Italian Mouse stories [and Scarpa]

[M.J. Prior]

It's funny: I tried to discuss Italian Mouse stories, 
someone mentioned the only Italian artist he seems to know 
about and suddenly we're in the middle of yet another 
familiar, chewed-out and often-repeated discussion about 
grandma-and-scrooge-as-siblings and 
do-ducks-hatch-from-eggs. Sure, a Rota story is a worthy 
subject for this mailinglist, but somehow it's always this 
particular Donald's-birth-story. Nothing new here.

So, let's try and get back to my original subject:

Marco Rota also drew Mouse stories, which I've never seen. 
Judging from his Duck stories, I would expect his Mouse 
art to look more traditional, more 'American', just like 
Danish and Dutch Duck artists look at Carl Barks for 
reference.

The other, 'new' Italian artwork often looks totally 
different and imho more exciting. Judging from the stories 
in "Topolino Noir", Giorgio Cavazzano or Corrado 
Mastantonuo could do great things on a project like 
"Life-of-Pete", with proper respect to, for example, 
classic Gottfredson or Scarpa stories.

Dane <danehog at aol.com>:

> Personally, I'm not a big fan of Scarpa's Duck work. [...]> the characters just don't have any... *substance* behind > them. I'm sure Scarpa is a perfectly capable artist, as a > whole, but there's something about his Duck style that 
> just doesn't work for me. It's just so... generic. Still, > it could be *much* worse. Perhaps I'm just not "used" to > his style yet. I don't know. Whatever the case, I'm not 
> much of a Scarpa fan. (Can you tell yet?)

> [...] The coloring seems much too "light" for his 
> stationary style, giving it an obnoxious look that almost > gives me a headache. I'm sure Scarpa's work looks *much* > better in black-and-white.

I have to admit that I needed to get used to his drawings 
before I could appreciate it. My first reaction was: "This 
is bad! The characters show strange facial expressions and 
are much too 'jumpy' (display a sort of 'elasticity')." 
But then I read the story over and over and when I got 
used to it, his style actually worked. I had the same with 
Toby Strobl and what I used to call 'these weird modern 
Italian artists'. The difference being that I *love* 
Cavazzano and *appreciate* Scarpa.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Scarpa's work. 
I hope other members will join this discussion. 

David Gerstein:

> Michael refers to "tying together... 'facts' given in 
> classic stories". I think when Michael says "classic 
> stories", he MEANS Gottfredson and Murry tales. [...]
> Romano Scarpa is another great Pete story creator.

Well, yes, I meant Gottfredson and Murry and Scarpa, but 
to be honest: I'm only familiar with Gottfredson. Please 
tell me about Murry and Scarpa. 

And I'm sure there must be many others. I don't think such 
a 'Life-of-Pete'-series should strictly refer to the works 
of two or three authors only, although I admit it wouldn't 
be an easy job and such an restriction could serve as a 
useful 'boundary'. References to cartoons like "Steamboat 
Willie" would also be nice (like Tito Faraci did). The 
choice of a workable boundary would also depend on the 
preferences of the artists, of course.

Oh, and David, I liked your expansion on the various 
versions of the 'Foul Fellows' Club' from the Wolf 
stories.

Michiel Prior.