Tunes'n'ticks

[Mattias Hallin]

HIYA, Y'ALL!

            I went 'n got mah copy yesterday of WDC xxx -- well, the latest
issue, that with van Horn's "Magica's Missing Spell" -- which has been subject
to some discussion on this list lately.

Well, for one thing I'm European, by far too young to remember the Great
Depression in '29, and all that -- but I have to confess a rather complete
familiarity with the minor classic "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime", first made
popular/famous through a Bing Crosby recording c. 1930 (it's a great recording,
too!). But then again, given my self-acknowledged weird taste in music, this is
neither surprising (that I know the tune, I mean!) nor probably very
representative of the modern young European male (I mean to say, I must have
played that tune several hundred times by now -- it's part of my basic
repertoir). So I guess I'll have to agree that the gag is at least half wasted
on anyone who don't know the tune. Of course, you can still ASSUME that there
must BE such a tune, so to anyone with a bit of imagination, the BASIC part of
the joke/punchline will still work.

Apart from that, I both liked and didn't particularly care for this story. It's
neatly done, of course, as VH tends to, and, well... But also, I think it does
rely a BIT heavily on that punchline, which is one with a drawback, even in
English (I'll get back with a report on the Swedish translation, once I get the
details from Stefan Dios). Also, I'll have to agree with those who say that
VH's Ducks are a bit lacking in personalities and dimensions -- he DOES tend to
revert to the "stereotypes" of the Ducks, rather than to treat them as real
human beings...

Well...

All my usual!

Mattias

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