Disney-comics digest #263.

Don Rosa 72260.2635 at CompuServe.COM
Wed Mar 9 05:57:24 CET 1994


	Due to a recent visit I made over to GEnie to check out a
"Disney Comic Section" over there, I just want to thank ALL of you for
making THIS such an EXCELLENT Digest!!! The last few Digests in
particular have contained such varied and in-depth and knowledgeable
examinations of every sort of Disney Duck stories. And over on GEnie
when I found their section, there were less than 10 people -- one asked
me who I was and which stories were mine ... and when I made a reference
to Bruce Hamilton, I found that I needed to explain WHO he was to all
but one or two of the nice folks there. And then, here you people are
with such expertise and knowledge that it's astounding. Since I've never
paid a great deal of attention to any but the Barks stories, I can learn
a great deal over here if I pay attention; it was plain depressing over
on GEnie.

	I was interested in all the comments about various artists and
writers, as I said, but I MUST mention one attitude that irks me not a
little. I don't mind if someone says that they don't care for my art or
my writing, or that they prefer some others to me (I'll sooner agree
than disagree with that sort of stuff); but I really dislike hearing
that people think I do sequels to Barks stories as some sort of
short-cut... or that in such instances I "depend" on Barks. It's as if
they think that when I do a story making a reference to one of Barks'
classics, well, 75% of the job is already done for me and I can just
coast from there. In truth, it's just the opposite -- doing those
sequels is far more DIFFICULT than just making up an entirely new tale.
Rather than most of my work being done for me and me depending on Barks,
those stories being sequels causes me at least 25-50% MORE work to
accomplish. The tales that take me the longest are things like "Return
to Xanadu" when I sat for 2 days straight at one point trying to figure
some way to get a plot to work within Barks' limits that would still be
new and entertaining without completely screwing and insulting the
original concept. Simply making use of the Trala La setting didn't
provide me with anything but a springboard - and one that may have even
sent me further away from the pool rather than into it. And believe me,
in the time it took me to do the 211 pages of the "Lo$", I could
easilly have done, maybe, 300 pages of stories that were not so limited
by what I was compeled to get accomplished in each of those very
compact chapters. And as you must know, when I do these adventures with
complex and intricate plots and "needless and irritating detail" in the
art, it pays not a farthing extra than if I just decided to do tale
after tale of Donald the Master Lintpicker or something. In fact, I
still don't even get paid as MUCH as those third-world artists get
(since they have been with Egmont for so many years and their studios
provide Egmont's backbone of material). Doing sequels or extensive
references to Barks is actually quite a impedance to my output and my
tired mind and hand.
	So, say you think my work sux eggs... and tell me that my job
depends on how popular Barks made the Ducks all over the world... but
please don't say that I depend on anybody but ME for the effort I put
into these stories! 




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