Disney-comics digest #371.

Mattias Hallin Mattias.Hallin at jurenh.lu.se
Thu Jun 30 16:04:42 CEST 1994


DON:

    No, you got that movie right; the book however is more clearly not only
about wether people should or should not have access to one particular book
(yes, Aristotle on humor) but this particular conflict was widened into a
discussion, at some times ex- at other implicit, about access to knowledge in
general, and the potential dangers of limited or unlimited access respectively.
It is, IMHO, a very good book -- better than the film; though I like that too
-- and is recommended to anyone who has not as yet read it.

There is, however, no more specific similarities that I recall between tNotR
and GotLL, more than that generally both are about ancient knowledge/literature
believed lost; and if asked again, Don, you can calmly say: "No - there's no
relation"

Well, yes -- I see your point that a certain irony in the final panel of Lo$
#12 would be lost; on the other hand Donald really is no Bill Grandey, is he
now? I mean, Donald might engage in the occasional get-rich-quick-scheme, and
he has an awful temperament; but basically I've always tought of him as a very
decent and good chap, frustrated by fate and responsibilities, but still a good
enough guy. And that is why I do react somewhat to the to my mind
a-bit-too-mean-and-thick-headed Donald of GotLL and Lo$ #12. Of course I'm
well aware that these portrayals of Donald is well ante the Grandey-schemes of
late; so I *don't* mean to imply that you've ill-used Donald to score some tacit
point against Bill Grandey. What I guess I am trying to say is that maybe I
don't think you ought to make Donald Duck pay for the nastier forms of greed
and avarice that flourishes in and out of the comics. Even if he's only a
fictional character, he's still basically to good a guy, I think, to quite
deserve that. Well... you're the artist -- which, as you say, does make it your
choice to make.

About Donald's age vs HD&L's: there are several ways to get round this problem.
One, of course, is to delete that particular remark -- what *matters* regarding
Donald's act of violence against his Uncle's butt is that he does not *look*
too old, and since duck-kids seem to look pretty much the same wether they're
five or fifteen, if you don't mention his age in Lo$ the only one's that'll
know he's ten in 1930 will be a few die-hard fans like me, who don't care if
his action is proper behaviour or not. (BTW, $crooge must be a rather
exceptional duck, as he could grow whiskers already at the age of 13 -- an
early developer, obviously!).

Another possibility is of course to make Della a few years older than Donald:
if she's born in say 1918, and Donald in 1923 -- then you can have HD&L born in
1938 without resorting to teen-age pregnancies. I know you kinda liked the idea
of Donald and Della being twins -- and sure, it's neat but it ain't
necessarilly so, nor does any sources say so to my knowledge. Thus Donald would
be 7 in 1930, and HD&L 8 in 1947 -- and Donald would be about 20 when he first
gets care of HD&L. It's all feasible. It works better, too, with the early
Barks stories, set in the early 1940s if HD&L can at least be four to six years
old at that time -- but it presents a problem in the midfifties when the kids
would be 16, 17 or 18 -- but still looks like kids. Obviously, and unlike their
grand-uncle, they must be late developers, eh...?

Well, I think you, as the artist who makes the choices, should make one of
some kind regarding this matter... as it is, it's just the teensiest bit
irritating to my kind of hard-core fan...!

All my best!

Mattias

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