DCML digest, Vol 1 #582 - 16 msgs

[Mike Pohjola]

DON:
> Barks had shown Blackheart Beagle and his sons in the 1880 riverboat
> story (no title) and showed another character who would logically be
> the same guy, "Grandpa Beagle", in "The Money Well" in the present.

Reading the Lo$ I assumed that it was one of Blackheart's sons, who would
later become Grandpa Beagle. This would not only make sense regarding the
man's age, but explain the vast quantity of Beagle Boys: Blackheart had
two brothers, and if we assume they all had three sons, and they had three
sons, that would give us 27 Beagle Boys aged thirty-ish and nine more aged
fifty-ish, but possibly looking indistinct.

This way the three Beagle Boys we see most often would be brothers, six
more would be their cousins, and the rest would be second cousins, uncles
etc.

And Blackheart is the great-grandfather.


HARRY:
> Lots of other things were overreactions to USA imperialism, combined with
> lack of humour.

I haven't read the book, but I did recently realize something about US
imperialism in Disney comics. It seems to me that while Duckburg itself is
very much like any capitalist city in America (and Uncle Scrooge very much
like any capitalist oppressor), the stories often aren't.

Donald, the worker, is often the hero. Although he tries to find happiness
through money, he often gets happines without getting the money.

IMHO Barks' Tralla La story serves as a perfect example of a very obvious
"Bad Money spoils Workers' Paradise". Everyone is equal in Tralla La;
equal and happy. Enter Uncle Scrooge and "money", and BOOM! The paradise
is destroyed.

Does anyone know if Barks actually had such political views, or is this
just one of those "eye of the beholder" things?


-- 
Mike Pohjola
mikep at iki.fi            +358-50-5238399            http://www.iki.fi/mikep