No subject

In _Komix_ #98, Don Rosa had confided to us his intention to write one
more western adventure of young Scrooge.

KOMIX: We are curious to know the opinion of an American Artist on comics
of European origin with a western theme...

ROSA: Western comics had been popular in America during the 1950s and
1960s, but we haven't seen anything new since then. We do not have
comics such as Lucky Luke or Blueberry, though I would like this very
much... The inly western comic that existed during the last twenty years
was Jonah Hex [sp?]. In the end, however, they sent him to the future and
turned him into "Judge Dredd", to attract the attention of the American
youth, who is no longer interested in cowboys. I've learned that the
episodes of the *Life and Times* in which I show Scrooge as a cowboy,
have a great appeal to European Duck fans, and Italians in particular.
At the moment, I'm preparing another story with cowboy Scrooge. This
story takes place in Arizona in 1890, and Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley,
P.T. Barnum, the Daltons, and a whole bunch of other historic figures
from the Wild West make an appearance. [Yes, the text is different
from the quotation at the beginning of this article.]  And this is
one of the reasons I like writing stories about the years of Scrooge's
youth so much. If I had made a story about the Wild West with Donald,
I would have had to show that it was all a dream or a hoax. However,
I can easily make a story showing Scrooge as a cowboy... because Scrooge
once was a real cowboy... as real as a comics hero can be, that is.


[Captions]

[p.1, top] The panel from the story _Only a Poor Old Man_, which mentions
the Daltons and inspired Rosa.

[p.1, bottom] Don at his drawing board. Behind him, the legendary Carl
Barks Library, a basic reference for his work.

[p.2] A Carl Barks oil painting from Scrooge's heroic era.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Kriton	(e-mail: kyrimis at cti.gr)
	      	(WWW:    http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis)
-----
"One good solid hope's worth a cartload of certainties!"
-----