Digest #72

[Don Rosa]

Oog. Suddenly the number of direct questions to me on here is increasing
exponentially! I guess with each long reply I give, the question load
grows. I don't know if I have time for this with all the other hours of
e-mail I need to answer every day, but lemmee try...

From: "Fluks, H.W."
Subject: RE: ebay
>>>>Why would the $8-bidder bid $25 if there's already a much higher bid?
And
why wouldn't the OWNER of the stuff bid $49.50, just to get as much as
possible for it?

Yeah, we're getting too off-topic. You should really visit eBay where this
is all explained thoroughly -- it doesn't cost a thing to join and watch
how it works. And it's really quite fascinating to see all the things
people are buying and selling, and what incredibly low and what
preposterously high prices they get.
But, yeah, I see that we who are so familiar with eBay keep leaving out
vital pieces of info in our explanations. Right, the bids are all secret
until the auction is over. All you know is the minimum you must bid to be
one bid increment over the proxy-bid placed by the eBay computer based on
the high-bidder's bid. But once you place that bid, you may or may not
become the new top bidder, as that previous bidder's top bid might be
higher still. As I said, the best thing is to go read eBay's explanation
with examples! But careful -- you'll get hooked!
The sensible thing to do is to simply bid ONE time, place the maximum you
wish to pay for an item and forget it, you'll either get it or the bid will
be beyond your desire. What puzzles me are all the bidders who sit there
and bid repeatedly trying to top that hidden top bid. I wish I knew what
they think they're doing. Save money? It's wacky. But eBay is filled with
several million people doing really wacky stuff, like paying more for items
when they are used than when they were brand new. Crazy! Idiotic! Insane!
I'll be on there doing just that as soon as I finish typing this.
When the auctions are over, then you can see what all the bidders bid
*except* the top bidder. You only see what he has to pay, never what his
top bid was. Anyway, I think it's a fabulous system! It's making lots of
money for lots of people and helps isolated collectors (like me) find an
endless supply of wonderful toys and books and comics and... literally
*everything* (except drugs and guns and living stuff) all the way up to
multi-million $ Duesenburgs, yachts, businesses, and beachfront homes in
Malibu.
Enough of this ad for eBay. They aren't helping me buy old toys as a fee
for being their shill.

> > > every single
> > > message I get starts out by saying that the "Lo$" are
> > > their favorite stories.
>>>Yep. I was just referring to how literal one should take the words
"every
single message"...

You can take it absolutely literally. I don't think I have ever gotten a
letter or e-mail from anyone, no matter what age, who didn't open the
message by raving about the "Lo$".

>>>BTW, I'm not asking you to please anyone else but yourself. I think the
best
creative work comes from people who do what they like most.

Of course it is!

From: "Arie Fachrisal"
Subject: Questions???
>>>>When you (Don Rosa) make a comic story, what is the
target audience? Everybody of all ages? Teens and above???

I don't think about it at all. I just try to do a story that I personally
think is interesting and funny and exciting. I guess that means I am doing
stories for adults. When I was in Sweden once to receive the Swedish
Literature Society's award for Best Children's Literature (I think that's
what it is, I can't read it!), my acceptance speech was something like
"Well, I didn't know I was *doing* 'stories for children', but they are
welcome to read them, too, and I hope they like 'em".

>>>among my fellow country's fans, they said that your stories are
too wordy, thus required "extra" reading to get the meaning of it.

I'm sure they are right. I hope they don't mean they don't like the story
for that reason. If so, tell them to move to America and watch TV.

> Egmont didn't censor the guns in Lo$ chapter ? and ?. Disney made
> Gladstone tell Rosa to retouch them...
>>>Retouch them??? By changing guns to .....????

By removing them. And Disney did not have Gladstone tell ME to do it. I
would not change my art on a finished story to satisfy Disney's demands
unless they paid me, and maybe not then. I don't get royalties when one of
my stories is reprinted by a publisher, so I have no reason to help make a
story publishable. Of course, since I have no rights in how my stories are
used, the publisher can change the art or script in any way they please, or
as they are commanded to.

>>>A question from this newbie(me of course, who else): Of Ducks, Dimes,
and
Destinies, when did you finish it? After or before the whole Lo$ saga???

I was finishing it when we decided to do the "Lo$". Since it dealt with
some of the same material covered in chapter 1 of "Lo$", publication of
that story was delayed until after the "Lo$" had run its course, about 2
1/2 years later. By the way, the correct title (MY  original title) to that
story is "Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies" -- an allusion to a famous
Lewis Carroll line.

Arie has many other questions! They refer to things that happen in the
"Kalevala" story or to my personal interpretations of the relationship
between $crooge and Donald. As to the former, you should just wait until
you someday read that story. As to the latter, you should gather such stuff
from reading all my stories -- this is getting much too long for this ML
and for my time schedule! Sorry!

From: "Oyvind J. Karstad"
Subject: Lo$ and "Attaaaack"
>>>Who/what are "The Three Cabarellos"?

That's a 1945 film starring Donald that teams him up with two other
characters named Jose Carioca and Panchito Pistoles. It is a travelogue
with these characters acting as hosts of the linking segments -- the whole
thing was actually done as a "good neighbor" gesture to entertain Mexico
and South America and all the other countries in this hemisphere that we
were afraid would become allies with the Axis powers. Give 'em Disney
instead!
This film is, to me, the only GOOD usage Disney ever made of Donald Duck. I
LOVE it, even though there's no storyline. It's just a series of
fantasy-skits linking travelogue segments. But Donald works so well as an
equal partner in a team of peers that I have always wanted to try using him
in such a way in a comic. In the comics he has always been $crooge's flunky
or Gladstone's patsy or Daisy's fool or a lone bumbler. But in the "3C" he
has two pals that like him for who and what he is, don't try to use him or
trick him, and with whom he can function on an equal basis. I also have
always wanted to try to put the "3C" song and performance down "on paper"
or die trying --  an odd idea for a comic, but something I've always
considered another of my missions in life. I think I've accomplished it all
pretty well. I hope. (Three people have read it so far, Byron and ML
members Dan Shane and Francesco Stajano, and they all seemed to like it.)
And if I am allowed, I will probably try to do another "3C" story every
year or so, putting it into the rotation along with "Lo$" stories,
historical quests and slapstick gag shorts.

>>>>>Can you tell us some details about the "Attaaaack"-story you did for
Picsou?
BTW, does anybody know when this story will be published in France?

It's a short gag-story about Donald trying to use a Gearloose-invented
early-warning system for detecting plots to rob the Money Bin. It should be
published in PICSOU in 2 or 3 months... and at that time they will also
publish a fold-out poster of my diagrams for (my ideas of) the insides of
the Money Bin, floor by floor, cut-away views, etc. (People who hate it
when I do stuff like that should make certain they avoid this issue.)

>>>Will Egmont use this story and "The Coin"?

They can whenever they feel like it. In fact, AKU ANKKA in Finland (which
is not by Egmont) already has it on their schedule, and I did a special
cover for them for that issue.

>>>What will the next Lo$-story be about?

I dunno. When the time comes, I'll look at my list of ideas.
Now, I return you to your regularly scheduled programming............
(By the way, to the ML members in Finland --  the final ballot in your
presidential election is on Sunday, I understand. Let me know how well I
do. I expect to come in about third. If-elected-I-will-not-serve.)