DON ROSA to me, 31-08-2003:
>> Barks discusses Magica as a witch, on page 113.
>> "I thought at the time: Disney's always had witches who were ugly and
>> repulsive--why shouldn't I draw one that's not ugly, but outright sexy?"
> As you can see, the point Barks is making here concerns the reason for
> Magica's beauty, not her magical capabilities. Use of the word "witch"
> is the only context in which the point can be made.
Agreed. And I think I see such a pattern in Barks's stories.
Magica calls herself the sorceress.
Others call her both a sorceress *and* a witch.
If "witch" would mean a person who has supernatural capacities by default,
as they're regularly pictured in comics and cartoons, then (AFAIK) Barks's
Magica is indeed no witch.
Still, and I think there's a running gag in there, Barks's Magica regularly
acts as if she *does* has have supernatural capacities. She uses a flying
broom, but a motorized one. She can stun and pump people by the waving of
her hand, unless the batteries of her stunner have not gone dead. I like
the gags resulting from this side of Magica's behaviour, so that's why I'm
so insistant about this subject.
--- Dani?l
"XEDK 7923 calling SMD 432 Duckburg - "
(KA-ZOW)
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Author
Topic: 200308
(787 messages)
Daniel Van Eijmeren
Magica De Spell sorceress/witch
Message 781 -
2003-08-31 at 20:25:33
Daniel Van Eijmeren
What Spell(ing)?
Message 782 -
2003-08-31 at 20:32:25
STEFAN PERSSON to me, 31-08-2003:
>> Michael Barrier spells "Magica de Spell",
>> and others spell "Magica *De* Spell".
>> How did Barks spell "de spell"?
> Only as "MAGICA DE SPELL" (i.e. with capital letters), AFAIK.
In the comics, yes. But maybe there are letters or notes, on
which Barks mentions her full name?
--- Dani?l
- "We're stopped, pals!"
- "Our union rules won't let us disturb little old ladies!"
>> Michael Barrier spells "Magica de Spell",
>> and others spell "Magica *De* Spell".
>> How did Barks spell "de spell"?
> Only as "MAGICA DE SPELL" (i.e. with capital letters), AFAIK.
In the comics, yes. But maybe there are letters or notes, on
which Barks mentions her full name?
--- Dani?l
- "We're stopped, pals!"
- "Our union rules won't let us disturb little old ladies!"
Daniel Van Eijmeren
Supernatural capacities (Magica De Spell sorceress/witch)
Message 783 -
2003-08-31 at 20:40:09
I just wrote:
> "Still, and I think there's a running gag in there, Barks's Magica
> regularly acts as if she *does* has have supernatural capacities."
I meant:
"Still, and I think there's a running gag in there, Barks's Magica
regularly acts as if she *does* has have supernatural capacities by
default, like a witch as often pictured in children's stories."
That's why I referred to the (motorized) flying broom, and her
(battery-fueled) stunning hand.
--- Dani?l
> "Still, and I think there's a running gag in there, Barks's Magica
> regularly acts as if she *does* has have supernatural capacities."
I meant:
"Still, and I think there's a running gag in there, Barks's Magica
regularly acts as if she *does* has have supernatural capacities by
default, like a witch as often pictured in children's stories."
That's why I referred to the (motorized) flying broom, and her
(battery-fueled) stunning hand.
--- Dani?l
Olivier
Barks comics with Magica / unpublished Oddball Odyssey art
Message 784 -
2003-08-31 at 20:56:14
Dani?l:
>>>> policeman: "Miss! Miss! You'll have to cut that out! A little old
>>>> lady across the street has COMPLAINED ABOUT THE NOISE!"
>>>> Magica: "Sssft!... And never have I felt SO LITTLE like being quiet!"
>>> (Which Barks story?) :-)
The one the following exchange is taken from:
- Hello, McDuck? This is Chief O'Teal of Duckburg!... The Beagle Boys are
trying to blow in your Money Bin again! Do you want them *arrested*?
- No, chief!
Yours was on the last page.
The one before that illustrates the recently point made about Magica by
showing how she can stun people.
Funny story, with a funny running gag. The end is a bit rushed, though; the
ducks only win by sheer luck; there's no fight, it just goes "Fizz! Sput!"
Olivier
>>>> policeman: "Miss! Miss! You'll have to cut that out! A little old
>>>> lady across the street has COMPLAINED ABOUT THE NOISE!"
>>>> Magica: "Sssft!... And never have I felt SO LITTLE like being quiet!"
>>> (Which Barks story?) :-)
The one the following exchange is taken from:
- Hello, McDuck? This is Chief O'Teal of Duckburg!... The Beagle Boys are
trying to blow in your Money Bin again! Do you want them *arrested*?
- No, chief!
Yours was on the last page.
The one before that illustrates the recently point made about Magica by
showing how she can stun people.
Funny story, with a funny running gag. The end is a bit rushed, though; the
ducks only win by sheer luck; there's no fight, it just goes "Fizz! Sput!"
Olivier
Gerstein, David DK - ECN
LUCA/RICH: Pigs is Pigs
Message 785 -
2003-08-31 at 21:40:04
Hey guys,
>> 1) The Three Little Pigs a.k.a. Practical (Pete Pig), Fiddler (Cyril
>> Pig)) & Fifer (Marcus Pig)
>
From where do you get their first names? "Disney's House of Mouse"? I don't
>think so.
Their first names come from the 1950s British comics; I discovered
them there about five years ago. Since that time the names have occasionally
been used at Egmont.
Retroactively, I wish Practical's name wasn't Pete, given that Peter
Pig is their cousin... it makes things confusing, but what can you do...
David
>> 1) The Three Little Pigs a.k.a. Practical (Pete Pig), Fiddler (Cyril
>> Pig)) & Fifer (Marcus Pig)
>
From where do you get their first names? "Disney's House of Mouse"? I don't
>think so.
Their first names come from the 1950s British comics; I discovered
them there about five years ago. Since that time the names have occasionally
been used at Egmont.
Retroactively, I wish Practical's name wasn't Pete, given that Peter
Pig is their cousin... it makes things confusing, but what can you do...
David
Daniel Van Eijmeren
The Unsafe Safe (US 38) / Rug Riders in the Sky (US 50)
Message 786 -
2003-08-31 at 21:42:02
OLIVIER to me, 31-08-2003:
> [The Unsafe Safe (US 38)] Funny story, with a funny running gag.
> The end is a bit rushed, though; the ducks only win by sheer luck;
> there's no fight, it just goes "Fizz! Sput!"
Sorry for just writing down the story title, but I can't resist
replying to this.
I think the sudden, zany ending is part of the fun in a lot of Barks's
stories with Magica. She seems to try to be impressive, but when she
gets frustrated she's humiliated, hissing, snarling, and not so sexy
anymore. Well, the latter is a matter of taste, of course. :-)
The only story where this zany way of story-ending disturbs me, is
"Rug Riders in the sky" (US 50). But this story was cut-down. Barks
describes the cut as "a gag sequence of the ducks chasing east after
Magica, who runs out of 'fuel' and has to land the carpet in the desert.
That would have been about page 13. No doubt readers got more pleasure
from the Bullwinkle Cheerios ad that was made possible by the scrapping
of that page." (March 25, 1989 notes for The Carl Barks Library.)
When Barks's stories are cut-down, his precious composition mostly falls
flat. (IMO) It's like a scratch on a vinyl record, which skips a part of
the song. Even a second is enough to do that, no matter how long the
entire song is.
Before long, I didn't like Magica (Barks or not), but that has completely
changed! And this whole witch/sorceress discussion is an imporant factor
in that change. Thanks, everyone!
--- Dani?l
> [The Unsafe Safe (US 38)] Funny story, with a funny running gag.
> The end is a bit rushed, though; the ducks only win by sheer luck;
> there's no fight, it just goes "Fizz! Sput!"
Sorry for just writing down the story title, but I can't resist
replying to this.
I think the sudden, zany ending is part of the fun in a lot of Barks's
stories with Magica. She seems to try to be impressive, but when she
gets frustrated she's humiliated, hissing, snarling, and not so sexy
anymore. Well, the latter is a matter of taste, of course. :-)
The only story where this zany way of story-ending disturbs me, is
"Rug Riders in the sky" (US 50). But this story was cut-down. Barks
describes the cut as "a gag sequence of the ducks chasing east after
Magica, who runs out of 'fuel' and has to land the carpet in the desert.
That would have been about page 13. No doubt readers got more pleasure
from the Bullwinkle Cheerios ad that was made possible by the scrapping
of that page." (March 25, 1989 notes for The Carl Barks Library.)
When Barks's stories are cut-down, his precious composition mostly falls
flat. (IMO) It's like a scratch on a vinyl record, which skips a part of
the song. Even a second is enough to do that, no matter how long the
entire song is.
Before long, I didn't like Magica (Barks or not), but that has completely
changed! And this whole witch/sorceress discussion is an imporant factor
in that change. Thanks, everyone!
--- Dani?l
Daniel Van Eijmeren
What is so funny about Magica
Message 787 -
2003-08-31 at 23:24:43
I wrote:
> Before long, I didn't like Magica (Barks or not), but that has
> completely changed! And this whole witch/sorceress discussion is
> an imporant factor in that change. Thanks, everyone!
Another error. Oh me. I meant that before long, I didn't like Magica
because of the many non-Barks stories which have made the subject of
stealing Scrooge's first dime a rather stale one to me. These stories
are much too focussed on running and chasing the dime, when it's stolen
by Magica. Getting Scrooge's dime is not that funny to me.
Looking at Barks's stories, Magica mostly has some kind of new trick
or gadget that she uses to get Scrooge's dime. What follows is mostly
a lot of zany action, with all kinds of weird electronic, scientific
explanations for flying brooms (JW 10), flying carpets (US 50), armies
of animals (US 45), etc.
I think those ingredients generally make a Magica/Scrooge story a good
story. Here are some more examples, *not* by Barks this time:
D 4616 The Mysterious Garden/The Green Attack.
Art by Daniel Branca.
Writer unknown.
Reprinted in Uncle Scrooge 221
http://coa.inducks.org/coa/c1/story.php/0/D++4616
This is the first Magica story I remember reading. It was reprinted in two
Dutch weeklies of 1981. In this story Magica has control over vegetation.
I liked the scary imaginative atmosphere of this story. It has been (too)
long ago since I've read this story for the last time.
I believe Don Rosa's "The Treasury Of Croesus" (D 94012) contains that
great opening scene with (IMO) one of the weirdest scenes with Magica.
There are so many tricks going around that the page looks like an
kaleidoscope on LSD! (Wow! Heavy, man!) :-) But it must be a bad trip
for every colorist who wants to be home early. Just think about getting
*that* opening scene on your desk at 16.45 PM! :-)
http://coa.inducks.org/coa/c1/story.php/0/D+94012
(The coin-philosophy at the end of the story didn't work for me, but
that's another matter. I just didn't get the point.)
My favourite Rosa-story with Magica is "A Matter Of Some Gravity" (D 96001),
because of the sideway-gravity idea, and the consistent, border-pushing way
of how it is handled throughout the story.
http://coa.inducks.org/coa/c1/story.php/0/D+96001
Another nice Rosa story is "Of Ducks And Dimes And Destinies" (D 91249),
in which Magica imitates Cord's recent time-travel journey. Or was it the
other way around? Will we ever know? Did he write any currently-ancient
tomes about this? :-)
http://coa.inducks.org/coa/c1/story.php/0/D+91249
A Marco Rota Magica story which I find great, is his money ocean story
"Zio Paperone e il deposito oceanico" (I AT 215-A). As I've said before,
I find the story, art, and visualization, too beautiful to be true.
http://coa.inducks.org/coa/c1/story.php/0/I+AT++215-A
Reprinted in Uncle Scrooge 266/267.
The zany, motionless stories of Magica and Madam Mim living in a castle
don't seem to be focussed on chasing the dime. (I'm told these stories
are drawn by Jim Fletcher. I can't locate them now, so that's why I can't
verify.) For me, they're another great category of Magica stories.
So far my examples of good, exciting Magica De Spell comics. In fact,
these are all the favourite non-Barks Magica-stories that I can remember
at the moment. But maybe some people can boost my memory by mentioning
their favourites?
Everything in this email is according to my humble opinion.
Whatever offence will be his fault, not mine. %-)
--- Dani?l
P.S. Just one of my many thoughts. Is Barks's Magica an evil person?
Has she ever threatened to really harm (or even kill) people or animals?
I can't remember any such instance.
> Before long, I didn't like Magica (Barks or not), but that has
> completely changed! And this whole witch/sorceress discussion is
> an imporant factor in that change. Thanks, everyone!
Another error. Oh me. I meant that before long, I didn't like Magica
because of the many non-Barks stories which have made the subject of
stealing Scrooge's first dime a rather stale one to me. These stories
are much too focussed on running and chasing the dime, when it's stolen
by Magica. Getting Scrooge's dime is not that funny to me.
Looking at Barks's stories, Magica mostly has some kind of new trick
or gadget that she uses to get Scrooge's dime. What follows is mostly
a lot of zany action, with all kinds of weird electronic, scientific
explanations for flying brooms (JW 10), flying carpets (US 50), armies
of animals (US 45), etc.
I think those ingredients generally make a Magica/Scrooge story a good
story. Here are some more examples, *not* by Barks this time:
D 4616 The Mysterious Garden/The Green Attack.
Art by Daniel Branca.
Writer unknown.
Reprinted in Uncle Scrooge 221
http://coa.inducks.org/coa/c1/story.php/0/D++4616
This is the first Magica story I remember reading. It was reprinted in two
Dutch weeklies of 1981. In this story Magica has control over vegetation.
I liked the scary imaginative atmosphere of this story. It has been (too)
long ago since I've read this story for the last time.
I believe Don Rosa's "The Treasury Of Croesus" (D 94012) contains that
great opening scene with (IMO) one of the weirdest scenes with Magica.
There are so many tricks going around that the page looks like an
kaleidoscope on LSD! (Wow! Heavy, man!) :-) But it must be a bad trip
for every colorist who wants to be home early. Just think about getting
*that* opening scene on your desk at 16.45 PM! :-)
http://coa.inducks.org/coa/c1/story.php/0/D+94012
(The coin-philosophy at the end of the story didn't work for me, but
that's another matter. I just didn't get the point.)
My favourite Rosa-story with Magica is "A Matter Of Some Gravity" (D 96001),
because of the sideway-gravity idea, and the consistent, border-pushing way
of how it is handled throughout the story.
http://coa.inducks.org/coa/c1/story.php/0/D+96001
Another nice Rosa story is "Of Ducks And Dimes And Destinies" (D 91249),
in which Magica imitates Cord's recent time-travel journey. Or was it the
other way around? Will we ever know? Did he write any currently-ancient
tomes about this? :-)
http://coa.inducks.org/coa/c1/story.php/0/D+91249
A Marco Rota Magica story which I find great, is his money ocean story
"Zio Paperone e il deposito oceanico" (I AT 215-A). As I've said before,
I find the story, art, and visualization, too beautiful to be true.
http://coa.inducks.org/coa/c1/story.php/0/I+AT++215-A
Reprinted in Uncle Scrooge 266/267.
The zany, motionless stories of Magica and Madam Mim living in a castle
don't seem to be focussed on chasing the dime. (I'm told these stories
are drawn by Jim Fletcher. I can't locate them now, so that's why I can't
verify.) For me, they're another great category of Magica stories.
So far my examples of good, exciting Magica De Spell comics. In fact,
these are all the favourite non-Barks Magica-stories that I can remember
at the moment. But maybe some people can boost my memory by mentioning
their favourites?
Everything in this email is according to my humble opinion.
Whatever offence will be his fault, not mine. %-)
--- Dani?l
P.S. Just one of my many thoughts. Is Barks's Magica an evil person?
Has she ever threatened to really harm (or even kill) people or animals?
I can't remember any such instance.