DCML Digest

[Daniel J. Neyer]

Rodney writes:

"I'm surprised to discover some Barks stories that haven't been reprinted
(aside from the Carl Barks Libraries)in over 20 years (since the Whitman
run ended) and I'm wondering why Gemstone isn't publishing these stories
like, The Gold Nugget Boat and Case of the Sticky Money (to name the
Scrooge tales).  Would anyone else like to see these?"

I sure would! Also The Doom Diamond, The Heedless Horseman, and The
Cattle King. I'd much prefer to see long-unseen Barks work than Only a
Poor Old Man or Back to the Klondike for the twentieth time. Gemstone
seems to be following the same procedure with Barks that Gladstone
(second run) did with Gottfredson: only running stuff that's already been
printed in albums. Is there some cost-cutting move behind this? I hope
The Tuckered Tiger, short as it was, represents a move in a new
direction.

About FORGET IT!--I didn't understand the explanation of Magica's spell
at first, either, but as soon as it started to take effect on poor old
Scrooge and Donald I got it--and started to roll on the floor. The
highlight came when Donald forgot how to talk--reminded me of his mother
Hortense in her early years! By the way, I think this marks the third
time that Don has used that bright-eyed and hilariously dopey-looking
airport receptionist in a story (the other two being A MATTER OF SOME
GRAVITY and SIGN OF THE TRIPLE DISTELFINK). I like to see even bit
characters reused. 

Daniel Von E. writes: "I think it could be 'The Three Caballeros' that
Rosa rejuvenated. (Donald, Jose, and Panchito as a trio.) But I'm not
sure." 

I think this is correct--as far as I know, no one has ever reunited the
Caballeros since the fifties--and Rosa has made the characters of Jose
and Panchito known here in the States again; I guess I was writing from
an American standpoint.

In reply to Daniel's comments on the Blum stories--my feelings on them go
beyond dislike. Maybe they don't extend to hatred, but they come pretty
close. All the humor is either self-consciously "hip" or satirical or
recycled from a Barks story. In all fairness, I don't think this can be
said of Rosa stories--his plot ideas sometimes come from Barks, but his
humor is entirely his own, and even his most heavy-handed stories (WAR OF
THE WENDIGO, for example) have a lot of genuine belly laughs. And the
crucial difference between Blum and all other Duck creators if this:
Barks, Rosa, Van Horn, and all other authors past and present write for
the sake of the story, with satire or social commentary a side issue.
With Blum, I get the feeling he picks a topic or topic to "satirize" and
then comes up with an off-hand plot to carry his "satire." He's always
read a bit too much satire into Barks' works, I think, and he seems to
regard satirism as the ultimate goal of a Duck writer.

Not to end on a negative note, I'll put my two cents into the Mad Dentist
discussion. It's really a comedy, not a horror film, but W. C. Fields'
character in THE DENTIST represents probably the last tooth doc I'd ever
want to see. Which reminds me--has anyone ever done a story with Donald
as a Master of Dentistry? Seems to me there are a lot of funny
possibilities in that. 
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