Disney-comics digest #234.

Don Rosa 72260.2635 at CompuServe.COM
Mon Feb 7 15:05:18 CET 1994


"DARIN REID":
	No, I still don't see any important moments to show in the life
of Donald Duck. His "clueless" nature... what does that mean? Stupid? I
don't see him that way -- just sorta dense. Better you might ask for an
explanation of his hot-tempered nature -- but you'll see that I show
that to be an inherited trait. His first meeting with Gladstone would
have occured when they were both babies which would make it rather
pointless and put me in danger of seeming to be doing stories about
those most detestable non-characters the (gag) "Disney Babies"! His
first meeting with $crooge is shown with great emphasis in Part XII of
the Lo$. Maybe I could think up some sorta special event in DD's past
life, but as I tried to say, any such treatment of Donald in that way
would tend to violate his "Everyman" quality. I show his importance to
the Duck Universe in my 60th Birthday story, but it is still based on DD
just being an average guy.
	I MIGHT do a story showing what happened to Matilda later in
life (I still maintain that she married Ludwig Von Drake, but no one
will allow that). But I can NEVER show Hortense again since she is DD's
mother, and the addition of that character into the current Universe
would be too much tampering on my part. Plus, to show $crooge ever
reunited with his sisters would screw up the basis for much of his
irritable, lonely personality. It won't happen at my hands.
	In answer to your further comments, that I should go about
creating whole new vistas of Duck lore, I am trying not to do that. You
can see how sore Barks is at me for just what I'm doing now in
CONFIRMING his past writings about $crooge; he makes public statements
to make it clear that he does not "agree" with my $crooge history (which
is puzzling, since it's all based solidly on what he already said about
$crooge). You can imagine his fury and that of Barks fans if I ever
started screwing around with the very fabric of the Universe wholesale!
Again, it won't happen at my hands.

MARK:
	As I tried to make it clear, NO - the hair coloring was NOT my
idea; it was solely Gladstone's and I hope to stop it. Now, I DO think
the female Ducks, who have obviously fancy hair "dos", should have some
coloring to their hair. Maybe it's dyed? But NO male Ducks should have
any hair color but WHITE.

DAVID:
	I'm sure your hearts in the right place, but you should really
calm down about Disney's mindless policies. The letter-writing of 50
comic book fans will not matter a whit to them. Nor 100. Nor 1000.
Publicity in the major media is the sort of thing they SOMETIMES notice,
but not often. You'll just need to get used to the fact that comics to
Disney are beneath noticing, and you should just take their decisions
and hope for the best.
	Besides, where are your calls for letter-writing campaigns
about their policy of not returning artwork or paying royalties to
freelancers? Shouldn't you start with the flagrant violations of
federal law before you gripe about not seeing some future comic title
which will actually be just another vehicle for their abuse of
freelancers? Of course, that, too, would be pointless. With a
corporation-mentality like Disney's, pointing out their injustices and
mistakes to them only serves to make them mad because the department
heads are NOT interested in you or me, only in keeping their bosses from
finding out about something they did that might not have been right.
They are not interested in justice but in DAMAGE CONTROL... and your
letters will be the potential damage which will be firmly controled.





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