Duckburg, Mouseton and Mickey's appeal

[Dim I Nticoudis]

  Recent discussion about the two cities and their importance is quite 
interesting.To be honest I always thought of them as two sepparate cities 
inhabited by two different sets of characters, although they may know each 
other but aren't that close.

  Duckburg ,or at least as seen in old Italian stories, is the city 
practicaly dominated by Scrooge McDuck and John D.Rockerduck.I always loved 
those old stories where we saw the two of them, compete for superiority.We 
could see them taking business decisions than didn't only affect them and 
their close associates but their workers and the society at large. droping 
new ideas , introducing new products and trends, ideas that sometimes 
fascinated the public and sometimes they just flopped.The two of them 
running and organizing their financial empires often gave us quite 
interesting stories where we could see them trying to predict their 
opponent's next move, while planning their own next moves ,using industrial 
espionage to get an advantage over each other, and often feeding false 
information to each other's agents to trick them, constantly trying to 
manipulate others to use in their plans.W, ile Barks,Rosa and others do a 
good job portraying the adventurer that Scrooge is ,those are the stories 
that explore him as a businessman.And Duckburg's society serves as a 
nice,though unnamed , supporting cast to the main characters.

  On the other hand in Mickey stories the influence of the duo of financial 
emperors and their circle of close associates is rarely felt.Mickey's 
casting as a detective set the theme in many stories.Mysteries and crime 
stories.At their worst just boring predictable stories.At their best 
exciting mysteries.A city where Phantom Blot's mere mention could cause fear 
and Pete's criminal schemes could lead to a series cleverly commited and 
organised crimes.The two cities felt different and the two sets of 
characters could be left to their own machinations without tangling on each 
other legs at every other storie.An occasional crossover could happen but 
truly the two sets weren't that close to each other.They didn't know 
everything about each others' activities.

  Concerning Mickey's appeal I always thought him as an inferior character 
to the Duckburg cast.For example he usualy didn't have a very interesting 
motivation.Scrooge, Flintheart, Rockerduck , Magica(all favorite characters 
of mine) are all extremely ambitious characters, setting high goals and 
trying hard to achieve them.In Mickey's case he seems to be involved in 
adventures that have no monetary or other personal gain for him and in many 
cases shouldn't even involve him.I actualy enjoy stories that cast him as a 
proffessional detective or reporter trying to earn some money, at least his 
motives in those one are believable and that explains how can he financialy 
supports himself.Sometimes ,like Sigvald pointed out, he seems to be in an 
eternal vacation, not having a care in the world and even denying to receive 
awards.I just can't stand those stories.

Secondly he is oftenly predictable.Scrooge, Donald and the other Ducks 
oftenly have to take hard decisions in many matters, we can see them giving 
serious thought in matters that affect their life.They deal with temptations 
, desires, responsibilities in realy believable ways and they can be both 
the "heroes" and the "villains" in their own stories according to their 
decisions.Mickey is always going to do the "proper" thing.He has a sense of 
morality that truly sounds out of this world.Threats to his health don't 
seem to scare him, offers of money seem to have no appeal on him , his 
actions  straining his relationship with his closest associates don't realy 
seem to make him give some more thought to them.Seriously how many times 
have we seen him having fights with Minnie, mostly in old Italian stories, 
because he seems to be always away in some adventure, neglecting her?I 
actualy enjoy a couple of stories where she insists on going with him just 
to proove that adventure is not too dangerous for her, as Mickey often seems 
to believe.Even Scarpa's Goofy sometimes critoisizes his habit of just 
walking on to danger with no concern and volunteering on his behalf without 
even asking him.

  And oftenly his adventures are based on accidental happenings rather than 
planned action.Scrooge and his people go out looking for adventure.In some 
stories at least we can see them plan ahead.In Mickey's case it seems just 
to be his luck.Stock plot:How many times have you seen Mickey being on 
vacation in some place and just happens to stumble in any major criminal 
activitie in the area, without even looking for it?Including running into 
Pete in any strange case?Pete is running a scheme in Arabia, India, the 
African Jungle?Well Mickey just happens to go there leaving Pete wondering 
how he does that?Well I wonder about that too.And his sollutions are also 
based in luck.Sometimes he seems to resemble Gladstone Gander in his 
outrageous luck.Whatever his enemies try against just doesn't work even if 
he doesn't know he is threatened.Sigvald is probably right in saying that 
the time traveling stories are among the best.At least he takes the decision 
to time-travel instead of this just happening to him and they do have more 
suspence than most stories.

  And lastly I don't mind O'Hara asking for his help in some cases but not 
in any case!In some movies he just seem to be doing all police work by 
himself.Mouseton's superheroe or something.I actualy like recent Italian 
stories featuring O'Hara balancing his life between his many cases in the 
office and his relationship with his wife back home.It seems to develop the 
character more.

  Seriously some Mouseton characters seem to me more interesting than Mickey 
himself.The Phantom Blot is a realy threatening ambitious ingenious man.Pete 
at his best combines a tough attitude and criminal experience with some 
good-hearted attempts to support himself and his Trudy, helping out criminal 
friends, being a leader.Mortie's and Ferdie's stories dealing with their 
social life can be quite interesting and sometimes seem more believable than 
their uncle in their emotions.Goofy is good enough for surealistic stories 
and he is at least more imaginitive,creative and fun-loving than his friend.

  Mickey often seems to be the all too boring ,proper and predictable 
character in a whole set of colorful characters.And to be honest I would 
like to see him im stories that provide him with better motivation, more 
realistic emotions and actions, a bussiness life , and some use of his years 
of experience in adventure and crime-fighting.Seing him run around in shorts 
in an attempt to de-age him isn't excactly a thing that makes him more 
exciting in my eyes.

  Just my thoughts in the subject rather than a more objective look.How do 
other members see the two cities and the "Mouse that started it all" and 
what stories would they like to read?

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