The worse side of Don Rosas comics, part 1.

[Geir.Hasnes@DELAB.SINTEF.no]

DAVID and FREDRIK

I have just begun cleaning up my email file and will have some answers for
you regarding Egmont stuff etc. In the main time, over to

DON

>        Of course, your comments about my work, other than that story,
>continue to be rather... nice. (Do I send your monthly bribery check to
>the usual address?)

I will now and then bring my comics to work to go into irritating detail
about those stories you have made:

Son of the Sun.

I remember when I opened the comic - Gladstone subscribtion - and was
totally taken after a few glances. The pages literally exploded in my face,
and I do think that the visual strength of the airplane coming towards
Gladstone, the mountaintop exploding, and the treatment of the flight and
the mountain returning into the lake are about the best things I have ever
seen in a comic. I dont even think Barks has done as well as that, and I
wonder if you have since. Perfect timing and perfect perspectives, it flows
beautifully and with a tremendous musicality.

However, a question: Where did you find a reference to the treasure of King
Croesus (p. 3)? I assume that since you refer to other treasures on the
other pages of which I know the reference, this is also a reference. By the
way, since you are reading about and working with Croesus now, I assume
that you are already familiar with the History of Herodotus? There is a lot
about Croesus there. 

The panels showing the flight on p. 9 always irritated me, because they
disturbed the else so realistic story. You were trying to do some visual
gags, and I dont think they function in that setting. Everything else is so
well explained and even believeable that these panels are more irritating
than they would have been had it just been an ordinary story. If you were
to reprint the story once more, I would ask you to redraw those two panels.

Nobodys Business

Wonderful story, with all the references one can think of to make it a
delight for a Barks quiz. It flows natural and even though a little crazy
it is almost perfectly believable.

I do need to remind you that Gladstone is reading a Mickey Mouse comic on
pages 1-2 and later a Pluto comic.

Is the flat cliff on p. 6 a reference, and in that case, which story? If it
wasnt, I would have opposed using it because it was the most unbelieveable
thing in the story. Not that Donald could have bought it, but 1) I dont
think it natural to have such a place in Duckburg, and 2) you always sell
an estate with horizontal measurement of the area to be sold.

The leaves-will-leave fertilizer would probably not have worked
instantaneously on _all_ the trees on p. 8. You probably went too fast
here, because you didnt wish to use too much time on one gag.

Of course you were right. Why didnt Barks think of it? Gladstone would be
the worst threat ever to Scrooge. Your ending is therefore splendid.
However, the visual gag with Gladstone in the last panel was lost in
Norway, they simply removed the G and did nothing to the dialogue.

Geir Hasnes