Money Bin blueprints

[Don Rosa]

From: "Olaf Solstrand" <harryklein at hotmail.com>
>>>Hi there! I've just read the "new" Don Rosa story, the one where the
Beagle
Boys finds an architect drawing and tries to break into the Bin. Excellent
work, Don Rosa! It couldn't have been easy making that drawing of the Bin?
Really excellent work!

I just sent the finished "Crown of the Crusader Kings" off to Copenhagen,
so
I'll reply:
Those very authentic looking Money Bin blueprints were created by DAN SHANE
by computer. I gave him my sketches and described what I wanted, then he
went to work, adding his own ideas, and sending me numerous (!!!) versions
by e-mail until we revised it ad nauseum, and came out with what you see
there. Our original English version took a *long* time to create. I imagine
the flat-page-rate pay (which I shared with Dan) came out to about 30 cents
per hour. (And I'm not kidding! The Money Bin blueprints were a project
done for fun.)
But there are other interesting points -- the original computer file of the
blueprints is, of course, in English. I was very worried that the
blueprints would not appear correctly, especially if all of our labels
would be translated and then added to the drawings by Egmont branches. Even
if they didn't miss lots of them, the font would *not* be the lovely
simulated architect-hand-lettering that Dan had on the original. And worst
of all, the Money Bin emblem would be added to the facade in the usual
"child-with-a-black-marker scrawl" as it always appears in Egmont
editions -- this would have been hideous, spoiling all Dan's careful work!
So I arranged for Dan to create *special* versions exclusively for the main
Egmont publishers in Denmark, Sweden and Norway! We obtained translations
of all the hundreds of labels from folks like ML member and Egmont
translator Stefan Dios, and Dan carefully created *three more* entire sets
of blueprints, including the addition of carefully designed Bin emblems for
each publisher. We also did this for Finland. We sent the drawings to each
publisher via e-mail, and I described to each publisher how the blueprints
should be printed (converted from black lines on white to white on blue)
with the blue "bled" off the paper edge.
I have only seen the Swedish version thus far, but it was printed
*perfectly* in KALLE ANKA! Exactly as we envisioned it! I'm so pleased,
after all of our work! I only hope that the other 3 versions come out as
well!
I did not offer to do a version for Iceland since I've seen their editions
and I knew how little care goes into their presentation -- my fervent hope
is that they don't use the story in Iceland at all, or if they do, I pray
they leave OUT the blueprints (the story is purposely designed such that a
publisher can omit those pages if they wish).
And I've been told that Germany will do just that. They were not interested
in the blueprints.
Another interesting aspect is to note that those pages represent a few
firsts in the history of 50+ years of Egmont comics -- there is only ONE
color of ink on those two pages (blue)... nothing else! And every single
line that you see there is the work of a single guy, Dan Shane, since he
created the "art" and even installed the lettering. He even did the
coloring, in a sense, since all the publisher did was hit a button and
convert what Dan had "colored" black and white into white and blue. He even
*created from scratch* some of the lettering (since we don't have some of
those wacky Scandinavian characters on our keyboards or font programs).

>>>>Pretty tough to find the D.U.C.K. - I've browsed it for at least half
an
hour, and still not found it. But I'll keep trying as a good reader!

You mean in the splash panel. It's not on the blueprints.

>>>This story also confirmed one of my oldest theories; that Scrooge LIVES
in
the Money Bin. I knew it!

Egmont did not agree with this, but I have always figured that's the only
logical place he'd live and I knew I would put his living quarters in the
Bin. We agreed that he would also have some apartment (in a cheap hotel?)
somewhere in downtown Duckburg for various reasons -- so Egmont assumes his
downtown apartment is his main home, while I decide that the Money Bin is
his main home. No problem.

>>>Still, one question occurs in my head;
It is an old, well-used Disney gag that all the Beagle Boys numbers are
"176-" followed by the numbers 1, 6 and 7 in some order. My faculty
knowledge tells me that that should be 6 possible numbers:
I also notice that this number is never shown - in
scenarios where all seven of them are shown, Don Rosa always covers one of
the signs with a Beagle Boy arm, a loose wire etc.

Heh heh. Every single move I make is planned.

>>> Do any of you have any
ideas about what the seventh number is?
If it's possible to find an answer
somewhere, I guess the place must be "Life of Scrooge part 12" or that
Scrooge 50 years-story (both Don Rosa).

Don't waste your time looking. My every move has *always* been planned.

>>>Does any of you Norwegians out there have a good, Norwegian translation
for
the Number One Dime? What I've always read is "Lykketiøringen", but that is
a silly name, since it does not bring luck,

I questioned one translator, it might have been Norway, about their word
for the "#1 Dime" when the word looked like it might say "lucky", and
calling that Dime "lucky" is one misconception that I won't tolerate in one
of my own stories. But he explained that it does not mean "lucky"... it
means "happy", as it is his favorite coin that makes him happy. This made
sense because frequently when I'm doing sketches for fans in Europe (not
just Norway but in several countries/languages) the fan will ask me to draw
a "Lucky Donald". And I'll say "how can I draw someone who *looks* lucky?"
But I have finally realized that they mean "happy" and there's some problem
between these words for "lucky" and "happy" that makes a clear distinction
difficult. But if I and Dan have been lead to write "lucky" coin in those
blueprint translations in any edition, please let me know!

>>>Speaking of translations, the Norwegian name of Gladstone Gander has
always
been "Anton Duck". I'm SOOOO confused - his name CAN'T be "Duck"! His
father
was a goose, wasn't he? How many gooses have the name "Duck"?

On one of my first trips to Norway 10 years ago, I was discussing something
with the Norwegian editors and I referred to Gladstone as being a goose.
And they looked shocked and said, no, he's a duck! And I explained that his
original name is "Gander" which is a goose, and Barks originally drew him
differently than the Ducks, taller, different eyes, different beak,
different neck. I guess this is an error committed decades ago by the
original translator in Norway (and elsewhere?) and now it's better that
they just stick with it (as with those gold coins in the Bin) and not screw
up their own tradition -- even errors can become traditions.