Keskustelujen arkisto

Dear Don Rosa,

As a proof that I won't ignore you, as you thought. I finally want to
reply the four unasked emails that you sent me about four years ago.

I still feel the heart-beat in my throat. Literally. I am really very,
very scared of you, your friend Dan Shane, other friends, and many of
your fans. No matter what I try. I can't ignore this fear any longer.
Everytime I see your work I'm remembered of your abuse of my identity
and my life on the internet.

I was a big admirer of you, but this really is too much for me to keep
for myself.

I won't reply private messages. And essages that scare me in any way,
will be put online promptly by me or my friends.

This email might be followed by grammatical corrections and typos.

Sincerely,

Dani?l van Eijmeren (just a reader of your work)

P.S. I will never forgive you that you asked a mutual friend to give
background information about me, as he reported to me in 1998. That
was the worst moment in my life.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Van: Don Rosa <donrosa at iglou.com>
Aan: dve at kabelfoon.nl
Onderwerp: Oops!
Datum: maandag 26 maart 2001 14:59

Whoops! Better be careful what buttons you push there, pal!
**********************************
Message: 13
From: "Daniel van Eijmeren" <dve at kabelfoon.nl>
To: <dcml at stp.ling.uu.se>
Subject: Bodyguard?
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 10:24:52 +0200

Hoi H####,

Rosa krijgt in feite niets anders dan lof op de DCML, maar zodra er
een (1!) uitzondering tussen zit dan denkt Dan Shane dat hij op moet
treden als Rosa's bodyguard door de betreffende persoon grof toe te
spreken en te vernederen.

Bah! Kinderachtig!

Groetjes,

--- Daniel

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Van: Don Rosa <donrosa at iglou.com>
Aan: dve at kabelfoon.nl
Onderwerp: Not your day!
Datum: maandag 26 maart 2001 21:18

Monday just wasn't your day! One of Dan's coworkers happens to be Dutch.
Ergo:
------------------------------------
Rosa receives in fact nothing but honor on the DCML, but as soon as there
is
one exception, Dan Shane thinks he has to act as Rosa's bodyguard by
talking
badly to and humiliating the concerning person.
Yuk! Childish!
-------------------------------------
It's still a mystery to all of us as to why you so *resent* my existence
that you hate to see me defended even from obvious lies that even YOU would
know to be untrue. I think Dan's response to that oaf was very mild -- he
only let the clod's own language skills speak for themselves, and made NO
other personal comments about him, unlike the libelous lies the guy told
about *me*. How can you see anything "childish" or otherwise anything but
NOBLE for a friend to try to defend someone who he sees slandered in
public, especially done at a time when that friend is not there to defend
himself? Your posting your sour reaction to my many friends' support in a
PUBLIC message to the ML strikes me as a "Freudian Slip" -- do you know the
term? You strike me as a lonely, bitter guy...

Well, anyway, now what to do? Your posting of your snide comment about Dan
Shane could only have been a very careless blunder. So I don't think I have
a right to publicly demand an apology for your hitting the wrong computer
key. Your private opinions are none of my business, even though this one
was made quite public. And another aspect of the matter is that it was in
Dutch which few ML members can read. We assume.
So, if you are an honorable person, I suggest you post an apology to the ML
for that snide remark again IN DUTCH. That way, your blunder will still be
a secret from the majority of the list, and your apology will only be read
by those who could read your original message. If you have honor, this you
will do. And if you do, we will let the matter drop and not another word
will be said.
You can't ask for more fairness than that, eh?

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Van: Don Rosa <donrosa at iglou.com>
Aan: dve at kabelfoon.nl
Onderwerp: ?
Datum: woensdag 28 maart 2001 14:52

I assume you're working on your Dutch apology for the ML? I hope so. If it
doesn't appear soon, you'll leave me no choice but to post a rebuttal in
English (since I do not know Dutch) that will not say very nice things
about you and your strange neurosis, and will naturally unavoidably require
me to translate what you wrote into English. I'm trying to help you avoid
that, but since friends need defending (even though you neurotically
consider that "childish") you'll leave me no choice.
I assume you see all those other loyal and selfless (to you, "childish")
friends defending me in the ML, as did Dan? I know how that must burn you
up, since you want nothing more than to see me publicly attacked. I don't
know how you allowed your willing association and cooperation with the
so-called "Carl Barks Studio" taint your brain, but you'll eventually
discover, to your disgust (as it was to theirs), that I *am* just as
sincere and generous and hardworking and unceasingly devoted to Barks'
Ducks and his and my fans as everyone says I am. Sorry if that seems to
spoil your day so much, but you'd better get over it.

And get to work on the Dutch apology. Time's running out. I don't allow my
friends do go undefended for long.

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Van: Don Rosa <donrosa at iglou.com>
Aan: dve at kabelfoon.nl
Onderwerp: You're a marvel
Datum: woensdag 28 maart 2001 22:16

You poor, poor kid. You were too rude to answer my messages, and too stupid
to take my advice on the easiest, least embarrassing way to get out of
this. You're your own worst enemy.
Sorry, I "disapprove" of your apology. Now I must take my turn at bat.
Why don't we just take a vow to ignore each other forever? Can we do that?
Or do you want to keep going through all this on a regular basis?
Yes, I know, you'll ignore this message, too.

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I wrote:

> This email might be followed by grammatical corrections and typos.

Another addition to my public reply to Don Rosa.

The returned four emails are of course, exactly as sent to me by
Don Rosa. I just pasted and copied them, to show him what I was
talking about.

http://stp.ling.uu.se/pipermail/dcml/2005-February/028666.html

--- Dani?l

DANIEL:

> I still feel the heart-beat in my throat. Literally. I am really
> very, very scared of you, your friend Dan Shane, other friends, and
> many of your fans. No matter what I try. I can't ignore this fear any
> longer. Everytime I see your work I'm remembered of your abuse of my
> identity and my life on the internet.

Don't be afraid, dear Daniel. Don and his alliances are just normal
human beings, some are artists some are not.

Having read the attached mails that you provided, I do see some attacks
directly addressed to you as an individual. I wouldn't go as far as to
call those attacks childish, but it is clear, that Don had a
message...namely to make you either shut up or or to make you give an
apology.

Such things might work in the US of A, but IMHO such "advices" don't
work here (Europe).

I call for an apology on Don Rosa's side, that is, *if* he is fair and
grown up enough to do such things.

And yes, me too is a great admirer of Don's comics. They are exquisite
and fun and some that you would like to talk to your friends about.
Honestly.

Don! Please, as the rest of us, be a good boy! And don't always be so
defensive...it's really annoying sometimes...

S?ren

After reading comments recently on the DCML, I feel I must make some
comments.

That is to say, the reports of my visit to Angouleme can't know one aspect
of that festival that Duckfans should be aware of.
You may already know that the annual Angouleme Comics Festival in France is
the world's largest and most prestigious comics festival -- it takes over
the entire city of Angouleme, which is truly an amazing and gratifying sight
for any comics fan. Every store in every city street has either a large
display of their products based on some famous comic strip, or at least a
poster and a few comic character figurines sprinkled about the store -- the
entire city supports the festival! Banners fly from buildings! Street
vendors hawk comic albums!
I was one of the Guests of Honor due to the fact that this year the festival
invited PICSOU magazine (the French UNCLE $CROOGE magazine) to organize one
of the main exhibits to honor Carl Barks and $crooge McDuck. France has
their LE JOURNAL DE MICKEY, but no Donald Duck title... their secondary
Disney comic is the monthly PICSOU, a very thick and very slick magazine of
comics (much nicer than LE JOURNAL DE LE MOUSE) centering around $crooge
rather than Donald, now on the verge of its 400th issue! Therefore, the
exhibit is for Barks' $crooge.
I wish all Barks/$crooge fans could have seen this wonderful display! PICSOU
editor-in-chief Pascal Pierrey and his crew were given an enormous tent in
the city center which they filled with the most imaginative and humorous
features based on Barks & $crooge that you can imagine. But the *main
reason* I want to write about it is this:
The French are very serious about their comics. Disney comics have never
before in the 32 year history of the festival been featured or mentioned.
But recent years of PICSOU and how well produced and accepted the magazine
has been had finally convinced the Angouleme directors to invite the
BarksDucks to try a major exhibit.
What none of the attendees could yet know, and which I'm pleased to
announce, is that the Barks/$crooge exhibit was the HIT of the festival,
both by critical and public success! It received more visitors than any
other exhibit -- on Saturday *alone* over 22,000 people passed through the
large exhibit tent. I would guess that after Sunday, which was also quite
busy, along with the previous Thursday & Friday, the exhibit was seen by
well over 50,000 fans. Furthermore, in the newspaper reviews of the fair,
only the $crooge exhibit received a 4**** star rating. The next highest
rated displays were one 3*** and one 2**.
Perhaps I can send some pics to someone who can put them onto a linked
website. But the exhibit told of the "Life and Times of $crooge McDuck",
with sectional rooms devoted to $crooge's early family life in Glasgow, his
days in the Wild West, the Yukon Gold Rush, a corner made to look like a
room in Castle McDuck, another corner resembling the interior of the cabin
on White Agony Creek, etc. There were numerous full-size recreations of
$crooge's past such as his shoeshine box, his closet in Glasgow, the Goose
Egg Nugget, his gold prospecting tools. There was a room devoted to Gyro
Gearloose. A section devoted to the $crooge villains. A drawing board with
blueprints and other diagrams of the Money Bin, a full-size display of the
#1 Dime on the velvet pillow in its bell-jar atop the marble pedestal
surrounded by chains & posts and cocked beartraps to keep viewers at a
distance. A full-size Bin vault door cracked open so you could look into a
(not full scale) view of the money and jewels and treasures within. There
was a large pile of full-size money bags (filled with foam so kids or adults
could flop around in them like $crooge). Not one, but two (for some reason)
recreations of the sticker-plastered steamer trunk that I always show in my
"Lo$" episodes. Miniature recreations of $crooge's office with ALL possible
details, and a recreation of Magica's *entire* sorcery shop with a cutaway
section to show her inside the interior crammed with all of her cauldrons
and potions, along with even a section of the side of Mount Vesuvius, all
*precisely* as Barks drew it 40 years ago. Several glass cases holding an
array of old comics and artifacts. DOZENS of pictures on the walls from
Barks stories or of the pin-ups I do for PICSOU based on Barks adventures.
I'm surely forgetting much. And behind every picture frame and on the floor
and stuck into every nook and cranny were wads of special "American" dollar
bills with the "Xmas on Bear Mountain" $crooge in place of the Dead
President -- these were for visitors to "steal" from $crooge as a souvenir
while they were constantly replenished from the Bin.
There was also a full-scale recreation of $crooge's desk which I was forced
to take over as the only place suitable to do signings/drawings for the
thousands of fans on two different 3 hour sessions; that was cute -- it was
partitioned off from the main display and there was a guy dressed as an
American policeman (as one might see in Duckburg or guarding the Bin) to let
people into my "office" one by one to sit down before the desk for a
"private business meeting", whereupon I could do a drawing or sign books or
whatever they liked.
But, as I said, what surprised everyone (except us Barks fans?) was that
this exhibit was the surprise hit of the festival. Perhaps it will now
travel around to other fairs in France, or indeed throughout Europe... and
perhaps it will be set up annually at Angouleme... and maybe I can visit
there again! I hope so.
But (even though he won't see this), congratulations to Pascal Pierrey for
this sensational job. And hello to fellow DCML member and also fellow
Angouleme special-guest Luca Boschi whom I saw at the exhibit (but whom I
never had time to meet again, and I carried back home all the Rosa HALL OF
FAME books and Scandinavian Rosa Calendars that he'd asked me to bring for
him... sorry!).
Well, we'll see if I can get some Angouleme pics online somewhere.......

S?REN KRARUP OLESEN, 05-02-2005:

>> Everytime I see your work I'm remembered of your abuse of my
>> identity and my life on the internet.

> Don't be afraid, dear Daniel.

I won't be afraid anymore. No one has the right to blackmail me. But
it sure is a very, very scary experience to find Don Rosa behind such
actions. I hope these fan-emails will strengthen people in a similar
situation. There should be an address to report such communication
between Disney artists and audience. If only to protect the artists
for themselves. That would have saved a lot of trouble and pain.

The only thing I need to add about this particular matter, is that
Rosa's comment on me being part of the "Carl Barks Studio" might have
to do with me trying to get in a contact with Carl Barks. As a fan.
As result of my request, I got a postal package. Part of its contents
was a printed blue booklet about Don Rosa, full of quotes from emails
that he sent to DCML in the first half of the 1990s. I reported this
information to this mailing list. And apparently, Rosa saw this as a
conspiracy. Very scary.

From now on, I will finally continue discussing Disney comics. Freely.
If people hate me for my critical contributions, then there's nothing
I can do about it. And if people want to think that I have a hidden
purpose, they're searching for nothing.

What I find very disturbing is that people began accusing me of hating
Don Rosa. As I've repeatedly told: I don't know him. I only know him as
a public figure. And it surely will stay that way.

People seem to find it strange that I'm critical about Rosa's behaviour
and influence within the world of Disney comics. I've volunteerly(!!!)
tried to please them as much as I could, including the artist himself.
But that doesn't change my opinion. And it sure doesn't change my desire
to report information to fellow fans on a Disney Comics Mailing List.

And people who try to blackmail me, know what they can expect.
I will share such emails with the world, with a sign that I did so.
Promptly. Those four years of fear have been much too long.

--- Dani?l

It was a funny trip. When Don Rosa arrived in Paris airport on thursday, because
of a trike, he could not get any train so he travelled in a fan's car (Daniel's,
who was the only one to go to the airport). Don Rosa was
sleeping, and it took them 1 hour to find out his car at the airport, and Don
and her wife were a bit tired. They went to Daniel's house, who then
used her wife's (better) car (the first one was a Renault 11 if you can see
the kind of car it is :-).
They travelled the entire day (I wasn't here) and had a soiree with
Angouleme's organizators, the Finnish and French editors, and Cavazzano.
At the hotel Mercure where they arrived, there were people from Hachette,
Pascal Pierrey, A. Hillmarcher, from Picsou mag., Manu Herbreteau (ex-Picsou)
and others.
On friday we visited the Picsou exhibition (I met other French fans from the
Picsou forum there).
Don did a drawing together with Zep. The exhibition was very original. Manu had
made money bills and coins for the visitors to steal, there was a policeman
(editor of Les requins marteaux) to guard the number one dime and telling the
children to not come to close (!). A Scrooge bin, 2 meters high, was left
half-open (with the usual signs "get out" "you're too close" etc.). This was a
bit different than the previous exhibit I had seen in Italy or Netherlands,
mainly with originals and comic-book pages.
There were also many originals, mainly from Cavazzano, the Trick or Treat
painting by Barks and a lot of reproduction of Don Rosa pin-up pages, Carl
Barks paintings, and different nice statues of Magica de Spell in his Vesuvio
barrow, and others.
On afternoon, Don Rosa and Cavazzano did a conference, that we attended. I
discussed a bit with Luca Boschi, from Comicon festival and AF, and also a
contributer to Disney magazines in Italy. I had a couple of hours with
Cavazzano (I asked him about the Super Picsou geant covers credits for inducks,
obviously). I met F. Petrossi also, from Disney Europe, who speaks French
fluently, and R. Santillo, the "head" of Acaddemia Disney, and also a writer. I
spoke in Italian with them, although it was not easy.
On evening, we went to several disco-fiesta with Daniel and Pascal (not
Pierrey, another fan) where we found people from Hachette again. Luckily Daniel
had made an organizator pass, and could tchatch to get in in most parties. One
time the person at the entrance of the Glenat f?te told him "it's my party, I
invite only those I want" (he was a bit young to be Glenat's boss :-). He asked
Daniel "do you know me", Dan said "no" and then he said "ok you can enter".
We went to various other places until very late. Every drink was free, and at
the end, some people were badly drunk.
Then I came back to sleep at an inhabitant's place, at a girl's home 10 km
from Angouleme (when I entered in the dark, I could not find any bed so I
just slept on the floor and got waked up by a couple in the other room all
night-morning). The girl was nice, she gave me apples to eat as a recomfort when
I woke up. On saturday, I met Xavier and Gilles, so the French Inducks team was
complete for the first time.
Don Rosa later told me he was far from Angoueleme this day with the rest of the
organizators/editors, and due to wrong organization, he could not go to the fan
autograph session. People were a bit upset, which was unfortunate. (There were
so many people at one time, we were asked to help...). I was told later that
the Picsou exhibit was number 1 of all Angouleme's exhibits! so that was really
a huge success, especially for Angouleme's 200,000 visitors.
The reason a Picsou exhibit was held in the first place is because of Zep, the
creator of Titeuf, who is a big fan of Carl Barks. Maybe we'll see more of this
in the future.
Don Rosa then went to Paris, and spent a couple of days there, visiting of
course Montmartre. We've bring him and her wife at the very old and good Balzar
restaurant -only known of Parisians- near Saint Michel with a couple of fans
yesterday evening. Don did fan drawings to all of us, very detailed ones. When
I saw him in action (I filmed him), I was quite impressed! It was a child's
dream (Pascal's words). He did a first sketch with pencils, "inked" with a stylo
bic over, erased the epncils and coloured with Daniel's colour pencils.
Amazingly, he even inked on Pascal's pencils! he was quite an attraction in the
restaurant.
Was really unforgatable! ......

(photographs will follow as soon as I get them all...)

Don Rosa wrote:

> There was a room devoted to Gyro Gearloose. A section devoted to the
> $crooge villains.

Which villains did they mention?

And thanks to Don and le Richard for their reports from Angoulême. I've
gotta go see the festival at some point.

Lars