Duckburg

[Matthew Williams]

I'm fascinated by the diversity of answers and responses to issues like
where Duckburg is, what language the characters speak, and how old the
nephews are.  Admittedly, I was being a little flippant when I talked about
Scrooge and Donald being expatriates.  My real, honest to goodness, definite
thought on the issues is this: they're questions we mortals should not
attempt to answer!

Seriously, part of the beauty of the Disney comics world is how much is left
up in the air.  This is true of many licensed characters.  It's a GOOD thing
we don't know 100% how old any of the characters are exactly, what year
they're living in, where exactly Duckburg is, and how strange races of
little people know what the ducks are saying.  These things leave the doors
open for different writers to bring their experiences and imagination to
their tales.  When we get to nailing down really specific details, that
limits future creation.  This is often why early seasons of long-running
television programs are really exciting and the later shows stink.  In early
shows, you find out all about the characters, but later on there are no more
bits of character to reveal.  I think part of the reason that the comics
have lasted for so many years is due in part to the open-endedness of the
characters.

The fact of the matter is that Barks would occasionally contradict himself.
Furthermore, did he ever bring up the idea of "Callisota" in a story after
"The Gilded Man"?  Am I remembering incorrectly, or did Barks imply in an
interview or two that nailing down specifics wasn't necessarily a good idea?

Finally, can we really establish a hard "cannon" for the comics?  I think
most of us would agree Barks is THE best, and he created many, many
characters as well as just the town of Duckburg.  But there are
contradictions between his early work and his later work.  Plus, I don't
think we can 100% dismiss the contradictions between the cartoons and
Barks's work--even though Barks's comics are almost indisputably better.
And while Rosa (who is indeed gifted) has thrilled us time and time again
with his intense knowledge of and devotion to the Carl Barks world, does
this mean that "facts" in his stories override information shared in an
excellent Van Horn or Scarpa tale?  I personally want to be able to watch
the cartoons and read the work of other creators without stressing over
breaks in continuity.

My basic point is this: the comics are better in the long run if we have a
very fluid and changing sense of what is fact.  Writers and artists should
be left room to create their own worlds and fill in their own details to at
least some extent.

Matthew A. Williams