Disney-comics digest #748.

Don Rosa donrosa at iglou.com
Wed Aug 9 14:43:00 CEST 1995


>ERIK:
        Thanks for the comments. I had $crooge go into retirement for two
reasons- first, to greatly accentuate the effect that DD & HDL have on his
life. If he hadn't been retired and effete, his "change" wouldn't have had
much point. Second, to continue the juxtaposing of the story to the movie
that I was obviously referring to. But Byron and I only disagreed with the
length of that retirement. I thought it should be 5 years and Byron thought
it should be longer...10 years. I can't recall what Gladstone's script said.
        I am still talking to Byron about the add-on pages. Now we have
scrapped the scene entering the Bin and opted to simply expand page 5 where
the Ducks meet THE Duck.

MIKE:
        The difference between Egmont and Gladstone and Oberon? I don't
think Gladstone needs scripts right now, though you can check. But if you
can get accepted by Egmont that's your best bet as they pay MUCH MUCH more.
They pay lots more for script than for art (relatively speaking), due to the
fact they can get the art done in places like Chile and Argentina and Spain.
I would do much better as just a writer, but I just can't imagine doing part
of the job, which is my problem. Oberon would pay well, but probably not as
much as Egmont. As far as getting accepted, I couldn't guess which of those
two companies would be easiest to deal with. As far as seeing your work
used, with either company the lag time would be at LEAST a year, maybe much
more. But these are all three, completely distinct and separate companies,
who have the Disney license in different areas.
        AKU ANKKA was publicizing my name as early as 1991? Wow. As to your
letter, if you want my comments -- try to use the series' correct title,
"The Life and Times of $crooge McDuck". Also, never be too critical of these
editors' work, especially when you're dealing with editors who, for the most
part, may be used to only getting gushy letters from children. If you come
across too much as a cranky fan-boy (not that you DO, but they might
overreact due to lack of experience with adult readers), they may toss your
letter in the trash. But I've been getting to know the Finnish editors for
the past few weeks, and they seem like some of the best editors I've dealt
with... as good as Norway's Soland, as far as respect for the material. And
even though you posted your letter here for comments (which I'm giving), I
wouldn't say in the letter that I have endorsed its contents. That makes you
sound like my agent or something. We just had a problem in Italy where a
Duck fan had heard that ZIO PAPERONE was about to begin a special printing
of my "Lo$" and wrote to the editors suggesting they contact me, sending
them translations of my Gladstone texts and other material -- but he wrote
the letter on his business stationery... and he is a LAWYER. This seems to
have frightened the Italians into thinking the guy was MY lawyer and was
setting them up to demand royalties! (In the Disney system? It is to laugh.)
I'm just now trying to straighten that all out.
        ...And speaking of Finland and Italy, that leads me into a comment
on my October-November trip to the comic shows in Helsinki and Lucca: The
dates have changed again! The Helsinki show is postponed until November 10,
so my trip will be more like October 28 to Lucca, then to Helsinki sometime
or other in the middle, then leaving Finland around Nov. 13.




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