DCML digest #864

Don Rosa donrosa at iglou.com
Sat Mar 16 14:36:11 CET 2002


From: "Fluks, H.W." <H.W.Fluks at kpn.com>
>>>>>>>>It takes an artist who thinks over such tiny details, to get this
result!

Thank you so much! You're too kind!

>>>>>>>On the other hand, I saw one of the ugliest drawings of the nephews,
on page 3.

Thank you so much! You're too kind!
(Waitaminit. There *wasn't* a Nephew on page 3. Oh, well...)

>>>I didn't quite understand why the story showed a flash-back to the
"matter
of some gravity" story. That flash-back doesn't seem to have a function at
all.

Oh, it had a very definite function! If not for that "public notice" to
readers that this story was purposely intended to be a direct match to the
plot (if not the details) of "A Matter of Some Gravity", the mean-spirited,
captious element would start griping that "he's ripping off old stories!",
"That ain't new, I read this story before!" "Wah wah wah", etc. Anytime I
lift a gag or a plot element from an old movie or comic as one of my
constant "homages", or do a sequel, I always alert that grumbly faction of
readers that "Yes, I know that you know where this originally came from!
You're supposed to know! I'm using it because I expect you to know that I
know that you know! That's the *whole point*!" A perfect example of this was
in an early story I did for Egmont titled "Super Snooper Strikes Again"
which I designed as a sequel to Barks' original, which is one of my very
favorites, and I wanted to explore an additional fundamental difference
between Donald Duck style comics and American super-hero stuff. I *loaded*
the story with clear and direct references to Barks' original, constant
comments by every single character about "the last time this happened", and
"Prof. Cosmic's previous shipment", and "he's doing it again", etc., etc.,
etc. ... not to mention the title of the story, itself.
Well, this was before Byron Erickson came along. And the editors, without my
knowledge (and perhaps in their own ignorance of Barks stories?), removed
*every last mention* in the story about its intention of being read as a
sequel. Therefore, that captious, resentful reader element got all bent
outta shape saying that I was "ripping off Carl Barks stories, passing off
old ideas as my own, what a mangy, low-down, wah wah wah.." etc.
So now I put the references into the stories in such a way that no editor
can remove them. That flashback panel could not be changed or eliminated,
and is my "crank-protection".

>>>>I wasn't very delighted with the Finnish cover either.

No kiddin'!? I was really proud of that cover! It's an eye-grabber. But
then, I come from the background of covers that are really dramatic. I
assume many European Disney comic readers have gotten used to and prefer the
simple gag covers. That cover was supposed to have a banner across the top
like "Magica DeSpell Strikes Again" (no relation to Super Snooper) in order
to catch the Magica fans. In my many travels, I've learned that Magica is
such a popular character, that she should have her own title.
By the way, if you can name a single scene in that story that would have
made sense as the cover that the Finns had requested, I'm curious as to what
it might be.

>>>Well, one can't have everything...

...and you can't please 'em all...






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