17th of May

[Lars Jensen]

Olaf Solstrand wrote:

> I'm a newbie. Newbies aren't allowed to write great stories.

Well, you *are*. But you're probably not allowed to write *important*
stories.

> OK, this is a great Norwegian event - but I don't see why it should be
> of interest for the rest of the world. It would just turn into a very
> internal story that Norwegians would appreciate and everybody else
> would scratch their heads to.

Exactly. Couldn't agree more. No offense to Norwegians, but the rest of
the world don't care that much about Norway's independence. Sorry. I
might as well suggest Don Rosa doing a story celebrating the 50th
anniversary of the current version of the Danish constitution. Would
anybody (except Danes, obviously) care one iota about this subject?! If
not, why do a story about it?

I have a much better idea: Why not ask Don Rosa to come up with a story
of his own, rather than force him to construct a story around a (to most
people, uninteresting) real world anniversary?

Sigvald Grøsfjeld jr. wrote:

> who says it have to be published everywhere?

Egmont would be crazy if they asked their biggest name to create a story
with this limited an appeal. And they ain't crazy.

> There are even some stories by Don Rosa which are published in Norway
> and not in Sweden.

Egmont had Don Rosa create stories that were only intended for the
Norwegian market? Which ones? Maybe we can get those stories printed in
Denmark, somehow.

> Israel is a very controversial state. Anti-Israeli attitudes are wide
> spread in Europe, especially among left-wings. And as a Norwegian you
> will know that Norwegian media and most left wing politicians in
> Norway, including the LO-boss, are pretty silent when Palestine
> suicide-bombers are killing innocent Israeli civilians, while they are
> very quick to condemn it whenever the Israelis strike back. I guess
> that the situation is the same in the rest of Scandinavia and other
> places in Europe. [...] So when Goscinny feared the consequences if
> doing such a story there is no reason to wonder why Disney/Egmont
> would keep away from that topic.

Sigvald, I hear from people who have met you that you are a very nice
guy. Easy to get along with, good company. So please don't take this as
a personal attack:
Your presentation of the European left wing's views on Israel and
Palestine is in my opinion extremely unbalanced and colored by what I
suspect may be your own prejudices. Based on the above and your earlier
comments about children being "dipshits" if they wear modern clothes,
I'm guessing you're an extreme right-winger a la Rupert Murdock or
Silvio Berlusconi (or Fremskrittspartiet in Norway). Which means that
there is probably no way a constructive discussion can come from this.
Also, it's off-topic. Please keep this kind of stuff off the list.

And do you honestly believe Egmont didn't make a story about Israel's
50th birthday because they feared the backlash?! *My* guess is they
didn't make a story because they knew their readers were uninterested in
that subject.

And once more: Let's stop this discussion here. I will.

>> Sorry, Sigvald, but the only thing that could
>> make me consider writing such a story is Byron
>> Erickson asking me to do it. Which I frankly
>> doubt_ will happen, but that is not a
>> discussion you should take with me.
>
> Well, if he doesn't ask Don Rosa, I certainly hope that he will ask
> you to do this.

God, I hope not. My "50th anniversary of the current version of the
Danish constitution" idea sounds better all the time.

Lars