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Quote from user: Lars JensenQuote from user: Matildayou have to decide who/where HD&L??s mother was. The European theory is that she was Donald??s cousin, not his sister.
Actually, that theory is Al Taliaferro's. Until recently, most European Disney publishers never spent much time thinking about who HDL's mother is. (It's not relevant in 99.999% of Duck stories.)]
True, it's Taliaferro--I acknowledged that when I rediscovered that recently, on some other thread. Thanks for the clarification. My saying it was the "European" theory was due to its appearance in Rota's well-known "Happy Birthday, Donald" story of Donald's life...and due to the fact that in the Donald Duckling stories where Donald is being brought up by Grandma Duck, there is no mention of a sister, so it seems as though Della has to be a more distant relative. If Donald Duckling had a sister (even a much older one), I would think she would have to at least be mentioned on an occasion such as Donald's birthday (cf. the flashback in Korhonen's "Another One for the Album").

And thanks for introducing me to Belle Duck! I did finally get a copy of *your* Belle Duck story (a friend went to Denmark, and I sent with her a list of used comics to buy for me, and this was one of the ones on my list she was able to find), and I enjoyed that, too.

Quote from user: Review Or DieQuote 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.
You have to remember that in The Treasury of Croseus, they tried using his first coin to create the medallion.

And really, if you look at her in "Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies", her deductive reasoning skills aren't top-notch. Insane people, after all, don't act rationally, and the other solutions are unlikely to have ever popped up to her mind. Why not use the teleportation dust from "A Little Something Special" to pop in to Scrooge's Money Bin, take the dime, and foof right back out?

Still, she has many, many times where she could have killed Scrooge and Donald, but simply didn't. She left them in traps instead, enough to occupy them long enough she could get away. Personally, I think she's just not a murderer, or an inherent violent person, and for the better. Intelligent villains create better stories, after all.
Intelligent--but insane?--villains create better stories? :-)

Good points, ReviewOrDie. I forgot about Croesus. So apparently the coin would work for Magica after the owner's death. Maybe Rosa would go along with "don rosa is the best" , saying that a person who died rich "is" still a rich man for purposes of the spell, whereas a man who loses his wealth no longer qualifies. Although as you say, it's also possible that Magica simply wasn't thinking clearly in A Little Something Special, and let herself be bamboozled by Scrooge's suggestion that the coin wouldn't work. It's true that she's not always the most logical thinker, obsessed as she is. She does have a tendency to come up with, shall we say, overelaborate plans (as Rosa memorably lampooned in the first panel of The Treasury of Croesus). And I agree that it's not in character for her to murder. Though I actually like Mr. M's most recent fanfic, with Magica losing patience after several minutes!

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 didn't want to write the entire script here, to be honest, but I believe there is a perfectly good way to do it. I used "Peace Corps" because it was convenient. But there are so many civilizations cut off from communication in the Duck universe that I can accept that they're stuck someplace like that.

Quote from user: Lars JensenI 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?
The answer to your question is no. And I could pose the same one to you but I won't. I don't give a dang nearly enough to waste more time and energy on this.

Quote from user: MatildaI definitely agree that it's a *good* thing that there are many different approaches to duckworld-construction; it adds to the richness of Disney comicdom. I would *not* prefer it if everyone were to hew to the Rosa timeline.
I cannot agree with this strongly enough. Disney does allow a unique opportunity to explore many facets and interpretations of their core characters. While I have my canon, a great story remains a great story. I hope that no matter what someone's view on canon might be, they can see that.

I'm writing a beat sheet for fun now... might even do a bit of dialogue. If it's any good, I'll consider it. :)

Well, I've got a... beat sheet/summary/outline/mess written since my last post, clocking in at 2300 words. I really needed to have some fun and play after the past few days of writing something un-fun, and believe me, this was a lot of fun for me. It's just a first draft though, no real editing or checking for plot holes, and a number of "maybe this, maybe that, something like..." because tying it down too specifically didn't seem conducive to stream-of-consciousness writing. Also, it's possible that there are some placeholder names.
I feel comfortable posting it here is because I would never submit this script to a publisher, and the people who ARE going to read it are creative enough that they wouldn't bother using my story!
Besides, given the opportunity to pitch? There are other stories I'm better suited to writing to complement the Barks/Rosa universe I ascribe to, even if they did want to accept the HDL parent plot.
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ENORMOUSLY IMPORTANT NOTE: This has not been punched up for jokes, which have to be sprinkled within the dialogue, and perhaps have a more comedic sequence available. There are things to tighten up, it's very stream of consciousness, and there are some things I'd like to play with.
This story takes itself a liiiiiiittle more seriously than normal, and if I was going to give it a tone, I'd try to make it closer to ??Hearts of the Yukon." Serious concepts, but played with humor. That balance is delicate, but it pays off in spades if you hit it right.
Outline:
Anniversary of when Della and her husband (Hey, guess what's gonna be a recurring joke this whole story?) left to serve an NGO. It's cheap, yes, but I don't care. Establish rough timeline: A few years they've been gone. I wager the boys are no more than ten, and likely came to Donald when they were six to account for all the adventuring they've done. I reference WHADDALOTTAJARGON to see the subtle differences in how they're drawn as younger.
Start with a joke, Donald-oriented, keep the tone light to start. He's polishing a trophy.
We need contrast. Donald hadn't realized today was the day. HDL are sad: more than that, they're appropriately morose. This scene has to be played straight. Donald has been telling them for X number of years that they'll come back, but HDL stop believing it. Exposition on the whole ??They're away helping," yadda yadda. This has to be played very delicately, or the tone is broken. Make it something a child can understand: Show that they love Donald, that most of the time they're okay, but they feel like something's missing. Treat it a bit like the death of a family member, without using the word. Donald wouldn't do that to the kids, and the kids are too afraid to say it.
Donald, for his part, goes off to the office of the NGO. The clerk recognizes him. Give him a quirk, this is still a comedy-adventure story after all. Donald's appearances aren't totally commonplace, but he recognizes him. They discuss it. Last heard, they were in Bloobideebloo, but when they sent others there last time, they couldn't get any information on what happened to them, except the words ??Great Spooky." No one new from the NGO was willing to stay, either.
Now, this is Donald's story too. It's his sister, after all. So we're going to get a more Caballeros version of him, where there's some actual proactive behavior.
I've always held the belief that if Donald tried, he could be Scrooge... but he doesn't want to be. Here? He does.
??Uncle Scrooge?"
??No."
??What?"
??I advanced you a nickel last week and you haven't paid back the interest. I can't have you teaching the boys that fiscal irresponsibility pays off!"
??Fine, you old skinflint! I can get the boys and me to Bloobideebloo myself!"
Donald walks out.
??Bloobideebloo... Bloobideebloo..."
Blinkus of the thinkus pill.
We don't need words. Scrooge's shocked face is enough. He knows what that place is, who's there, and what it means. You draw that panel like your life depends on it.
This has so far been structured like a typical treasure hunt. Donald's at home. He and the boys are scrounging up things to sell. Have him explaining a bit about the Great Spooky. It's clear that Donald told them, and was willing to go on his own: but the boys point out their credentials. ??We're coming, like it or not! We've braved Atlantis, Plain Awful, the Terry Fermites, the moon, aliens, the center of the earth, and... and it's mom and dad!"
Donald might have gotten angry, up until that last bit. Donald is, whether you like the implication or not, their surrogate father. He gives them a well-needed hug.
??Come on, kids. The pawn shop will take a few things... let's see here, I'm sure someone can take this trophy of mine and melt it for scrap..."
Scrooge knocks, answer, conversation. Scrooge needs to give them the tickets, but he can't give them the tickets out of the goodness of his heart: He's making it out like he's saving Donald's butt, and that he has to come with to make sure Donald doesn't get lost. We get the ??he knows you know" vibe from this interaction.
At this point, it's a typical treasure hunt story. We can be... probably four pages in, if we use the pages effectively. Six if something needs to be longer, and that's fine: This can be 24 pages. The kids aren't quite being straight men, in fact, no one really is. I want to evoke the early Barks, with a tribe of primitive people, but use some of the Rosa touches. These people, the Bloobideebloobians, aren't in a good position. No school, etc. Portray them as self-sufficient, but without the knowledge to catch up to those surrounding them. We don't need to get racist here.
Scrooge has first-hand experience with these people, because he knows everything ever due to his world travels, and can translate. They remember Della and (Whatshisface), but the Great Spooky kidnapped them years ago. The reason the NGO stopped coming here is because of the Great Spooky.
The kids are upset. But they are Junior Woodchucks, and they are determined. While Donald has the drive to do these things, and the means, the kids have steel traps for minds. Red herring a bit: Obviously evil Barks guy, except he's actually not. He's a tracker.
This is good, because it leads them to the track of the Great Spooky. Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, of all things, can't identify it.
They try and track it, but the jungle seems to be fighting them. Animals, quicksand, traps. The boys are deductive reasoners, but we have to remember that Donald and the boys need each other: They're caught in quicksand, and can't reach the guidebook.
To tell you the difference between regular Donald and this version of Donald, it's because he has the focused totality of his experience available. Scrooge knows the trick for quicksand (try to float, basically), but they lost their rope and supplies in one of the earlier traps. Donald flashes back to Della leaving, asks why he should be the one taking care of them, if he's the right person, that kinda thing.
??You are the right person."
In a true Life and Times moment, Donald takes a snake and uses it like a lasso around a tree, because there aren't any vines here and vines aren't as awesome. The boys are too small to be sure to pull themselves out, but Donald pulls a straight up Tarzan.
Scrooge is shocked.
I think there needs to be mention of Matlida, really. The contrast between Donald and Scrooge's approaches are remarkable: Donald has looked for them, but has had no clues until now. When he did, he was perhaps angry that he couldn't get to them sooner, but that's it. Scrooge's pride was his downfall, and it led to like, 30 years of separation.
Scrooge is impressed by this. The boys know it, Donald doesn't.
Really, the nice part about this sequence is that it's just the characters playing off of each other and doing adventure-y stuff in a funny animal way.
So the tracks actually lead to a cave, but unseen, the Great Spooky kidnaps them one by one. Scrooge first, then Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Donald's all alone and didn't even realize it.
??TURN BACK" is written on the stone, like something scratched it.
Now, we don't want this to be a horror story, so Donald uses his eye for detail to see that it's freshly scratched, and that there's something funny about it. Now, here's an important bit: Showing fear is not the same as him thinking that it's acceptable to turn back.
We can even show a bit more of the flashback. ??I wouldn't trust anyone else with my boys."
He screws up his courage, and while they try and scare him off, Donald isn't swayed. He uses his ingenuity and more goofy skills to deal with the pitfalls. Internal monologue, think about the boys, what it was like with them. Minimize this, because we want to show it on his face, not have it delivered in big expositional dumps. It serves two purposes: To show that Donald is determined, and that he cares. It isn't a selfish reason.
Notes: Sub-plot needs to be inserted earlier about Donald not being sure they love him like they love their mom and dad, and not being happy with himself for feeling that way. We need to show kids that their parents, surrogate or otherwise, actually want to be loved too.
At this point, the stakes are actually high. They have to be. The people of Bloobideebloo need to have the Great Spooky dealt with. The kids are gone. Donald's sister, HDL's parents, might be alive.
But there's a little bit of doubt. Shameful, shameful doubt, that they won't need him anymore.
And he resigns himself to that.
And so he comes to the cave of the Great Spooky. A monster. Ferocious, huge... the boys are in the corner, in a prison cage. So's Scrooge. Della and Whatshisface are nowhere to be seen.
'cept Donald's figured out the secret of the Great Spooky. And so he laughs in the face of the monster. Maybe because he wants to intimidate him, maybe because he wants to impress the boys one last time.
It's a guy in a mask.
He'd kidnapped the parents and other NGOs because they can offer him knowledge to work machines that help him mine. Note: He treats them well. Again, we want to stay away from horrific implications, but it's ambiguous if Della and Whatshisface are 'around', which we can use as a word for alive. And Donald, as I said, wouldn't ask.
The confrontation could get physical, and we do get a good action beat. But ultimately, Donald is forced to bluff his way in to trading himself for Scrooge and the kids. Demanding that the kids give back ??his" book of ultimate knowledge that they stole, that only he can read, Scrooge gets the hint and starts acting senile.
In theory, we're on page 18-20. Donald's been the hero, but now it's the kids' turn. They have no guidebook. No muscle. Just Scrooge and a way out. How can they get the Great Spooky when he's a master trapsman? They feel despondent. ??First mom and dad... now... now Unca Donald..."
Scrooge says something nice about Donald. How he never gives up, no matter how often he gets kicked down. And you can tell he's just dying to add ??Even by me." He's not remorseful in a truly horrible pathos sense, but he is starting to realize he isn't so nice to Donald all the time.
The kids realize they can't craft a trap better than his... but they can find his traps, and move them to get the Great Spooky. They get a villager (passive natives annoy me) to walk by and give the old ??How wonderful that another member of (Organization) is here!"
Dopey faces of irritation at his bad acting here.
The Great Spooky is greedy though, because of course he is, and goes out to get them. The boys manage to trap him.
They go in to the cave. REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!
Now, talky parts of talking are often something I avoid in Disney comics, and comics in general. But here, we've got so much going on. Scrooge realizing that he could have helped find them sooner, the boys and their parents overjoyed to see each other, Donald feeling replaced but happy to see his sister and angry at himself for feelnig anything negative at this moment...
There's a lot going on, and it needs to be well crafted. I think we can have them talking, reuniting, so happy to see each other. And Della, bless her, is kind enough to forgive Uncle Scrooge after the stories her mom told her about Scrooge. Whatshisface is here too, same kinds of interaction.
This sequence really can't be more than two pages if you write it Rosa style, it'll get too bogged down. But a full page devoted to it? Definitely. This is one moment, perhaps the only moment, where crying works.
The denouement sequence we're doing here is longer than usual, with Donald feeling a bit sad. Scrooge actually seeks him out to cheer him up, and they talk, not as bickering family members but as actual people. He brings Donald to spy on the boys, who are telling their parents a story of their adventures, and how amazing their Unca Donald is.
The parents want to come home, I think. They'd have to want to, even if they wanted to help the Bloobideebloobians. But the kids are the ones who know that as long as they know their parents are okay, and they write, it's more important that they help the Bloobideebloobians.
??We know you'll come home some day. Besides... Unca Donald's always taken real good care of us." It's a very innocuous thing. We need to play it like that, with a minor implication that Scrooge may have even talked to them. No words, just a small bit in a panel.
We get a stack of letters they wrote the boys during captivity that they're reading on the plane, and letters they wrote to Donald. Scrooge looks at them. Hortense and Matilda in his thought bubbles. His mother. Father. And despite it all, he smiles, because he sees the boys smiling. He makes a little jibe at Donald being irresponsible, Donald calling him a skinflint, and they do it with a smile, because that's family too.
Is it too much to have him write to Hortense at the end? Does it take away from the impact? How much of the ending can we show visually? The story needs to portray so many complex relationships without making the story and writing complex on the surface: It's something you might not have noticed as a kid, but your brain did.
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There you go. Sorry about the length.