Keskustelujen arkisto

> From: "Arie Fachrisal" <cien2 at cbn.net.id>
> That must have been a very famous story since i remember i once read a
> version of that time stopping watch in a manga story,

I wasn't being totally serious when I said that I or anyone "swiped" the
time-stopwatch idea from MacDonald. I had never read or heard of that story
when I first used the idea. A stopwatch that stops time is simply a really
obvious notion. It's what is done with the idea that might differ, and
having subsequently read MacDonald's version I'll wager that it was the most
clever (if only by virtue of the fact that he had more space to develop it).

> From: Mads Jensen <madsj at raptus.dk>
> Subject: Techniques
> I read the article about Don Rosa in the Kentucky Alumni (can be seen
> here: http://duckman.pettho.com/alumni1.jpg ), I have been wondering
> what the advantages about the techniques of drawing backwards to you
> reach halfway, and then draw from the beginning till you reach the
> beginning ?
> Maybe Don Rosa would tell more about this ?

I hope the article said that I *write* the story backwards. I don't *draw*
it backwards. However, once written properly (and by "properly" I mean not
in that modern "Marvel style" of comic writing), it should be just as easy
to draw it backwards or draw random panels (like they film movies) as it is
to draw it in the correct sequence .
The advantages were not explained in the article? But it should be obvious.
I am working with a finite number of pages and I need to have a beginning, a
middle and an ending all in one unit (again, unlike the "Marvel style"). I
need the story to end on that last page in that last panel... and the ending
is the most important point. So if I know that panel, I know the second to
the last panel. And if I know the second to the last panel, I'll know the
third to the last, and so on.
When I get about halfway I jump to the first page because the second most
important part of any story is the beginning, how we are pulled into the
mystery or action with the characters. If you start a $crooge adventure with
the treasure hunt already underway, who cares what's happening?! So I work
panel by panel towards the middle, looking at my previously jotted down list
of needed sequences or story elements.
I "dovetail" the beginning into the ending -- the middle of a story has the
action or humor, and it makes no difference if there are X, X+1 or X-1
number of these scenes. The action is not essential to the story (again,
unlike the "Marvel style" method). So I can add or subtract funny bits or
action scenes in the middle. They are expendable, unlike the logic or meat
of the story. For me, it's exactly like working a jigsaw puzzle... I am
fitting angular pieces together to form a unit that's not too big or too
small. My pieces are always too big for my jigsaw puzzles, but instead of
leaving those pieces out and shortchanging the story/reader, I get out a
pair of scissors and trim the ideas and mash them down into the plot. That
doesn't make an "artistic" story, but it apparently makes an entertaining
story -- and my goal is not art, it's entertainment.
(Digression: To see a demonstration of this, look at the new Egmont issues
with my "Trash or Treasure" story. The other stories in the issue have more
like 7 panels per page. My story had an average of well over 11 panels per
page. That's 60% more! Is that good? Or does it just hurt the eyebulbs?)
Anyway, at that point I already know exactly what ideas need to be conveyed
in each speech balloon or caption, but I have not yet written it word for
word. I then write the dialogue in a normal chronological sequence.
I'm sure I'm not the discoverer of this technique of writing backwards... it
would strike me as the only way a comic book or a short story or any
finite-length fiction can be written.
So just remember, you're dealing with three things here -- the writing of
the story, the writing of the dialogue, and the drawing of the pages.

> From: "KUR" <ggk at wp.pl>
> Actualy in dis episode the Stop-Watch didn't stop the time but
> meak it very slow.

Oops. Then maybe that writer *did* swipe MacDonald's idea. That's too close
to that novelette for comfort.

Mads wrote:

>Hi
>
>I read the article about Don Rosa in the Kentucky Alumni
>(can be seen
>here: http://duckman.pettho.com/alumni1.jpg ), I have been
>wondering
>what the advantages about the techniques of drawing
>backwards to you
>reach halfway, and then draw from the beginning till you
>reach the
>beginning ?

Although I'll be frank and say that your sentence made no sense whatsoever, I
know what you mean. And personally, I think it's a concept that would seem to
work well with laying out a comic book story -- or any story, for that
matter.

Once you have the ending fleshed out, you can't get any more structured than
that, I'd say, because you know exactly where you have to get from that
point...

But he *draws* them that way as well?
--
Dane

>Knowing Disney, I wouldn't be shocked if the "Donald Duck"
>theme song
>with the snowglobe turns out to be the DuckTales theme! :(

Heh. Good point.

In my opinion, though, I don't think either song is appropriate -- but there
isn't really much to choose from. So it works, I guess.

Thoughts?
--
Dane

>Niels wrote:
>>Starting 1 November, the Danish give-away newspaper >"MetroXpress"
publishes
>>a daily Donald Duck strip.
>>It looks as if they've started with the strip from 6 May >1957 and are
going
>>to continue chronologically.

Dane wrote:
>Sounds great! I could never see the US doing something like that, since the

>US newspaper-syndication is all about money and/or not offending the
masses.
>Is there any chance of the reprint strips becoming syndicated, and not
>appearing in "MetroXpress" exclusively? (I'm not familiar with how
syndication works
>over there.)
>I'd love to see this done with Mickey as well...
>Dane

The Donald Duck strip is distributed by the Swedish syndicate Bulls
Presstj?nst in Stockholm.
I guess they have the distribution rights in the whole of Scandinavia.
So any Scandinavian newspaper or magazine that wanted to publish the strip
could "subscribe" to it.
Unfortunately - as far as I know - "MetroXpress" in Copenhagen is the only
Danish newspaper that does so.

Regards
Niels

I see that my original message about the Taliaferro reprints has given rise
to a number of follow-up messages.
For those that don't read Danish, here is a translation of the article, so
you can judge for yourselves whether "MetroXpress" is a chauvinistic
newspaper or not.

"As of today our readers can follow the troubles of Donald Duck on this
paper's final pages.
*Oh, bury me thar - with my battered guitar*. This song is noteworthy
because it's Donald Duck's only real success so far. It was a radio hit in
Duckburg and environs. And, well, the duck was also king for a short while,
but apart from that it seems as if Donald Duck never quite found himself at
home in the idyllic, middle-class Duckburg. But for generations the Danes
have loved the morally dubious anti-hero, whereas the American always
preferred the virtuous Mickey Mouse.
Actually Donald Duck first appeared as a secondary character in a cartoon in
1934, but it didn't take him long to embark on his own career. In Denmark
Carl Barks is the best known duck artist. He has a.o. created Scrooge
McDuck. In his version Scrooge is a mean capitalist, a miser with no
reconciling traits and far from the cozy, eccentric Scothman that appears in
the DuckTales shows.
Barks did not, however, work on the daily Donald Duck strip. It was Al
Taliaferro who was asked in 1938 to transfer his film adventures to comic
strips. And he continued to do so right until the 1960s in a unsurpassed
technical quality.
Later he was joined by the no-less talented Tony Strobl, but also capable
Danish artist like Freddy Milton and Flemming Andersen have been successful
in creating clever episodes. Today almost half the global production of
Disney comics is produced by Egmont in Denmark. If the opening panel
contains a *D* it's a sign that the story was produced there."

Apart from the fact that readers might get the impression that Strobl,
Milton and Andersen worked on the newspaper strip like Taliaferro, I think
it's a pretty decent article.

To Anders Christian and S?ren:
Yes, I'll cut out the article and scan it.
I'm also going to cut out the strips every day so they can be indexed if
need be.

If nothing else, this proves that I have too much time to spare, when I've
got time to translate an entire newspaper article. ;-)

Regards
Niels

Sigvald Gr?sfjeld jr. wrote:

> nonsense
> made a great big goof here.
> just completely nonsense
> lack of respect
> I am an historian who in his studies focused on the 1700th century.
> So maybe we can now agree that
> Another such absolute fact
> The responsible for this possible goof is
> Why I mention this here? Because June 29th is also Don Rosa's birthday!
> a clear lack of respect for great modern non-Danish creators like Don Rosa
> serious people
> a serious mail

All this was in 5 mails. I think that, since a new month has started, Sigvald is trying hard to get the award for the "most ridiculous DCML mail of the month".

Let's agree that he already deserved this award now, so there will be no need for such mails for the rest of the month!

--Harry.

> What I meant was: To my knowledge "MetroXpress" is the only newspaper in
> DENMARK that reprints the old Taliaferro strips.

Yes, I noticed three seconds AFTER sending my reply. I have to start reading
what I reply for...

Congratulations Maciek, I think Walt Kelly never could make an accent so
weird like that...
?Babelfish translator?
<g>
Fabio

> I seen whole episode. It was toping time but it olsow was fezzing it. For
> exempel wen Beagle Boy's use it to stell Scrooge's money : Wen they pres
> butoon they diseperd. Scrooge Gyro HD&L was moving normaly but the Beagle
> Boy's were moving sow fast they coudent see theam.
>
> > They met pirates, not Vikings.
>
> Ow rith. I remember now. One of theam was Black Pete.
>
> Your's
> Maciek
>