DCML Digest Issue 14

[Don Rosa]

> From: Maximilian Baumgart <max.baumgart at web.de>
> Subject: Contradiction in terms in Lo$?
> But back to the subject. Today a friend of mine drew my attention to to
> facts said about Sir Eider McDuck in chapter I and V of "The life and
> times of $crooge McDuck" which seem to be contradictory. In chapter I's
> page ten says Sir Quackly McDuck about Sir Eider McDuck that he lost the
> battle in 946 because his soldiers left him as he had paid them only 30
> copper coins (at least in the German translation by Peter Daibenzeiher).
> But in chapter V, page 10 Quackly and Sir Eider McDuck himself
> say that he
> lost the battle because he was lacking in arrows (again I can only speak
> of the German translation). Now I ask all of you and especially Mr. Rosa:
> Is this an error in translation, an mistake by Don Rosa or can it be that
> both facts are correct simultaneously?

I like readers to try to find errors in my stories since they are reprinted
so often and I can always correct the errors in future editions. But usually
the "errors" can so often be explained away too easily:
1) The soldiers quit because they were underpaid *and* had no arrows. Or
some quit for one reason and others quit for another. Or they were supposed
to buy their own arrows but their low pay prevented it. The reasons are not
mutually exclusive.
2) There was more than just one single battle in all of 946.
3) I did not want to use the same lame joke twice.

> From: Anthvvuono at aol.com
> Subject: Any new Gemstone comics for 2004
> I'm still waiting for the "new"
> long adventure
> stories in the U.S. including "Crown of the Crusader Kings" and
> the "Quest
> for Kalevala." Any chance they will appear in "Uncle Scrooge" this year?

I guess they had to slow down on using my backlog of stories, otherwise they
would run out too soon. In the first 6 months I think they used half of the
backlog.
But I'm helping organize printings for several stories right now. For
example, Todd Klein, the best and most popular comics letterer in America,
is currently lettering "The Sharpie of the Culebra Cut" and "Quest for
Kalevala". (He doesn't simply "often" win the Eisner Award for "Best
Letterer"... he *always* wins the Eisner Award for "Best Letterer".) Todd is
a Duckfan from 'way back and personally volunteers to letter my stories for
American appearances. Also I'm telling Gemstone of the various covers or
pin-ups that I've done for various foreign printings -- if there are 2 or 3
such illustrations for a single story (which there almost always is), I'm
told they will use one for the cover, one for the backcover and, if there is
one, another somewhere in the interior. Meanwhile, I'll write texts about
the story's creation. Like getting special edition DVDs, eh?