DCML Digest, Vol 38, Issue 9

Don Rosa donrosa at iglou.com
Fri Apr 14 09:36:25 CEST 2006


  
I guess I should say something as regards all the fun discussion here about
the exact dates and relations of the Ducks, sometimes as regards my stories.

I *really* enjoy Gilles' attempts to construct a *complete* Duck Family Tree
including *everything* anybody ever wrote or drew (which was published!).
It's a massive task and can't ever work completely, but it's fun to watch
him try to construct the framework and figure it all out. It's the sort of
thing I used to enjoy myself when I had more time and energy for this.

I also enjoy his loving attempts to put exact dates on my stories. And he's
welcome to try. We have also enjoyable private discussions on the subject
frequently. But what I should mention is that my *own* view corresponds with
what Michiel Prior and (particularly) Olaf Solstrand wrote in the previous
Digest. For my own amusement, I try to put exact years on any "Life of
$crooge" story I create. Because, to me, these are events of a specific and
definite "past". I think I look upon the line between that which is set in
stone as being a year or so after $crooge meets Donald & HD&L in late
1947... therefore, take the year 1950 as a nice even year-date. My stories
set in the "present" are taking place *sometime* after 1950. But each
exactly when? No, I envision them as happening in a very general "present",
in a swirl of early-mid 1950's, sort of all at the same time in an abstract
manner like Olaf said. I try to never contradict myself (or my view of
Barks' stories) when dealing with those "Lo$" tales. But if you try to
determine in what order my "present" stories take place, you might be
confounded, because I never worry if I'm putting trophies in the background
of one story that couldn't really be there yet if another story took place
first or later or whatever. Likewise, I had LOTS of fun creating the
blueprints of the Money Bin, but I sure as heck don't try to force myself to
follow my own plans when I stage a scene in the place... the rooms exist in
a "blur" that fits somehow inside of that general framework of concrete &
steel the way my stories take place in that "blur" of early 1950's years. I
enjoy seeing people trying to make sense out of it, and I'm pleased if they
manage, but if they do I think it's a miracle.

In fact, Olaf put it so well that I can't improve on his explanation: my
stories take place in "a kind of blur in time. Everything happens
approximately at the same time,  the order is not that important, and the
dating can be altered with in coming stories... Basically, to make the whole
idea work, one has to mix it all up and just say that everything is
happening at about the same time, without giving an exact year for it. Just
like in Asterix stories -- we know they're happening about year 50 B.C., but
apart from that it's all a big blob where everything is happening at the
same time -- and that is how I think Rosa stories should be read (only ...
2000 years later, of course)."

I also enjoy reading such speculative discussions since I can always get
better or more ideas -- such as Michiel Prior's suggestion that Ludwig Von
Drake is not married to Matilda. I've always favored the idea that they are
married -- it seems very logical that Matilda could meet LVD after she moved
back to Europe/Scotland sometime between 1930 and 1949... I figured he was
on a lecture tour during "A Letter from Home", though he was missing mainly
because his sudden presence would have confused the main plot. But maybe
he's called Donald's "Uncle" only because he is a distant relative, a "great
uncle" -- perhaps Dabney Duck (Grandma Duck's deceased hubby) came to
America leaving a sister back in the Old Country who married a Von Drake and
had a son named Ludwig? Since I have never actually put my idea that LVD and
Matilda are married *into a story*, I can always change my mind... after
all, the editor stopped me from including LVD as Matilda's hubby in my
Family Tree, and that would tend to be "official" evidence that it's *not*
so, and I should avoid it? Sometimes fans write me long messages asking me
if I might agree with this or that idea of Duck Family relations or story
dates, and while I say that this or that sounds great, I refrain from giving
a definite opinion because I want to be able to not make any final decision
until such point as I need to enter the "fact" *into* a story. Why rush
things?

After all, I sometimes confuse *myself* and REALLY screw up my own facts.
Case in point, which was also just mentioned here  -- that panel in "Letter
from Home" that clearly sets the year-date of the McDuck family break-up as
1932. I recall that someone had persuaded me that 1932 was the proper year
for that occurrence... but now I can't recall how or why... or maybe I just
lost my head for a moment...  "I panicked"! But when I reviewed the dialogue
for the 2005 Gemstone "Lo$" volume, I tried to restore that chapter 11 to
the year I had originally intended it to take place  -- 1930.

So, that's how I see my stuff, though I love to read Gilles' ideas also.
Like Olaf said, "But hey, the discussions can be fun anyway ... :-)".
But... much more fun in a Mailing List (to touch on that other current
topic), where we can have leisurely, thoughtful discussions under the
supervision of a moderator. We've seen how well that works thanks to Per and
NAFS(k).




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