digest #331

[Don Rosa]

Okay, I just got back from the MidOhioCon, and I see all these great
suggestions and ideas for Money Bin rooms. I made a list of notes and I'll
comment on a few ideas, but I did not make a note on who said what, so I'll
just pile all the comments together.

First of all, hiho to Hoy who I bumped into too briefly at the convention.
Sorry -- I figured I'd see you 37 more times otherwise we should have
chatted longer. We must have been in different aisles the rest of the
weekend. Glad I signed all your comics during that encounter!

As for this Money Bin idea -- my challenge is to sift through all my
memories and other folks' suggestions and decide what to include and what
to ignore. Many rooms that Barks showed are essential. But other rooms and
views must be weighed as being done only for convenience of panel or story
construction, or that they were used simply as a toss-away gag, the same
way I treat the Bin when I draw it. I don't suggest that Barks *ever*
intended that somebody attempt a Money Bin design -- I'm doing it just for
my own pleasure. And I have also always drawn views of Money Bin office
interiors without concern to how they fit together or whether I show the
office in the same design twice... and after we draw up Bin plans, I will
seldom if ever look at them while drawing $crooge's office. I will also
leave a floor or two undescribed so that I can always decide there is
something else in the Bin that I had not thought of before. Also, if I
refuse to use a room or element that some Duckfan thinks I really should
have included, he's free to assume for himself that it's on that "other
floor".
Butler -- I know that Barks showed a butler pouring coins over $crooge in
one splash panel. $crooge (or Barks) hired the butler for that one purpose.
He was then sacked. And the butler and chauffer in "Xmas on Bear Mountain"
went along with the mansion in that story, and $crooge got rid of all that
(in *my* version of all this) soon thereafter, as I tell in my "Lo$" part
12.
Windows -- Barks showed various numbers and positions of windows, but most
of the time he showed 8, and that's how I have always shown it. 2 in each
upper cube-corner. Therefore, 4 would be in the office-facade and 4 in the
Bin itself. The window down low where $crooge reached out for a cabbage in
the garden in that one tale -- this is an example of a throw-away gag that
I'll ignore.
The Bin design might easily be offices on all 4 sides with the Bin in the
center, but that would be a LOT of drawing!!!! We already think we will
have great trouble in even drawing the layouts of a narrow bunch of rooms
on one side. And those 12-13 floors will have plenty of room for all the
ideas I foresee. So we will stick to offices in only the front facade of
the Bin.
The idea of a tunnel down into the coins is fine, but that is not part of
the Bin design. And it would be a changing element as well. It might be
there, but it won't show on our plans. And that's good because we really
won't have room for diagrams of anything but those narrow front floor
sections! Also, the painting with the mine-shaft that is being referred to
was done during the so-called "Carl Barks Studio" period, and I am quite
delighted to blot those years from my memory of Barks altogether. 'Nuff
said.
Precious stones on the bottom level of the Bin -- this is an example of a
very funny throw-away gag that I will very much ignore. The precious stones
will be housed in small bins in the facade-section, along with bullion,
etc.
The giant bed in "Invisible Intruder" -- this was NOT a Barks story. He
only drew it. And I'm glad to ignore that very un-$crooge-like notion.
Which brings me to the reminder applicable to all my work: I ignore all
stories that Barks either only drew or only wrote. The reason I would
ignore the stories that he only wrote (the "Junior Woodchuck" stories) is
that Barks seemed to be doing stories about the JW's, and using $crooge as
only a background character, and I don't really like the $crooge character
that appears in some of those stories. He seems like a new character
compared to the older stories. Well, anyway, I choose to ignore any
post-1967 work Barks did on these Ducks.
Now I have a rather long list of other ideas and issue numbers and I'm
gonna go check them all out and decide what to do. F'rinstance, can the
"thinking room" be the same as the "worry room"? But ALL comments have been
noted and will be examined! Thanks! Please keep sending any new things you
recall!