Disney-comics digest #606.

Don Rosa 72260.2635 at compuserve.com
Sat Mar 11 06:52:39 CET 1995


HARRY:
	Yes, I have been familiar with the Oak Island Treasure for decades; Barks
made me a treasure buff when I was a tad, and I used to buy treasure-hunter
magazines back in the 60s (do they still publish those?). The Oak Island
Treasure was covered in one issue. But I can never do a story about it for
several reasons.
	First, somebody or other wrote an Uncle $crooge story about the Oak
Island Treasure for Bob Foster during the dark days of the Disney Disney Comics.
I recall he had trouble finding an artist (naturally, as we all know, it's near
impossible finding any American artist willing to work in the white-slavery
system of Disney comics), and that script is probably still sitting in a file
somewhere. But knowing someone has written such a story, I don't think I'd want
to step on toes by presuming to beat them to publication with my own version.
	Secondly... I know all the details of the Oak Island mystery -- and
there's just not an interesting adventure there. Foster told me his version
involved a lot of "fantasy" elements thrown in to punch up the plot. All the Oak
Island Treasure is is a mysterious filled-in pit on an Atlantic coast island
that people have vague reasons to think is where, perhaps maybe could-be,
pirates buried treasure. Supposedly it is booby-trapped with channels running
off into the sea that cause the pit to flood when anyone tries to excavate it.
That's about all there is to it. Various companies have formed over the past 100
years to try to dig the pit out, but they all fail. I personally find the story
sorta dubious -- I can't picture 17th-18th century pirates having the ability to
sink deep mine shafts in loose sand and then drill these horizontal
water-channels out into the sea. I have the feeling it's a combination of
treasure-hunting promotors who form companies with other peoples' money then
claim bancruptcy due to "pirate booby-traps", as well as treasure-magazine
writers blowing the whole idea up in order to sell articles. But I've never been
there, so these are just my impressions. All I know is that the story has so
little actual bearing in recorded fact that one would need to create a whole
phony history in order to do a story about it (which may be why Foster said that
his story was very "fantasy" oriented... something about underground munchkins
or something). Besides, I doubt if many people have ever heard of the treasure
anyway -- how many here have ever heard of it?
	Anyway, since I find the tale uninspiring, it's better that I leave
someone else to write such a story... which is what has happened, as I said. But
now the script is in the files of a company not licensed to produce it... unless
they  did a special titled "The Little Mermaid Finds the Oak Island Treasure",
and that would be taking a potentially dull story and turning it lethal. Well...
I see I'm confusing myself -- I'm mixing Disney Disney Comics with Marvel Disney
Comics. But then, that's what was wrong with the Disney Disney Comics, eh?




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