+Postage Due+Disney-comics digest #168.

Don Rosa 72260.2635 at CompuServe.COM
Fri Nov 26 06:29:34 CET 1993


Mark:
	Who came up with the idea that $crooge was once a shoeshine boy
in his youth? In UNCLE $CROOGE #44 was "The Invisible Intruder", a very
silly story illustrated by Barks but NOT WRITTEN by Barks, where it is
mentioned that $crooge was once a shoeshine boy. Then, in #50 was "That
Healthy, Wealthy Feeling", drawn by Strobl and written by who-knows,
where it is said that $crooge earned his first dime as a shoeshine lad.
Neither of these stories seemed to be aware that $crooge was born in
Scotland, and even though I adopted the very logical notion that
$crooge started out shining shoes, it remained for me to figure out WHY
his first coin, earned in Glasgow, is an American dime. I ignored every
other aspect of these tales (particularly all that nonsense about BEDS
in the first'n). I did not entirely figure out where the American dime
came from in the Lo$, but did so more fully in "Of Ducks and Dimes and
Destinies", a story I did 2 1/2 years ago but, because its subject
matter is so close to that in Lo$, it is still being kept on stand-by
until some later date. 

	(Sigh) Go ahead with this discussion about "Comics are
literature! Comics are literature!", but I'll just watch. Frankly, I'm
puzzled why people are so concerned what sort of label we put on
funnybooks. Are they art? Are they literature? Neither? Both? So what?
What does it prove? What you wanna call them will never make them more
or less than what they are, which is simple escapist entertainment. If
the general public or scholars look down on comics, that's their
problem -- why should I care, as long as I'm not prevented from
enjoying them. The fact is, in America, comics are so SOLIDLY
considered to be juvenile junk that the notion will never be changed,
and considering modern American comics, it's a pretty darned accurate
idea. The only publicity and notice the average American sees about
comics nowadays is as "collector's items" that they can buy and sell at
a profit, and THAT is what modern Americans consider to be High Art. 
	But whatever you say about other people's work, MY stuff is
simply entertainment. Thanks so much for telling me otherwise, but my
comics are just funnybooks. 

Per:
	This business about "who are we"... I would VERY MUCH like to
have access to a list of the readers of these digests! I now see that
there are folks of the Disney corporation "lurking" here (as the saying
goes). If I am to continue to be willing to speak my mind freely, I'd
like to be able to know who I'm speaking to. Actually, I have NEVER
spoken my mind freely here, sorry to say, as I am always aware that
there are SO many things that I should not discuss or disclose, and I
always handle myself accordingly. Disney (as a corporation, not
referring to the folks who have joined us here) gives one just cause to
be cynical and paranoid, as much as I wish it were otherwise, and we
bugs can be squashed very easilly.




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