DCML Digest Issue 39

[Don Rosa]

> From: "Sigvald Gr?sfjeld jr." <sigvald at duckburg.dk>
> If so, IMO his birthday should be set to December 21st. The
> reasons for this
> is:
> a) This is the day when the sun is turning and the days again
> becomes longer

Uh... so? What's the connection?

> b) This date is represented with Goldie and a greeting card from
> $crooge in
> Don Rosa's great Scandinavian Christmas Calendar (published in 2000).

I hope you realize that *I* did not select the numbers (dates) which the
editors assigned to those pictures. All I knew was Donald was #1 and Santa
would be #25.

> According to this theory $crooge's death must have taken place during the
> last 10 days of 1967.

Hm. Well, first of all, let's not get so hung up on this "$crooge's death"
bit. I explained the specific reason I did that illustration, an
illustration that I *thought* would only be seen by a few hundred fanzine
subscribers rather than millions of comic fans around the world.
But if I am not to back away from it (and I won't... I only worry about the
undue attention it gets), I'll say that it's not necessary that $crooge
lived to be 100, especially now that later events show us that his creator
did not quite make that mark. Maybe 99 is okay. But he still would have
1867-1967 on his tombstone. And I also should make the matter more
complicated by saying that just because $crooge debuted in December, that's
only a reason why we would celebrate his anniversary in December, NOT a
reason to decide that's the character's birthday. Why would his birthday
happen to be on the day we first see him in a comic? What are the odds of
that?! Wow.
But if readers want to pretend that a character's birthday is the same day
(or month) as the anniversary of his debut, I guess I have no reason to be a
spoilsport. Besides, nothing any of us decides will be "official", anyway.
Just play-like.