Rosa Quiz from first-timer

Mark Small smalley58au at yahoo.com
Fri Jul 18 16:01:58 CEST 2003


Hello,

My name is Mark and I am from Australia. It is with
some embarassment to say that I have been lurking on
this list for nearly three years. I remember that
after Carl Barks died (it did get a mention in the
mainstrem media here in Australia, but it wasn't big
news), I got on the Internet to see what I could read
about him. That is when I came across the DCML, I
registered, and here I am now.

Certainly the Mailing List has been a source of
information, enjoyment and amusement for me,
especially in those dark days after Gladstone ceased
publication of their comics. I followed the progess of
Gemstone picking up the Disney licence, found links to
Duck sites, heard via his own words what Don Rosa (my
favourite artist after Barks) was up to, taken part in
surveys to nominate Duckburg's most famous landscapes
and more recently tested my knowledge with the Bark's
trivia quiz. 

More importantly though, it gave me a way to collect
Don Rosa's new stories in German, a language that my
high school learning allows me to struggle through. I
was beginning to think I'd never see these stories in
English, my native language, again.

Anyway this is what has prompted  me to "put pen to
paper" (er - finger to keyboard) to say thank you to
the DCML and the people behind it. Several times in
the past I came close to de-lurking. There were some
mails that I thought, I know the answer to this or I
can contribute here, but often the question was asked
AND answered within the same batch of emails (how is
that done?) or, after not having logged on for a few
days, and being faced with a daunting backlog of
mails, finding that issues had been resolved or were
now "old news". Well that is my excuse.

I was so happy to get Gemstone's premiere issues, very
well put together, and with Rosa's "The Dutchmans
Secret", but there was a bit of dismay. A bit
expensive at US$7 (AUS $15 after air freight and local
markup) so I doubt they will reach the mass market,
which is Gemstone's aim. People like me will always
buy them, but they are going to run into the same
problem that Gladstone publications did -low
circulation that makes it increasingly difficult to
make a profit. Maybe they will fare better with the
US$3 comics that will come out later. Time will tell
if they make the mass distribution outlets (rather
than the specialty comic shops) IF they are shipped by
sea mail to Australia.

Now, has anyone noticed this? In one Rosa story he
pays homage to Orson Welles' classic "Citizen Cane".
The dialogue from three panels is practically word for
word straight from the movie - except the reference to
Charles Foster Cane is changed to Cornelius Coot (that
should be a clue). Even the illustrations, one with
detailed shading effects, are derived from the movie.
Hopefully this hasn't been covered before, because it
is one of his earlier stories. Also I am talking about
the American Gladstone edition, as I am sure the
European translations would not have been aware of the
dialogue.

Can anyone identify this story, and the three panels
in particular?

Mark Small

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