12 Duckburg landmarks

[Don Rosa]

Okay, lemmee run this by you.
I hafta make decisions here. There are too many possibilities and only 12
slots. So...
The first decision I am forced into is that these are LANDMARKS... not
favorite story elements of Duckburg. So....
Shacktown is NOT a landmark. Nobody would take tourists to see such a place.
This margarine factory is out for three reasons. 1) it's not a landmark --
it's not simply an "ordinary factory", people are saying the whole idea is
that it's a boring, less-than-ordinary place. 2) It has been established
that, regardless of how well-known it is now with Euro readers, it
originally was created by a translator's decision to *not* use a Barksian
fact. It doesn't matter if that was a wise decision, it puts a strike
against it on my card. 3) I still don't get the humor of a margarine factory
being a funny place for Donlad to work unless you are *told* that he has a
boring job there. A "skunk oil" factory is inherently funny, and there are
surely a thousand other ideas that would sound inherently funny even in any
Euro language or culture. Counting matches in a match factory, sorting
marbles in a marble factory, working on an assembly line line
making ----------- (fill in the blank with an infinite number of absurd
sounding contraptions)... these are inherently funny, as would be a thousand
other possibilities. To know why working in a margarine plant is funny would
require reading a story or hearing an explanation. As a "writer of humor",
this choice puzzles me -- and regardless of any other merits, regardless of
how well-known it is, it's a strike against it on my card. But if you don't
like that, there's still no getting around reason 1. And I have other
choices to consider, so I move on...
An intersection of 7 routes is not unheard of, and is also not a landmark.
It would require a *large* drawing to make it look funny, and these are not
to be large drawings.
One set of suggestions that puzzles me is wanting to include this "Limpspire
State Building" or this "Vampire State Building". These are too obviously
simple background gags to fill empty spaces in a single panel in a single
story that popped out of Barks' head while drawing. As an example... even
though I am known for basing my stories on actual history and authentic
settings, etc. etc., I frequently fill empty panel backgrounds with
*impossible* sights. Like pictures on walls reacting to the characters or
action. Now, would I have one of my characters suddenly point to that
picture and scream "Eek! That picture moved! It's a miracle!" No, the
picture didn't really move. Well, anyway, you either see my point or not, I
know different people have wildly different views of what constitutes and
what *should* constitute reality in these comics. But anyway, as long as *I*
must make the final decisions, these one-time throw-away background sight
gags are not in the running.
McDuck Tower and Underground Duckburg -- these are features used strictly in
*my* stories. Actually, I'm quite fond of the "underground Duckburg" idea,
but I don't want to force one of my ideas into this list, and it also is not
a "landmark" if it's unseeable and unknown.
There are arguments that could be made against things like Fort Duckburg or
Pizarro's Galleon or Mount Demontooth, but I must also consider what nice
visual variety these landmarks offer the list so it won't just be 100%
boring looking buildings.

So... I think this is my current list (further comments follow it):
1) the Money Bin
2) Cornelius Coot statue
3) Fort Duckburg
4) Junior Woodchucks of the World world HQ
5) Duckburg Museum
6) Notre Duck
7) the Millionaire's Club
8) Cape Quack w/ lighthouse
9) Pizarro's Galleon (in some park)
10) Mount Demontooth
11) Gyro's workshop
12) Duckburg City Hall / Town Square

That last one is a new idea, but suggested by the publisher -- see, these
will appear once each month and they thought that, since the Duckburg City
Hall is a clear possibility after all, it would be nice to show it with a
huge Christmas Tree (as in several Barks tales) in that December edition. It
seems to have pushed $crooge's zoo/estate off the list, and I was still
unsure how close that was to Duckburg, anyway.
The Millionaire's Club -- if various publishers usually call it a
Billionaires' Club, they can do so. But I don't see as there could be enough
Billionaires in Duckburg to rub together... and in "my 1950's setting",
there could not have been any other billionaires besides $crooge in the
whole dang country! So Millionaires/Billionaires, all the same.
Now I am down to one of my own original choices of Gyro's workshop... and
I'm on the verge of talking myself out of it! It is *not* a landmark! It
might be a public eyesore, like Shacktown. I don't see Gyro as being
regarded as a world famous genius by most residents, but more as the local
crackpot inventor. And if I *do* use his workshop, I think some readers will
be expecting "Donald's house" or "Daisy's house" in the series without
asking themselves why the homes of everyday average citizens should be
included in a list of famous landmarks. But... maybe Gyro's shop would be a
nice entry as a "miniature" or "personal" landmark along with all the other
huge ones?
Anyway... that's my current list. I can always change it. The publisher has
the final word....... (once we see if we will actually go through with this
project).
And thanks for all the suggestions! Sometimes your reasonings convinced me
why I *should* use a suggestion, and other times it showed my why I should
*not* use an idea. But as usual, you folks are fabulous in helping me with
such projects! (And I'm not worried that I won't please everybody! I always
know that's totally impossible, so I can't worry about it, just hope for the
best.)