Questions for Don Rosa (Concerning Universal Solvent)

[Jonathan H. Gray]

I just finished reading "The Black Knight Glorps Again" and I really liked 
it. It prompted me to reread "The Universal Solvent" and "The Black Knight" 
and in doing so I have three large questions.

1. Is the trademark thing after Omnisolve simple a gag or does someone own 
the actual trademark?

2. You're always really good about accounting for things in your Scrooge 
continuity. All of the omnisolve that was in the Diamond Jar from Universal 
Solvent is now on the Black Knight's armor and according to HDL, the only 
other thing left on the planet omnisolve wise is Gyro Gearloose's Omnisolve 
Beach Umbrella. However, while re-reading the original Black Knight story I 
noticed that theres one other Omnisolve item that seems to have fallen into 
limbo so to speak: The Omnisolve Feather Paintbrush that Arpin Lusene used 
to coat the armor with in the first place. From the way it was drawn, that 
paintbrush (and the diamond coated paintbucket) should still have a thin 
layer of Omnisolve on it. Since the suit of armor is now in orbit, this 
leads me to:

2A: Its probably grasping at straws, but do you have plans to use the 
paintbrush on anything?

2B. Isnt there a possibility that the armor could drift towards the sun and 
totally extinguish it if the bike saucer is still on, or would gravity keep 
the bike saucer from escaping orbit? If the bike saucer was powerful enough 
to get that high up off the ground I'd imagine that it may be able to do 
just that...but perhaps I am overthinking it.

2C. In the case that it CANT escape orbit, since the armor isnt totally 
secured to the saucer (its just tied up by a really good knot to a hook 
^__^) couldnt it also fall to earth should the knot ever come loose, and 
wouldnt that be as equally as disastrous as the omnisolve falling into the 
sun?

3. I had this conversation with someone else online and in the scene with 
Donald in the diamond dust coated trophy room, were your intentions that 
Arpin Lusene was actually willing to go so far as to kill Donald Duck (due 
to his frantic movements waving around the sword wildly didnt seem to 
dismiss this) or was he insteadextremely bluffing. I dont think you'd have 
ever written Lusene as willing to kill due to his backing off from complete 
anger at the end of the story but it certainly was cutting it close during 
the locked room sequence. :)

The existance of Omnisolve, story wise, is quite possibly the single most 
dangerous thing in the entire combined Disney Comics duck/mouse universes 
when you think about it. Personifying it through the Black Knight armor 
makes it all the more frightening...kind of like an inatimate villian of 
sorts. I suppose that Lusene being a not completely evil character nullifies 
this - but if a *truly* villianous Disney character like say The Phantom 
Blot (I remembered reading somewhere, though I dont know where, that he was 
the original intention for Lusene or am I wrong about that?) were to get 
inside the suit (or anyone of truly malicious intent for that matter) it 
would make the personification of the Omnisolve all the more vicious. 
Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but it makes for interesting 
discussion. :)

Jonathan H. Gray