DCML digest, Vol 1 #219 - 4 msgs

Don Rosa donrosa at iglou.com
Fri Aug 4 15:17:20 CEST 2000


> From: john garvin
> Are living wooden puppets really more fantastic than a race of
menny-hoo-nees
> living in Hawaii?

Well, yes, in my opinion, a living wooden puppet and a big Blue Fairy and a
really big talking cricket dressed in an insect-size tuxedo are a lot more
fantastic than lost civilizations of square people or underground folks.
Barks often used stories where Gearloosian science performed impossible
wonders which is a "fiction" still based on the existence of the wonders of
real science. Yes, he told stories many ways, but still  *within certain
bounds* and I do so as well, even though my ways are obviously not
*precisely* Barks', only based on his foundations. I still have my own
attitudes and preferences. I like his stories of places like Plain Awful
and I enjoy doing sequels to them when asked, but I, myownself, would never
create a Plain Awful or a Terry-Firmy land. My use of the word "fantasy"
refers to magic or pixie dust or the Easter Bunny or having a
one-Disney-Universe where Capt. Hook meets Lady and the Tramp or something.
That might be elements of some stories that have appeared in some Disney
titles somewhere, but not in a Barks story.

 > Barks stories contained elements of the fantastic: Santa Clause and his
magic
> sleigh,  many types of witchcraft and witches,
> And I don't think you can argue that all of
> these stories were done because he editors ordered him too.

How about the Barks story where Dumbo flew in to visit Grandma Duck?
Actually I *can* argue that all of his uses of Santa and witches and Dumbo
were done at his editors' orders and written by other authors because
that's what *Barks* claims in the interviews I've seen for 25 years, and I
believe him because it makes sense based on what the rest of his stories
are like. The stories with Santa ("Letter to Santa", "Toyland"), witches
("Trick or Treat", "Golden Xmas Tree") and the Dumbo weirdness were written
by others or contained the "fantasy" characters by decree of the boss. And
never a ghost in a single story. No occult. His "witch" doctors were all
like Magica -- using herbs and potions mixed in a big kettle as
preternatural means to achieve their wonders. See the nuance? No? To me
it's significant, but someone else may not analyze their fiction as much...
Fairy Tale "fantasy" as opposed to "science fiction". But I recall once
back in college I tried to explain to someone why could consider at least
the possibility of a Loch Ness Monster, but would not listen to his ideas
about werewolves, and I had no success there, so I should give up here as
well. My point was certainly never trying to tell anyone what they should
like to read -- in fact, your message is mixing two of my points together,
but they are sorta related, so that's okay. You can enjoy stories of Santa
meeting the Easter Bunny or Snow White meeting Baloo, but you won't ever
see every story in a Disney comic being based in a "fantasy" universe like
that, and that's good. Something for everybody.






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