Disney-comics digest #242.

Torsten Wesley Adair torsten at cwis.unomaha.edu
Wed Feb 16 22:51:57 CET 1994


On 14 Feb 1994, Don Rosa wrote:
> 	Your comments combined with others in that Digest indicate a
> fact I've learned in the last 7 years of doing these Duck comics -- no
> matter what story I do, it will be some people's favorite, some people's
> least favorite, with everyone else somewhere in between. Already I've
> heard comments that the Lo$ #1 is one of my very best stories, as well
> as people who think it was not much of a story, just a string of facts.
> Myself, I agree sorta with that latter view, while at the same time I
> feel that it was EXACTLY what I was trying to do; given the list of
> facts I needed to cover in that chapter, and the progress I needed to
> make in $crooge's life and character, I'm QUITE pleased with that
> chapter, which is rare for me in regards to most of my own work. I will
> apologise to you and any others who didn't think that was much of a
> story... I'm afraid that you'll finf the REST of this series as being
> similar -- I have a list of facts to deal with, a specific era in
> $crooge's life and development to cover, and usually ONLY 15 PAGES to do
> it in. I have always thought that this whole series will only read well
> when it's printed in ONE volume. More on that in a sec.

Don, for what it's worth, I usually have the same reaction to Neil
Gaiman's Sandman.  It isn't until I read the entire story arc in one
sitting that I understand all the intricacies of the story.  Same goes for
Frank Miller's Sin City, which reads much better as a book and not as a
serial.

Also, I read the third part in German three months ago, and I enjoyed it
immensely, even though I had to translate the text.  I rarely laugh out
loud when reading humourous stories, but I did when I saw the "rodeo" at
the end of part three.  

Just remember, Don, that what you do is excellent work, and is at least in
the top 25% of what is being published in comic books today.

> 	I wonder if that old Pogo baby was in the back of my head when I
> gave Hortense her "glxblt". If it's the same gurgle, that would be
> interesting.

	Either it's from "Pogo", or it's from MAD Magazine.  Somewhere in
the back of my brain, I have this picture of a drooling child saying that.
 May be Wally Wood, maybe Will Elder or Harvey Kurtzman.  Could even be
the MAD comicbook.  Of course, if we see any avocado plants or dirigibles
in future parts, then we'll know for certain. 

	I prefer chaotic, non-linear stories, as it prevents a lot of
mistakes from happening.  A good example of this is the Marvel Comics
universe.  It is now thirty years old in "real time", but the characters
have only aged about ten years.  This causes problems with characters
which  experienced the Vietnam War, disco, campus protests, etc. 
Superman was once non-linear (remember Superbaby and Superboy?), but fifty
years of multicolored kryptonite, Superanimals, and Lois trying to
discover Kal-El's identity created a lot of baggage.  Currently, the
Superman editorial staff is doing an excellent job of organizing the
various stories.  (Take a look at the cover.  Ever wonder what those
triangles are for?  They tell the reader what order to read the issues.)
	However, I think organizing a non-linear character like Uncle
Scrooge could lead to trouble.  Why?  Because I think that others will
try to shoehorn stories into the timeline, or use facts and forget others
so that mistakes are made, and when someone tries to organize it all,
well, it makes it very difficult.  
	Don, you already had this problem (the magic hourglass), and
perhaps others will not try to organize the Ducks like you have. 
Furthermore, I hope that fans don't get to involved with setting up
genealogies and histories, as it tends to dilute the fun and excitement of
reading.  
	And no, I don't think that TLaTo$M is a bad thing.  Don did a lot
of research and hard work, and I am certain that it will be appreciated by
most of the readers.

Torsten Adair	torsten at cwis.unomaha.edu	Omaha, NE, USA (via NZ)




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