digest #391

[Don Rosa]

>>>>WWII is never mentioned in Don Rosa or Carl Barks stories. Don Rosa is
the
one who lets the Ducks make most contact with the real world, which I like
a
lot.
WWII might be too sensitive and too short ago for use in a story and there
just wasn't any need for it in Dons' storys.
My guesses are:
I think Donald and Gladstone were to young at the time of  WWII. Scrooge
might have made some money out of the war.

It's not infrequent that I am asked by readers why I don't do a flashback
story about what $crooge or Donald might have done during WWII. Or also WWI
for $crooge. Similarly, more than a few times I have been asked by readers
to do a $crooge quest for the Holy Grail. And I'll say "Uh... and you mean
with the necessary flashback references to Jesus and the Last Supper and
the Crucifixion?" and they'll see no problem. But of course there are LOTS
of obvious problems. These are secular comics, for one thing! And I would
never *want* to tell a story about our Ducks and WWII (nor would anyone
allow it).
But, as for my own feelings on the topic, the stuff in my "private mental
notes" pertaining to my personal view of the Barks Duck Universe: I've said
that $crooge retired for 10 years until 1947 (though I hear that that time
period was shortened to only 5 years in some translations). My idea there
was always that $crooge, being disgusted with the world situation and
certainly NOT wanting to make a penny profit off the war or wartime
economy, retired and closed down his businesses in 1937 when he saw it
coming. In WWI he was busy traveling the world and still having his own
adventures in remote areas, prospecting or such, and was perhaps able to
avoid any involvement with that war...?
As for Donald, my timeline says he was born in 1920, so he would certainly
have been the perfect age for WWII -- and with his furious temper and
Everyman All-American patriotism, I'm certain he would have volunteered for
combat on Dec. 8, 1941. But don't expect me to ever tell a series of
"Lo$"-type stories titled "Sgt. Duck and His Quacking Commandos" about how
the ill-tempered and bungling non-com Donald succeeded in killing equal
numbers of the enemy and his own men throughout WWII. Yes, there's an
almost irresistible opportunity for loads of slapstick bloodbaths and zany
mass-murder hijinx there, but I'll pass.
By the way, I've said that Egmont's official decree is that Fethry is dead
(along with Moby Duck and Ludwig Von Drake), but I am referring to the
comic books, not the Italian and Italian-styled "pocket book" stories --
those are two different Duck Universes, and I am only involved in the
former. This comics series of "forgotten characters" being referred to also
features Rockerduck in the same fashion -- he is non-existent in the comic
books, but part of the Italian pocket-book Universe.