Don's visit to Norway

Even Flood Even.Flood at due.unit.no
Fri Nov 12 13:03:18 CET 1993


As you all know, Don was in Norway  in September. The trip
and press conference was covered in several newspapers,
I have made a translation of some them (the ones I found). 
The were from Aftenposten, Dagbladet and Bergens Tidende.
If anyone knows of any other stories, pleas tell me 
(and Don) so we can get the thme as well.

I am on the borderline of breaking netiquette here as
this is material wich is copyrighted with the 
publishers. However, it is interviews with Don and the
main bulk of the stories are his statements. So as
far as he gives it OK (he has!), I am on the right line
of the border (at least morally).

Even

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

>From Aftenposten sept. 28 1993

Author: Lars Keilhau
Draft translation by Even Flood

(Picture of Don Rosa with GOTLL looking at (and reading
to?) a large figure of Donald. Looks like they are
enjoying a gag in the book...)

Rosa - the world's largest Donald-fan

- Donald is the only comics character with soul, the only
one worth drawing. Says Don Rosa, who has taken the
heritage of the legendary Donald creator Carl Barks.

The American Don Rosa is a very modest man. He is in
Norway to talk about his latest Donald story, made
especially for the Year of the Book: "Guardians of the
Lost Library". But most of all he wants to talk about
television's moronic influence on the youths of America
who no longer read, not even comics. If one can talk about
a mission, he has this: European parents must stop their
children from becomming TV addicts.

- I grew up with Donald, and Carl Barks' stories gave me
much because they were so full of details, so close to
reality. I am trying to follow this tradition, without
coming close to being that good.

That is a statement many "Donaldists" will contest. For
example: "Guardians of the Lost Library - the story about
the origin of the Woodchuck manual" (out this week) can
get a, not necesarily sworn comics fan to open the eyes.
The amount of details, among other things, is fascinating.
And Rosa loves to point out that he used a long time in
research before the story was finished. These buildings
are drawn from actual houses and these hieroglyphics do
spell "Cleopatra"  - even if only I know that - and
Columbus did have a bookshop at one time as it is told
here. 

In 1987 Rosa sold his engineering firm to draw Donald full
time. 

- I knew I would just earn enought to pay the rent and
food. On the other side I could remain home and do what I
wanted most to do, anbd that I think is more than most
people get out of life. It turned out there was more money
in comics than I thought - in Europe. But I did not know
that when I started. 

In USA the comics are almost dead. It is bought only by
speculators and collectors.
- Who never reads the magazines but keeps them in plastic
bags sneers Rosa. Who has about 50 000 comics in a room at
home. Together with 500 donald figures - which he also
collects. - But I will never be as crazy as to pay 5000
dollars for a figure, as some do. 

Don Rosa is one of the few comics artists who does
everything himself: Writes the text, draws, colours. 

- There are not many of us left. Usually three to four
people are engaged in making a comics, if not more. If I
had to leave some of the work to someone else, I would
have gone back to my former occupation. The fun is doing
everything myself, down to the smallest detail. 

Don Rosa has one great sorrow in his life: That he has
never met hid idol Carl Barks. 

- I have tried several times over the last six or seven
years, but I have slowly come to realize that for some
reason he does not want to meet me. It hurts. 

But there are many who wants to meet Don Rosa - in Europe.

- At home nobody knows who I am, here I have so many fans
that it is too much. I think the Mid-Atlantic should be
just the place for me - there it would be somewhere in
between.

Says Rosa with twinkling eyes. And does not really
complain over the fact that for a while he is the center
of attention

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

>From Dagbladet sept. 28, 1993

by Frode Christiansen
Draft translation by Even Flood

Large (half of the page) picture of Don with GOTTL.

Don Donald visiting the world champions.

Did you know, says he, that you in little Norway buy more
than 1500 times more Donald magazines in one year than the
gigantic USA? Maybe you are the world champion Donald
readers.

No, we did not know and we object strongly when when the
American Donald creator and artist Don Rosa tries to say
things like that. He is on a brief visit to Oslo. The
reason for the visit is "The year of the Book"
1993 commemorating that it is 350 years since we 
started printing books. And that he has been commisioned 
to write and draw a special Donald-magazine about 
the origin of the Woodchuck guidebook. 

But yes, what Don Rosa tells us is the strict truth. And
he explains:

- I USA you have to go 40 years back to find the great
Donald era. Today Americans have stopped reading a long
time ago. They do not read books and they do not read
cartoons. 

TV - slaves

- The last is perhaps the worst. When it comes to comics
they are often your first meeting with what later is to
become love of reading. For the magical and wonderful
world of books.
- What then do the growing americans do?
- What the do? They watch TV, all the time. Not because
they necesarily want to, but because they think it is
something they must. When Americans buy something it is
not necesarily something they need, something useful, and
which perhaps could help them develop themselves. No, they
buy whatever they think they have to buy, that they see
the parents buy, the neighbours buy and the classmates
buy.
- For Americans it is more important to get the "correct"
make of car than to consider using a few days to some of
their spiritual needs. 
- It is that bad where I come from. But fortunately it is
not that way in Scandinavia or in the rest of Europe or in
great parts of the world. You should be immensly grateful
for that. The alternative is emptyminded dull stuff. I see
that who is an American, says Don Rosa.

Treasure hunt.

- Now you have added another Donald magazine to your
production?
- Yes, I have written a treasure hunt starting with the
lost library of Alexandria, the antique's most
legendfilled collection of knowledge and entertainment.
And here the "Woodchuck Guidebook" has a role as the key
to the mystery. 
- What I did not know was that a Norwegian architect firm
had won UNESCO's competition where the assignmet was to
design a new library there. That gives my job an extra
dimension since the magazine I created was an assignment
from a Norwegian publisher, says Don Rosa.

What we did not know was that Cleopatra founded the
Woodchuck momement, at least if Huey, Louie and Dewey are
right. Even if they hate the thought that a girl can have
done it. 


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

>From Bergens Tidende Sept 28. 1993
(This one was not too easy. The copy I had was a telefax
of a xerox copy of the original wich is in small writing.
So some words were blurred, not to mention the picture.)

Author: Oivind Holen
Draft tranlsation by Even Flood

Picture of Don Rosa peering out behind GOTTL. He looks
like something out of a horror movie, but that may be
due to the abovementioned xerox-telefax effect. Then again
it might not.. Caption: Secrets. Keno Don Rosa gives us a
glimpse of what really hides behind the persons in
Duckburg.

He reveals the mysteries

I am immensely proud that I am given the opportunity to
tell my stories, but I often feel that my drawings are
terrible. Often I cannot bear to look at them later.

It is the great contemporary Donald artist, Keno Don Rosa
(42) who says this to Bergens Tidende. He is at present in
Oslo in connection with "The year of the Book 1993". Don
Rosa presented his work "Guardians of the lost Library"
yesterday.

The story reveals the mystery about the Woodchuck
Guidebook, the inexhaustible source of wisdom that has the
answer to absolutely everything. The book turns out to
have close connections to the   legendary library of 
Alexandria. 
- I wanted to show the riches books contain and how the
Woodchuck Guidebook can contain all that information it
does, says Don Rosa.
- The library in Alexandria is the largest book treasure
in the world, and it was natural to involve Uncle Scrooge
in a treasure hunt for these books. 
- Is it right to reveal all the mysteries of Duckburg? Are
you not worried about destroyng som of the mystery of the
series?
- Yes, I am concerned about it, but I just cannot contain
myself. But if you do not want the secrets revealed, you
should not read my comics!

Only Duckburg

Rosa cannot imagine anything else than making Disney
series. 
- Carl Barks' comics made a tremendous impression on me
when I was a child, he says.
- I was not interested in reading comics with animal
characters. But Barks' tales were not stories about
animals. The were stories about real people, not about
animals behaving like people. I enjoyed reading stories
that did not treat the reader as an idiot.
- For me it is no alternative to making stories about the
Ducks in Duckburg. I have been offered to make other
comics, but that means I will make less Duck stories, and
that is out of the question.
- I enjoy writing stories, to me the story is the most
important part of the comics, says Don Rosa.
- But Carl Barks is not enthusiatic about my comics. He
does not like that I use his characters and stories, and
shows little understanding for my work.
- What tales can Don Rosa offer in the near future?
- I have several pages of ideas at home. I have made a
story in connection with the winter olympics at
Lillehammer , and I am possibly going to make something 
in connection with the 60 year aniversary of Donald next
year. In addition I have to finish the "Life of Scrooge",
says Don Rosa.
- I am probably never going to write the story about the
parents of Huey, Dewey and Louie, although I have it
finished in my head. The problem is that such a tale
cannot have a happy ending. Either the parents ar alive or
they are dead. If they live, the boys have to choose
between living with the parents or with Donald, and no
matter what happens, the story will have a sad ending.  





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