Disney-comics digest #850.

[Don Rosa]

DAVID:
        I just miscounted. I meant "Of D&D&D" will appear in U$ #297. If it
was in 298, I'd still have time to do the cover. But today I at least FAXed
them a text piece to accompany the story.

DWIGHT:
        Are you there? Do you have access to a FAX machine? I received a fan
letter from Germany today that's written completely in, of all the dang
things, GERMAN! I always answer all the mail I receive, so I need to know if
this writer is asking me any questions I need to specifically reply to.

BJORN:
        Looks like I assumed too much with putting that date on that cross.
The name of Brendan on it would be all they'd really need to date it -- but,
do I even have that spelled in the proper 6th century Irish manner? I need
to call up my old history professor buddy that I used to sneak out of the
engineering building and visit back in college.

TODD:
        I was hoping someone would ask me specific questions about the trip
since I wouldn't know where to limit myself in talking about the whole tour.
Since I really had little idea what was going on at the conventions, as I
can't read Italian or Finnish, I can't say a great deal about what I saw --
naturally I could go on at great length about the medieval Italian towns
like Lucca and Siena and all the sights in Florence, but this List isn't for
travelogues.
        Let's see -- it should be noted that the idea that I'd used Donald's
parents in a comic book continued to sweep the nation in Italy, appearing in
every major newspaper and TV station every day for a week or two! I never
thought much of my showing Hortense and Quackmore in those two innocent
panels in the middle of the 10th chapter of the "Lo$" -- if I'd thought it
was a big deal, I'd have built the story around it, or put it in the FIRST
chapter. But to me, Barks had created these characters in his notes 40 years
or more ago, and my slipping them into the background of a story was no big
deal. I actually had several press conferences with many reporters and
photographers and the network TV news camera pointing at me. When's the last
time that happened to a comic book guy in America? But these Ducks are so
popular, and cartoonists so appreciated in Europe, that it's not so unusual
there. I appeared on their version of the TODAY show, and they wanted me to
close the interview by repeating a sentence in Italian that they tried to
teach me to say in 10 seconds in front of a crowd (which included some
schoolkids who happened to be at my art exhibit when I met the TV crew
there), and I had difficulty wanting to embarrass myself with my ignorant
pronunciation of their language on national TV -- my wife filmed me and I
look forward to seeing my nervous embarrassment when they asked me which of
the words they wrote down was I having trouble with, and I pointed and said
"Only this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one
and THIS one!" I even found out later that what I thought was the TV
reporter's name was the name of the TV show!
        I'm told that "Lo$" caused such a sensation that newspaper and TV
commentators were writing columns or filming editorials about it, and the
Italian heads-of-state were being asked for their opinions on it! I think I
was being regarded as a tradition-breaker, which is exactly the OPPOSITE of
how I saw the "Lo$", which I regarded as a reaffirmation of all the facts
from stories I'd read all my life (though, unavoidably, with my own twists). 
        What I'm very worried about is that all the Italian Disney writers
and artists might resent the attention I was getting. There I was intruding
in their country, and when anyone asked me of what I thought about the
Italian Disney comics, they were quite shocked (and I was very embarrassed)
when I had to tell them that we have never seen any of the Italian Disney
stuff in America! (A half-dozen Scarpa stories don't matter much considering
they turn out 15,000 pages a year for decades on end!) And only one Disney
writer ever stopped by to say hello, so they seem to have been avoiding the
convention altogether, or avoiding me, which I hope not.
        I did meet the biggest Disney comics fans in Italy, who seemed to
happen to live in the area, in Florence! And these were (along with my
ambassador, Fabio!) some of the very nicest people I have met in my entire
life! I felt right at home with them every moment, and they treated me like
an old friend from the very start! Is it my Italian ancestry that made me so
comfortable? Hm. But I can't ever repay them for their hospitality! Alberto
Becattini, Leonardo Gori, Luca Boschi (these three know more about Disney
comics, even American ones, than anyone I've ever met) and Roberto Papini
(who knows his stuff, too) were a quartet who were especially kind to me,
but I met MANY other nice folks during my week-plus in Italy, as usual too
many to mention here.
        Look -- you can see how I ramble on with the simplest report!
Perhaps I'll just say a few syllables about different aspects of the
conventions over the next few Digests, and not risk running off at the
type-writer. Oops...too late!