Articles from Komix #166 and #167

[Kriton Kyrimis]

Here is my back log of translations from Komix #166 and #167. (Actually,
only #166, as there were no Rosa-related aricles in #167.)

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            Warning! Do not show this issue to the Beagle Boys!
                    The Money Bin's Blueprints

  Don Rosa presents the history of the creation of a unique
  document... The original plans of the money bin of the richest duck
  in the world.

Two years ago, _Egmont_ decided to prepare a cycle of ten stories to
celebrate the one hundredth anniversary from the birth of the great
Carl Barks. Ten artists wrote stories with the ten most important
characters created by the Duck Man. These stories proved how interesting
these characters are and that they can star comfortably in their own
stories. I chose the Beagle Boys, but pointed out that the _Egmont_
people had not included in their list a "character" whom I consider to
be the second most importance presence, after Scrooge, in Barks world:
the Money Bin itself. Meanwhile, the people from the French _Picsou
Magazine_ had asked me to write a story for the fiftieth anniversary of
the appearance of the Beagle Boys and the Money Bin and had suggested
that I show the blueprints of the Money Bin.

Thus, I decided to write a story starring the Beagle Boys and the
Money Bin.  It is a fight between the Beagle Boys and the Money Bin,
which takes place while Scrooge is away. As usual, my enthusiasm made me
add to my story some specialized information. Thus, I decided to dedicate
some panels to a conversation regarding the origin of the Beagle Boys
gang and the construction of the Money Bin. I included in the story two
pages withe the blueprints of the Money Bin. These blueprints are, to a
large extent, independent of the story. That is, the story can be read by
itself, without the blueprints, and the blueprints can be presented alone,
as a poster. [Komix appear to have chose a third way, as they have printed
the blueprints on both sides of the same page, as an illustration to an
article.] The final blueprints were made on a computer, which allows both
me to make occasional changes and the editors to present them with their
own additions or a different layout. I described to my friend, Dan Shane,
the form that they should have. He sent me, by e-mail, every part that he
completed, for approval. It was a time-consuming process, but it was fun!

Of course I know that the original drawings were not made with a
computer: there were no computers in 1902! You don't need a computer
to draw a straight line, you know! This was the form of architectural
drawings at that time. This is why we took care to draw dimension lines
using the style of that tie, without the arrows at the end which modern
technique demands.

We are also preparing a second edition of the blueprints, which will
be able to be used as a poster on its own. There will be more modern
additions, and floors will be shown. The blueprints that _Komix_ publishes
are the original 1902 blueprints, those that were used in my story. This
is why the modern additions that we'll be making to the poster are not
shown: a computer room with one of those huge Univac computers of the
1950s, which will take half a story and will have the computing power
of a modern calculator.

It was a challenge for me to go through my memories and through
the suggestions of my friends and other friends of the duck world,
to decide which elements I should include in the blueprints and
which to ignore. Many of the rooms that Barks shows are absolutely
essential. However, other rooms or views of the building had been made for
a particular purpose in the set-up of a panel or an entire story. In other
occasions, some rooms are the basis for a throw-away gag. This is how I
treat the Money Bin in my own stories.  Therefore, I do not think that
Barks expected that, one day, someone would make a consistent blueprint
of the Money Bin. Besides, I did it only for my own enjoyment. I have
always drawn views of the interior spaces and offices of the Money Bin,
without worrying how they all fit together or whether I am going to draw
the same office in the same way again for a second time. Even now that
the Money Bin blueprints are complete, I doubt whether I am going to be
consulting them the next time that I will be drawing Scrooge's office.
Finally, I intend to leave one or two floors without a description,
so that I can add more elements that I had not imagined previously. In
addition, if a friend of the ducks believes that I have ignored some
element or room that I should have included in my blueprints, he is free
to assume that it is in of of those particular empty floors!

[Signed] Don Rosa

[Caption, p.1, left]
The two first appearances of uncle Scrooge's Money Bin: The exterior
view of the Money Bin was first shown in December 1951 in Carl Barks'
story _The Money Bin on Killmotor Hill_ (_Komix_ #116). However, Barks
himself had shown his hero in the interior of the Money Bin a year
earlier, in July 1950, in his story _The Pixilated Parrot_ (_Komix_
#52), to which the second panel belongs.

[Caption, p.1, center]
The Beagle Boys attempt to break into uncle Scrooge's Money Bin once more,
and Carl Barks finds the inspiration for one more of his oil paintings.


[Side column]

                            ATTAAAAACK!
  The story that inspired Don Rosa to draw the architectural blueprints
  of the Money Bin.

_Attaaaaack!_ does not have anything special, it is just a gag that
develops in twelve pages. You will not find any extensive research
in which I could take pride here, there are no details of particular
historic accuracy, not even any hidden references to old Barks stories
or classic movies. I like to write such simple stories occasionally,
but I would soon have become bored I I could not return to the deep and
detailed historic research and other more complex tasks in which I am
completely absorbed. Besides, this is what constitutes food for my mind!

In _Attaaaaack!_, which is the second story after _The Coin_, which I
write for the French _Disney_ editions, the Beagle Boys, Magica de Spell,
and the pig-faced villain (who appears in various roles in Barks' stories)
make brief appearances. An unscheduled, but longer appearance is made by
a new villain of my own creation, Arpene Lusin, the rich international
play-boy burglar, who wants to close his career in glory, by emptying
Scrooge McDuck's Money Bin.  Arpene Lusin represents yet another danger
for Scrooge. Lusin does not need Scrooge's money: it is enough for him
to destroy the contents of the Money Bin and to give the impression that
he has stolen them. In this case, Scrooge would have had no chance of
getting back what no longer exists. I have already written a good story
with Arpene Lusin, _The Black Knight_, but the future will show if I
will manage to come up with something else for such a peculiar character.

I would like to point out something more... When I drew the scene where
Scrooge blows up the front of the Money Bin, revealing the office spaces,
I thought that this was the first time when readers can have a full
picture of the construction of the interior of the Money Bin. Thus, I
decided that the moment had come to work on an idea that some publishers
had been asking me to implement for years: the blueprints of the Money
Bin. I finally decided that I could not make these blueprints for
_Attaaaaack!_. However, this idea was implemented a bit later, with the
opportunity of the story which I wrote for the fiftieth anniversary from
the first reference to the Beagle Boys gang and to the Money Bin and of
course, the one hundredth anniversary from the birth of Carl Barks.

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    Fifty years of inventions... The history of a Barksian character
                    The Ingenious Gyro Gearloose

  Fifty years are completed these days from the first appearance of Gyro
  Gearloose, the most inventive inventor in the Ninth Art.

Gyro Gearloose is, without doubt, one of the most likable figures in
the world created by Carl Barks. For five decades he has been creating
home appliances at bargain prices and coming up with the most incredible
machines, to order or otherwise. Brilliant, absent-minded, and naive,
Gyro is capable of both solving the most complex problems and of sewing
panic in fractions of a second, each time he loses control of his
strange creations.


THE FIRST APPEARANCES

Gyro Gearloose is a creation of Carl Barks. He made is first appearance in
May, 1952, in the ten-page story _Gladstone's Terrible Secret_, in _Walt
Disney Comics_ magazine. In his first appearance he was a gawky Barksian
fowl of unspecified species, with several extra kilos. In 1953 his tiny
helper appeared, a pocket robot who, although he appears insignificant,
often intervenes, rescuing his master out of a difficult situation.

In 1956, the people at _Wester Publishing_ asked the Duck Man to add to
each issue of _Uncle Scrooge) magazine a short story, in which uncle
Scrooge, Donald, or the nephews did not appear, to take advantage of
some special postal rates. Because of this, Gyro soon took his final
form and became the central character of a series of most enjoyable
short stories. In the 1960s, Gyro got his own comic book, and Carl Barks
created some of his best stories for this short-lived publication.


AN INVENTOR FROM THE CRADLE

What is Gyro's position in the duck universe? Don Rosa has studied
carefully Carl Barks' references to Gyro's past and has managed to include
them in the _Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck_ and the story of Duckburg
in general.  Always according to Don, uncle Scrooge met Gyro's great
grandfather, Ratchet Gearloose, in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1880. Ratchet,
an inventor and big-time tinkerer, embarks, along with young Scrooge,
i\on Mississippi's river boats (_The Life * Times of Scrooge McDuck_,
Chapter 2, _Komix_ #101). In 1883, they meet again in Java (_The Cowboy
Captain of the Cutty Sark_, _Komix_ #156). In 1902, uncle Scrooge decides
to settle in Duckburg, and among the kids, who have their headquarters in
old fort Duckburg, is little Fulton Gearloose, Gyro's father: one of the
founding members of the Junior Woodchucks Club. Don reveals more details
about Gyro's past in his new story titled _Gyro's First Invention_,
from which we have obtained and present to you some draft drawings.


IMAGINARY INVENTOR

Gyro Gearloose has a lot in common with his creator, uncle Carl. His
profession has to do with the last, if not the next one, word in
technology, and his place would have reasonably been in some ultramodern
industrial complex... Gyro, however, prefers to work in his humble
workshop. Uncle Carl himself preferred to work at home, secluded in
his studio, far from the din of the offices of the large publishing
hose that published his stories. Gyro is one of those characters who
seem to mirror an aspect of the personality of their creator... Besides,
Barks had admitted that he had always wanted to be an inventor. From the
impressive Paul Bunyan machines (_Komix_ #41) to the atom subtracter in
_The Titanic Ants_ (_Komix_ #70) or the rocket in _The 24 Carat Moon_
(_Komix_ #32), uncle Carl's classic stories are full of fantastic devices,
pioneering vehicles and all sorts of weird gadgets, which appear to have
come out directly from a science fiction movie. The great creator was
an imaginary inventor... and imaginary colleague of his charismatic hero.

[Captions]

[p.1, bottom]
A model sheet by Carl Barks.

[p.1, top right]
GYRO'S EVOLUTION
Gyro's first appearance in the story _Gladstone's Terrible Secret_. One
month later, he obtains a leading part and his look changes... The truth
is that, initially, Barks was used the form of Gus Goose, as he appeared
in the cartoon Interior Decorators. Soon, however, Gyro will obtain his
final look.

[p.2., inset]
DON ROSA'S DRAFT DRAWINGS
Draft drawings by Don Rosa for the story _Gyro's First Invention_. One
of the nephews begins by saying: "Say it is the anniversary of when Gyro
opened his shop. I almost forgot!" And Donald adds: "He's certainly a
genius. Though he seldom seems to think up anything with a practical
value."

UTOPIAN QUESTS
Carl Barks used to have fun by drawing futuristic panels full of the
strangest gadgets. In the story _monsterville_, he shows Gyro Gearloose
dreaming of and building the Duckburg of the future. A Duckburg where
technology is supposed to cater for even the simplest needs of the city's
inhabitants. The results of the experiment are completely the opposite
of what Gyro had hoped. One more bitter, ironic comment by uncle Carl
on blind faith in technology.

[Caption]
Cover from the magazine that was published in America starring Gyro.

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	Kriton	(e-mail: kyrimis at cti.gr)
	      	(WWW:    http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis)
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"Destiny is the art of throwing darts at random and claiming that anything
 you hit was the target all along."
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