As a new member...

[Doukakis, Mark (NBC)]

Just wanted to say greetings from Burbank, California to all registered duck
fans out there, and offer as brief as possible an introduction of myself.

I'm originally from Greece, where in 1966, at eight years old, I began the
pilgrimage to "MIKY MAOYS" (to this day all Greek kids know, as most Greek
adults of my age and younger remember, what was the one and only [at that
time] Disney magazine that made its weekly delivery [was it Saturday
afternoons?] to the periptero, or magazine kiosk). I often would wait there
for the motor-scooter with a huge bundle of magazines and newspapers tied to
the back rack. I'd hand over my two, or was it three, drachma and then I'd
run to a quiet place of our house and spend a few precious hours alone with
Paul Murry's Mickey and my favorite ducks drawn mostly by Italian masters
like Scarpa. Barks and Strobl stories didn't start trickling into Greek
publication until the second, larger format Disney comic "MEGALO MIKY" came
along, I believe, in 1967 or 1968. My parents and I left Crete for
California at the end of 1968, and the box of Disney comics I was allowed to
lug along served my needs for awhile. But I was distracted trying to fit-in
in my new country and television was a new and wonderful thing to me. My
passion was stored away as were my comic books.

I'm now forty-one and married with two children, ages four and two. I don't
know exactly how or why (maybe it has to do with the mysterious way in which
a child affects the deep psyche of the parent), but suddenly I find myself
on a new and desperate mission of collecting as many Disney duck comics as I
can afford. I've got a long way to go, I've been away for so long. 

Today as much as I appreciate Barks' work, I have a special love for those
long Italian duck stories. I'd love to hear from you Romano Scarpa fans out
there. Here's to a brimming bowl of lentils (from Babylon)!

Mark Doukakis


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