Freddy Milton -- The Big Sneeze

[Per Starback]

Harry:
> Kalle Klodrik = Woody Woodpecker, I presume? Was it published that early as 
> in 1976?

Nope, Kalle Klodrik was really a totally new character.  (Woody
Woodpecker is S</o>ren Sp<ae>tte in Danish.)  (By the way, Klodrik is
Cousin Fethry's name in Norwegian!)

Yes, 1976 it was (according to _Disney von Innen_).

So there are (at least) three versions of the story: with Donald, with
Kalle Klodrik and with Woody Woodpecker.  Maybe there are two Donald
versions at that, as you say that the published version looks like
it's done in 1979/1980.

I have now searched for more info on The Big Sneeze, and in the Danish
fanzine Carl Barks & Co. #5 (edited (then) by Freddy Milton himself)
from 1976 two pages of The Big Sneeze (and a letter from Barks to
Milton commenting on the story) are reproduced.  The caption for the
illustration says "by Freddy Milton (with some help from Daan
Jippes)".  I have seen a page or at least a panel of the Kalle Klodrik
version somewhere too, but I can't find it now.

> So 1 page is missing in the 'Dutch' version?

I guess so.  The info on 32 pages for the first version (and 30 for
the Klodrik version) is also from _Disney von Innen_.

> I have a 10-page episode of a "Woody Woodpecker" story, which matches
> the Donald Duck story "the Big Sneeze" panel by panel. It appears to
> be part of a 3-part series, with each episode its own title and page 
> numbering.

When Milton's Woody stories have been published in Sweden they have
been coded FM1, FM2, etc. (FM for Freddy Milton of course.) and many
of them are more or less connected.

* FM-10, 1983, 11 pages, "Air mail"
Knothead and Splinter (the kids) are members of a very Woodchuck-like
carrier pidgeon movement and fail some test with their pidgeon
Wheezer as he helps another pidgeon instead.  Meanwhile Woody sneezes
all the time and gets degraded at his work at the museum.  (Hmm, where
have I seen those cubic stones before? :-)  Anyway they discover that
the other pidgeon carried a message from a professor (Tron Dreyerdal).
(The two pages that I have reproduced from the first Donald version of
the story is from this part.  It's almost the same, panel for panel,
but not always.)

* FM-11, 1983, 10 pages, "Dangerous Water"
Woody (still sneezing) and the kids go on a boat trip. They see a
dragon.

* FM-12, 1983, 12 pages, "Stranded on Kua-Kua"
They get to the island Kua-Kua and meet a very young Tron Dreyerdal.
There is a fountain of youth on the island.  There are also potatoes
you get older from.  And the dragon sneezes a lot: The Big Sneeze.

* FM-13, 1983, 13 pages, "Remedy for a Dragon"
They cure the dragon of her sneezing.  (How's that for a short
summary? :-)

The four parts together are 46 pages.

Is everyone confused now?
--
Per