If you want to be added to this list, please tell me (Per) about it. If you have access to your own WWW pages, please put your introduc(k)tion there and just send me the URL for it. Then you can update it yourself whenever you want. If you can't make your own WWW pages, then send me the text, and I'll add it here instead.
Name: Marshall T. Allen, commonly called Mark Born in Oak Ridge Tennesee, USA in 1954, moved to Maryland in 1957, and currently live in Elkridge, Maryland, USA (SW of Baltimore). Gainfully employed as a contract negotiator for the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, USA. Interested primarily in the Ducks and the FG Mouse, but collect any Disney comic I can afford.
www.jps.net/xephyr(I share this website with my housemates Daniel & Karen so follow the path to "Rich"). On that main page you'll see a picture of a little bluegray winged pony named Xephyr (pronounced like the west wind "Zephyr") whom I created and wrote unpublished children's stories about. There's also a section devoted to "Disney" where I am trying my hand at documenting character profiles of many of my favorite Disney characters. I'd love to discuss anything Disney, and wouldn't mind corrections or additional information you would like to add to the list. Thanks in advance.
Anyhow, I have loved most all things Disney ever since I could remember. My favorite Disney film is "Lady & the Tramp," and my top three favorite Disney characters are Baby Pegasus (from "Fantasia"), Figaro the Kitten (from both "Pinocchio" and the cartoon shorts), and Goofy. While I like Goofy in cartoons, I've never felt much attachment to him in comics. Mickey on the other hand has alway delighted me. I do like Duck stories which involve Huey, Dewey & Louie, but I'm not so partial to Donald and Uncle $crooge the way, I gather, most on this Mailing List are. I'm sure it's probably a blasphemy to say so, but I really did like "Ducktales" and am currently taping as many of the episode as I can off the Disney Channel. My favorite Disney villian has to be Pete. He great for nostalgic reasons (as Unca Walt's oldest character), and because he interacts with nearly every Disney character in comics, from Pluto to Moby Duck. My favorite Disney comic title is and has always been: "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories" (though I suppose it's just "Walt Disney's Comics" now). I like WDC because it offers such a diverse set of stories and characters each issue. I even like the little one-page gags like Roald Dahl's creations "Gremlins" and especially the "Scamp" tales. It's my understanding that "Scamp" is finally going to make his staring role debut in a film in a sequel to "Lady & the Tramp" soon. But I digress... Last updated August 6, 1997
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 1994 15:28:19 +0100 From: bjorn-are.davidsen@s.televerket.tele.no Subject: Introduction to Bjorn Are Davidsen As one of the most eager lurkers on the list (and contributor every second month), I am glad for this opportunity to introduce myself! This is written somewhat hurrily, and as a bit more of a listing than it perhaps should have been. Name: Bjorn Are Daviden (the "Bjorn" is with a Norwegian "oe"). Working place: Norwegian Telecom, Network Division, Product Developement (which means mainly network access services like ISDN, Centrex, VPN and so on, and related to terminal based services like videophone (for some reason seldom seen in Barks or other Disney series). I live in Oslo and beside lurking/participating on the list I am married (two children, 3.5 and 0.7 years). When I have time off from my dear children and wife I (and my wife just as much) read a LOT (Science Fiction, Chesterton, Detective Stories, Tolkien, Lewis, Solsjenitsyn, Historical novels, Historical non fiction - sometimes called History (By the way, Marco Polo did really visit Constantinople as I pointed out last autumn, but - as I also pointed out - as the first one I think - several decades after the Fourth Crusade of 1204), comics (besides Gottfredson, Barks and Rosa everything from Terry and the Pirates to Sandman), theology, sociology and more. And I listen (and participate in various fan clubs) to music (Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Gentle Giant, Beatles, Hendrix and others). Besides, I write regularly articles to Norwegian magazines/papers on history, theology, music, comics and other subjects I enjoy. As you may imagine, there is not much time left to write to the digest... My particular Donaldistic interest is anything and everything by Barks, Gottfredson, Taliaferro and Rosa. Yours Bjorn Are
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 1994 07:01:13 -0500 From: dubach1@husc.harvard.edu Hello! My name is Joev Dubach, and I'm a senior at Harvard (in the easily-drawn snow-covered state of Massachusetts.) I'm from Seattle, which I naturally prefer to Boston (my hometown can beat your hometown!) I'm working on graduating with a degree in Math and Computer Science, after which I plan to get a real job. I found out about this list through the r.a.c. FAQ, being a regular reader of racm, and, on a lark, decided to subscribe. I haven't bought a Disney comic since I was four feet tall, which is what drives me to lurk; I just don't know that much. But the wonderful discussion on this list is driving me ever closer to trying some current Gladstones, and I'm particularly intrigued by the discussion of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Does anyone have a recommended cheap starting point for Carl Barks' Ducks? There's so much of it out there, in very different forms and intersecting contents, that I'm a bit daunted. Anyhow, thanks for the enlightening discussion! (That should be enough of an introduction, I think. Bye now!) Joev
My name if Fredrik Ekman. I am a 23-year-old student from Sweden, and like all other Swedes of my (and several previous) generation, I have been reading and enjoying Disney comics for as long as I can remember. Thus, I'm naturally also a member of the Swedish donaldist organization NAFS(k). Currently, I am studying English at a university in Linkoping. My major, however, is Computer Science and within a year or so I hope to have the Swedish equivalence of a Master exam. When it comes to Disney comics, I especially enjoy those by Carl Barks (of course), Don Rosa and William Van Horn. I also read a lot of other comics and my favourite creators outside Disney are Alan Moore, Steve Gerber and Marten Toonder, to mention but a few. I generally prefer a good story to fancy art. When I do not study, play with my computer or read comics I may possibly be found doing one of the following things: Reading books (you know, the ones with no pictures in them), instructing Ju-Jutsu or singing in a male voice choir.Last updated April 26, 1995
Last updated August 19, 1996.
I'm David Gerstein, a 22-year-old college graduate with my home in Santa Barbara. I've been a fan of the Ducks ever since I was five, when my parents bought me a trio of comics that included Barks' classic "Back to the Klondike". Two years later I first got a collection of Floyd Gottfredson's MICKEY MOUSE daily strips. The two incidents hooked me on Disney comics. My interest grew when Gladstone took over: this was when I discovered the great foreign stories and the new creations of Don Rosa.
Eventually I decided that I liked the comics enough to try to write some of my own. In 1988 I submitted my first Duck story to Gladstone, "The Great Pie Promotion." It was rejected, but after a lot of work, I'm now writing original Duck and Mouse tales for Egmont Publishing and doing American scripts for some of the foreign stories Gladstone's printing. My original Egmont stories will appear in the United States beginning in 1997, as will occasional stories I'm doing especially for Gladstone. My first story was "Two in One" (Uncle Scrooge, D93138, 10 pages).
Carl Barks not only created some of the very best Disney comics, but held his "golden age" for years -- he produced exceptional work for a very long period of time. Floyd Gottfredson's best period was a little shorter, but I have a special soft spot for his work that makes it my favorite. Trying to get my start in life quite early, during my earlier years I have often identified with Gottfredson's youthful, enthusiastic version of Mickey Mouse.
My favorite modern creator is Don Rosa, with Daan Jippes a close second. I also love the work of Romano Scarpa. I think Daniel Branca is a superb artist, but his work varies with the quality of the scripts he's given.
When it comes to making my own Disney comic stories I enjoy tipping my hat to favorite pieces of literature, film, and opera (for example "Ten-Penny Opera," a stage spoof with Scrooge and Magica De Spell). In my Mickey stories, I also like to create a feeling of community by not using only Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy, but characters like Horace, Butch, and Eega Beeva who add some more variety to the tales. I enjoy breaking away from the shopworn detective-Mickey format of the 1950s.
I have other goals in the field, among them to one day edit some American Disney comics as well as produce stories for them. I also plan to draw the Mice and Ducks one day, but I'm slow and meticulous with my pen (as well as barely a better artist than when I drew that pie story in 1988) and at present, don't have time to draw the sagas I write.
Care to discuss Disney comics or short cartoons? I'm e-mailable at
<gerstein@math.ucsb.edu> to share thoughts about Barks, Gottfredson, Rosa, or you name it!
Last updated July, 1996
Well, my name is Mattias Hallin, I'm 29 years old (born in 1965), and work in
the administration of Lund University, Lund, Sweden, in the registry office
and in the University archives.
I majored in History, and also did some Archeaology and Anthropology/Ethnology.
I've tried my hand at a Ph.D. thesis in History, but has presently shelved that
project for reasons of gotta-eat.
Furthermore, I'm a part-time proof-reader, student and musician -- the latter
on banjo, guitar and to some extent cornet; I play Classic 1920's
Jazz/Traditional Jazz/Swing -- call it what you will, but don't call it
Dixieland! (The Word "Dixieland" should EITHER be a geographic term, OR denote
the music played by WHITE musicians FROM New Orleans, between c. 1915-1925.)
I'm a Carl Barks fan, ever since I was able to recognize "the good artist" --
and that was years before I knew his name! I'm also a board member of Swedish
Donaldistic association NAFS(k), and with my brother co-editor-in-chief of the
fanzine NAFS(k)uriren.
And wouldn't you know -- I do have an adress: Mattias Hallin
Trollebergsvagen 24 B
S-222 29 Lund, SWEDEN
phone: +46 (0)46-14 84 43 (home)
+46 (0)46-10 71 37 (work)
"If yer ever down in Texas, look me up!; any passing donaldist will find me
perenially ready to roll out the red carpet! So... "Come up and see me some
time! (Hic!) Come up and see me some time (Hic!)..."
We have been married (to each other) for one year, met online four years ago (actually, the first discussion we had was about Carl Barks and Don Rosa). Individual backgrounds: Pekka: Age 26, majoring in Physics. Got my first Finnish Donal Duck in August 1974, subscription followed a couple of weeks later. Learnt to distinguish Barks' style at age 7 (Finnish Donald Duck does not give credits, he was the good writer/artist), and have been a fan of his work ever since. My (now) wife introduced me (as told above) to Don Rosa's Duck stories as I had ended my subscription before they started publishing his work in Finland. Christina: Age 25, majoring in Computer Science. I don't remember when I first got a Disney magazine, but I got a subscription for the Finnish Donald Duck when I was 5. Although I didn't learn to distinguish Barks' style until quite old, almost all my favourite Duck stories from that time have turned out to be his. No other favourite writer/artist, until that one number that had a cartoon that had me falling out of my chair... I couldn't believe that this kind of comic would be published in a Disney comic, almost every panel was exploding with action. I was immediately sold. Only later on I learned that the artist was Don Rosa. Currently we are subscribing Aku Ankka (the Finnish Donald Duck), but since it nowadays is (in our opinion) mostly rubbish (apart from occasional Barks and Rosa stories), and as we are collecting the CBLinC and Don Rosa duck stories in English, we are seriously thinking of unsubscribing. We also hunt for autographs, and currently our (duck-related) collection consists of: two Barks lithographs (Finnish edition), a special leather bound facsimile edition of Aku Ankka 1951-2 (autographed by Carl Barks), and two personally given autographs from CB. The absolute (duck-related) highlight was when we got to meet Carl Barks personally last summer (three days before our wedding) in the Good Fellows Comic Store in Helsinki (we have photograps where we are shaking his hand to prove it!) and later in the evening at the Donald Duck Birthday Gala arranged by the publisher of Aku Ankka. Christina Hellstrom (chellstr@aton.abo.fi) Pekka Timonen (pati@jyu.fi)
Last updated August 10, 1995
The main thing I'll talk about here is Disney's 'dimension'. Most people including Don Rosa see the 'ducks/mice/wild animals' in seperate dimensions. I have a REALLY complicated theory that puts it all together. Every story ever in C&S really 'did' happen. To you this probably seems impossible. Just ask if you have a question... you probably will... & I'll answer it. I call the dimension 'Calisota' after the state.
About animation...
Many animated series are also 'true' when it seems like they're just 'alternates' to comics. Yes... this includes DuckTales. Your brain probably got 'paradoxed' thinking how that could be so I'll remind you to ask questions. Unlike Don's theory everyone talks the way they do in animation.
About me...
I live in Virginia. The 1st time I saw Calisota was in DuckTales at age 3. I had no idea the rest of this stuff existed until now... I'm 12. My favorite character is Dewey Duck.
Last updated July 1998
I thought I had outgrown them by the time I was 14 or so. Slowly, without realizing it, I got rid of my old comics--actually, my mom had burned (sacrilege!) most of them by using them as fire kindlings.
Then came a bleak period full of equations and graphs. Finishing high school in 1979, I left for the United States on a full scholarship at Bates College, a Liberal Arts college in Maine. During my four years as an undergraduate at Bates, I wondered occasionally WHERE the American Disney comics were! I mean, I was in the U.S., and I couldn't find ANY! Truth to tell, I didn't search much, but I'd expected to find them easily if they were being published.
After getting a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics, I went on to graduate school and eventually earned a Ph.D. in Economics. I thought I was happy and fulfilled by that time. By 1989, I was happily married, had found my first full-time job as a College Professor in Middlebury College, Vermont, and we were expecting our first child. What more can a human ask for!
Well, I got much more without even asking! One day, I wandered into a bookstore in a small Vermont town. As I was browsing thru its stacks of books, I happened to come across a thick and heavy book, full of beautiful color, with a number of Donald and Scrooge stories. As I was flipping thru it, some of its images kinda looked familiar! Now, wait a minute. I hadn't read a Disney comic book for years and years now. How could that be possible?
I bought that book at $35.95. It was the Celestial Arts book, and when I brought it home that evening, my wife took a look at it and gazed back at me with astonishment. I had paid all this money for a book with Disney stories? She told me that our baby wasn't even born yet, and that he\she wouldn't start reading before 4-5 years! When I told her that the book was for me, well, need I continue?...
Many stories in that book had stuck in my mind from my Elementary school years--especially the "Island in the Sky" story. I wanted to find more. And more I did--a trip to a comic book store opened my eyes to the wonderful Gladstone books of their first run--I bought as many as I could find, and more directly from them. Pretty soon I was able to get most of Barks' stories. It's very difficult to describe these feelings of rediscovering one's lost childhood.
I was fortunate to re-discover my lost childhood in a wonderful combination: having a baby (son) and re-discovering Barks! In these 7-8 years that have elapsed since that magical moment in a small Vermont town, I became an even happier person!
Well, the rest is history, as they say. I started buying everything I could find on Barks and the Ducks, I became hopelessly hooked.
By 1992 we had moved to Washington, DC, where I had a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor of Economics. My Barks collection was virtually complete, and I was now hooked on this new Duck guy, Don Rosa. I loved his stuff! Pretty soon I was able to find an outlet to him and started a regular correspondence with him. I think we Barks/Duck fans are very fortunate to have him draw the Ducks.
In 1994, we decided to move to Greece. It was a tough decision. I now live in Thessaloniki, and teach Economics at the American College of Thessaloniki, a Liberal Arts College of the american tradition, and a division of Anatolia College, an American educational institution with a more than 100 year history (first in Asia Minor, since 1886), and in Greece since 1923, where it re-located after the Asia Minor Catasroph and the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey. I now have three children (two boys and a girl), and are all on their way of becoming ardent Duck fans. My oldest one (he's 6), now reads Barks and Rosa on his own! My wife still cannot understand why I spent all this money on the Ducks. But amongst my greatest joys is still when I get to open a package every 2-3 months and read the adventures of my favorite Ducks--and my heart registers an extra beat when the comic books happen to contain a story by the brilliant, magic pen of Don Rosa.
Last updated March 20, 1997
My name is Jon Cato Lorentzen. I was born in 1972, and i figure this makes me one of the youngest guys on this list. I am currently studying physics at the University of Oslo, and plan to stay here for some years. My interest in Duck comics began in 1977 when my dad began to buy the Donald Duck comics to me every week. I soon became an avid collector and my dad helped me sort all the comics and put them in Donald Duck albums. In 1978 i got my first introduction to Carl Barks when "Jeg, Donald Duck" was released. This was an oversized book with classic Barks adventure stories. I also learned about Floyd Gottfredson when Mickey Mouse stories (many banned ones) were released in the same format. Since then I've been an avid collector of both Duck & Mouse stories. Currently I am buying all the Barks Library in Colour albums, and I get a real kick once in a while when I find a Barks story that I haven't read. I am also trying to collect all the Van Horn and Rosa stories released through Gladstone and in Norway. My other interests are varied. I often go to the movies, and I like to read fiction. Mainly in the fantasy and horror genre. I also play role-playing games with some friends once in a while. The only sporting activity you'll ever catch me performing is soccer. Jon C. Lorentzen
General information about me is to be found elsewhere.
Last updated February 28, 1999
Name: Joel Swaan
E-Mail: jjs142@arts.usask.ca
Age: 20
Occupation: Student at University of Saskatchewan
2nd year
Bachelor of Music (voice)
&
Bachelor of Education (elementary - music & drama)
Disney Interests - My main interest in "all things Disney" lies in their
music, voice actors (as I am aspiring to be one), and in trivia items,
esp. concerning their characters. I.e., cartoons they've been in,
"romances" they've had, cameo appearances, etc. and other 'silly' little
things like that.
Last updated February, 1996