Articles from Komix #160

Kriton Kyrimis kyrimis at cti.gr
Thu Nov 8 07:36:19 CET 2001


With some delay, here are this month's translations from last month's
issue of Komix. [As usual, comments in square brackets are my own.]

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                Don Rosa talks about the Dutchman's Secret
                  Legends and Treasures in the Wild West

  The richest duck in the world returns to his old lairs and discovers the
  most legendary treasure of the Wild West. Don Rosa presents the sequel
  to one of the "Lost Episodes" of the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.

This story is not a sequel to yet another classic story by Carl Barks,
as is usually the case, but a sequel of my own story, *The Vigilante
of Pizen Bluff*, one of the "Lost Episodes" of the _Life and Times of
Scrooge McDuck_.  In Arizona of 1890, we saw an old prospector giving
a map to young Scrooge.  This new story is based on this particular map
and begins about fifteen minutes after the end of the old story. Scrooge
tries to unglue an old leaflet from his scrapbook and sends the nephews
to the money bin's basement to find the jar of glue that he had used to
glue the memorabilia on the pages of the scrapbook.

The central subject of this new story is the Lost Dutchman's Mine. I
could, perhaps, have picked a better subject... It is the most famous
lost treasure in North America, but I am very much afraid that it is
not particularly known to my European readers. And now that my stories
are not published in America, it is rather improbable that my fellow
countrymen will be able to read it!  However, I had wanted to write it
for many years... Being an American, the legend of the Dutchman's Mine
fascinates me... You Europeans will have to forgive me for this!

Anyway, regarding European readers, this story is of particular interest
to my German friends. Did I want to say the Dutch? No, because Jacob
Waltz, the so-called Dutchman, was German. Many Americans would call
Germans "Dutchmen", possibly because Germans said they came from
"Deutchland" (Note by _Komix_: Germany... in German!), without knowing
that we call their country "Germany"!  And so, when an immigrant would
say that he came from "Deutchland", we dumb Americans thought he meant
the country where Dutchmen live, i.e., Holland! Thus, the most renowned
lost treasure in America should have been called "The Lost German's Mine",
and my story should have been titled "The German's Secret". Things didn't
turn out that way, though!

I hope you like my story. I think that I managed to give an exciting
and absolutely realistic solution to the riddle of the Dutchman's Lost
Mine... A solution so authentic and faithful in its details, that I
have no doubt that some treasure hunters could follow the clues that
I give... Each detail of the legend of the Dutchman and the Peralta
family is authentic. The same is true for the mysterious inscription
on the rock and the secret Spanish symbols that I found in a forgotten
old book. Indeed, it would seem that this inscription includes these
symbols for maps that lead to treasure, along with other meaningless
marks... Does this mean, I wonder, that the inscription was modified to
cover the signs that lead to the gold? The story about the Jesuits and
Father Eusebio Francesco Chino [sp?] is also true, and the way in which
I associate it with the Dutchman's legend is completely realistic.

There might be at most five readers in the entire world who know so much
about the Dutchman's legend and the history of Mexico and Arizona, who
could understand that these elements are authentic. I am certain that
all five live in America, where this story will never be published! Why,
then, do I base a story on real data, which, perhaps, no reader is going
to appreciate?  Would my story have been more or less entertaining if
it had been based on imaginary data? Good question! I, however, had fun
writing it. I hope that many readers will find it entertaining.

  Don Rosa

P.S. By the way, the campers at the lower part of page 22 are... my
wife and I! We love camping, and have been around those parts. Not the
Coronado mountains, but a bit further to the north, the Grand Canyon.

[Caption, p.1]
Don Rosa poses with pride in front of his comics archive. This time,
we obviously have to do with... the American's Mine!

[Caption, p.2]
The official poster for the game _Lost Dutchman's Gold 2001_ (something
like the Camel Trophy), which is being organized with great success in
America. The Dutchman's legend also inspires the fans of extreme sports.

[Inset, p.2]

http://superstitionmountainmuseum.org/LostDutchmanExhibit.htm For anyone

believing that he can be luckier than the countless aspiring prospectors
who have tried to find the lost mine of the Dutchman to this day,
in the web page of the local museum there are 23 maps on paper, rock,
and clay to study... They are but one of the approximately two and a
half thousand web pages referring, one way or another, to the legendary
treasure of Jacob Waltz.  *Left* The museum's introductory page. *Bottom
left* Some of the maps in rock, clay,... *Bottom right* ...and paper.


[Inset, p.3]

A GERMAN IN ARIZONA

In the story *The Dutchman's Secret*, Don invites the reader to a real
treasure hunt, as in the novel _Treasure Island_ by Robert Lewis Stevenson
or in the field +The Treasure of the Sierra Madre_ by John Huston. As
always, Don uses real elements to compose his story, and this gives a
special interest to _The Dutchman's Secret_... If, of course, we accept
that everything that has been said and written about the mine do not
belong to the sphere of legend...  Indeed, in that corner of Arizona,
in the Superstition Mountains, also known as Coronado Mountains, it
is difficult to separate truth from legend. Let's take things from the
beginning, however...

As Don mentions, the Dutchman was, in reality, German. Jacob Waltz was
born in Germany in 1810 and arrived in America in 1845. He passed through
Carolina and Georgia, looking for gold, and ended up in California,
where, in 1861, he acquired the American citizenship, a necessary
prerequisite for claiming property of a mine. There, it appears that he
met a prospector from Arizona, who most probably talked to him about the
gold in the area of the Superstition Mountains. In 1868, Jacob moves
to Arizona and starts searching for gold in the Salt River area. In
1891 he will abandon this vain world in Phoenix, Arizona, without ever
revealing to Julia Thomas, his landlady, the origin of the gold that
was found hidden under his bed. Julia Thomas went to the Superstition
Mountains and looked for Jacob's mine, but was unable to find it.
However, in January 1895, an article in the _San Francisco Chronicle_
talked about the lost mine., giving information that would supposedly
lead to its discovery. However, the legend keeps attracting to these
places tourists from all over the world. More than a hundred people have
claimed at times that they have found it. For the inhabitants of the area,
however, the legend and its fascination are the real Dutchman's mine!

[Caption]
*Above* According to the poster of John Huston's movie _The Treasure of
the Sierra Madre_, the more Humphrey Bogart and the other adventurers get
closer to the treasure, the more they get farther from the law. The movie
has been filmed in the wild mountains of the Sierra Madre and combines
adventure with the western. *Below* Stevenson's novel _Treasure Island_
keeps fascinating, from 1883 to this day, in any form, from motion picture
to comics. The picture shows the cover of the _Classics Illustrated_
edition.

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        Don Rosa talks to _Komix_: from Barks to Blueberry
                A Duck in the Lairs of Moebius

  Mike Steve Blueberry, whom Jean Michel Charlier and Jean Giraud, better
  known as Moebius, created in 1963, is one of the most characteristic
  western heroes in comics.

Already from his first adventure, which began being published in October
1963 in installments in the French magazine _Pilote_, Blueberry looks
at the mountains of Arizona and refers to the legendary treasure of
the Dutchman.  After several years and more than three hundred pages
full of gunfight and adventure, his creators decide to send him to
look for this legendary mine.  This adventure was first published in
installments from May to October, 1969 and from January to July, 1970,
before being published in 1972, in two albums: _La Mine de l'Allemand
Perdu_ and _Le Spectre Aux Balles d' Or_. Almost self-contained, this
double album can be read as a classic western. To many it represents
the best moments of the Charlier-Giraud duo.

Don Rosa has read and is very well acquainted with Blueberry's
adventures.  Here is what he said to _Komix_ when we pointed out to him
that lieutenant Blueberry had discovered the Dutchman's treasure thirty
years before the richest duck in the world.


KOMIX: In *The Dutchman's Secret*, uncle Scrooge discovers the most
famous treasure in the Wild West. This time, however, he comes second
and sweating...  Thirty years earlier, Charlier and Giraud's Blueberry
had discovered the legendary mine. Have you read these stories?

ROSA: Yes! I took them out and re-read them to see how one of my favorite
comics duos had rendered the subject. It is a fine story and the art
is--as always--wonderful, so much so that I feel foolish calling myself a
"comics artist", if this is what comics are.


KOMIX: Are there particular references? I think that the Indian village
in the cave is very similar to the village in the story by Charlier
and Giraud...

ROSA: I borrowed the idea, of placing the treasure in a pueblo in the
rocks, from this story. I already knew that this was an old Indian mine
and that the Indians in the area were living in such pueblos. I did take
a look, however, at Giraud's pueblo... I also noticed the way in which
he draws the rocks and desert plants. Some times I tried to imitate him,
most of the times, however, I only wanted to catch the general style of
rendering the shapes of the rocks and plants. I believe that his research
is reliable, since he had lived in those parts! I used these comics as
reference material in drawing [planning?]  _The Dutchman's Secret_, as
well as the story _The Three Caballeros Ride Again_, since Blueberry's
adventures take place in those parts and in the area of Chihuaua [sp?] in
Mexico. However, I found that the script had nothing to do with the real
Lost Mine of the Dutchman. I cannot understand why Blueberry's story has
this title, since, it would seem, Europeans have never heard the real
story. Another thing that I could never understand is why the hero is
named Blueberry. Is it supposed to be a funny nick-name in the original?


KOMIX: American names sound so exotic in the ears of Europeans,
you know...

ROSA: Ha!


KOMIX: Anyway, this is not a nickname, even though there is world-play
involving his name, which in Greek means "myrtilo", a kind of berry.

ROSA: To American ears, at least, this name is too girlish for a
cowboy. It would be more appropriate for his girlfriend...


KOMIX: You insist on using authentic references, in a most creative manner,
indeed. Your intention is not to give a history lecture, but to entertain
the readers...

ROSA: My intention is the entertainment of the readers. However, I
believe that using real history makes my stories more entertaining.


KOMIX: The way in which you use historic references is more reminiscent
of some European comics, such as Asterix. Like you, Gosciny and Uderzo
combine historic and imaginary persons, placing their imaginary heroes
in real historic events. Like you, they try to give comic explanations
to familiar historic events.

ROSA: Some--three, I think-- Asterix stories had been published in
America when I was a teenager. I had found them in my school library,
and I found them wonderful! If I had grown up with these comics,
if I had read these stories when I was little, as I had read Barks'
stories, I don't know which I would have loved more. Most probably,
I would have likes Bars and Asterix equally, for different reasons,
of course. However, the way in which I use historic events relies on
how well I saw history being used in the adventures of Asterix. It is
then that I realized that it is foolish to invent imaginary, supposedly
historic, meaningless events, when real history is ten times better!


KOMIX: You have been influenced by _DC_ comics of the 1960s. There are
also references to _EC_ comics and the work of Barks. Now you tell us
about Blueberry and Asterix.

ROSA: The work of every writer and artist is rich in influences. Our
entire existence is based on things we happened to meet and be entertained
or inspired by them.


[Caption, p.1, left]
*Above* The cover of the American edition of the story by Charlier
and Giraud-Moebius. Why, though, while the art is so "authentic",
the script of their classic story, as Don Rosa notes, didn't have
anything to do with the real Lost Mine of the Dutchman? This was
because, originally, the subject of the story would not have been
the legendary treasure. Initially, Jean Giraud had wanted to write
a story inspired  James Oliver Kerwood's _Prospector_[?] which he had
read when he was little. The main character is an old prospector of
German extraction. Charlier began writing a script based on his young
colleague's idea. Along the way, however, he thought that this was an
opportunity to refer to the legendary treasure of the Dutchman. *Below*
The cover of the adventure in which Blueberry finds the mine...

[Caption, p.1, right]
Moebius (below left) poses in front of a Far West landscape, which he
drew for the advertising campaign of a well-known brand of jeans.

[Caption, p.2, above]
"Blueberry, Crowe! Look at those columns of smoke in the horizon!"
"Aha! That one is towards the side of the Dutchman's Lost Mine..."
In this exchange from the first episode of the series, is the first
reference to the legendary mine in Blueberry's adventures.

[Caption, p.2, bottom]
The pueblo in the rock face, where the Lost Mine is, as rendered by
Moebius and Don Rosa. Don does not hide that he had a look at the pages
of his European colleague...

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	Kriton	(e-mail: kyrimis at cti.gr)
	      	(WWW:    http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis)
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"To err is human."
"That is precisely what the Vulcans will say."
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