Keskustelujen arkisto

>Anders Christian Sivebaek wrote

>There's also other strange mis-translations in the book. The president
>of Plain Awfull asks what the ducks can learn them to highen their
>morals, and HDL tell him they can teach them to obey their leaders...
>In the Barks-versions it was square-dance...

In Sweden the president says
"You can gladly have it, if you teach my people something noble and
square." And HDL responds "Playing chess is noble and square"

What does it say in your countries ?

Ola
"I don't even know what I don't even know"

DON ROSA
You're right, egmont are the bosses, but the fact that no long,
historic Rosa-stories would be in the weekly could make me cancel my
subscribtion... as if they cared! :-)

PEKKA
> Quack!? Are we talkin' year 2000 here?
Yes, what else? year 1910 as some servers think maybe...

> Anders, are you referring to the preview in no.5? There's only one
drawing
> of Scrooge there, and it's definitely done by Vicar!
Well, we don't live in the same country Pekka, my friend. DK and N has
extra issues for the weekly from time to time, whereas you have
enlargements. apart from the obviously vicarious drawing on the
backcover, there is a small picture of the extra next week. and I have
become so lucky to be able to recognize the scarpa-style!

> As I said before,
> don't hold your breath if you're waiting for stories by Rota.
I wont, but I do look forward to them.

Oog. Suddenly the number of direct questions to me on here is increasing
exponentially! I guess with each long reply I give, the question load
grows. I don't know if I have time for this with all the other hours of
e-mail I need to answer every day, but lemmee try...

From: "Fluks, H.W."
Subject: RE: ebay
>>>>Why would the $8-bidder bid $25 if there's already a much higher bid?
And
why wouldn't the OWNER of the stuff bid $49.50, just to get as much as
possible for it?

Yeah, we're getting too off-topic. You should really visit eBay where this
is all explained thoroughly -- it doesn't cost a thing to join and watch
how it works. And it's really quite fascinating to see all the things
people are buying and selling, and what incredibly low and what
preposterously high prices they get.
But, yeah, I see that we who are so familiar with eBay keep leaving out
vital pieces of info in our explanations. Right, the bids are all secret
until the auction is over. All you know is the minimum you must bid to be
one bid increment over the proxy-bid placed by the eBay computer based on
the high-bidder's bid. But once you place that bid, you may or may not
become the new top bidder, as that previous bidder's top bid might be
higher still. As I said, the best thing is to go read eBay's explanation
with examples! But careful -- you'll get hooked!
The sensible thing to do is to simply bid ONE time, place the maximum you
wish to pay for an item and forget it, you'll either get it or the bid will
be beyond your desire. What puzzles me are all the bidders who sit there
and bid repeatedly trying to top that hidden top bid. I wish I knew what
they think they're doing. Save money? It's wacky. But eBay is filled with
several million people doing really wacky stuff, like paying more for items
when they are used than when they were brand new. Crazy! Idiotic! Insane!
I'll be on there doing just that as soon as I finish typing this.
When the auctions are over, then you can see what all the bidders bid
*except* the top bidder. You only see what he has to pay, never what his
top bid was. Anyway, I think it's a fabulous system! It's making lots of
money for lots of people and helps isolated collectors (like me) find an
endless supply of wonderful toys and books and comics and... literally
*everything* (except drugs and guns and living stuff) all the way up to
multi-million $ Duesenburgs, yachts, businesses, and beachfront homes in
Malibu.
Enough of this ad for eBay. They aren't helping me buy old toys as a fee
for being their shill.

> > > every single
> > > message I get starts out by saying that the "Lo$" are
> > > their favorite stories.
>>>Yep. I was just referring to how literal one should take the words
"every
single message"...

You can take it absolutely literally. I don't think I have ever gotten a
letter or e-mail from anyone, no matter what age, who didn't open the
message by raving about the "Lo$".

>>>BTW, I'm not asking you to please anyone else but yourself. I think the
best
creative work comes from people who do what they like most.

Of course it is!

From: "Arie Fachrisal"
Subject: Questions???
>>>>When you (Don Rosa) make a comic story, what is the
target audience? Everybody of all ages? Teens and above???

I don't think about it at all. I just try to do a story that I personally
think is interesting and funny and exciting. I guess that means I am doing
stories for adults. When I was in Sweden once to receive the Swedish
Literature Society's award for Best Children's Literature (I think that's
what it is, I can't read it!), my acceptance speech was something like
"Well, I didn't know I was *doing* 'stories for children', but they are
welcome to read them, too, and I hope they like 'em".

>>>among my fellow country's fans, they said that your stories are
too wordy, thus required "extra" reading to get the meaning of it.

I'm sure they are right. I hope they don't mean they don't like the story
for that reason. If so, tell them to move to America and watch TV.

> Egmont didn't censor the guns in Lo$ chapter ? and ?. Disney made
> Gladstone tell Rosa to retouch them...
>>>Retouch them??? By changing guns to .....????

By removing them. And Disney did not have Gladstone tell ME to do it. I
would not change my art on a finished story to satisfy Disney's demands
unless they paid me, and maybe not then. I don't get royalties when one of
my stories is reprinted by a publisher, so I have no reason to help make a
story publishable. Of course, since I have no rights in how my stories are
used, the publisher can change the art or script in any way they please, or
as they are commanded to.

>>>A question from this newbie(me of course, who else): Of Ducks, Dimes,
and
Destinies, when did you finish it? After or before the whole Lo$ saga???

I was finishing it when we decided to do the "Lo$". Since it dealt with
some of the same material covered in chapter 1 of "Lo$", publication of
that story was delayed until after the "Lo$" had run its course, about 2
1/2 years later. By the way, the correct title (MY original title) to that
story is "Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies" -- an allusion to a famous
Lewis Carroll line.

Arie has many other questions! They refer to things that happen in the
"Kalevala" story or to my personal interpretations of the relationship
between $crooge and Donald. As to the former, you should just wait until
you someday read that story. As to the latter, you should gather such stuff
from reading all my stories -- this is getting much too long for this ML
and for my time schedule! Sorry!

From: "Oyvind J. Karstad"
Subject: Lo$ and "Attaaaack"
>>>Who/what are "The Three Cabarellos"?

That's a 1945 film starring Donald that teams him up with two other
characters named Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles. It is a travelogue
with these characters acting as hosts of the linking segments -- the whole
thing was actually done as a "good neighbor" gesture to entertain Mexico
and South America and all the other countries in this hemisphere that we
were afraid would become allies with the Axis powers. Give 'em Disney
instead!
This film is, to me, the only GOOD usage Disney ever made of Donald Duck. I
LOVE it, even though there's no storyline. It's just a series of
fantasy-skits linking travelogue segments. But Donald works so well as an
equal partner in a team of peers that I have always wanted to try using him
in such a way in a comic. In the comics he has always been $crooge's flunky
or Gladstone's patsy or Daisy's fool or a lone bumbler. But in the "3C" he
has two pals that like him for who and what he is, don't try to use him or
trick him, and with whom he can function on an equal basis. I also have
always wanted to try to put the "3C" song and performance down "on paper"
or die trying -- an odd idea for a comic, but something I've always
considered another of my missions in life. I think I've accomplished it all
pretty well. I hope. (Three people have read it so far, Byron and ML
members Dan Shane and Francesco Stajano, and they all seemed to like it.)
And if I am allowed, I will probably try to do another "3C" story every
year or so, putting it into the rotation along with "Lo$" stories,
historical quests and slapstick gag shorts.

>>>>>Can you tell us some details about the "Attaaaack"-story you did for
Picsou?
BTW, does anybody know when this story will be published in France?

It's a short gag-story about Donald trying to use a Gearloose-invented
early-warning system for detecting plots to rob the Money Bin. It should be
published in PICSOU in 2 or 3 months... and at that time they will also
publish a fold-out poster of my diagrams for (my ideas of) the insides of
the Money Bin, floor by floor, cut-away views, etc. (People who hate it
when I do stuff like that should make certain they avoid this issue.)

>>>Will Egmont use this story and "The Coin"?

They can whenever they feel like it. In fact, AKU ANKKA in Finland (which
is not by Egmont) already has it on their schedule, and I did a special
cover for them for that issue.

>>>What will the next Lo$-story be about?

I dunno. When the time comes, I'll look at my list of ideas.
Now, I return you to your regularly scheduled programming............
(By the way, to the ML members in Finland -- the final ballot in your
presidential election is on Sunday, I understand. Let me know how well I
do. I expect to come in about third. If-elected-I-will-not-serve.)

Well Oyvind,
I have never had the opportunity to read "Incident in McDuck Tower"
for I don't believe that it has been published in America yet. However, I do
have a vote for my favorite story by Don Rosa; That would be the story
entitled "Cash Flow". A classic by any standard.
Hoping for a soon return of the
Disney Comics in the U.S.,

Art

Sorry for my two almost identical messages in #72.
Such things seem to just happen...

Stefan:

>Yes. That was a partially animated movie, featuring Donald.

Can you tell me what the movie's main plot is?

O/yvind

Label instruction on a Sears hairdryer:
"Do not use while sleeping."
(Gee, that's the only time I have to work on my hair.)

ACS
> Well, we don't live in the same country Pekka, my friend. DK and N has
> extra issues for the weekly from time to time, whereas you have
> enlargements.

Hm, that's strange. It seems, then, I always buy copies from other
Scandinavian countries when they are identical. Tough luck...:-(

apart from the obviously vicarious drawing on the
> backcover, there is a small picture of the extra next week. and I have
> become so lucky to be able to recognize the scarpa-style!

Good! It's too odd-looking to be mixed up with Vicar! (In a positive
sense...) When I was young and ambitious I thought of starting an online
contest where the participants were to identify 2 different styles every
fortnight, and the best Disney-identifier of the year would get a fancy
price. But I realized I couldn't compete myself without being accused of
cheating, so I dropped the whole idea. Maybe someone else would like to
pick it up (again)? If arranged properly, it could be one heck of a contest
- if you excuse the language - with prices galore...;-)

Best,
/PE

I would like to say "Hello" to everyone, as this is my first posting after
several months of lurking.

My name is Thomas Schuster, and despite my German name (and my German
family) I am Italian. I'm 24 years old and for some years now, I've been
studying law in the beautiful town of Bologna; now I'm carefully
approaching the end of university.

The first things I've ever read as a child were Disney comics, especially
the German "Micky Maus". Later I litterally divored every Italian Disney
comic I could get my hands on, and now I read "Zio Paperone", "PKNA",
"Almanacco Topolino" and "Paperino Mese", obviously still cursing against
Disney Italia for having shut down "I Maestri Disney".
My preferred artists are Romano Scarpa (I especially like his early
stories) and Carl Barks: I've never been able to figure out whom of the two
I like best. After them, Don Rosa, of course, who I reguard as the most
skilled storyteller amongst Disney writers, but his artwork sometimes seems
just too perfect to fit into the Duck universe.
Oh, and my preferred Rosa stories (just to contribute to the current
discussion) are the "scientific" ones: "Cash Flow", "The Incredible
Shrinking Tightwad", "A Matter of some Gravity" and "The Universal Solvent".

For a year now, I've been holding a subscription to Danish "Anders And", as
I always saw it mentioned in the credits of ZP and I anyway had the
intention to learn a new language. I've been someways disappointed by the
Danish weekly, as I had to learn that, eccept a handful of good stories
every year (Rosa, Rota, Ferioli and few others), D-coded stories aren't
that much better than I-coded ones. There's a hyper-inflation of Vicar
stories (he was the first artist whose style I learned to recognize as a
kid, reading my "Micky Maus" every week, but his best period is over now.
And he does depend very much on the quality of the scripts they pass him),
and they pay very much attention to kid readers (I should have been aware
of the fact that this couldn't be otherwise in a Disney weekly, so perhaps
it's better not to complain now). And now I hear there won't be any new Lo$
stories on Egmont weeklies, so I have enough reasons to discontinue my
subscription.
Ah, and Danish is quite a weird language, sorry for the Danish members of
the list ;-)
So maybe I'll have to learn yet another language and try my luck with
Picsou Magazine this time.

DON ROSA:

>>The "blue duck" stuff was in the German version too. But when the
>>newphews (I think) say that Donald applies to that, they don't say that
>>>>Donald *is* a duck, but that Donald "swims like a duck". [SNIP]
>
>Aha! No, that reference by the nephew was *not* in my original script. But
>it's GOOD! If I hadn't said anything, I could have claimed it was mine!!!
>Drat! I *was* careful not to have the Nephew say "Our Unca Donald is a
>duck!" for the reasons you mention (he's a human!) But I had the Kid saying
>he dresses in blue. I didn't think about having them also say he "swims
>like a duck"! That was a good touch!

Just like you, I was always sure that our heroes are real people. But it's
important to point out that in the German translations they are _never_
refered to as ducks. U$, for an instance, is always called "the richest man
in the world" and not "the richest duck".
When reading the Danish version of the Kalevala story, it was right this
passage that made me wonder about how they would translate it into German.
And, in fact, in German $crooge-Vainamoinen talks about a "blue swimmer"
and not about the Blue Duck, and it's the nephews who specify that the
Kalevala mentions "a kind of high sea duck". Afterward, they say that there
uncle always wears blue and swims like a duck.
BTW, the German version of the Kalevala story is just eccellent, especially
the rune-o-meter parts (although they might be a bit difficult to
understand for foreign readers, as Harry Fluks already experienced), as the
German Disney translations always had been.
Don, maybe you'd like to know that I successfully taught German to a couple
of persons... so if you want to read your own stories in a language you can
understand, now you know whom to contact ;-)

Cheers,
Thomas