Kalevala, German ratings, Scarpa

[Jan Follak]

To Harry Fluks/ Don Rosa (with spoiler warning):
I was surprised that Harry thought that Donald is a real dope in the
Kalevala-story. I was on the contrary very happy that Don gave him a more
important role than usual. Most extreme counter-example would be the "Lost
Library", where Donald is only watching TV instead of living life
first-hand and doesn't take part in the adventure that's really going on.
In the Kalevala-story Donald is the one who can enter the underworld, make
the ice freeze in which Louhi is buried and dig the musical instrument out
of the sea that Väinämoinen needs. On the other hand Scrooge's defects
become obvious. His love for money makes him as cold as the finnish scenery
he's acting in, and this doesn't help at all. So Donald does have some
qualities, because he is, as Väinämöinen puts it (of course in iambic metre
and with alliteration): "klein an Klugheit, groß an Güte", which means: not
very clever, but very kind and loving. 

To Joachim Stahl: 
The ratings of Rosa's stories in the German "Micky Maus" that you gave are
really fascinating. "The vigilante of Pizen Bluff" is one of my favourite
stories by Don, but the kids that buy MM don't seem to think so. Can you
give an example of a story from last year that was very popular? I'm still
reading my weekly MM, so I'll know it for sure. :-) The problem could be
that the "Micky Maus"-weekly is not the best place for Rosa's stories,
because it's mainly read by kids who buy there comics at newssstands or
supermarkets. But there still are the Rosa comic albums in Germany, sold at
bookshops and comic shops, at a higher price and with a lower amount of
printed issues. These seem to be popular enough. The German "Paperinik New
Adventures", "Der neue Phantomias" (which I like a lot), didn't work as a
newsstand title as well, but seems to sell better now as part of the "Ehapa
Comic Collection"-books. So that seems to be a similar case. Anyway, I'm
with the ones who prefer Don's history stories.

To all:
This week's "Micky Maus" #6 already features the new Gerstein/Scarpa story,
so Germany seems to be the first country to print it. There are a lot of
details which refer to old Gottfredson stories. Though I recognize them, I
can't identify all of them. I'd love to check out where they are coming
from, but unfortunately I don't have my "Ich Micky Maus"-books at hand (the
German equivalent to the "Io Topolino"-series). :-(