For sure, someone mentioned that already, but I'm still a greenhorn to
the
list. Anders wrote about the "D.u.c.k-Hunt"-pages and I found a picture
there, taken from "The crocodile collector" with a reference to Barks'
"Super-Snooper". The bad thing about the german translation is, that theyremoved this from the nephews comic-bools. But it always makes me laugh,
when I read there: "Walt Disney's Don Rosa". On the other hand (after the
discussions about Disney, copyright and so on), what do you think about
being a "Walt Disney's"...?

As you might guess, I am *not* amused. But yeah, the way that they keep 100%
of the royalties off the Rosa hardbacks and Rosa album series, etc., they
must regard me as their personal property.

From: Kriton Kyrimis
>>>>In the last few digests we discussed continuity in Barks' stories. How
about
continuity in Don's stories, though?
I was just re-reading "Return to Xanadu", and was surprised to see a scene
where HD&L find a number of books that were thought to have been lost
since the burning of the Library of Alexandria. Browsing through these
books, one of the nephews finds a piece of information that *wasn't* in
the Junior Woodchucks Manual and Reservoir of Inexhaustible Knowledge,
which would imply that everything else that was written in those books
*was* contained in the manual! This agrees with the manual being a
distillation of all the knowledge contained in the books of the library
of Alexandria, as was described in "Guardians of the Lost Library"!

The Library of Tralla La contained knowledge
from the Library of Alexandria. But it was, itself, in my story, a
*separate* book collection, and one that was never under the protection of
the Guardians of the Great Library. So the Library of Tralla La *does*
contain knowledge not found in the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook.
But there *are* gaps in the continuity of my stories in the sense that
sometimes I'll off-handedly state a "fact" that I will later change when
doing a story that more directly involves that aspect of the Ducks. This
would be much the same as how Barks changed U$'s history and personality
greatly after U$ became a more frequent character.
(Speaking of the "GotLL" and the JW Guide, that story was printed recently
in the great Greek comic KOMIX, and a reader wrote in to complain that it
was a stupid story since the tiny Guidebook could not possibly contain so
much information. Some people just don't catch the gag...)

From: "=SO-8859-1?Q?Anders Chr. Sivebæk
>>>Subject: Scrooge's money
How many money does $crooge Mc Duck own according to the
american comics made by Barks or Rosa?
I would like to hear the newest statement; Don, what do you think?

I think (unlike many details that I enjoy nailing down), the answer to that
question should only be given in nonsense terms, such as Barks frequently
did... Ten Skyrillion, Fourteen Fantasticatillion, etc., etc., and 16 cents,
like that there. Don't you agree? What puzzles me is why people frequently
think that the Money Bin contains *all* of U$'s money. It would contain only
part of it, perhaps only a fraction.

From Poul Frokjar:
>>>The third page is a little special as that was from a story that was
colored by Don Rosa himself (or so it was claimed in the add..). I have
only seen the page once, but as I remember it, it was not the coloring
used in Gladstones print. Coloring was done lightly in colored pencil
-very nice.

Yes, I hand-colored that story before I sold it off about 10 years ago,
back in the days when I worked for Gladstone and they didn't keep me busy
100% of the time... so I had spare time to fill in between when they could
afford a new tale. So I hand-colored a few stories. That was back when I was
getting the art freely returned to me, which Disney stopped in late 1989,
thereby effectively forcing me into non-employment by cutting my income down
to below-liveable conditions. I colored several stories -- that Dutch one
you mention (it wasn't my script, so I don't recall the title, either), "On
a Silver Platter", and "Return to Plain Awful". I sold those stories over 10
years ago... "RtPA" went to one guy who claimed he framed the entire story,
two pages to a frame, and hung the entire thing in his home -- I assume he
placed the last page in the foyer to help get rid of unwanted guests ("Yes,
please read that story on my wall!".... SLAM!)
But it was colored with ink-pens, not pencils. But if the coloring was
"light", it sounds like the art is not being kept in darkened conditions,
and it's fading out. Tsk.

*****************************************************
Okay... still here? I need to tell of a side-trip I made during my trip to
the San Diego Comicon last week. Now, normally I would not write or speak of
this, because it was a private affair, and I don't wish to use it for
self-promotion of any sort. But Gerry Tank (an occasional writer to this
ML), who (along with other ML member and *very* great guy Michael Naiman)
arranged this trip, actually asked me to write to the List about it. I
believe that the person I visited was aware, or has just learned, how I have
been prevented from meeting him for years, and how they portrayed their
other actions as all being by his directive.... and he is a gracious
gentleman and was eager to clear the air of this stuff just as he has
cleared his business of its "managers". Is this obscure enough for you?
Good.

I spent Wednesday of last week in Grant's Pass, visiting Carl Barks, at his
invitation.

I had gone to a gathering to meet him once 4 years ago, but I was only able
to shake his hand in a crowd with no words exchanged before those that
sought to keep us apart moved him on. So, this was the *first* time I'd met
Mr. Barks.

Gerry Tank was Gare` Barks' doctor, and now he, along with another great guy
Jim Mitchell, seem to be Mr.Barks' "helping friends", along with two
housekeepers/assistants. And it was Gerry (as driver and video-man) and Jim
(as photographer) who came to meet me at the airport... but not without Carl
who was standing there at the end of the gangway when I (and Michael) got
off the plane. He was wearing an Egmont cap and a Kalle Anka shirt so that I
would recognize him, he explained. (!!!) I mean, not that I do happen to
*know* what he looks like, but the "poor frail old guy" is only about 6
inches taller than anyone else in the joint! I hope I look as good when I'm
55.

We drove to Carl's home (after an *interesting* sidetrip... don't ask!) and
spent several hours there before Carl treating us all to lunch at his and
Gare`'s favorite Rogue-Riverside restaurant. Then we returned to his home
for a bit longer before Michael and I had to hurry back to SD. Carl's home
has several large curio/display cabinets filled with personal items mixed
with Duck/Barks items that I assume have been sent to him by his fans over
the years. There were also on display his Duckster and Disney Legend Awards
from Disney. The pictures on his walls are all original paintings by himself
(landscapes, portraits), or beautiful landscapes by Gare`, or other
memorabilia such as paintings by Jack Hannah or such. I looked through his
clipping "morgue", saw the famous National Geographic collection, admired
the view from his deck...
I dunno... I feel like people will want to know what we talked about, eh?
Well, really nothing special. I mean, I don't know what to say to Carl
Barks! Would you? I'm not going to go into the song-and-dance he's surely
tired of hearing from all over the world... how his stories were the single
most important entertainment of our youth and still a major part of our life
and times... or how we think he's the greatest storyteller of the 20th
Century... and though I suspect he would have liked to chew it around (and I
know some of you are curious), we didn't talk about them of the last 4
years -- I didn't want such foul blots to mar my thoughts, so I simply
stayed mum whenever that subject was brushed against, soiling the moment.
We had no intense discussions about Duckology. We just chatted like... uh...
like normal folks, eh? But I felt like I was in the company of someone I'd
known all my life, since I knew that here next to me was a guy whose work
was so much a part of my childhood (and still my everyday life, especially
in the last 11 years). It felt both numbing at the thought of whose company
I was in, and very normal as if it was the 237th time I'd visited him.
Well, I think that's already quite enough for me to presume that anyone
wants to know. But I will be glad to answer any specific questions if
someone is curious about something I failed to mention in this brief report.
And thanks to Gerry T for asking me to write about this, since I would never
have done so without being asked to by Carl or one of his friends. And
thanks to Gerry for being there for Carl. And fie on those few others (and
there's at least one right here among us) who helped in maintaining the Dark
Age of the last 5 years... though, in Barks-years, that's a VERY short time,
thank gosh!
And finally, I must again say how impressed I am with Gerry T and Jim
Mitchell, *regardless* of any guy named Barks, due to their volunteer
efforts they spoke of with an animal-rescue league there in Oregon, which
saves and cares for wounded wildlife. Two men after-my-own-heart! I plan to
make their group another of the destinations for my convention-sketch-fees
when Gerry sends me a bit more info.

Enough for one Digest? I think so...

In WDC&S146 (Omelet) Donald became a chicken farmer on top a
hill, and buried the town in eggs at the end of the story. I
remember a story in the Danish weekly, probably from the early
80's, where Donald was a tomato farmer on a similar hill. Like in
Omelet, he has a lot of problems with the townspeople, and of
course the town is buried in tomatos at the end. Does anyone know
which story this could be and who wrote it?

Harry asked about 'A cold Bargain'.

>Bath tubs? In the Dutch translation (from 1983) the country has
5 colour
>TVs. What does the original English say?

In the original, the happy people of Brutopia have 5 kitchen
sinks.

Favorite story:
Since it is impossible for me to choose between the great
adventures, I'll try with my (perhaps) favorite ten-pager:
Spending Money (WDC&S 144). Scrooge has no place to store his
latest earnings and hires Donald to spend it for him. The
personalities of Donald and scrooge bounce off each other
perfectly, for example when they argue about the wage Donald
should have for spending the money. Only Donald can see the irony
of such an argument. When Donald says they should buy a car,
Scrooge points at a small, cheap car. His facial expression is
hilarious; he knows Donald will not go fot it, but he keeps
hoping.

Cheers,
Esben

Esben (another Dane! Welcome!):
>In WDC&S146 (Omelet) Donald became a chicken farmer on top a
>hill, and buried the town in eggs at the end of the story. I
>remember a story in the Danish weekly
>where Donald was a tomato farmer on a similar hill.

We don't know who wrote it (though you could say that Barks wrote it),
but it was drawn by Vicar. The Database lists the following reprints:
de: 79-41
dk: AA79-41
it: MG 356
nl: 83-06
se: 79-40

--Harry.
Harry Fluks, Leidschendam, The Netherlands
http://home.wxs.nl/~fluks4
http://members.xoom.com/bolderbast

Don R.:
>I spent Wednesday of last week in Grant's Pass, visiting Carl Barks, at his
>invitation.
>I dunno... I feel like people will want to know what we talked about, eh?
>Well, really nothing special. I mean, I don't know what to say to Carl
>Barks! Would you?

I know I wouldn't!
Thanks for sharing this with us! (And thanks to Gerry for asking you
to!)

--Harry.