DCML Digest Issue 53

[Don Rosa]

> From: Olaf Solstrand [mailto:olaf at andebyonline.com]
> the Beagle Boys have on several occations left Scrooge
> somewhere to die.

As I said, the necessities of a story may have caused me to have the Beagles
doing something less than healthy to $crooge, but that doesn't change my
very definite ideas of their personalities. However, none of the examples
you give would be good ones because...

> ... Life of Scrooge part 12.
> There, The
> Beagle Boys lock up Scrooge in a room in an abondoned building
> with no food or  heat.

Well, that's hardly very deadly, just done to delay pursuit. They had all
sorts of ways to break down the door and did so immediately.

> In the same series part 2, another set of Beagles lock up
> Scrooge with a
> steam engine minutes away from exploding. (Then again, you most
> likely were
> careless?)

No... that was NOT the Beagle Boys I refer to. That was their parents lead
by Blackheart Beagle whom, yes, *is* murderous! He not only tried to kill
$crooge but kill everyone in Duckburg in "A Little Something Special". I'd
say Blackheart is *far* more evil than Glomgold, and I was explaining why in
that story.

> The best example I can think of from Barks, is "Only a poor old
> man", where The
> Beagle Boys try hard to destroy a dam  when Scrooge is standing on it.

Why do you see that as a good example? They were aiming at the dam, not
$crooge. If $crooge wanted to preserve life and limb, all he had to do was
get off the dam. A millionaire Duck's place is in the Bin, not by a dam
site. (Don't try to figure out that incredibly obscure movie reference. If
anyone does, I'll do them a free drawing. Dan Shane not eligible!) Nothing
in that story shows any personal animosity against $crooge's well-being.

> If I interpret this definition correctly, Don: When Magica melts
> a coin, that
> coin browses through its files of everybody that has ever touched
> it, and sends
> magical signals out into the world to figure out what their
> CURRENT wealth is
> (instead of just remembering what their wealth was when they
> touched it)... and
> then the magical value of the coin is defined by the average of that or
> something?

Wow. Where did you derive that complex definition? That's even more
complicated than something I'd come up with.

 > Hmm... this made me wonder why that amulet Magica made from
> Croesus' first coin  never worked.

Didn't they translate that story right in Norway? The whole point of the
story, clearly stated (?), was that $crooge was richer than Croesus. But
that was only a plot device -- the real reason would be more like that
Croesus perhaps never handled the coin much. Being a king, he never carried
money on him like $crooge might have all his life.

> After all, regardless of Croesus - what she wanted
> in the first
> place was a coin that Scrooge had touched. And he most certainly
> had touched
> the coin of Croesus. So... Why didn't it work just as good as the
> coin she
> would have asked for in the first place?

Huh? No, she doesn't want a coin that $crooge or some other wealthy person
has simply touched. Barks' original story said she wants a coin that a very
wealthy man has handled *a lot*. Not only is $crooge the richest man in the
world, but that was his first coin and he carried it constantly for about 80
years! There might be other wealthy men whose old coins would do the trick
for Magica, but she'll never manage to find a richer man nor a coin that's
been handled so much by any rich man. I've always thought about doing a
story where she gives up and goes after Glomgold's first rand, and I
actually showed that happening in "A Little Something Special" though I
never showed how that turned out since it was a closing gag.

> If I may ask... does that mean that you've finished that other
> story you were
> working on (the one taking place in the old castle)? And that the
> story is
> approved by Egmont so that we may get to see it in 8-10 months?

I finished that in early August. And it never takes 8-10 months for my
stories to see print (I say "my" because those are the only stories whose
timing I am aware of)... a story will normally appear 6 months after I send
it in, but the publishers get anxious and sometimes ask for a rush process
to get my story into print in just a few months after completion. That was
initially the case on this one, but I hear they thought better of it and
went back to the normal schedule. I guess it might be seen around January?

> By the way, what was the final title for that... "A letter from home"?

I had two titles for that story -- one title didn't carry much intrigue and
the other title was too esoteric. So, as in old movie serials and Rocky and
Bullwinkle cartoons, I suggested using both titles together. I'm *sure*
Egmont won't like that idea, so the double-title might only be used by
Gemstone or other non-Egmont publishers. Anyway, my title is "A Letter from
Home  ***or***  The Old Castle's OTHER Secret".