digest #336

[Don Rosa]

> From: "Rob Klein" <
> Therefore, shouldn't we be describing the plot plans and making blue
prints
> and elevations of SEVERAL different money bins (and also McDuck Buildings
> (with office descriptions))???

As I've always admitted, when I form my own loose continuity around Barks'
tales, I do hafta pick and choose. I have to ignore *very* few stories that
$crooge/Barks told of his early years... they all fit together easily. But
when it comes to the Bin, I must regard stories done during 1947-51 as
those instances when Barks was just creating these ideas for the first
time, not even knowing early on if he would be using this character again.
I try to fit them in, but toss them aside if they cause trouble. As time
went by, and Barks was told that $crooge would get his own title, we
suddenly see in late 1951 that certain new, more permanent elements enter
the mix, such as $crooge's clothing, the Beagle Boys, $crooge's old days in
specific places in possible years (Yukon, Montana, etc. about 40-50 years
earlier, rather than Africa 70 years earlier), and the *Money Bin*. $crooge
clearly had no Money Bin prior to December 1951, and not even nearly so
much cash as to need anything but a normal size vault to stuff it in (the
gag in those early stories was not the amount of money he had, but that he
would keep it as cash and coins rather than as bank accounts). We see
$crooge introduce his Money Bin to his Nephews in late 1951 as being
something just built, but thereafter all stories claimed it had been on
that site for decades, even one time the claim being "70 years" which is
now *too* long, fudged in the other direction. And yes, there are all sorts
of different positions for the Bin... in a Gyro Gearloose story, for plot
purposes, it's downtown -- this not being a $crooge story, such a detail
seemed unimportant. Sometimes it has a different facade or different
windows. Why should Barks want or need to be consistent? He had no reason
to. I *do* have *two* reasons to -- first, I know something Barks never had
the good fortune to know: that there are PEOPLE READING these stories,
people watching and remembering ... and secondly, and perhaps more
importantly: I ENJOY BEING CONSISTENT. It pleases me. Am I anal retentive?
Okay, if I am, it feels good and I don't take any pills for it.
Even though a few people like to criticize my manner of introducing
continuity into their Duck Universe, what they ignore (for reasons only
they know) is that I insert this continuity into only *my own* stories, so
if they don't like it (and I sympathize with their fierce loyalty to
Barks -- I don't think I'd like me either if I wasn't me), all they need to
do is ignore me. Also, they never choose to notice how *loose* this
"continuity" of mine is -- I only treat certain things as unchanging (such
as Barks' stories of $crooge's past, the look of the Bin, and a few other
things), but I stop there and sort of think that after every story I do
time rewinds and we're back to square one with that story never having
taken place *unless* it's convenient for me to decide that it has for
another story someday. I have destroyed the Money Bin totally about 3 or 4
times, but if I ever have $crooge say anything about the history of the
Bin, those total-destructions will never have taken place. Once I've drawn
up these Bin plans, I will certainly pay attention to them during the story
they appear in (that would only make sense), but I will seldom thereafter
ever consult them for precise room design... I'll draw $crooge's office in
whatever way makes my story-panel  work best. And if I decide I need
another room in the Bin someday, bang, there it will be (on one of those
unshown floor plans). However, I will never decide a certain room is no
longer or never was in the Bin. That would be cheating... "the coward's way
out". But... really it's pointless to discuss whether this continuity is
good or done right, not in the sense that someone might seem to think they
can stop me from having this sort of fun... I'm a freelance writer/artist,
I do "it my way" as Sinatra said.
And I'm enjoying and am gratified by all the comments on the ML, and even
more in private mail, that are suggesting ideas for inclusion in the Bin
plans. Some I have reasons for not including, some ideas are great
additions and I'm glad I asked. (For example -- Shelley's idea of the
escape tunnel to the sidewalk... include that or not? Why did $crooge not
use that in all the other instances when he needed an escape tunnel? Should
I treat that as just a plot-device to be ignored? These are the fun things
to ponder and decide on.) My final result might not be agreeable to
everybody... but the important thing is that it's still *fun*. And that's
why we waste so much perfectly good time here with all this pointless
verbage about something as silly as comic book stories!
I have yet to tell you WHY I am doing this particular story now. I need to
get complete permission from the editor to describe this entire 10-story /
10-artist event. I'll give you all the details once they are firm. That
should be next weekend, so I'm told.