+Postage Due+Disney-comics digest #124.

[Don Rosa]

COMMENTS TO #124:
	All the discussion about what color something or other was in
some old comic is mighty pointless. The colors were not done by the
artists nor even by anyone in the editorial offices. The colors in
comics are done by a room full of little old ladies in Sparta, Illinois,
who (in those days) may not even have had much contact with the Dell
offices or editors who are supposed to watch these colors. But whoever
does the colors, it's NOT the original artist. Case in point: it has
always griped me that Barks' "Land Beneath the Ground" story was
originally (and then ever since) printed with the Terries and Firmies in
a rainbow of colors! It's very clear when you read the stories that they
are not only supposed to look like plain rocks, but they are SO
identicle that the only way to tell them apart is by their neckware. 
	As for $crooge's frock, even though I say that what color the
original comics were in doesn't really matter, when I did "Son of the
Sun" (my first Duck story), I suggested $crooge's frock be PURPLE --
that's the color it was in the earliest issues of his title. But I also
like the red-with-gray-trim style, and that's how I color him when I do
drawings at conventions for folks. What I dislike is Egmont's recent
decision to switch to a new color scheme which includes always making
$crooge's cane BLUE. Blue???

Even Flood:
	Hiya.
	Glad you liked "Guardians of the Lost Library". The idea of
giving away the story's ending right smack-dab on the front cover (and
even in the previous week's ads) was that of the editor-in-chief. His
interest is not so much in the story as it is in promoting the sales,
and he thought this would help. So, whaddiya gonna do?
	Pay no attention to which hands my characters use in the comics
-- this is something I think about but decide not to worry about. Often
characters must face a certain way in a panel and it then becomes
necessary that they be using a certain hand to do something which won't
block their body or such -- that's all I worry about.
	I have only 28 pages to follow the Library around the world for
2000 years, so I guess I skipped a detour to Muslim land. Besides, my
Library's path was quite authentic -- books and parts of THE Library did
travel that route, at least as far as Italy. But... wouldn't the Muslim
books been added during the stay in Constantinople?
	Yes, I missed not a single trick! I DO show the trick $crooge
learns "that time in Baghdad"(with an "h" added), though it's only a 1
1/2 page flashback, and it simply tells of when he first found he KNEW
the trick. You don't need to ask if I included this or that -- it's ALL
included, and I defy anyone (just for fun) to find the tiniest detail
that I omit from the life story!

Harry:
	My "On a Silver Platter" was similar to "Stranger than Fiction",
wasn't it? And even though I read that story when I was a tad, I had no
memory of it when I wrote the "Silver Platter" thing. It could easilly
be said that I was thinking of it subconciously, to which I'd have no
way to defend myself. I use bits of this or that OFTEN and gladly admit
to it, but that wasn't one of the times.
	But even if I DID recall that story, can't a reader see how MUCH
I added to the original bare-bone idea, as with that "Super Snooper"
sequel? Seems as though I could be accused of theft every time I use the
Beagle Boys trying to raid $crooge's Money Bin, by that attitude. There
are those who think I should never do sequels, and I don't argue with
that from the standpoint of possibly tainting the original... but some
will say I should create something all new of my own; that's the fallacy
-- if anyone thinks it's easier to do a sequel to a Barks story and make
it absolutely authentic and true, and add nothing too new or too wacky
to spoil the original concept, and still take it in a new direction and
make it entertaining and funny -- I have news for 'em! Doing an all
completely NEW story is immensely easy and less creative, and LOTS
QUICKER if I were trying to pull in those page rates fast. But sequels
are FUN for me personally... I plan to do lots more in the future, even
though I risk being "misunderstood" as with this "Super Snooper" story.
(I think THAT story is better appreciated in the super-hero culture of
America whom I aimed it at -- I should keep in mind that my main
audience is everywhere BUT in America.)