Keskustelujen arkisto

THE LIST:

I ask all list memebers to please do their best to restore this list to its former quality. It would be just too stupid if one person should single-handedly ruin what so many have built up over the years. If you are offended or hurt by postings from this person, simply count to ten and then don't respond. Any kind of reply will just be like trying to put out a fire with gasoline. And to those of you who have stayed away recently: Please come back. I miss your insightful comments and interesting bits of information.

FAVORITE DISNEY COMICS:

If I must choose three, they would have to be American originals. Nothing gives me the proper Duck feeling like the old pastel colors and the smell of the pulp paper. My choices may suprise some, since two of them are usually not counted among Barks' best work. They are:

1) WDC 195 "The Runaway Train". The nephews avert a train crash by calculating exactly where the trains will meet. The tension of this story is simply unbearable. Note the sweating TV-announcer and the way Barks 'plants' the disaster early in the story by having Donald watch a similar crash in a TV movie. And yet - during the whole action-packed adventure the ducks never leave their living room. Fantastic!

2) WDC 190 "In the Swim". Donald challenges the nephews to a swimming contest, then does his best to sabotage their effort. I have no idea why I love this story so much - maybe it is the feeling of careless summer holidays when you can walk around in your swimsuit and take a dip in the river. The story also shows Donald's house located by the riverside, and although the river was never shown again in a Barks story, it has always been there in my mind.

The third choice is more obvious:

3) "The Golden Helmet". No comments necessary here. Maybe Barks' best work ever. The scope and drama of the tale is simply unbelievable.

ROSA ANALYSIS:

Moahmed, I'm not sure if this is the kind of analysis you had in mind, but I would like to say a few words about "His Majesty McDuck".

A short recap: Scrooge discovers that Killmotor Hill is not part of the US (this is very logically explained in the story). So he sets up his own kingdom. Not only does this mean he no longer has to pay taxes, but he also wants the IRS to give him back all the taxes he has paid during the last 50 years. However, he soon discovers it's not that easy. His empoyees cant't get into the money bin because they don't have passports. Phone, water and electricity are cut off because the public utilities are not licenced to operate overseas. When he sends Donald out to buy a hot dog, the customs charge him $20 export tax. And when the Beagle Boys 'invade' the money bin, the police or army can't intervene because Scrooge's kingdom does not have diplomatic relations with the US.

A great story, very well constructed and brimming with gags. And it has one of the neatest surprise endings I have ever seen in a comic book (if you didn't get it, study the last panel very carefully).

But the reason I single this story out is that it in addition to being entertaining I think it has a very important message: "YOU CAN'T RESIGN FROM THE WORLD". It's not possible. No matter WHO you are, no matter how RICH you are or how much POWER you have, this is the one thing you can't do. You depend on the world around you for your survival, and the world depends on you for ITS survival.

Quite a heavy message for a comic book 'just for kids'.

Anyway, that's how I read the story. Any other comments?

Nils from Norway

Arie:

> Speaking of which, just got my own copies of the FCBD DDA. It's superb.
> Though the inside pages looked a bit "blurry" but they're enjoyable.
> And the
> flip cover design is great too. Kudos to Gemstone for a very
> attractive FCBD
> edition. I didnt even bother to get other FCBD comics.

Thank you for those kinds words.

Just so everyone's in the picture, there will be five more versions of
this book in due course, all featuring the same cover but in the
following variants: a "blue" edition, a "green" edition, a "silver"
edition, and a "gold" edition, each earmarked for distribution at
various events over this summer. One will be given out at this year's
WizardWorld bash in Chicago, one at the San Diego Comic-Con (as us old
timers still call it), another at an American Numismatic Association (I
think that's what ANA stands for) event being held shortly after the
Comic-Con here in Baltimore. The fourth will appear...well, no definite
info on that one yet. The fifth variant is a complete change of cover -
and by far the most complicated and labor-intensive of the bunch - but
I don't know where or when it will appear, either.

I think the "silver" one's my favorite. It's right pretty in proof
form, and we're not even using special ink.

Gary

> From: Anthvvuono at aol.com
> Subject: To Mr. Rosa:
>>>> I'm glad you still plan on responding to questions even though this
board is a mess sometimes. I always have a ton of inquiries. I just wanted
to know what story you are working on now and in the near future.
>>>Have you finished the "Letter from Home?" I can't wait to read that one
... Was the reappearance of Matilda McDuck everything you hoped for when you
originally thought out the story?

Funny you should ask that question in *that* way. Are you psychic?
Yes, I am still working on "A Letter from Home" or "The Old Castle's OTHER
Secret"... and it has turned into the longest story I've ever done... 36
pages in the three-part continued form (including the 2 full recap pages).
It can't appear in America until after "The Crown of the Crusader Kings"
which acts as part one of this pair of stories about $crooge's search for
the lost Treasury of the Knights Templar. Both of these stories together are
a very loose sequel to Barks' "Philosopher's Stone", at least in that the P
Stone is, by legend, part *of* the KT Treasury, so I found a very
appropriate spot for Mons. Mattressface in my pair of tales. And yes, it
does tell of the return of $crooge's sister Matilda whom (in my version of
things) $crooge has not seen since she left Duckburg in disgust with him
nearly 25 years earlier (1930). The story was originally intended to also
feature Hortense with whom Matilda always seemed to act as a duo, but I was
told by Egmont that I could not ever use Hortense in a current-time story
and that she must be considered "deceased" -- this is because there could
never be a suitable reason why she would have stayed away from her own
children Donald and Della since their childhood. For this same reason, I am
also told that I can never try to tell the story of what happened to HD&L's
parents because (as I've described in past messages) there can never be a
suitable or happy ending to that tale. And that's okay with me... I knew
many people have wanted me to do that story for 15 years, and I've been
drawn to it and have often pondered HOW on earth to tackle it... but it's
sortuva relief to be told not to even try such a problematic task. Now I can
be saved from any accusations of either screwing it up or chickening out by
pointing to the fact that I can't do it for Egmont. (Of course, if I
reeeaaally wanted to do it, I could do it for France or Italy or...
nonononononevermindnevermind!)
But you phrased the question a certain way -- was the story everything I
hoped for? Not by a jugfull. First of all, the Knights Templar being the
most intensely INTERESTING historical topic I've ever handled, I did far
more research than I've ever done on any previous story. And drawing a dark
and gloomy and mysterious Castle McDuck is a job I don't take lightly, since
the discovery of "The Old Castle's Secret" was a momentous day in my life...
when (at about age 15 when first starting to *collect* rather than just read
comic books) I first discovered that my sister did NOT have every Donald
Duck comic by that "good artist" ever printed, and, in fact, here was an
earlier story with *much more* realistic and atmospheric artwork than even
the great stories with which I'd grown up that she had in her closet in the
attic (those all being 1949-c1960). So in addition to all the research time,
factor in all the extra drawing time since I don't have the slightest idea
how to draw backgrounds without inserting every single last stone in a
castle wall, or shading every blasted gloomy dungeon scene (90% of the
story) into crosshatch oblivion.
But that aspect is only bad for *me*, taking so much extra time and blowing
the @#%& outta my flat page-rate so that it comes out to about $2 per hour.
The problem for readers is that I finally was so overcome by Templar lore
and the reconciliation of $crooge with his sister that I fear that what I
have constructed is a very interesting, very mellowdramatic, very *unfunny*
and very *action-less* story. The Ducks just seem to go from room to dungeon
to secret passage solving ancient clues, and the whole thing finished up
with about 8 pages of everybody just yammering and pouring their hearts out
in an absolutely serious sequence. Actually, it was originally about 8
pages. I told the editor that I was very unhappy with the story but I didn't
know what to do... see, there's no "buy-out" deal with these comics... when
writing a novel, if a trusted author spends a year on a book that he
realizes is not up to snuff, the publisher will agree to "buy-out" the
author's work, paying him a good but modest fee on good faith for the
attempt, and then sending him out to start fresh on a new idea. I can't
afford to do that -- there's no "buy-out" option and this doesn't pay enough
that I can just "eat" 3 months of work and move on. If I have an idea that's
not working, I need to still go ahead and do the best job with it I can and
get it over with and *then* move on. But with a story *this* complex, the
drawing of it means 2-3 more months of work on a project that I'm not sure
is worth the time I've already put in. Still, the funny thing is that the
editor's suggestion was that the problem with the story was that it needed
MORE mellerdrammer, and he had me add 2 *more* pages to the talking-heads
scene at the end.
I say all this in safety since I figure you'll forget it all by the time you
read the story in 9 months (Europe) or a year or two (America)(if ever?).
The only thing that keeps me going is that I recall that one other adventure
that I was certain was a dreadful mistake from start to finish was "The
Guardians of the Lost Library", a story which some readers have said was
their favorite Duck story ever and a few have even said it was their
favorite comic book story they'd ever read, period (take that with a grain
of salt -- you know there's NO accounting for tastes!). Also, I could not
help but take notice, as I researched this tale, of that "Philosopher's
Stone" original by Barks, which was one of my TOP favorite adventures when I
was a kid. If you look at it carefully, you see that there's no action and
precious little humor in that tale... just solving clues and going from
place to place. And yet I LOVED it. So......
The proof will be in the pudding.......

From: "Klartekst" <info at klartekst.no>
Subject: The List, Favorite Disney Comics and Rosa Analysis
>>>I ask all list memebers to please do their best to restore this list to
its former quality. It would be just too stupid if one person should
single-handedly ruin what so many have built up over the years.

The timing and wording of this might lead one to infer that this was what I
was trying to say in the previous Digest. Any problems with this ML lately
are definitely not due to just ONE person. One person cannot childishly
squabble with himself... that takes several people... even if one person is
the catalyst.

>>>>I would like to say a few words about "His Majesty McDuck"....
A great story, very well constructed and brimming with gags. And it has one
of the neatest surprise endings I have ever seen in a comic book (if you
didn't get it, study the last panel very carefully).
Quite a heavy message for a comic book 'just for kids'.
Anyway, that's how I read the story. Any other comments?

Yes. I say the author stole the basic plot from a favorite, though obscure,
movie of his named "Passport to Pimlico", Ealing Studios, Great Britain,
1949. He's always lifting ideas from favorite old movies and old comic
books. The cad. A pox on him.

CHUCK MUNSON, 30-05-2003:

> Daniel's Barks Quiz:
> Isn't "Nik! Nik! Nik!" the sole verbiage of the
> natives of the barren, rocky planet that Scrooge and
> the boys land on in "Island in the Sky"?

You're right about the story. It's "Island in the Sky" (US 29).
"NIK! NIK! NIK!" is not the sole verbiage of the natives, though.
They also say "Ik! Ik! Ik!"; "Ik, ik!"; "Wik, yik!"; "Yahoo!";
and "YUM! YUM!"

Remaining Barks quotes:

- - -

"Glory be! Then it's okay to whale the blazes out of 'em -
if I do it with a SMILE!"

- - -

"Well, back into the barrel with the FLEAS!"

- - -

"Ouch! More automation!"
(Hint: "Handle with care")

- - -

--- Dani?l

I don't know if this subject has been brought up before, but I have a
question about Barks' paid echo's story (WDC 105). It seems to me that
there's a miscount of the echo's and the total deposit.

Am I right about that, or am I making a miscount myself? See my summary
below. The line of dots (".......") means that no payment is shown.
The quotes refer to the sounds that are echoed by the nephews.

- - - - - - -

The nephews need 60 cents to go to the ball game.
They decide to earn them by making echo's in Thrushwhistle Glenn.
The deposit is 10 cents for an echo.

panel 2.3 - 10 cent ("Oh lay-eee Oh lay-ee Ooooooooo")
panel 2.8 - 10 cent ("Huey, Dewey, and Louie are PANTYWAISTS!")
panel 3.1 - 10 cent ("Dewey's got a GIRL!")
panel 3.7 - ....... ("Fweeeng! Fwanng! Fwoing!)
panel 4.5 - ....... ("Screeowl Yeeorr")
panel 5.4 - 10 cent ("Gkkkkqzffjgmmmssfxxxwllvkkkski! Gckfpt!")

Subtotal: 6 different echo's.

However, in panel 6.2, one nephew says that he watched Donald put
*5* dimes in their coin box.

panel 6.5 - 10 cent ("Feetle Tee Feetle Tetee Tetwee!")
panel 6.8 - ....... ("Moo! Squawk! Grind! Whonk!)

Subtotal: 2 different echo's.

The sound in panel 7.5 doesn't count, because it gets no echo.

In panel 8.4, one nephew says: "If I'm not mistaken, Unca' Donald put
SEVENTY cents in there!" (This is 10 cents more than they need, so one
other nephew concludes they'll have enough for popcorn, too.)

Total: 8 different echo's, 1 unanswered sound,
7 payments according to the story.

- - - - - - -

If the nephew in panel 6.2 is right about the five dimes, then the total
sum of payments is right. (5 + 2 = 7) But if so, then the nephews must
have done one echo for free. Either the one from panel 3.7 (jews-harp),
or the one from panel 4.5 (musical saw). For these two, no payment is
shown.

Why would the nephews do one echo for free? The story gives no reasons
or explanations, at least not to me. Rather the contrary, because the
story plot shows that the nephews make a point of being paid for each
echo. (They ignore the unpaid sound in panel 7.5.)

So, this is why I tend to think that there's a miscount in this story.

What do you think? And you? And you? And you? And you?

--- Dani?l
--- Dani?l
--- Dani?l
--- Dani?l

Klartekst <info at klartekst.no> wrote:

> THE LIST:
>
> I ask all list memebers to please do their
> best to restore this list to its former
> quality. It would be just too stupid if one
> person should single-handedly ruin what so
> many have built up over the years. If you are
> offended or hurt by postings from this person,
> simply count to ten and then don't respond.

FYI: An old word says "it takes two for a tango" - and so it is in DCML as
well. Theresa, who I guess is the one here I do respect the most, does
understand that! And so does also some other people who have mailed me in
private about the recent situation at DCML.

Sigvald

The two posts (below) about the reassembling of the map in "Secret of
Hondorica" as being perhaps the most improbable example of Gladstone's luck
involve yet another coincidence.

The comment by Stefan Dios--"I smiled when I started reading your post, for
I knew what my answer would be. I, too, spent some time thinking about this
exact question about 20 years ago"-- brought a smile to my face as well.

Almost 20 years ago I, too, was thinking about a similar problem and
published an essay on Gladstone's luck in Set II Volume 3 of the black and
white *Carl Barks Library* (1984) entitled "Luck's Labors Lost" (pages
525-26, 640). On page 640 the following statement of mine appears:

"the fragments of the map converging in the whirlpool constitute perhaps the
most implausible bit of Barks' wizardly in Gladstone's history."

[From:] Kristian Pedersen about Gladstone's unlikely luck:

>Being familiar with the obscenely huge numbers that
>arise in the branch of mathematics known as
>combinatorics, I would venture the guess that the most
>unbelievably lucky event happens to Gladstone in
>Barks' story about Hondorica: As I recall, Donald
>tears up a treasure map in twenty-odd pieces and
>throws it into the river. Whereupon the pieces
>rearrange themselves into a readable map a couple of
>hundred yards further down the river, where Gladstone
>is fishing.

Or how about the coincidence that two donaldists will, separately, reach the
same conclusion from all these vast, huge, enormous sources of
Gladstoneness? :-)

I smiled when I started reading your post, for I knew what my answer would
be. I, too, spent some time thinking about this exact question about 20
years ago. That was before Rosa, so I was mostly "limited" to the Barks
stories. And I, too, was deeply fascinated by the torn Hondorica map
floating together in the stream and decided that without any reasonable
doubt, this must be it.

As far as I can remember, I never discussed this at length with anybody, and
I'm quite certain I never put it in writing. But if I had, it would have
been very similar to what you wrote here. Which also marks the first time I
hear anyone else discuss it at all. Weird. Kristian, I didn't think I knew
you, but if I know myself at all, I obviously know you, too! ;-)

Stefan Dios
Malmo, Sweden

***

Donald Ault
Professor of English
University of Florida
ault at ufl.edu
http://www.nwe.ufl.edu/~donault/

----- Original Message -----

Hey, gang...

Let's see here. If I had to give up all but three issues of Disney
comics, what would they be?
Answering as David Gerstein, private citizen (not on behalf of anybody
at Egmont!):

1) Gladstone Giant Comic Album Special #7. Contains Floyd Gottfredson's
"Monarch of Medioka".
Political satire in turn rollicking and cynical meets an emotional,
intelligent Mickey at his apex as a character. We get an unprecedented look
at the fear and tension? the uncomfortable and scary acknowledgement of
inexperience? that lies on the underside of Mickey's optimism and
determination. We also see the the strong emotional bond between Mickey and
Minnie that, day-to-day fights notwithstanding, holds them close as a most
human couple.
Reading this story for the first time (1990), I finished it unable to
believe how good it really was. Naturally, I poured myself another glass of
juice, settled back down in my chair and started over from page one.
Gottfredson's best work touches my inner being. Or something profound
like that.

2) CBL in Color Album: Donald Duck Adventures #10. Combines "Lost in the
Andes" and "Voodoo Hoodoo".
There are just so many reasons to like each of these stories. "Andes"
presents on the one hand a brilliant satire of cultural imperialism; and on
the other a wonderful, honest appreciation of human warmth. The Plain
Awfultonians "had so little of anything, yet they were the happiest people
we have ever known!"
"Voodoo Hoodoo" meanwhile shows Barks' ability to turn the bugbears of
our imaginations into a source of dark comedy. Having seen a zombie movie,
Unca Carl was inspired to his own tale of the undead by the idea that
zombies were really "ideal stooges for anyone who needed a dangerous job
done cheaply". Heh, heh.
"Hoodoo" is my favorite Barks story; once again, the first time I read
it, I finished on the last page and impulsively began again from the first.

3) Another vote for Don's "His Majesty McDuck". Others on the list have
already described its various salient qualities, so I'll be lazy, stand back
and say ? yeah, yeah, that's right, I agree!

4) There aren't supposed to be any 4s, but jockeying for space are OS
#129 (Brer Rabbit); WDC&S #65 (my favorite Buettner Wolf story); WDC&S #104
(my favorite Turner Wolf); any of several Egmont Magicas with Geoffrey
Blum's American dialogue; and lots more of Barks and Gottfredson ("Only a
Poor Old Man", "The Bar-None Ranch", and "MM in the Foreign Legion" being
the top choices).
What, no Fethry?! Actually, I think the *character* himself is of higher
quality than most of the *stories* he's in. Okay; let's say (Australian) G
#338, with "Weaving and Ducking" and a couple other early tales.

* * * * *

DANIEL:
Okay, the Barks quotes. Isn't the one about whaling the blazes from
WDC&S #64, where the nephews have been exploiting Donald's New Year's
resolution?
Can't place the flea remark, though I can think of a similar one about
goats.

David Gerstein