William Van Horn

[Olaf Solstrand]

William Van Horn and Rumpus McFowl

Lots of things have happened here in my period of "not paying attention to
DCML because I pretended to have better things to do to my life", I see...
Reading up on some old logs now, and here are some answers and opinions on a
message about William Van Horn issue from March...


Tue Mar 18 15:03:48 CET 2003, Monsieur L. Schulte wrote:
"Concerning William Van Horn's stories: I at first was not too appreciative
of his stories or of the "zany" art style.  But his later stories for
Gladstone became better, and in fact the last one he did for Gladstone US
#318 called "Secrets" with Scrooge's half-brother Rumpus was classic."

Can someone please tell me what story that one was? The one with the
cigars - or the one where a lawyor tried to get Rumpus half of Scrooge's
money? I guess the first one (which I agree was a masterpiece), but have to
ask. (Hey, I didn't know that was a Gladstone comic! Oh... I just read
Harry's message. It wasn't.) If it was the second one: Can someone please
tell me what Scrooge's _LAST_ dialogue balloon in that story was in its
original language? Sorry to ask for it in such, but I'm really curious about
that, as the Norwegian translator changed this to a Henrik Ibsen quote -
which I frankly wouldn't expect to find in a comic by an American writer.

[And to trigger the curiousity of all Ibsen-lovers out there: Scrooge said
"Folk som ham vil alltid være seg selv nok!" ("People like him will always
be themselves enough" - as stated by The Old Man of the Dovre: "Out yonder,
under the shining vault, // among men the saying goes: 'Man, be thyself!' //
At home here with us, 'mid the tribe of the trolls, // the saying goes:
'Troll, to thyself be-enough!'" in "Peer Gynt", act second, scene sixth).
Wow, did I manage to say all that without going off-topic? I'm impressed!]




"I thought he was in his 60's, so he might be retiring or has already
retired (?)."

Just to mention it: He's 64 years old (born February 15th 1939). Still not
retired. Let's hope he keeps on working at least until he reaches Scarpa's
age (75).



As for the "Carl Barks successor" issue, I won't comment it too much as I
know that Monsieur Sigvald Grøsfjeld is out lurking nowadays (and thus
can't/won't respond to this). But I'm still having problems seeing where
Carl Barks said that Scrooge does NOT have a half-brother (besides, as
Rumpus didn't know before he found that letter, how was _Carl Barks_
supposed to know that fourty years earlier?) And, as far as I remember, Van
Horn _WAS_ Barks' personal choice of artist for "Horsing around in
history"... But hey, I'm not here to argue. I find _all_ Disney comics
creators (well... almost) good successors of Carl Barks.



By the way - seems like I really have missed PLENTY of great discussions the
last months. I _will_ read my way back in the near future, so don't be
shocked if I suddenly answer to something written in late '02. (don't
worry - I'll try not to write just to write, but only say something if it
hasn't been said yet.)




Olaf the Blue

"So gather up your jackets, move into the exits,
I hope you have found a friend,
Closing time - every new beginning
comes from some other beginning's end..."