Don Rosa Interview from VG

Dag Nummedal Dag.Nummedal at itk.unit.no
Mon Aug 16 16:26:42 CEST 1993


I have not seen any translation of this, so here goes:

Translation of the Don Rosa interview in VG July 3 1993.

The interview goes over 2 double-pages, with the family tree taking one
double-page.

I have tried to keep the translation as close as possible to the original. The
bad grammar, flowery language, bad jokes and otherwise stupid contents etc.
are not of my doing.

Layout of interview pages:
__________________________________________
               |   |                     |
               |   |     		 |
               |   |     		 |
               |   |     		 |
 Silly picture |   | Serious picture     |
               |   |                     |
_______________|   |                     |
               |   |                   	 |
               |   | 			 |
               |   |   	       	       	 |
   Title       |   |     		 |
               |   |     		 |
               |   |			 |
_______________|___|_____________________|
		   |     		 |
		   |     		 |
   Intro        Main text		 |
                   |     		 |
                   |     		 |
___________________|_____________________|

Silly picture: ANTIHERO: -Donald is greedy, egoistic, proud and arrogant, says
Don Rosa, who loves his antihero. [This is a picture of a seriously demented
person.  He seems to have a strong fixation on waterfowls, and is totally
covered in small (and large) children toys.  The article doesn't say what this
madman has to do with Don Rosa, but it might simply be some poor soul who has
been subjected to Disney comics at a tender age.]

Serious picture: `DET ALLER HELLIGSTE' [Norwegian expression. Directly means
the inner part of the Jewish temple (inner sanctum?).]: Ca. 500 Donald-figures
and Huey, Dewey and Louies in all sizes are collected in Don Rosa's
Donaldroom. Here the famous comics are made.  [The picture is of a balding guy
with beard and round glasses. The walls are full of Duck figures. There is
also a copy of CBL in the background. The man looks suspiciously like the
madman in the other picture, but he seems almost totally sane. (The picture
may have been taken after some kind of cure.)]

Title: Et duckehjem [ Pun on `Et dukkehjem' ("A doll's house" by Ibsen).]

Intro: Don Rosa (42) is a living legend among Donald-fanatics. At his home in
Kentucky he draws and `dyrker' [in this case nurtures, as in a hobby, also
used in the meaning of worship] his antiheroes Donald and Scrooge. And he has
especially Norwegian readers in mind. Norwegians are big consumers of
Donald-comics, while Americans prefer supermen. Don Rosas last work: A family
tree for the Duck, Coot and the McDuck families, which VG presents today.

Main Text: Louisville, Kentucky (VG)
In a quiet valley, under shadowy trees, under steaming hot Louisville, the
Donald-artist and -writer Don Rosa lives. Surrounded by his wife, the parrot
Gyro Gearloose, three harehounds and about 500 Donaldfigures!

  Who would believe that the lean person before us was educated as an
engineer, and leader of his own construction company, before Donald took over
fulltime? 
  - Come in, says Don Rosa. Gyro Gearloose screeches at us from his cage.
Rosa's offer of letting the parrot fly free is politely but firmly turned down
by VG's `utsendte' [someone who is sent out, commonly used about reporters].
  On our way through the kitchen we discover something that could have been...
no, that is a dog! Cleo is the oldest of the three Beagle harehounds
(B-gjengen is called Beagle Boys in english). She is totally deaf and almost
14 years old. The animal is sleeping.
  But when Don Rosa jumps up in the air, and lands 15 inches away from the 
ancient, it gets up on all four - because of the vibrations in the floor.

Loves the ducks

  Ouch! Now again! We'd better move on says Don - and leads us through the
soda cellar, and up into the most holy - the Donald room! About 500
Donald-figures and Huey, Dewey and Louies in all sizes are collected on the
floor, in closets and on the walls. Here are Donald-clocks, Donald-Coke
bottles, Donald-hats; any kind of equipment with Donald's smiling face on.
  In this room, equipped with drawingboard, big TV and even bigger TV-chair -
and with it's own bath/toilet with shower!- Don Rosa's stories about our
`nebbete' [having a neb, also expression for being a loudmouth, fresh etc.]
friends from Duckburg are made.
  Among Donald-fanatics around the world Rosa's stories are among the highest
valued.
  And Don himself thinks he knows the reason. He is so fond of the figures
himself, that he could never even imagine mass producing Donald-stories. Don
prefers making long adventure stories - in many episodes - where all the
drawings and events are as authentic and typical of the time as possible.
  This demands careful preparations before each new story.-Often I use a week
for investigations, before I sketch the story. When that is done, I draw the
whole story - picture by picture - with pencil. I fax the finished story to
the mediahouse Egmont in Copenhagen for approval. (Egmont, which owns Hjemmet
in Norway, has the rights to Donald for Scandinavia, Germany, England, Eastern
Europe and China - all in all 21 countries.)

Norway is Donald-country
  
  - When the story is approved, I finish it in ink. I have to make sure that
the talking bubbles are large enough to fit the text in all countries - no
matter how intricate the language is - says Don.
  He adds that Finnish is the worst, spacewise.
  Norway and Finland are among the worlds greatest Donald-countries as of
1993. In today's USA Donald is counted among the comics for specially
interested comics collectors. The print run may be as low as 20 to 30 thousand
per month. In Norway Donald sells around 200 000 each week.
  Many of Don's stories finally appear in American Donald, after their
triumphant round through Egmont's `nedslagsfelt' [the area a bomb explosion
covers, ie. the area Egmont sell their comics in].
  - Americans think that Donald is childish, while the so called superheroes
are for "adults". It's the other way round, sighs Don Rosa with deep wrinkles
in the high forehead.
  - Also everything having to do with reading is unpopular in USA. Here it is
TV and video - with tons of garbage - that sells. I get letters form youths in
Skandinavia that writes better English than their American peers! I'm afraid
that USA is developing into a country of well-to-do idiots.
  Don hasn't any doubt about his favorite in Duckburg. - Uncle Scrooge! He may
seem like a hard, greedy person on the outside, but in contrast to most
Americans Scrooge isn't struggling for more status or power. All he wants is
as much cash as possible. He works hard, and has memories about almost every
cent he has made. The whole money bin is full of good memories!
  Donald is greedy, egoistic, proud and arrogant. Both he and Scrooge are
really antiheroes. That's why they are so popular, says Don.
  Rosa has worked for years on the family tree that VG presents today.
  - I built on the original, smaller family tree that the Disney-writer per
excellence - Carl Barks - made in his time.
  When the publisher heard that the family tree was finished, they wanted to
publish it. It is okay by me, says Don - who still has one spot free: It's
still not clear who the father of Huey, Dewey and Louie is! - Everything in
it's own time, smiles Don.
  We understand that he won't `si et kvekk' [say a quack, will not say a word]
about the paternity.


Family tree - Don Rosa is probably familiar with this already. For those of
you that haven't seen it already: Nyah, nyah, nyah!



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