Urban myth?

Lars Jensen lpj at forfatter.dk
Tue Oct 29 19:00:15 CET 2002


sigvald at duckburg.dk wrote:

> Yes [Taliaferro] *is* important, but can never be compared to "the
> great duckartist" - Carl Barks.

Why not?

> > To address your Della remark first: No, we don't "know" Della
> > is Donald's sister.
>
> We can't ??? I'll give you a lot of evidence for it:
>
> 1) In his unpublished Duck Family Tree, Barks shows that HD&Ls
> mother *is* Donald's sister - that's thus a BARKSIAN FACT!!!

A Barksian fact? To quote yourself: "And so what?" Let me repeat: Al
Taliaferro *created* HDL and their mother Della. He stated quite clearly
that Della was Donald's cousin. I'm not saying that was his best idea
ever. I *am* saying, though, that when the creator of a character states
something about that character, you can't just dismiss that as being
wrong because it doesn't fit in with what somebody else (in this case
Barks) says later on. When Barks (or somebody else) states something
about a character he or she hasn't created, that statement doesn't
necessarily have to be the Truth. And it certainly doesn't invalidate
what the original creator said.

And another thing: Unpublished material doesn't really count. I once had
the (probably lousy) idea of having Mickey Mouse's dad be a criminal.
The story was never even proposed to Egmont before I dropped it, and I
never told anyone about it. I am, however, a Disney comics writer. Does
that mean it is now an official fact that Mickey's dad *is* a criminal
(because that idea has been invented by a Disney comics writer), or
doesn't it? In my opinion it doesn't; anyway, not until that idea has
actually been bought (and possibly published) by a Disney licensee as an
in-continuity event. And even then the "fact" is only an opinion by one
particular creator.

> Well, OK you can still argue that Barks' "Dumbella Duck" and
> Taliaferro's "Della" are two different characters and that Dumbella
> first placed her 3 sons with her cousin Della who later sent them to
> her cousin (Dumbella's brother Donald)...
>
> BUT, such an explanation would both be pointlessly confusing and
> definitely contradict information given in "Lo$ part XI" and in Don
> Rosa's "Donald Duck Family Tree" which is approved by Egmont as the
> official version of the family tree.

I'm not going to argue any such thing. In my opinion, Dumbella and Della
*are* (probably) the same character. Which is why I am not going to
dismiss Taliaferro - the creator of HDL and Della.

Oh, and that Family Tree is *not* necessarily the only official one. It
is, as Don Rosa himself has stated many times, only *Don Rosa's* version
of the tree.

> > Taliaferro was the man who actually *created* Huey, Dewey
> > and Louie - as well as Della, of course. If Taliaferro says Della
> > is Donald's cousin, then I don't think anybody can argue that he
> > is wrong.
>
> OK, so you do agree that since Barks created Scrooge and says Scrooge
> is Donald's mother's brother everyone - including Marco Rota - who see
> (or has seen) Scrooge and Grandma Duck as brother and sister is/was
> wrong?

In which published comic story did Barks or Taliaferro establish that
Grandma is not Scrooge's sister?

But seriously... Let me make my point clear: I'm not saying *anybody* is
wrong. There are no hard facts here, Sigvald. It's all one creator's
take on the characters, which may or may not differ from another
creator's take on those same characters.

The only thing I'm saying is that the creator of a character or a
concept shouldn't be dismissed off-hand, when another, more popular,
person says something different.

> > You may say it makes more sense to have Della be Donald's
> > sister, but you certainly can't say Taliaferro is wrong.
>
> What I try to say is that I Barks the man to trust on that question.

Why?

> > If Taliaferro says Donna and Daisy are not related,
> > then I'm inclined to believe him.
>
> Per Starback and/or Harry Fluks has once stated that the Daisy
> character was developed from the Donna-character. If that's
> correct we do in reality speak about one character with two
> names. From that starting point it is possible to define them
> as two characters where the look alike explained by saying that
> they are sisters. And we do indeed know that Daisy has at least
> one sister with three daughters (April, May and June). So to do
> it as simple as possible, the sister (Donna) can be seen as the
> same sister known as AM&J's mother.

By using pretty much that same logic, I could make Gus Goose the brother
of Gyro Gearloose. Barks' original 1937 physical design for Gus, after
being rejected for use as a design for Gus, was later revised into the
design for Gyro. And it simplifies their relationship tremendously if
they're siblings. And since Gus has a nephew (Taliaferro's Socrates M.
Gosling), Sock must be the son of Gyro, and Gyro's nephew Newton must be
the son of Gus.

I don't think so.

In order for your theory to work, the all-American Daisy would have to
have a Mexican sister. So why don't AMJ ever refer to their Mexican
origin?

You've suggested we could get around this by saying that the "real"
Donna isn't Mexican, but merely acted Mexican in cartoons and some
comics. In this case, you are rejecting everything distinctive about the
character in an effort to make your theory about her work.

Either Donna and Daisy are the same character or not. If they're not the
same character, then they're in all likelihood not related. And I see no
reason why they should be. Especially when a renowned duck man like
Taliaferro says they're not. And especially when it breaks the laws of
probability to have them be sisters.

> Anyway characters can act very differently in various "universes".
> For instance HD&L who are wild kids in Taliaferro's universe and
> highly honored members of The Junior Woodchuck's in Barks' universe.
> So why can't the Mexican Donna in Taliaferro's universe be Daisy's
> sister in the Barks/Rosa universe?

One last comment: Donald, HDL, Daisy, Bolivar/Bornworthy, Grandma, Gus,
Scrooge, Donald's car (and arguably Ludwig Von Drake and Neighbor Jones)
all have appeared in Barks' as well as Taliaferro's stories. And
although the characterization may have varied slightly, it was still
clear they were the same characters with pretty much the same
interrelationship. To me (and probably most other readers of the Donald
Duck weekly), the Taliaferro universe and the Barks universe are the
*same* universe.

The mother of AMJ (and sister of Daisy) that Barks mentioned is clearly
*not* the same character as Taliaferro's Mexican Donna, who never met
Daisy until 1951. Are you willing to claim Taliaferro's universe is not
the same as Barks', based solely on the fact that you want Donna to be
the sister of Daisy?

Lars





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