gimme a break

[john garvin]

Rodney Bowcock said:
"In closing I feel almost as ridiculous and childish as those who make big
deals out of these things for even acknowledging that they posted these
malicious messages.  I apologize if I put words in anyone's mouth by
writing this, but I think I speak for at least some members of this list
when I say "Enough already!!!""

I say poppycock!  I assume you are talking about the recent thread that Mr. Rosa started when he off-handedly remarked that Barks constructed his stories a certain way, mainly without fantasy elements (I'm paraphrasing here for the sake of brevity, please no flames on
misquoting him!).  This was responded to by Mr. van Eijmeren, myself and others.  I certainly don't recall reading ANYTHING on the thread that was "ridiculous, childish, or malicious."  Can you give me some examples?

As for making "big deals out of these things" I say, I LOVE it!  Fer-crying-out-loud, we are talking about comic books here.  We discuss Barks characters and stories as if they were real, we spend hours agonizing over the smallest minutia of a Rosa story.  We debate, as
fan-boys, whether or not Barks "oeuvre" was reality based or fantasy based!  My mother would smile indulgently at me if she knew that grown men were agonizing over such details written for stories that she read and tossed and forgot 50 years ago!  You know why we do it?
It's fun.

These kinds of discussions are what make this list come alive.  No offence, but I'm usually bored to tears with the usual "Can someone tell me if Fethry starred in the Bolivian Ducktootoo issue number 313 and can someone list all the issues in which he wore a red shirt"
that seems to predominate on this list.  I say enough is NOT enough, already, we need more discussions about controversial subjects, not less.

Now, I don't agree with everything Mr. Rosa says (can I call you Don?), and in fact we have had disagreements on this list before.  That does not mean that I don't respect him as a creator (I own and love all of his work and have read the Pertwilliby Papers long before
there was a Son of the Sun.) or a person (even though I've never met him, though I saw him wandering around the dealers room in San Diego last year.)  In fact, when it comes to Barks, I disagree with many things Mr. Rosa says.  But you know what?  God bless him for being
on this list and donating his valuable time to a current generation of fan-boys.  Thank him for being willing to argue with us, have discussions with us, put up with us, and in general, waste time with us "making big deals out of these things."  I can only wonder what
directions Carl Barks career might have taken if he had had this kind of easy access to his fans WHILE he was working on his stories?  In fact, here is a direct question for Mr. Rosa:  What kind of impact, for better or ill, has your direct pipeline to fandom had on your
ability to create?  What do you think would have happened had Barks been working in the same kind of environment, and not in a vaccume?

My closing thoughts on this thread: Daniel is correct in pointing out that Mr. Rosa's words and thoughts about Barks probably carry much more weight that ours.  Daniel was incorrect for asking him to be careful about what he says.  Don was NOT summing up Barks career in
two sentences (as Don pointed out), but he certainly has the right to, as do we all.  We are not responsible for the weight that others attatch to our words.  (Crank up our National Anthem here:) In America, we believe in the Freedom of Speech!  Even though
polical-correctness is trying to put a damper on us, we Americans are a cantankerous, feisty bunch.  Don't ask us to watch what we say.  If anyone is offended by what I say, that is your problem, not mine.  Offence is taken by the listener, not given by the speaker, all
questions of intent aside.  Don has built a career around Barks work.  I've met with Barks dozens of times, written aricles about him, and taken painting lessons from him.  I'm not an expert anymore that Don is.  Just a fanboy with opinions.  And PLEASE do not start saying
IMO or IMHO, please.  I KNOW it is your opinion.  Anything you say or write is your opinion.  EVEN if you think you are writing pure fact, more often that not, it is still just your opinion.  You don't need to remind me of that at the beginning of every paragraph.

This thread was the most entertainment I had all week.  I'm sure I speak for many list members when I say, keep it up.  Please.