Disney-comics digest #645.

Don Rosa donrosa at iglou.com
Thu Apr 27 08:16:00 CEST 1995


>PER:
        Okay, here's a short list of my upcoming trips and appearances. But
it's shorter than in years past since all those lil' weekend motel shows
have cut back on guests. 
        Also, I need to delete one trip I'd already mentioned. I definitely
WON'T be going to Finland any time in November. I already have one trip in
November and some other tentatives.
        You already have all that German info.
        I'll be at the ChicagoCon June 30 - July 2.
        San Diego Comicon July 27-30.
        Mid-Ohio Con Nov. 24-26.
        Oh, and this thing in Dayton this coming weekend. Don't put that in
the permanent list.
        And I'll be at the dentist on July 24 at 5 PM.
        More to come later as I'm sure about them.

WES:
        I just received my subscription copy of the new U$ yesterday. I
wouldn't worry about yours until next week.

MARK:
        NEVER hesitate to criticize my stories! I don't get nearly enough of
that! I hear that there are people who dislike stuff I do, but the mail to
me and Gladstone is 100% favorable. I can never hope to improve anything if
all I get is praise, and those quiet fans are doing me and themselves a
disservice by keeping mum. I never like pure complements since, if they
aren't sprinkled with a few negatives, I don't think they're sincere. In
fact, if I had to make a choice between nothing but complements or nothing
but criticism on here, I'd pick criticism since this net is made of
knowledgeable fans. I get plenty of praise elsewhere.
        You say that you would prefer, and you think Barks' intention was,
that $crooge made himself slowly rich by simply always saving every penny he
ever made. Well, that's an interesting thought. And it may very well be that
that is exactly what Barks intended. And that would work fine until they
asked me to do this "Lo$". What sort of conflict would there be in the
series if $crooge started saving every cent from his first shoeshine and
where every single endeavor he undertook was successful? So he would already
be well off when he went to work on the riverboats in 1880, well-to-do when
he became a cowboy, modestly wealthy when he mined copper, rich already when
he first hunted gold in 1886? There's no conflict in that idea. Where would
reader interest come from? Who would care if a rich $crooge got richer? That
would make the "Lo$" series identicle to the modern day $crooge. I really
can't get too interested in those stories that just tell of $crooge maybe
getting richer -- there needs to be a threat to his wealth or some inner
struggle, right?
        But don't think that $crooge is "wealthy" as of chapter 8 in my
story. He does, now, as you hope, start saving his money. I already did a
story that takes place one year after chapter 8 in 1898(the upcoming "Hearts
of the Yukon") where you'll see that $crooge isn't living or acting any
differently. He never sells that Goose Egg Nugget, so he can't really become
so rich by just finding it. Then I also did a story that takes place one
more year later in 1899 ("The Last Sled to Dawson"), and we still see
$crooge saving his gold and living as before. Only in that story did I show
him decide to invest some money and buy a bank and start buying other
businesses. But those stories would make boring episodes as part of the
"Lo$" series. Once I've shown him finally get his fortune started in chapter
8, I skip those years and start trying to tell stories of how the wealth
then affects his life, not how swell it is to be rich or how funny it is to
be stingy.
        As for that scene of the destruction of the riverboat, this again
prove to me that it's impossible to please everyone at the same time.
Whereas you saw that sequence as being too "Image comicy", Gladstone just
received a lengthy letter from some literary scholar that went on and on
about how brilliant she thought that whole sequence was handled. She talked
of comparisons to Shakespearian and Wagnerian drama and quoted a few
dramatists that I'm too ignorant to have even heard of, and even quoted a
passage from some famous play that has a scene almost identicle to mine
(except its the hero's sister that dies, not the mother). She gives lengthy
reasons why she does NOT see any similarity between my handling and a Rambo
style ending. (Gladstone sent the letter straight to me since it was too
long and essoteric for their letters page.)
        This is not to suggest you are right or she is right or I am right
or any of us is completely right or wrong. It's just that everyone
interprets this stuff differently. And I can only make my own decisions and
do the best job I can. I constantly state that my version of $crooge's life
is only MY version. Someone else can do their own completely different
version of $crooge's life next year if they want -- no one is required to
adhere to mine.
        If I ever redo this whole series (which is probably unlikely) I
would take comments like yours into consideration and perhaps change
sections of the story drastically. But for now, that's all too late. My
damage was done already 3 years ago -- you're just now seeing it.
        Well, I hope you like the directions I go in chapters 9-12 better.
You'll never again see this robust $crooge... only an increasingly wretched
one, until part 12 where I TRY to bring it all together at the finish.




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