Articles from Komix #147

[Kriton Kyrimis]

I am posting the translation of two articles from last month's issue of
Komix, which I believe are of interest to the list. [As usual, comments
in square brackets are my own.]

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        From Jules Verne to Don Rosa, the myth remains fascinating
                 JOURNEY TO THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH

  Don Rosa sends Scrooge McDuck and his nephews on an original journey,
  in the footsteps of Jules Verne's characters. Can classic literature
  be a source of inspiration for modern comics?

Scrooge McDuck is perhaps the Duck who has traveled more than anyone else in
the world. The Croesus from Duckburg has traveled from the depths of the
oceans to the peaks of the Andes and from the poles to the heart of Africa, to
make his fortune or to inspect his countless businesses. In the _Universal
Solvent_, Don Rosa sends this character, who has plowed our planet's
surface, on an exciting journey to a place that he hasn't visited since Carl
Barks' adventure *Land Beneath the Ground* (_Komix_ #22), in the center of the
Earth's sphere.


FROM MYTH TO FICTION

Traveling to the bowels of the earth is one of the most fascinating myths of
all time. From the heroes of ancient Greek mythology and the Talmud to Dante's
_Inferno_, the gods, demigods, heroes, and common mortals who have traveled
to the dark innards of the Earth, are countless. However, up until the 18th
century, the motif of this journey had a mainly symbolic importance: bards,
poets or mere story-tellers, who recounted these fantastic voyages, cared
little about how the earth's interior might really look like, as they limited
themselves to placing there more or less mythical, nightmarish forms of the
nether world.

During the age of Enlightenment, the rules of the game change. In 1741, The
Danish writer Ludvig Holberg [my encyclopedia says he was Norwegian]
published in Latin a strange novel titled _Nikolai Klimi iter Subterraneum_
(_Nils Klim's Voyage Beneath the Ground), which was soon translated into most
European languages. It was perhaps the first time in the history of literature
that a writer would send a hero to the bowels of the Earth to describe, not
some mythical Tartarus, but the interior of our planet. It is obvious, of
course, that the writer wasn't a scientist, nor did he care particularly about
his story's verisimilitude. While exploring a mountain in Norway, the novel's
hero, Nils Klim, falls into a chasm and ends up in the Earth's interior, where
he discovers an entire solar system, which appears to obey the laws of gravity
which Isaac Newton had recently formulated(*). After many fantastic
adventures, satirizing real problems of the author's time, the hero falls once
more into a chasm, leading him this time back to the surface of the Earth.


FROM JULES VERNE...

The Danish author's idea was a big success, and a whole bunch of writers
hurried to send their unfortunate heroes into the dark innards of the Earth.
It is obvious that each time the description is different, according to the
scientific views that the author wants to support: for some the Earth is
hiding other worlds inside it, for others the planet's core is red hot,
for others it isn't.

In 1864, what is perhaps the most well-known narrative of the kind, _Journey
to the Center of the Earth_, by Jules Verne, is published. The plot is more or
less well known. Professor Otto Lidenbrock discovers a mysterious note, where
the 16th century alchemist, Arne Saknussem, revealed the entrance to a cave
leading to the center of the Earth. The professor's expedition will of course
be unable to reach the center of our planet, but will have enough time to
discover an entire world in the Earth's interior, before a volcanic eruption
forces the heroes to reemerge to the surface from the crater of the Stromboli
volcano in Italy.

The novel's interest lies, in part, in the way in which the writer combines a
quite verisimilar, from a scientific point of view, description of the Earth's
interior, with the structure of an adventure story. Apart from some
unavoidable hand-waving and imprecisions, Jules Verne presents in a
consistent and organized manner the scientific data on which he relies and, at
the same time, he manages to give his narrative an interest as a pure work of
fiction.


...TO DON ROSA

In the _Universal Solvent_, Don Rosa executes in a masterly way the good old
classic recipe of Jules Verne and gives a new dimension to the comic adventure
of scientific inspiration. However, Rosa's story little resembles this classic
novel. Jules Verne's heroes were looking for the confirmation or refutation of
some theories, and were discovering, astonished, a whole bunch of mysteries in
the Earth's interior. When, more than a century later, Don Rosa sends the
Ducks on a similar journey, there is no longer anything mysterious about the
Earth's bowels. On the way to the center of the Earth, his heroes don't
discover anything that they couldn't have learned by reading the Junior
Woodchuck Manual or any school encyclopedia.

The scientific data regarding the Earth's structure are, if not verified and
most precise, organically incorporated into the structure of the narrative.
The adventures and gags are inspired from the scientific data that Don had at
his disposal. It could even be that the speed and briefness characterizing
comics narrative is more suited to this kind of scientific-narrative
experimentations than Jules Verne's fictional writing. On the other hand,
unlike older stories of "scientific inspiration", such as _Cash Flow_ or _A
Matter of Some Gravity_, this time Don Rosa gives emphasis to the presentation
of his heroes' character. Bring uncle Scrooge once more face to face with his
own avarice and his adventurer's temperament, at the same time he gives, to
the great satisfaction of Donald's fanatic friends, the opportunity to his
bumbling nephew to prove that he can be a man... um, duck of action, when the
circumstances require it.

If Carl Barks' Scrooge lived in a world where there was still room for
daydreaming and the search for lost treasures, Don Rosa's Scrooge lives in a
world that appears to have lost its magic. There are few corners in the Earth
that are still virgin and unexplored, as for our planet's interior, we can
visit it whenever we want by taking the Eurostar... or the Athens Metro, while
for more information we can open any updated encyclopedia or connect to the
web page of some research center in the Internet. However, To make a fairy
tale, to express such a genuine anxiety about our planet's future and recount
such a human adventure, in a duckish manner--and vice versa--one must have the
sensitivity and talent of a Don Rosa.


(*) Daniel Compere: Un voyage imaginaire de Jules Verne au Centre de la Terre,
Archives des Lettres Modernes No.174, Paris, 1977.


[Side panel]

A SCIENTIFIC ADVENTURE

Unlike some widely spread misconceptions, Jules Verne was not an amateur
scientist, but a professional writer. Just as Don Rosa, the French writer was
looking for inspiration not only in scientific papers, but in the writings of
other writers as well. _Journey to the Center of the Earth_ is full of
references to other books, such as the half-finished _Isaac Lakedem_ [sp?] by
Alexander Dumas or _M.S. Found in a Bottle_ by E.A. Poe.

In the _Universal Solvent_, Don Rosa plays with these two sources of
inspiration. Along with a most precise and clear presentation of the modern
theories on the internal structure of our planet, he finds the opportunity to
also get inspiration from his great masters. The way in which the Ducks return
to the surface of the Earth appears to us to be an improved and more realistic
version of the return of Jules Verne's heroes, a small portrait of whom he
does not fail to draw. The indispensable reference to Carl Barks could not
be missing from the story, either. On the way back, the Ducks meet again the
quaint inhabitants of Terry Fermy from the Duck Man's adventure *Land Beneath
the Ground*, which we read in _Komix_ #22


[Captions]
[p.1, left] Portrait of the great French writer, Jules Verne (1828-1905)
[p.1, right] In the _Universal Solvent_, Don Rosa executes in a masterly Jules
Verne's good old recipe.
[p.2, left] In the _Universal Solvent_, Don Rosa does not fail to make a
reference to the mysterious inhabitants of the subsoil from Carl Barks'
classic adventure, *Land Beneath the Ground* (_Komix_ #22). Above, Barks
original panel, below, from Rosa's story.
[p.2, right] Verne's classic novel became a motion picture: _Voyage to the
Center of the Earth_, with Pat Boone and James Mason. [To be avoided at all
costs, as it takes too many liberties with the story.]

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            Don Rosa talks to Komix about the Universal Solvent
                        A SCIENTIFIC FAIRY TALE


KOMIX: First of all, how did you get the idea of sending the Ducks to the
bowels of the Earth?

ROSA: Do you find that my story is too similar to a disaster or science
fiction movie for what is a Duck adventure? I agree with you. Anyway, one of
the main themes of the comics that I used to draw when I was little,
exclusively for my own consumption, were caves. It may be natural for one to
be interested in caves, when only a few miles from one's home is the greatest
cave complex in the world, Kentucky's Mammoth Cave!


KOMIX: What about the Universal Solvent?

ROSA: The _Universal Solvent_ was inspired from a story that I wrote  from a
story that I wrote for a fanzine, in 1977, which in turn was inspired from one
of those stories that I used to make for myself, in 1959. I wrote that first
story when I saw the movie _Voyage to the Center of the Earth_. In that movie
there was a volcano, whose crater was a kind of tunnel leading to the center
of the Earth. I was literally grabbed by the idea. I have written an entire
series of stories with my own heroes, based on that idea, during the early
sixties, which no one has ever read apart from me.


KOMIX: Was Jules Verne's classic novel one of the sources of inspiration?

ROSA: Jules Verne's and Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels are enjoyable,
but they are not particularly convincing. Especially today, when we know
with certainty that there is unbearable heat in the Earth's interior. [*]
I wanted to deal with the subject of traveling to the Earth's core in a more
scientific manner. Of course, there are certain exaggerations in my story
regarding certain natural properties, though I tried to deal with the problems
rather than ignore them.


KOMIX: The _Universal Solvent_ is not the only science fiction story that
you've written. How do you go about writing stories such as *Cash Flow*
(_Komix_ #33), *On Stolen Time* (_Komix_ #76), or *A Matter of Some Gravity*
(_Komix_ #141)? Do your studies come in handy?

ROSA: In part. I try, as always, to check the scientific data by looking up
books and calling local universities to ask the experts. For the _Universal
Solvent_, e.g., I called the Louisville University and asked the experts what
would happen if someone reached the center of the Earth. I was assured that
the deeper one moves towards the Earth's interior, the "lighter" he gets, as
his weight decreases, since there is no gravity down there. The force of
gravity is due to the Earth's mass, and in the center of the Earth there are
equal amounts of Earth mass in all directions. Therefore, bodies have no
weight, as equal forces are exerted on them in all directions at the same
time, which cancel each other out. Anyway, for me, the most interesting aspect
of the _Universal Solvent_ is the fact that, as I mentioned earlier, this is
the third time I'm using this basic script. I would also like to add that the
1977 story had a second part. A "villain" manages to get hold of the
_Universal Solvent_ and then lays a coat of solvent on a suit of armor and
becomes invincible. That second part is the inspiration for another Duck
adventure, in which a brilliant robber steals the Solvent and wearing his
armor...


KOMIX: Say no more. The story to which you are referring (*The Black Knight*),
will be published in the October issue of _Komix_!

ROSA. OK. Anyway, it seems that I've been returning to this story every
eighteen years. Therefore, I assume that if I remake a third "installment",
you will have to wait until 2013 before you can publish it!

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	Kriton	(e-mail: kyrimis at cti.gr)
	      	(WWW:    http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis)
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"In this world we have an honourable tradition of tactical withdrawal."
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