McSwine

David A Gerstein David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu
Mon Apr 18 18:17:39 CEST 1994


	Dear Folks,

	Don Rosa said:  "I never knew that Egmont had used the same 
name for all the appearances of the pig-villain in their editions. 
Interesting."
	I can't say for sure.  But they do NOW, as indicated by their
immediate recognition of "Argus McSwine" in one of my own scripts.

  	"But you're also saying that when Gladstone reprints those 
Barks stories, they CHANGE the names, all to "Argus McSwine"??? With 
the policy of never tampering with the originals, I'd find that 
surprising."
	NOOOOOOOOOOOO!   Gladstone has never done this, and neither
did Disney!  The character keeps his various aliases in reprints of
his Barks appearances.

        "But if a single name is chosen, that's not such a bad idea...
however, I would STRONGLY vote AGAINST "Argus McSwine".... In fact, 
in times past when I've heard fans give a single name to the pig-
villain, it's been Porkman DeLardo, not McSwine. I find Porkman
DeLardo much more interesting for some reason..."
	Probably because it's almost IDENTICAL to the villain Porko
DeLardo in "Old California", a much more famous story!!!

	I note "Argus McBRINE" (the last name being from "Forbidden
Valley") given consistently to the character in the fanzine _Barks
Collector_ in the early '80s.  My guess is that this is why Argus has
now become the consistent first name, out of all those which he had in
Barks' stories.
	Gladstone's Gary Gabner finalized "Argus McSwine" in the U. S.
Just after he began doing a LOT of stories with the character, Disney
started, and printed Barks' "Milkman" story, in which the pig's called
McSwine.  Loads of publicity abounded -- and since the name began with
Barks, even if it was one in many, it seems like a good idea to keep 
it, if consistency is what's now desired.
	It was ultimately Gary Gabner's decision.  After all, he 
could have given varying aliases to the character in the American 
versions of Egmont's stories -- even if the hog was named consistently
in Egmont -- but chose not to.

	I know, we're groaning under the weight of Scottish
character-names... but as far as I'm concerned, it would be awfully
weird to see the character who is now known as Argus McSwine called
something else.

	Oink!

	David Gerstein
	<David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>



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