Mammoth book (long)

Knut Hunstad Knut.Hunstad at veg.sintef.no
Thu Jun 22 20:02:26 CEST 1995


In Norway we have just seen the first book in a series called
"Mammothbook"s. This is (as far as I can see) simply a continuation of the
DD pocket book series, only the book is twice as big (510 pages) as a DDPB.

For some time now the DDPBs have had a picture on their back (?) which goes
over several books. This is of course a trick to make people buy all of
them, because it looks stupid in your bookshelf if one book misses within
the picture. My guess is that they'll put out a new MB every time they have
finished a picture with the DDBPs. That way you can stick the MBs nicely in
the same bookshelf as the DDBPs without disturbing the pictures.

Does anyone know if this theory is going to hold?

I always considered the DDPBs as a comic series of its own, with really
(almost) nothing to do with the "real" Duck universe. In that context I
think they're not so bad as many norwegian Duck-lovers seem to think.

The stories in this MB seem to be mainly italian, as in the DDBPs. I haven't
read all of them yet, but I'll mention a little about them here (don't pay
too much attention to the title translations, though):

1. "U$ and the overtime profit" J-2027. This story contains a journey to the
center of the earth! Quite different than yours, though, Don! This one is a
rather typical DDPB-story where U$ constructs some crazy machine to go
somewhere (this time a sphere with drills that can go through the earth like
a knife in melted butter), finds some kind of thing/creature that controls
some world factor (time) and tries to misuse it for making money. Which
doesn't succeed, of course. BTW, the machines energy comes from "the
financial turbulence created by a mixture of taxes, tax fraud, social
disturbance (bad translation, I know), public debts and money orders (also a
bad translation)". Says something about the scientific foundation of the
story! But as DDPB-stories go, it has its charm. What's in the middle of the
earth? Another universe, with another earth (with the same continents, BTW).

2. "MM:Sausage nonsence with sausage cans" D91256. MM and Goofy help Minnie
and Clarabelle with "ghosts" (Black Pete) scaring their guests from their
marine restaurant. A little too predictable. This story is also full with
_very_ stupid word plays (might be just the translator beeing in a kinky mood).

Haven't read the rest of the stories yet...

3. "Don Andote Duck and the dream about Zorro" (Couldn't find any story
code! Sigh!)

4. "MM: The ice queen" D91393

5. "U$: Scroogecop vs. Roborud" J2004

6. "MM: On the track" J1956

7. "Pasta basta" D91193 (Sounds rather italian to me!)

8. "Goofy: The baron of the air" J2017

9. "U$: The jumping sauce" J1885

10. "MM: The vagabond" J2017 (OOPS! Well, it seems very like the story code
of #8, but this one _might_ be I2017, but I'm not sure)

11. "BB: A secure future" D91280

12. "Horace & Clarabelle: A cold shower" J1954 (Shouldn't the lady's name
always be listed first?) A short story where basically Clarabelle is very
snobby and angry with Horace on the phone, causing them both to have their
bath tubs flow over. Could have been better if the dialog had been more
interesting.

More later when I've read the rest...

P.S.: Thanks to Gianfranco for the lesson on italian eating habits. There is
a slight chance I might get to study the subject closer this summer...

Knut Hunstad
Trondheim, Norway




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