"Pedigrees & races"

[Olivier]

One brief  note before dashing to work...
(please note the quotation marks in the title)

>>First, the Duckbills are ALLWAYS white-colored, even the african duckbills,
as shown in the Lo$, and many Barksian comics.
Check WDC&S 34 (July 1943, "The Good Deeds", Album 1), pp 7-9.

Haven't the time to think about this and especially the genetics point.
Personnally (but that's just my opinion, and I respect your pondering on the subject),
I don't think we should be trying to sort the characters into black & white (and pink,
which is a purely arbitrary choice of  the colorist), even there are some examples,
as above. There are rodents, canines, ducks-- even a turtle ("Missle Fizzle",
WDC&S 244, Jan '61, Album 41)-- and I think that's all the distinction there need be.

More to the point, I think, is how well do they mix, graphically speaking. Some like
to imagine Mickey & Donald live in the same town. They did appear together in
early cartoons and in Floyd Gottfredson's strips, but I think these are the only
occurences where it's OK. Otherwise-- but maybe it's just because we aren't used
to it, and I amy be mistaken-- you never see mousefaces in the duck stories (rats,
but no mice), and you don't see ducks in mouse stories. The others can appear in
both worlds, though. It just looks odd tho have them together. As for the cartoons and
Gottfredson strips, maybe it doesn't because they are not *drawn* the same way,
and are re-modeled to go along well visually-- just imagine a '52 Barks Donald
with a '30s or '50s Mickey, and compare with any cartoon they appear together in.