Florence Quackfaster

[M.J. Prior]

I wrote in a previous mail:

> Afaik, the first and probably only apparition of Miss 
> Quackfaster's first name as 'Emily' was in Don Rosa's 
> Lo$ part 11. Geoffrey Blum could easily have missed that 
> piece of information as it's probably not very
> widespread.

To which Sigvald replied:

> Or it again proofs his (IMO) lack of respect for other 
> artists, Barks included.

And Anders Christian Sivebaek added:

> AFAIK Mr. Blum wrote the preface for Rosa's Lo$ when it 
> was published as a whole in the States, knowing that i 
> would expect that he has read and studied the story. 

I agree that Geoffrey Blum could indeed have been familiar 
with the name 'Emily', but as it is such a tiny and minor 
detail in this whole 212-page series, I can't blame him 
for letting such a trivial 'fact' slip his mind.

I can't see how such a slip-of-the-mind can have anything 
to do with a "lack of respect for other artists" and it 
certainly hasn't anything to do with a "lack of respect 
for Barks", since 'Emily' is a name made up by Don Rosa, 
not by Carl Barks.

Following the same train of thought, you (Sigvald) might 
as well blame Don Rosa for showing "lack of respect for 
Strobl" by 'ignoring' the existence of a story by Toby 
Strobl and Bob Gregory, in which Scrooge's mining 
grandfather was called Titus, instead of Dingus, as Don 
Rosa chose to call him.

As long as a story works, such details as previously 
unknown names for hitherto partly unnamed characters 
aren't important. At best, they work as tiny gags: "Gee, I 
didn't know Miss Quackfaster actually had a first name!"
Such details aren't about 'respect' or 'references', but 
more like "Hey, I need a name for this character, did she 
already have any?" 

And who says Emily and Florence are the same character?
Lo$ 11 takes place in 1930 and shows an Emily Quackfaster 
working at Scrooge's office, while Blum's story takes 
place in the early 21st century and shows a Florence 
Quackfaster being employed by Scrooge. Doesn't sound 
incompatible to me.

[Well, actually, of course it's the same character, but 
there's really no need to fuss about it, I think.]

Michiel Prior.

[One of the Beagle Boys is called Butch.]