Of "DuckTales" and other things

[kimba1962@comcast.net]

I must admit to being quite STUNNED by GARY LEACH'S news that an upcoming 
issue of DD&F will feature a Launchpad appearance.  As my previous pessimistic 
quote indicated, I thought that "DT" had sunk below the radar of both Disney 
and Gemstone by this time.  It was especially gratifying to see Gemstone 
recognize Launchpad's continuing appeal after the decidedly uneven handling of 
the "Gladstone I" "DuckTales" title -- a true "mixed bag" of largely mediocre 
Studio-produced "DT" stories, Barks reprints, generally excellent (albeit off-
center) Lustig/Van Horn opi, and even one "regular" Duck story in which 
Donald's presence was explained by Scrooge's comment that Donald was "on leave 
from the Navy."  I appreciate Gemstone's sentiment and will definitely make 
known my desire to have more such material in future issues.

JONATHAN GRAY mentioned the mishandling of the "lucky dime" notion in Marv 
Wolfman's "Scrooge's Quest."  I tend to think that the overreliance on 
the "lucky dime" conceit was but one example of Wolfman's general lack of 
familiarity with how the Ducks' universe(s) operated.  Another example would 
be the final installment of the serial (Disney DUCKTALES #7), wherein a 
paranoid Glomgold works himself into a frenzy over Scrooge's apparent lack of 
concern that Glomgold has taken over Duckburg.  Joe Torcivia correctly 
compared the characters' attitudes in this tale to those of Daffy Duck and 
Bugs Bunny in Chuck Jones' "duck season/rabbit season" cartoons.  Wolfman 
didn't seem to realize that the characters were acting WAY out of character in 
this one.  Though a gifted writer, Wolfman may very well have figured that he 
was dealing with talking Ducks, after all, so who'd mind some non-canonical 
interpretations of characterization?

ROB NEYER fingered "All Ducks on Deck" as a particularly "Barksian" episode 
of "DuckTales."  I concur -- the use of Donald in this ep was inspired, and 
the story showed (as did "Three Ducks of the Condor") that it is definitely 
possible for Donald and LP to coexist believably in a Duck adventure without 
sucking up one another's oxygen.  LP is NOT merely a stand-in for Donald, he 
is a character in his own right with different motivations, attitudes, and 
hang-ups than Donald. I know that there are a couple of Donald/LP "DT" 
adventure floating around in the Egmont "discard pile"... I'd love to see one 
in (say) DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES someday.

The notion of Glomgold living in Duckburg, which DAVID GERSTEIN traced to 
the "Egmont Glomgold revival" period of the 70s, was duplicated 
in "DuckTales," with the added twist that Glomgold now sported a Scottish 
accent like Scrooge.  This last always made logical sense to me; where ELSE 
might another ambitious, money-hoarding miser have come from during that era?  
If Scrooge could go to America to make his fortune, surely Glomgold could have 
chosen to seek HIS riches in South Africa.  As for Flinty's move to Duckburg 
(political considerations aside), I always figured that at some point, 
Glomgold would decide to settle closer to Scrooge in order to keep closer 
track of his great rival.  

The influence of "DuckTales" does have a way of popping up in unlikely places, 
despite the "lack of popularity" of "DT" comics stories abroad.  Among the 
most recent Gemstone releases, Kori Kerhonen(?)'s "Sons of the Moon" in the 
latest WDC&S featured some interesting wrinkles that may very well have been 
inspired by "DT", and I'm not just talking about the fact that the story 
starred only Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  The notion of a single Nephew being 
singled out as the thematic focus of an adventure first appeared (in this 
country, anyway) in the 1987 "DuckTales" episode "Duck in the Iron Mask."  Pat 
Block has since focused on one Nephew in his first story "The Mystery at 
Widow's Gap," but as far as I know, "DT" got there first with the idea.  Who 
knows but what Kerhonen drew some inspiration from the episode's idea of Dewey 
becoming alienated from the other Nephews because he is tired of looking 
exactly like them. 

It appears that I goofed up my quote of DON ROSA's comments about his 
interpretation of "DT" -- it was one of those things where I knew what I was 
trying to say but didn't phrase it quite right.  Sorry, Don.

Chris Barat