Papersera.net

Oh, and this one story idea from Duck Comics Revue has now made me dig up another story idea based on your work from over there. I saved it months ago to show to you Don, but I forgot about it.

I would have liked to have seen a story where Goldie's letter [from Hearts of the Yukon] was recovered by some character later and seen the aftermath - at least the Mounties didn't arrest Scrooge for littering.

A short story starring Donald. "The Master Postman of Duckburg".

Donald is hired as a postman, and is told that a recovered letter from Dawson's Post Office has been found. We see it's old, yellowed, but with a shiny new stamp: But a hand covers the sender's address. "We returned it to the sender, who wanted to make sure it was delivered. Do your duty, Postman Donald!"

Donald doesn't recognize it, walking in to the Money Bin to give Scrooge the letter... who promptly ejects him and tells him to get rid of that letter. Donald has to get past the Money Bin's defenses, swearing by the postman's creed that he will deliver the letter. Donald gives Scrooge the letter at last, and we see it's from Dawson. We flash back to a full page montage of the two of them together. No words spoken. Scrooge and Goldie's kiss. The punch. The yelling. Money being thrown in his face. The shot of her on the stage. The look on his face before he's knocked out. And the shot of the letter, back when it was new, the look on Scrooge's face, and Scrooge dropping it wordlessly in the snow.

Last page, second-to-last panel:

Scrooge sits at his desk, looking at the worn, yellowed letter in his hands with trepidation. "Goldie..."

Last panel:
Exterior shot of the Money Bin, with just the 'rip' sound effect from the window, which we've seen repeated throughout the story when people tear up paper or open letters.

Fin.

Whaddaya know Don! I've been over at Duck Comics Revue and saw a detailled review and recommendation for one of the stories I suggested translating for you months ago, That missing candelabra, complete with translated excerpts from the comic itself in English that can give you an idea of Carpi's art and the story's basics: http://duckcomicsrevue.blogspot.de/2012/01/that-missing-candelabra.html

And now I even see, by magic of the recently updated INDUCKS, that That missing candelabra has been officially published in English (albeit in the UK) in 2010: http://coa.inducks.org/issue.php?c=uk/LC+11#b Same for War and Peace: http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1604-A :o

TlatoSMD..... can you see how *intimidating* your massive list of questions is to me, with as little time for this as I have? It's like an interview for an in-depth article... or a short book! Also, to fully answer your questions thoroughly, it would take pages, and one of the lovely translators here would spend hours translating all the questions and all the answers. And yet neither of US speaks Italian! I'm thankful and not surprised that no one has translated your massive message(s) yet... possibly waiting to see my reaction.

I'm flattered by your interest, but I think it's better that we meet sometime on one of my European trips so you can ask me these in-depth questions, and others. Is that possible?

But, if not... I'll TRY to find time to answer PARTS of your titanic message bit by bit. I leave it to the ladies to decide if they think it's worth translating.

But not today! I just spent all day mowing and cutting and spraying, and now it's time for a cook-out.

Let's see what I can do later this week.

Well... *scratches head* Don't worry Don, I've been wanting to ask you some of those original 8 questions since the 90s, so I guess I'm patient.

It might be due to my background as an avid comic fan, as you've mentioned before, beyond Duck comics that I'm curious about/that I see specific influences in your stories and style beyond Unca Carl's, although of course my background can't be compared to your vast comic scholarship.

I bet Unca Carl had his share of dealing with overburdening fan interest as well. AFAIK, he was communicating with his fans mostly by written or typed letters, where months could pass between a fan question and him finding the time to reply. I see no reason why an in my eyes no lesser achieved Duck artist shouldn't be given the same right to answer on his own time. I've never meant to pressure you into hurrying about it, and I'm sorry if such an impression was given after you asked me to repeat my questions after a few months.

It's great to have you here to communicate with Don, and I'm fully aware you're doing this in your spare time, as well as that compared to the average Disney fan questions, my questions are a bit out of the ordinary when it comes to comic background (though I hope they're a bit more, um, on-topic than fan questions regarding historical Kentucky hurricanes and other local Kentucky events from your childhood, as interesting as those aspects may be as well).

No pressure, no haste, your own life and duties come first, and it really shouldn't be any other way.

Thanks for all the detailed answers to my questions, Don! I guess I am sort of an intruder here and therefore I will try not to bother you or anyone else on this forum again. But before I leave, I just have to ask you a follow-up question:

I have read your articles about the Duck Family Tree in the Swedish Hall of Fame books, and I am fully aware of the fact that you have chosen not to include characters like Susiebelle Swan and (apparently) Poncey de Loon in the family tree. My question is therefore if you have in mind to make a new, revised, version of the tree sometime in the future, and if such a tree will include ducks like Poncey or some creations of your own (like the McDucks from your first draft of "The Last of the Clan McDuck" or Sir Simon McDuck from "A Letter From Home")?

By the way, I am trying to learn Italian, you know. It's a shame I wasn't born in the country of Pasquale, Giorgio Cavazzano, Enrico Faccini and Massimo Fecchi! (I can understand some written Italian now, but unfortunately, I am not yet able to write or speak it myself). My comfort is that I'm in good company (I refer to Don Rosa himself!).

Okay... I'm getting things under control. The super-busy Spring is almost over. We finally got caught up on yardwork, got the garden planted (including 50 chili pepper bushes), went to a comics festival up North and then finally took a break and headed further North for a week of (attempted) fishing and camping.
When I got home it was time for the second round of mowing the meadows in my nature preserve, and that's a task that takes a full week. I'm still not done -- the weather turned wet, so I need to stop for a day or two. So... check out Papersera!

I think maybe questions should be asked of me one or two at a time. Then I am not scared to try to answer them. You can see I am still "avoiding" that massive and intimidating list of questions in favor of this from...

Przemyslaw:
>>>>>I have read your articles about the Duck Family Tree in the Swedish Hall of Fame books, and I am fully aware of the fact that you have chosen not to include characters like Susiebelle Swan and (apparently) Poncey de Loon in the family tree. My question is therefore if you have in mind to make a new, revised, version of the tree sometime in the future, and if such a tree will include ducks like Poncey or some creations of your own (like the McDucks from your first draft of "The Last of the Clan McDuck" or Sir Simon McDuck from "A Letter From Home")?

Well, I have never had an urge to make a bigger or more elaborate Family Tree. That one was a big enough job! But I assume you are aware that I did do a "new improved" version of that Barks Duck Family Tree as a private commission for a friend a few years ago. This new version contained Ludwig Von Drake as Matilda McDuck's husband, which I wanted to include in that original version, but the then-current editors would not allow it.
But... ha... I guess it's an indication of how I am first and foremost... and perhaps only... a Barks fan. Because even when I did that "new improved" version, it never occurred to me to include the Simon McDuck character I created to fill a slot in my "A Letter from Home" story. I could easily have stuck an image of him in the ancestor cluster on the McDuck Tree trunk as I had done with all those Barks characters. Sometimes I am so disinterested in my own work, except as a tribute to Barks' work, that even *I* don't believe it.

As with so much else, I'm sorry my Italian friends will not see that new Tree. It will be published by Egmont around Europe in that huge DON ROSA COLLECTION book set. But the Italian publisher never asks me for any permission to print my private work. Sorry.

Okay, let me try one of TlatoSMD's individual queries...

TlatoSMD:
>>>>>I've read there that you yourself regard the JWC Guidebook ultimately as a piece of unrealistic fantasy because you don't believe that all that vast information could be compressed into one tiny book. Is that true Don? My take on this has always been that the Guidebook must be written in a secret, abridged code, script, and cipher.

??? Obviously so much info cannot be compressed into such a tiny book! Even in code, it would take up the same amount of space, right? And there is no 1950's technology to condense so much info only using the printed page.

But that's the fun of it. It's impossible. And there's no possible explanation. Maybe I seem to want to explain many Duckfacts that are *possible* to explain. But when something is clearly IMpossible, that alone is the whole point of the humor.

I thought I'd tried to use absurdist humor to "explain" the Guidebook. Unless your local translations are not accurate, my scripts have several times made cracks about how it is surreal that all that info can be in that tiny book. One time I had a character ask "How can so much information be contained in such a tiny book?" And the Nephew answered "That is explained in appendix 37B." An impossible explanation is explained in an appendix that makes the impossibly long book even longer. See... the humor is in the absurdity, not in an explanation.

You mentioned you liked Monty Python style British humor. This is exactly it!

I thought I'd tried to use absurdist humor to "explain" the Guidebook. Unless your local translations are not accurate, my scripts have several times made cracks about how it is surreal that all that info can be in that tiny book. One time I had a character ask "How can so much information be contained in such a tiny book?" And the Nephew answered "That is explained in appendix 37B." An impossible explanation is explained in an appendix that makes the impossibly long book even longer. See... the humor is in the absurdity, not in an explanation.

You mentioned you liked Monty Python style British humor. This is exactly it!

Heh, I like that one! I guess it must be a story prior to Guardians, as all the inquieries as to the Guidebook's incredible depth I remember after that are such that Scrooge or a nephew replies, "Oh, you'd be surprised...", probably referencing the events of Guardians.

Does anyone know, if Don Rosa comes to Germany in the next time?

sunshinebar:
>>>>>Does anyone know, if Don Rosa comes to Germany in the next time?

Yes! Me! Me! I know! Call on me! (Waving hand anxiously.)

I will do my every-second-year German tour sometime in October, as usual. My German friend will begin to organize the tour stops while he's attending the Erlangen (Germany) comics festival this coming weekend.

Thank you very much! I'm really looking forward and hope to see you in Comixart Bamberg

Looking on internet I found this comics auction in Paris, where actually I live: http://www.sothebys.com/fr/catalogues/ecatalogue.html/2012/bande-dessine-comics#/r=/fr/ecat.fhtml.PF1224.html+r.m=/fr/ecat.lot.PF1224.html/91/

It's a wonderful drawning, but the base price is 8k €, really huge, and i wonder what Don thinks about it.

Su internet trovo quest'asta da sothesby's con un bel disegno di Don con base da 8,000€, senza senso, e mi chiedevo che cosa Don Rosa pensasse al riguardo.

Metto qui questo video che ho trovato su youtube.
E' un prodotto davvero curato, e mi piacerebbe molto vederlo in Italia, un giorno!

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkCKmI_NLQo[/media]