Articles from Komix #169

[Kriton Kyrimis]

Here is the translation of a news item and an article from Komix #169:

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[From the "News of Komix" column.]

New Story by Don
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Back to the Past

In the new story by Don Rosa, which has not been published yet, the
beagle boys steal from Gyro a device that allows them to enter into
Scrooge's mind while he is sleeping, hoping to learn the combination
of his money bin.  However, what they discover is that the Duckburg
Croesus is not dreaming of riches, but of the days of his youth. This
idea allows Don to introduce the Beagle Boys and Donald, who goes
after them, in the world of the _Life & Times_, the epic biography
which gave him the Eisner Award. "The uniqueness of this story lies
in that the Beagle Boys and Donald affect Scrooge's Dreams, with the
result that real events are changed. It is an incredible trick: it is
not time travel, and I don't change anything that's happened. However,
they all seem to be actually happening again... In Scrooge's dreams,
that is!" Don told us. Moreover, the story is of particular interest,
as we learn more about the relationship between Scrooge and Goldie:
"The first and last scene are about Scrooge's best dream: the fire scene
in the Black Jack Saloon, in Klondike, which, in Scrooge's dreams takes
an unexpected turn", Don confided to us.

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        Travels in history, in search of the footsteps of Carl Barks
                        The Lost Charts of Columbus

  Don Rosa talks to _Komix_, presents _The Lost Charts of Columbus_ and
  explains how he decided to write the sequel to Carl Barks' legendary
  story, _The Golden Helmet_.

The sequel to _The Golden Helmet_ was requested by my publishers
in Norway.  Most of the "sequels" to Barks' stories are such
"commissions". Their readers had been requesting their favorite stories
from them, but the publishers had not found an artist who could cope. They
hired me for this reason... My main occupation had been the "sequels"
of stories by Carl Barks.

Why a sequel to _The Golden Helmet_ in particular?

_The Golden Helmet_ had always been the top request from Norwegian
readers, perhaps because Barks shows as the owner of America Olaf the
Blue, a Viking.  And, by coincidence, this had also been my favorite story
when I was a child.  It is true that Scrooge does not appear. However,
there are all of my other favorite ingredients: adventure, humor,
and historical references that are so real, that, when I was a kid,
I believed that they might have been true.

Barks seems to be playing with history. In _The Lost Charts of Columbus_,
however, the reference to Olaf's story is brief.

That had been the first problem that I had to solve when I began
writing the sequel to _The Golden Helmet_. However, I didn't have any
other choice. I preferred not to "recycle" Barks' idea, that someone
tries to become emperor of North America trying to obtain Olaf's Golden
Helmet. Thus, I decided to make it clear from the start that the Helmet
has no value, even though I was afraid that this was not going to please
my Norwegian friends! I preferred to write about all the other explorers
who are supposed to have discovered the New World. Although it seems
to be absurd to talk about the "discovery" of a continent, when so many
peoples had been living there for twelve thousand years!

There's no need to ask if the historic data are authentic...

All the historic data of this story, which was written in 1995, are one
hundred per cent authentic. There are historians who believe that these
ancient travelers really reached America, and that all these travels
really took place--apart from the one mentioned in the last page--,
although there is no conclusive proof. However, it has been pointed out
to me that the plot of the story does not make sense, as the so-called
"Code of Discovery" was drafted only in 792 AD, while I'm referring
to even older explorers.  Nevertheless, the problem can be solved: we
only have to assume that Charlemagne stated that this law was in effect
retroactively! I only hope that the translators of my stories respect the
names of the historic persons and do not replace them with funny names,
as this would destroy the foundation of the story!

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	Kriton	(e-mail: kyrimis at cti.gr)
	      	(WWW:    http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis)
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"If you can't stand the cold, stay out of the freezer!"
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