DCML digest, Vol 1 #219

[Clément Le Hyaric]

Don Rosa wrote:

"Barks limited himself more than I do in another sense in that he never
allowed himself (for reasons I've never heard) to use ghosts or witches or
the occult, whereas I like to use Sir Quackly as the occasional link $crooge
has with his ancestors. No, Barks' Magica DeSpell was NOT a witch with
occult powers, she was a sorceress, a normal person who needed to use old
wands and to learn ancient spells to perform magic... she used preternatural
powers, not supernatural powers".

John Garvin wrote:

"Are living wooden puppets really more fantastic than a race of
menny-hoo-nees living in Hawaii?  No, I think the Barks universe is very
much a "fantasy" one, unless one chooses to ignore a great many Barks
stories.  You might choose to tell your stories that way, but you can hardly
claim that that's the way "Barks did it."  Barks did it many ways.  He often
used "logic and actual history" and often used whimsy and pure fantasy.  And
I don't think you can argue that all of these stories were done because he
editors ordered him too".

***

I think Don is right when he says Barks' Duck universe is not a fantasy
universe: although Barks' stories often involve "fantastic elements", these
elements are uncommon and meant for confronting Ducks to an unusual
situation. The role of these elements is only to start up the story (or to
give it a background), letting the action continue with logic rules, and
Ducks evolve in actual history. If Barks' universe was a fantasy universe,
Ducks wouldn't be amazed at fantastic events, and the reader would not
consider them anymore as "fantastic" ones. So I think Barks' universe is an
"alternative universe" more than a fantasy one. Moreover, in my opinion, Don
Rosa perpetuate perfectly Barks' way of doing: he puts his characters into
very unusual and amazing situations, but makes them act in accordance with
the true laws of logic and physics (and according to the real history), even
when it's difficult. And this is what brings so pleasure (and laugh) to the
reader, like in this story (my Don's favourite) in which Magica DeSpell
changes the direction of the gravity for these poor Uncle Scrooge and Donald
Duck (sorry I don't know the english title of this story, I can only give
you its french translation: "Un problème sans gravité" - D 96001).

Clement Le Hyaric-