Disney-comics digest #538.

[Don Rosa]

	Hello! I have returned from my lil' Christmas camping trip to
the southern tip of Baja California.

	I've read all the excellent Digests that piled up in my absence,
but few required a direct response from me...

AUGIE:
	That old story of mine that had the WB Roadrunner in one panel
background was "Fortune on the Rocks".

BOB AND OTHERS:
	So much discussion as to whether or not $crooge would or should
recall Flintheart after meeting him briefly in 1886! As I always say, my
stories are only my stories and no one is required to agree with them
(often not even me). So even if I say that $crooge didn't recall the guy
that he had a run-in with when he saw him again 70 years (SEVENTY
YEARS!) later (not just "nearly 50", Wilmer), so what? Other writers
have $crooge and Glomgold as partners in the Yukon or childhood pals or
all manner of other ideas that, to me, are wacky in the extreme. But,
I'm sure I'm very flattered that readers want to scrutinize my handling
of $crooge and dismiss those other stories automatically and
instantaneously -- so that's very nice.
	As someone else on here pointed out, when Flintheart popped up
a second and third time in Barks' own "The Money Champ" and "So Far and
No Safari", the Ducks didn't recognize him right off, and this was only
a few years later, much less 70. But, of course, this was mainly because
the era that Barks did those stories in frowned on ANY sort of
continuity between tales, and Barks had to sort of excuse his use of a
character from any past story by making the character seem as unfamiliar
to the regular cast as he would to the readers.
	But I can clear this lil' matter up very quickly to everyone's
satisfaction! I had said that $crooge didn't recall Flintheart because
he didn't recognize him when he read about the new "richest duck in the
world" in those newspapers. But perhaps the only thing he didn't
recognize was the name "Flintheart Glomgold" since, as my story showed,
Glomgold never said his name in 1886. When $crooge finally met FG again
in Barks' "Second Richest Duck", so maybe he DID recognize him by sight
if not by name. If any reader wishes to think this, it would still fit
perfectly well into the context of my and Barks' story, both.
	Everybody happy?

GARY B98294:
	Maybe I missed or forgot where you gave your full name... but
who are you who knows both Mark Worden and Alan Hutchinson???
	That $crooge gumball bank that you mention is an excellent piece
despite the fact that it has the "DuckTales" $crooge coloring with the
blue coat and red trim -- any connection with "DuckTales" diminishes the
aesthetic quality of a $crooge item. The best parts of that piece are
that $crooge is in a very mad, greeeeedy stance, defending those
gumballs! Toys with $crooge or Donald in a MAD pose/expression are
always great and rare since Disney and the toy makers would hesitate to
have the character look scary to young or simple-minded children. But
that gumball bank is difficult to find since it seems to me marketed on
some secondary market and never found in nice stores -- I've only seen
it a few times in knock-off stores that carry junk stuff from Hong Kong
wholesale houses and such.
	But I decline to get too deeply into a discussion of $crooge or
Donald toys. I have numerous glass cases packed to overflowing with that
stuff and I couldn't begin to list all of it here... I think I have
about 500-600 Donald or $crooge three-dimensional figurines or dolls
(most being DD, of course). But I'm always glad to answer questions on
individual pieces.

BROR:
	Yes, you can be sure that so-called "press release" was pure
Weasel talk from Barks' "business manager", whether Barks' signed it or
not -- note the weasely editorializing tagged onto the tale of it. Don't
hold it against Barks.