Comments on Don's comments

David A Gerstein David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu
Sat Dec 18 02:11:39 CET 1993


	Dear Folks,

	The following is a quote from Don Rosa's letter earlier, with
my own responses interspersed.

	"You preferred the way I drew the Ducks in '89? But now in 
order for me to profit by that you must tell me in what way you 
preferred them. How? (Probably because I was still using my clip 
files then.)"

	NOOO!!!  In fact, if it was up to me I'd *never* want you to
exactly copy some Barks poses the way you did then!  For me (and my
brother) they stick out right away.  Not when you use a pose that
Barks often used, but certainly when you use one that Barks only used
*once*, and in a very memorable panel (for example:  in OS 386,
Scrooge saying "Well, I'll admit, it's a *trick*!" with his back to
the camera, looking behind him and sticking his finger in the air).
My brother and my best friend, both avid Duck fans, also notice every
time you use a well-known Barks pose.  I personally prefer your art
without.
	What I like about your art from 1989 is that the ducks are
drawn slightly rounder and without so much of an attempt to shade them
realistically.  I think that if a few of the scenes in "The Crocodile
Collector" and especially "The Curse of Nostrildamus" had been drawn
with the realism of "Super Snooper Strikes Again," I would have found
what happened to Donald painful and unfunny.  But in these stories,
your art approached a more gentle style which made the stories more
lyrical somehow.  It's REALLY hard to explain what I like about these
stories, but there's something there... something.
	While I'm at it I'll mention that I *really* hope you won't
give HD&L "indented" eyebrow regions in side views, as you did on 
the cover to USA 24 (the "giant bug" Danish story), again.  It looks 
very "60s" and makes the normally pleasingly rounded nephews (who you
go to the trouble of drawing with a *compass*, f'gosh sakes) look very
strange indeed.

        "You mention the first page of "On a Silver Platter" and how it
looked different. Good call. That was one I did years ago for Oberon
who don't like my art; they had one of their artists pencil page one 
for me to show me how to do it. I guess it didn't show me much if I went
right back to my own style on page two. I recall they re-penciled two
$crooge heads later in the story because they disliked mine so much, 
which I then inked. Can you tell which two? I think at least one is 
obvious."

	I don't actually have the story available;  I just REMEMBER
the difference, because it came as a shock:  "Wak!  What happened to
Unca Don?" [Rosa, that is]  I was *SOO-OO* glad to see your old style
back again on the second page!  Don't be disappointed if you didn't
"learn" anything from Oberon's artist... (who might have been Mau
Heymans, given the look of that first page... his art is great, but I
can't imagine your style even compromising with his!).  Anyhoo, it'll
be next week before I can look at the Scrooge heads... that being when
I'll go home for Winter Break (keep sending the Digests here, Per).

        "And we're way ahead of you on this 60th Birthday story. I
finish it up next Tuesday or so; and at that time I mail it NOT to 
Byron, but DIRECTLY TO JOHN. He'll make his copies, then mail the 
art to Byron.  How's that?"

	Ahm... just fine.  But John is away next week on vacation... I
hope that doesn't interfere with your plans.  I think he's back a week
from Monday though (on the 27th).

	In the best of all possible worlds, he'll have my dialogues to
Mau Heymans' "Plot against Donald" and Frederico Pedrocchi's "DD and
the Secret on Mars" waiting for him.  Wish me luck.

	One more thing, Don.  At one point in the Romano Scarpa
70-page story John is having me do, Scrooge loses his fortune, and is
reduced to shameless begging.  Among other things, he tries singing
for donations -- poor Scrooge is a pitiful sight.  Anyway, what'll I
have him sing?  The original script has him singing a cowboy song with
some reference to his old days mining out West, but I'm asking myself
why his poverty would bring to mind his days in the West.  What do you
think of:

	"You take the high rate, and I'll take the low rate
	At the bonny, bonny Bank of Loch Lomond!"

	Interest rates, I mean.  But still, this is funnier than it is
mournful.  You wrote the LO$, and there may be a song in it somewhere;
I haven't seen the story, so I don't know.  But is there some Scottish
song Scrooge's mother might have once sung to him?  Remember that this
Scarpa story will appear while the LO$ is in its early days, so if
such a song exists, it would be fresh in readers' minds (this story
will run in two issues of U$A while the LO$ appears in U$).

	Zassall for now, folks.  If anyone has anything to tell me,
tell me in the next two days, because after Sunday I'm outta here and
bound for home.  (I'll read all the Digests on my return to Williams.)

	Your friend,

	David Gerstein

	"The only way to get ahead of Mickey Mouse is to *run* in
*front* of him!"
	<David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>



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