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don rosa is the best: Really? You think that Della and the Dude "wouldn't make a fuss" over their sons staying with Donald? After they have (no matter what they were doing during the day) cried themselves to sleep at night for years, forlornly singing the boys' favorite lullaby, like Mrs. Jumbo in her cage?
I also think it's unrealistic to think that HD&L wouldn't want to live with their parents, once they were found. After all, they *did* live with their parents for their first eight years or so....it's not like they were given up for adoption at birth. Maybe spending part of their time at each house, or everybody living in the same house (which would actually be perfectly doable, with everybody being related). But neither of those solutions would work in terms of future comic stories.

Quote from user: MatildaI think Roger North has a good point on whether the dime would work for Magica after Scrooge's death. We have seen in "A Little Something Special" that it *doesn't* work for her if Scrooge is no longer a rich man when she gets it--even though he was the richest during many of the years that he fondled the dime. So does that mean it would only work for her if she melts it to make the amulet while Scrooge is still the world's richest living man?

Also, if the dime would work for her after Scrooge's death, that brings up the disturbing question of whether she has ever considered bumping Scrooge off in order to get the dime. Places We Don't Go in Disney Comics.
Dying =/= Stopping being rich

Hmm. I don't think they've lived with Donald longer than they had with their parents. In my mind, they came to Donald when they were about eight. They were perfect hellions for the first year or so (actually, one could explain that by their grief at their separation from their parents), until they joined the JWs and found constructive outlets for their brains and energy, a healthy extended family of comrades and leaders, etc. (cf. WHADALOTTAJARGON). In the period covered by most of the stories we read, I take them to be 10 or 11. Yes, it seems like more than a few years--they certainly have more adventures than we normal mortals could fit into several lifetimes. But they do not age perceptibly; they have not become teenagers. It's comic-book time, it expands to allow for infinite adventures (and many more Christmas celebrations than there are years to hold them!). I think they've lived with Donald for at most four years.
Della/Dumbella's casual handing-off of the boys to Donald doesn't fit with Rosa's general view of the family, so the cartoon and the Taliaferro strip are not canonical for me. Though naturally you are welcome to treat them as fact and to build on them, as you choose! In the same vein, I do not accept that Donald's parents could have farmed him out (literally!) to Grandma Duck permanently just because he was such a handful. These are not the kind of parents I like to imagine in the Duck family background.

Quote from user: Baar Baar JinxI think that at some point, a Duck fan has to decide which of two conflicting versions of events he/she prefers and would choose to use if he/she were writing/editing Duck comics.
I have to? SO MUCH PRESSURE! :o

This thread has been interesting to read, but I haven't been contributing because I don't know that I exactly HAVE a personal canon, or at least not a very strong one. I enjoy the Barks-as-filtered-through-Rosa stuff very much, but when I read something that clearly doesn't fit in this framework, I don't mentally consign it to the realm of "imaginary story" or anything like that. F'rinstance, I generally think that the duck and mouse universes don't intersect?¦but when they do, I just accept it. This kind of double-think just comes naturally to me, at least where duck comics are concerned. I think the most I can say is that I have basic conceptions of how the characters should generally behave and think, and would prefer that these not be violated too egregiously. Sure, if I were in charge and had to choose one particular version of duckworld, I would have preferences, but I'm actually kinda glad I'm not, because I like the variation. Let a thousand flowers bloom.

?¦except that I must agree with Matilda that those goddamned mice from Cinderella are awful and have no place anywhere in my "canon," let alone living with Grandma.

Quote from user: Review Or DieOn the subject of HDL's parents... a part of me wants to make that story allegorical to those who have had their parents go to war. Their parents are off in the Peace Corps, helping people who need help the most. It's not a place where they can give their kids the life they deserve, but with Donald, it is. And in the end, the kids, as sad as it makes them, understand that they're trying to do what's best, and that they still love their children.

I can imagine letter after letter, written, but unable to be sent, show to the boys, and a promise that there would be letters to come.

This accomplishes the following story goals:

A: The parents remain indisposed, thus, not altering the status quo
B: The events of the story can occur off screen, stopping them from interfering.
C: Provides sequel hooks
D: Is relateable to real events
E: Ends with the boys knowing their parents are alive, feeling loved, not abandoned, and proud that they were born to wonderful people.

But that's just my personal canon. Their tour will end eventually, and I imagine the boys will use their skills to follow in their parents footsteps one day.
I don't think the Peace Corps would actually allow a pair of parents to enlist/volunteer and leave their young children behind for several years. I don't know what Rosa was thinking about that. (And of course, the Peace Corps didn't actually exist yet in Rosa's time frame for HD&L's move to Donald's house. Maybe he just meant, some NGO that does Peace Corps-like work. Perhaps it's possible that there would some other sort of NGO within which a pair of parents could make such a decision. It's easier for me to imagine that they thought it would only be a short mission, and somehow got trapped there.) But I agree with the general tone of your theory: a noble mission, which has somehow put them out of communication. (My godson's theory of their having to represent the Earth to aliens when the planet's future lay in the balance also fits into that pattern, if one is willing to put up with the sci-fi aspect. It also could explain why their first communication would take several years to reach the boys, if they are several light-years away.)

I also agree with you that it would be good for HD&L's situation to speak to kids whose parents are away at war, or who have a parent far away on a noble mission in a situation that keeps them from communicating with the kids.

Quote from user: MorequackQuote from user: Lars JensenQuote from user: MorequackIf all is canon, then nothing is canon [shrug].
It's the opposite, actually. If all is canon, then everything is canon.
No, it's: If Everything is Art, Then Nothing is Art.

Or: If Everything is Canon, Then Nothing is Canon.
Bad comparison. "Art" and "canon" have nothing to do with each other: "Art" is about creating, while "canon" is not about creating (but rather looking at what has been created).

Quote from user: MorequackCanon in this case comes from the Greek word for RULER or STANDARD, as in something that can be measured or placed in an logical order. It all can't be canon if elements contradict themselves and cannot be put in order.
It doesn't matter where the word "canon" originally comes from. In fiction it is usually used in two ways: either meaning "the entire set of characters, events etc. appearing in the original source" or meaning "the stuff that counts". Baar Baar Jinx's post made clear he was using "canon" as meaning "the stuff that counts".

Which means that, going by this use of the word "canon", you're wrong in your opinion that "If all is canon, then nothing is canon." If someone's opinion is that all stuff counts, then (in his/her opinion) all stuff does count.

Quote from user: MorequackUnless you agree to exist in a bizarro world where everything goes; in which case there is no canon and you have chaos.
Again, using the word "canon" as is being applied in this context: A world where everything goes is hardly a "bizarro world"; it's the fertile world most Disney comic readers grew up with in the 1960s and 1970s. And Captain Hook showing up in a Moby Duck story doesn't mean chaos... It simply means a story, good or bad.

I don't understand why it is so important for you to misrepresent what other people believe and to use phrases like "bizarro world" about those beliefs. I also don't understand why you need to add a dismissive "shrug" when you comment on other people's opinions. Is it really so important for you that others' opinions mirror yours that you become aggressive about it?

Quote from user: GeoXAdditionally: like some others, I asked Rosa about HDL's parents and received this vague answer involving the Peace Corps (which, if we want to be strict about it, didn't actually exist until 1961, and therefore doesn't quite fit, chronologically, if we're using the Rosa timeline). But...I'm not quite sure what some people, Rosa included, think the Peace Corps is, exactly. My brother was a volunteer, and we were regularly in touch. It's not like going to Mars.

What's needed here is A) a reason for them to go that was so compelling that there's no leaving it to anyone else; and B) something to happen to them while they were there to keep them, like it or not, completely incommunicado. These are both tough, but that second one seems like it would be problematic because there can't help but be at least an element of tragedy in it.

I dunno. Maybe someone would be able to thread this needle, but it's no surprise to me that no one has thusfar, and I think it might be one of these thing's that's just better left unanswered.
I suppose it is easier to imagine someone being unable to communicate with folks back home in the 1950's, as opposed to today. And maybe Rosa's sense of Tralla La is that it is so off-the-map that no contact with the outside world is possible, given the state of communication tech in the 50's. But who knows whether he thought that Della & the Dude initially went to that area for what they thought would be a short mission (a three-hour tour!), and then for some reason had to stay....

I agree with your criteria for an acceptable scenario, assuming that we want everyone to be decent human beings, unlike the cartoon Dumbella. I have to say that they bring me back to my godson's theory, that Della and her husband were picked by aliens to argue for Earth's survival in an alien court--because they are such good arguers, carrying on the tradition of Della's parents!--and that they have been light-years away. Even if they weren't actually compelled-as-in-abducted, they might reasonably agree to go if the aliens insist that they are the only diplomats/representatives of Earth the aliens will accept for the job. 'Cause it's certainly a cause important enough to temporarily abandon your children for. And the outer space angle (it *is* like going to Mars!) explains why they've been incommunicado. As I said, it could also explain why their first message sent on arrival at the aliens' planet would take several years to arrive here, thereby occasioning the story with the reveal. And they could be unaware of how soon they'll be able to return, leaving HD&L in the status quo with Donald, but with questions answered and parents to be proud of. Maybe it's too Star Wars-y, but it does meet the criteria! And I wonder if "saving the world" isn't the only cause that would truly seem important enough to the child reader to justify abandoning one's children for years. Other noble causes might never seem important enough, especially since one couldn't represent in a Disney comic the true horrors that some people face in this world (and that could call for sacrificial commitment from somehow uniquely qualified volunteers).

Quote from user: Baar Baar JinxI think that at some point, a Duck fan has to decide which of two conflicting versions of events he/she prefers and would choose to use if he/she were writing/editing Duck comics.
Why? If someone writes a great story that in some way contradicts another great story, why should I as a reader have to dismiss one of the two as "not counting"? As a writer, I don't like the Duck family having an endless number of relatives running around... but at the same time, why shouldn't I invent or revive a Duck relative if I come up with a good story that involves that character?

Quote from user: Baar Baar JinxThis doesn't mean refusing to read, enjoy or critique stories with alternate versions of events or original characters, but surely one can state that they find one narrative more satisfying than the other? For example, do you prefer the idea that the nephews live with Scrooge or with Donald? Or that Scrooge has a brother named Gideon, or he only has two sisters?
I prefer that Scrooge has two sisters, a brother named Gedeone, a half-brother named Rumpus, a beggar cousin, a tightwad cousin named Douglas (whose nephew is Whitewater) and several other relatives... or none of the above, depending on the story. I once wrote a story where the Number One Dime was implied not to exist... but so what? It exists in numerous other stories (including most of my own).

Quote from user: Baar Baar JinxOr that Matilda McDuck is still alive or not? I think that taking the position that everything that anyone has ever written has equal weightage, even in your own estimation, is akin to saying that everyone gets a trophy.
No, it's akin to saying everyone's opinion on the Duck universe is valid. Don Rosa thinks Scrooge has a sister named Matilda? OK, sure. Why not? Who am I to say that Don is wrong about that? Who am I to say Vic Lockman is wrong about Emil Eagle existing? Who am I to say Bill Van Horn is wrong about Rumpus being Scrooge's half-brother? It doesn't mean I'm going to use those characters myself... but why would I decide those characters do not "count"?

Quote from user: Baar Baar JinxShe has already procured all the others, so all she needs is a coin from Scrooge. While that plot point was not emphasized in subsequent stories, I don't know that it is contradicted).
It has been contradicted in a number of stories since then, where Magica seemingly only needs to melt the Number One Dime.

Quote from user: Baar Baar JinxI always thought Scrooge's life would be so much easier if he and Magica could have come to an understanding; since Scrooge is so old and Magica so young, couldn't she just leave him alone if he promises to bequeath the dime to her?
Magica is not exactly the patient type; after a while, she might arrange for Scrooge to have an "accident"...