Disney-comics digest #426.

[James Williams]

Don,

>His DD and U$ were a little "off" still, but better than MY DDs and
>U$s in "The Son of the Sun", doncha think?

Believe it or not, I've never seen "The Son of the Sun".  It and
Chapter 1 of LOS are on the top of my want list.  Still, I remember my
reaction to your artwork the first time I saw it.  All I could think of
was Robert Crumb does Disney.  Needless to say, I wasn't amused.  Not
to worry, I now think you are the best artist working on the ducks.

>Just as a matter of personal preference, I prefer Pat's style of art 
>on Duck stories much more than Van Horn's style, mainly because I view 
>these as adventure characters rather than slapstick stuff

I didn't like Van Horn's first few efforts.  His artwork was to loose
for my liking.  As he became experienced with the ducks, he started
doing some really *good* stuff.  He had a few years where I really
liked his stories and artwork.  Unfortunately, I don't like his newer
stuff as much.  I'll give one example.  Recently, he has started
drawing Donald with a tounge.  It comes and goes randomly.  Also, the
tounge is connected to the middle of the bill instead of the back of
the bill.

Actually, I like most of Van Horn's slapstick stories.  One of the
reasons that Donald and Scrooge are so popular is because they are so
diverse.  Very few characters in fiction are equally adept at adventure
and comedy.

>And...uh...no, the story and dialogue in "Widow's Gap" left me
>pretty cold.

I agree with you about the plot, it needed a lot more work.  But, I
cannot complain about the dailog because it is better than my dialog. 
This is a topic I've wanted to talk to you, David, and Dwight about for
a long time.  Someone can take a piece of dialog from your work or
Barks work and just from the dialog, you can tell who is speaking. 
While my dialog is okay, the characters unique voices don't come
through.  I've got a million questions, but I'll start simple.  How do
you write the unique voices for Scrooge, Donald, and Magica?

>There -- you never got so much opinion from me before on here,
>did you?

No, we haven't.  I was amazed that you responded.  I understand why you
usually refrain.

James Williams