+Postage Due+Disney-comics digest #152.

Don Rosa 72260.2635 at CompuServe.COM
Wed Nov 10 05:50:00 CET 1993


Mattias:
	So, at least for you that part 9 worked, sounds like. That
leaves about 249,999,999 other readers to worry about. But if you only
could see a story like that one in the stages of development -- it might
look (sometimes?) to be a simple thing to put a story down on the paper
once an idea for the plot is there. But in this chapter, as well as ALL
the chapters in this series, it is SO tricky to get the whole thing to
work properly. The idea of having $crooge's father die at the end of
this chapter is a simple idea in itself... but how to pull it off
properly is something else. Usually I'll know all the aspects that must
be... such as he must die in his sleep, yet $crooge should never know
that before he leaves (mostly to avoid a "scene" much too grim for a
Disney comic, even allowing what I did go with), plus he must be shown
to have a chance at a final goodbye with a character who can't be alive
at that point. It's like the "Return to Xanadu" story where it took me
two days to think of a set-up by which the Ducks could trigger the
flooding of Trala La, enter the valley, then be unable to get back to
the flood-trigger. Making the story work in these cases is exactly like
putting together a jigsaw puzzle; I have the pieces but I can't see how
they can fit together. In fact, now that I've completed the Lo$ series,
I (as usual) don't feel particularly proud of how I drew or scripted any
part of it... but I think I performed a miracle to get all the pieces to
fit together properly in a vaguely entertaining manor.
	As to your few queries... my real idea of an afterlife? My
stories reflect the typical movie version of that idea which mixes
religion with supernatural elements (mixing gods with ghosts). I don't
really have any opinion on the subject; as an agnostic, my attitude is
that the truth is unknown and unknowable.
	As for why I sometimes draw un-anchored Duck eyes, you have the
exact right idea. The small eyes make a character look "cuter"
(shudder)...so, therefore, yes, I see Matilda as being a bit prettier
than Hortense, just as her personality and temperament is milder.
	Why did Pa get younger-looking after he died? That's just the
usual movie cliche. As usual, when I did that tale I had an old movie in
my head leading me on.... and in that case it was THE GHOST AND
MRS.MUIR; that's just how the situation was handled there.
	 And, hey, there's one more thing I need to ask YOU. It occurs
to me that I'm slowly gaining an "agent" in each Egmont country to send
me a copy of that version of my stories, but I still have no one in
Sweden. Actually, Simon Sahlberg sends me copies sometimes, but I feel
bad that such a young guy spends his own money to supply me with copies
when the Swedish publisher should be but is too thoughtless or cheap
to. Could YOU set aside a copy of #45 for me??? And actually I still
need #29-31 as well (part 8). I'm not saying I need you to SEND me the
copies right away... but if you could just set the issues aside for me
so I know I have some on hold, maybe you can send them to me at some
later date.

Fredrik:
	Well, good, then there's another happy reader out there. But
don't you think some readers will object strongly to that tale? What do
you think MOST readers will think?
	The part about how $crooge got his coat was dull? I don't doubt
it. But, again, I was hampered by the "facts" and how to fit them
together logically. I knew $crooge got his broadcloth coat at a rummage
shop in Scotland in 1902; he had to be a billionaire at that point. Why
would he have needed to buy a coat at a rummage shop when he had been
wealthy for 4 years? Why such a cheap coat? A used coat? And it had to
happen at exactly that point in the story -- any later would have
interfered with the main plot. THAT was how I fit those puzzle pieces
together.
	The sun's angle in the last panel was wrong. I know. But as
careful as I am with details, I bend them when it suits the "drama". The
puzzle pieces in THIS instant were that Pa's window must face the front
of the castle. The sun must shine in his window. The front of the castle
must be visible as $crooge is seen leaving in the final panel. The sun's
rays must be a part of that last scene. I don't actually show the sun
there, but if you connect the rays, they'd meet above the distant
horizon. I might have shown the rays coming from "stage right" but
that's where the imaginary signpost was to be, plus I have a strong urge
to make certain scenes symetrical. Anyway, that again shows you that
LOTS of thought goes into even tiny details, even though I don't always
come up with the best final decision. This also goes to answer the other
commentor's remarks about the accuracy of how cartoonists treat the
shape or placement of the sun or moon. When I want a certain effect for
dramatic lighting or such, I don't let accuracy stand in my way. That's
the old "dramatic license". There's always a full moon when I need one
and it always happens to be in the right spot in the sky. You wouldn't
really want it any other way, would you?





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