DCML Digest Issue 22

Don Rosa donrosa at iglou.com
Wed Aug 18 15:34:40 CEST 2004


Suddenly, lots of work for me in the DCML!

> From: Mads Jensen <mje at inducks.org>
> Subject: Re: Rosa in picsou
> > I hope someday there will be an art book with every cover and
> pin-up by Don.
> Egmont started a so-called Rosa Library, sadly only two books (out of 5)
> are scheduled, but more will probably come, if the series sell well.
> Hall of Fame is the series, I'm talking about here. Covers and pin-ups
> could be cool to have in one book.

The first volume of that series was very nice, but I'm working even more
closely together with the editors on volume II. The one area where the first
volume failed was with covers -- not only did they fail to include the comic
covers from that period (and for those stories) but they presented PICSOU
pin-ups as if to imply *they* were the covers originally done for those
stories. However, in volume II there will be a special chapter devoted
entirely to covers which will incorporate the covers missing from volume I
(and even include some covers that Egmont found that I had forgotten about
doing).
Aside from this, the German publisher once had a hardback "art" book planned
which would have featured *all* of my pin-ups and cover art. But I guess
that idea was set aside temporarily as I haven't heard anything about it
lately.

> From: "Mickey" <mickey at iol.it>
> Subject: Rosa&...
> Mr. Rosa,
> have you ever thinked to write a (very detailed) script for
> another artist,
> in order to tale more stories than you could do by yourself?

No. No sane artist would put as much work into drawing my "very detailed"
scripts as I write them. I think the popularity of my weird looking work is
that I do it all, start to finish -- it would look "prettier" if another
better-qualified truly-professional cartoonist illustrated my scripts. But
the stories would not be the same. I am of the school of thought that a
comic book script and art should be done by a single person to have that
special spark. If I am ever forced to stop drawing my own scripts, I will
just quit altogether (I hope), but if I continued to write only scripts I
would no longer consider the resultant comic story as "mine". Drawing for me
is a *very* slow, tedious and difficult process as I think you can tell by
looking at my art! I could make more $ writing more pages than I do when I
am slowed down to a snail-pace by drawing them myself. But...  for me,
that's how a comic story must be done. I didn't liquidate the 90-year-old
Keno Rosa Co. and set off on this new direction in life to only write comic
scripts.

> From: Thomas Pryds Lauritsen <tpl at inducks.org>
> Subject: Re: Don's Picsou drawings and the translation
> Josva Dammann wrote:
> > I thought I'd check the Norwegian calender for 2003... [...]  I couldn't
> > see France mentioned any other place than when you write about
> the black knights conection to inspector Clouseau:)...
> > Nither did I see Picsou writen anywhere, [...]

Huh? Please show me where "Josva Dammann" wrote this. I missed it if it
appeared in a DCML Digest. I need to show this info to the Norwegian editors
I am working with on the 2005 Rosa Calendar!

> The very first sentence of the preface of the Danish Don Rosa Calendar
> 2004 is (translated): "The illustrations chosen for this calendar was
> originally made for the French Uncle Scrooge comic book Picsou." Then
> follows an explanation much like the one Don Rosa gave here a few
> days ago.

Very good. The only problem with the 2004 Danish Rosa Calendar is that I was
never told it was published (I discovered the fact while visiting Denmark in
June) and I can't get the publisher to send me a copy! Can anyone out there
supply me with one or several?!

> From: Anthvvuono at aol.com
> Subject: New Story?
> Dear Don Rosa,
> Do you know what your next story will be about yet?

No, I actually don't. I've been working hard on the Rosa Calendar, the 2nd
volume of the "Rosa Library" (HoF #?) and some stuff for PICSOU and others.
I hope to start thinking about a new story after I get back from backpacking
in the Rockies at the end of this month. (That trip comes about due to a
book signing I am doing in Denver at Mile High Comics on September 28, if
there are any ML members in that area who care.)

> Also,  I LOVED "The  Sharpie of Culebra Cut!" I thought Gemstone did a
fine job with
> the overall presentation of the story from the front and back covers to
the
> story itself.

I DID TOO! It looked excellent and made me very proud! The only change in
the script was the odd bit calling chicha a "sleeping potion". Why would the
Indian chief "test the courage" of a friend with a sleeping potion? How is
that a test of courage? The original script just called it "powerful", I
didn't specify that it was alcoholic. But the presentation was gorgeous, the
coloring was great, and especially the LETTERING and sound effects, etc.,
were wonderful, all done by the-world's-greatest-comics-letterer himself,
Todd Klein!

> I'll be a happy reader if you have more adventures in the same
> humor/historical
> vein in the works. How about another "Life of Scrooge"....

I do believe that high on my list of ideas for the next story is a Lo$ set
in 1898, and you know what that means.




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