Papersera.net

you really paid me some nice compliments. Grazie!

I am happy that you liked it.

I add some comments of mine on the MM-DD discussion.
First of all, having had some experience of what is life in NorthAmerica for a lover of what we use to call "Disney comics", I have some empathy for Don's position. In the years there, the Mickey symbol was at best a tantalizing reminder of what I wanted and could not have, at worst a disgusting offer of stones where I wished for bread; and this did not help in making me love the Disney international company, realizing how far it is from the stories I really loved.

Second: I have to strongly disagree with Zironi's post I translated above. I think a lot of what he describes depends on the reader: the emotions he says one can feel with Mickey I often felt with Donald, while I was much more detached with MM (or with U$, for the matter). And I have read most (if not all) of the great stories he quotes (btw, I agree that they are wonderful stories, true masterpieces: I am only speaking of my emotional involvement).

Third: from my experience as an Italian reader, I would say it's much easier to produce a likable Ducks story than one with Mickey as hero (btw: here in Italy they are thought of as living in different Calisota cities, so they seldom interact). A consequence is that in the last years most of the new stories offered to us were with Ducks, but the average quality of the MM stories was higher, because (IMHO) good authors felt more challenged in working with him. (This was not much pleasant for a Donald Duck fan as I am.)

Mi scuso, ma provvedero' domani ad una versione italiana: adesso devo scappare.


Riassunto italiano: avendo vissuto alcuni anni in Nordamerica, provo una certa simpatia per come Don si pone di fronte a Topolino. La vasta presenza di merchandising Disney, totalmente sconneso dai fumetti che amo e di cui laggiu' avvertivo dolorosamente l'assenza, non contribuiva certo a farmi amare il simbolo dalle grandi orecchie.

Secondo: mi sento in forte in disaccordo con quanto dice Zironi. L'identificazione con Topolino di cui parla mi pare una cosa molto soggettiva, per quel che mi riguarda la forte empatia e' quasi soltanto con Paperino (non Topolino o Paperone). Naturalmente questo non mi impedisce di riconoscere i capolavori con Topolino come tali; ma non sono mai cosi' coinvolto emotivamente.

Terzo: come lettore, mi sembra che sia molto piu' facile produrre una storia mediamente piacevole coi paperi piuttosto che con Topolino. Una conseguenza (imho) e' che guardando la produzione italiana degli ultimi anni, la qualita' media delle storie topolinesche e' stata molto superiore, in quanto rappresentava una sfida piu' stimolante per gli autori piu' bravi (almeno, questa e' la mia impressione).

Ehi, ML, ce la sto mettendo tutta per allargare l'orizzonte di Don e tu ti metti a remar contro?
Qui non è che si parteggia, si fa il possibile per evidenziare ogni esaltante aspetto dei personaggi Disney!
Ciao!

Zironi:
>>>>>Don is wrong, Mickey's cuteness has nothing to do with it, especially for the Mickey from the '40s -'50s (my favourite one).
Donald is a true character, Mickey is not. But in the best cases MM is a fantastic witness of reality and he represents the reader drawn to wild adventures.

Mr. Z seems to be disagreeing with something I did not say/write. I never said anything about why Donald or Mickey is popular in Europe, or especially in Italia where everyone has read the Gottfredson strips and all the other MM comics for decades on end.

I was referring to why Mickey is more popular in America where NOBODY, not even hardcore comics fans, have ever had a chance to read more than a few Gottfredson stories... and where the Gottfredson strips may have at one time been in a few newspapers, but where even that fleeting and limited appearance was over a half-century ago and long forgotten.

Americans only know Donald & Mickey as T-shirt faces. And Mickey is cuter. So Mickey is more popular.

Mmmh...
You say: will I never like MM?
Wrong?
So, I speak about you, not about american people.


PS- Mr Z?.... my friend Z! :

Mister Don Rosa,vorrei chiederle: so che lei è un grande collezionista di fumetti.Qual'è la collezione cui è più affezionato e di cui non si priverebbe per niente al mondo ?
Barks, Schultz,Eisner: secondo il mio parere sono le stelle più luminose nel firmamento dei fumetti. Ha conosciuto gli ultimi due? Quale giudizio ne dà?

Ringrazio chi è così gentile da tradurre queste mie domande.

Mister Don Rosa,vorrei chiederle: so che lei è un grande collezionista di fumetti.Qual'è la collezione cui è più affezionato e di cui non si priverebbe per niente al mondo ?
Barks, Schultz,Eisner: secondo il mio parere sono le stelle più luminose nel firmamento dei fumetti. Ha conosciuto gli ultimi due? Quale giudizio ne dà?

Ringrazio chi è così gentile da tradurre queste mie domande.

Question from "io":

I know you're a big comics collector. What part of your collection is most valuable to you, the one you would never depart from, no matter the price?
Barks, Schultz,Eisner: in my opinion these are the brightest stars in the comics firmament. Do you know Schultz and Eisner? What's your opinion about them?

Scusate, non sarebbe il caso di tradurre la risposta di Pacuvio in inglese?
http://www.papersera.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1069256543/2235#2235

Thanks don for your answer anyway for me you are the best! :)I like very much your works

Iron:
>>>>>Could you please ask Don Rosa what Barks sequel he had most fun in making? Or that he likes most, whatever the reason?

That's a tough question! Of course, I had the most fun in my work whenever I was asked to do a Barks sequel. Aside from the fact I was always writing and drawing a Barks Duck story, if it was an entirely new adventure of my own, I was never too excited about the story itself. Usually, after working on one single story for 3 or 4 months, I'd be grow positive that the whole thing was a dreadful mistake.
However, when asked to write "chapter 2" of a Barks story that has existed for me as long as I could remember, that would always give me goose-bumps the whole time. I didn't grow up with a story I make up from scratch... but to do a sequel to a Barks adventure I'd always loved was like magic.
And I think I always did a pretty good job. I'd be sorry if someone didn't like it, but that's okay... however, I'd always get a little peeved when a few people claimed that doing a Barks sequel was EASY... that I was stealing the whole thing. That was rubbish -- doing a sequel is MUCH harder than creating a whole new story! I needed to do lots of plot and art research, always making sure I draw everything JUST right, I'd need to sweat more over the plot to be certain that I didn't bring in any totally new screwball ideas and that I used only Barks' main elements but try to twist them in a new and logical direction. Making up a whole new story was a breeze compared to a sequel, but I always jumped at the opportunity to do sequels because it was such fun for me. Like a dream come true INSIDE a dream-come-true!

I would have a hard time picking a favorite.
I'm very proud of all my early ones. "Return to Plain Awful", "Return to Xanadu" and "The War of the Wendigo" were all examples of how I think I took Barks' elements and successfully put new twists on them.
"Prisoner of White Agony Creek" was my final sequel, and though I know some people didn't like it much, I'm very proud of that one, too. For instance, in Barks' "Back to the Klondike", $crooge and Goldie seem to hate each other's guts when he's dragging her off to work his claim. But when we see them meet again many years later, WHY do they act like shy former lovers? Wasn't Barks implying that *something* happened in that month? Well, anyway, I'm proud of that one.

In any discussion of my sequels I always mention, to cool the heads of the irate Barks purists, that NOBODY is saying any Barks story NEEDED a sequel. These are stories I am asked to do by fans and editors and I *enjoy* doing them. But unlike what a few of these purists try to claim, the original Barks stories are still there! They were not destroyed or changed by my sequels, no more than any Barks story has been destroyed or changed by any other badly written or drawn Duck story in the past 50 years. Half of them gripe that I changed Barks' intentions too much, the other half will gripe that I copied him too much.
(I also would wonder why they would even READ my sequels if they hated the idea so much! I'm not trying to make people unhappy! Why should they purposely make themselves unhappy?)

But, it's okay. One thing I learned in doing these comics for 20 years is that you can't please everyone, *especially* when dealing with characters so dear to so many people's hearts! With every story I'd do, one fan would say it's the WORST story he's ever read, one fan will say it's the BEST story (sometimes not just best Duck story, but best comic story of ANY kind) that he's ever read, and everyone else will fall evenly in between those two. So... all I could ever do is create stories to please myself... stories that I thought *I* would like to read about Barks' Ducks... and hope somebody else somewhere would like at least a part of it.

io:
>>>>>I know you're a big comics collector. What part of your collection is most valuable to you, the one you would never depart from, no matter the price? Barks, Schultz, Eisner: in my opinion these are the brightest stars in the comics firmament. Do you know Schultz and Eisner? What's your opinion about them?

Schultz? Whom do you mean? Mark Schultz of "Cadillacs and Dinosaurs"? Or Charles Schulz (no 't') who did "Peanuts"?
Ah, well I never compare newspaper comic strips to comic books. And certainly not gag-a-day strips like "Peanuts". I mean, I like some of them... like "Peanuts", "Calvin & Hobbes", "Mutts", etc. ... but they are in a different class than the comic books or the classic adventure newspaper strips that told stories. But let's not get too far into that -- it's a big discussion!

I have virtually all the American comics of the main genres of 1946 to 1970. (I used to have 1970-1985 but I sold all of those "new" comics a few years back.) Let's see... I collect all the super-hero, adventure, horror, SF, mystery, jungle-hero, TV/movie tie-in, and MAD-style humor comics of all publishers of 1945-1970... of those years I have virtually full sets of everything. And those are the years when America DID have a LOT of comics that all sold well and were of EVERY type of genre... just like comics still are in Europe. In those days, American comic fans read ALL types, and bought LOTS.
About the only comics I have older than 1945 are ALL the Dell Disneys back to the first issues, and SUPERMAN titles back to the first few issues since he is also a favorite.
I have only DC, Marvel/Atlas, and M.E. western comics... those are the best, but that eliminates a LOT of Western comics from other publishers. I collect only DC and EC war comics, again eliminating LOTS from other publishers. I have only Dell funny-animal comics (the most and the best).
I have NO romance or teen humor ("Archie")... again eliminating a lot.

So... what would I keep? Let's ask what my favorites are. If you ask what I'd keep, there's the problem that some are easily available in reprints and others aren't. My very favorite comics are all reprinted many times, so maybe they would be the FIRST I'd get rid of.

Best of all are the ECs of 1950-55. No doubt about that! I think they are better comics than Barks' Ducks. Surprising? Sure they are. That was the best team of writers and artists in American comics history. But I didn't say I *liked* them best. I like humor/adventure with great continuing characters, so my favorites are still Barks' Ducks.

I like Eisner's "Spirit". Considering Eisner's long career and the innovations he brought to the medium, I consider him easiley the greatest American cartoonist of all time. But... I still prefer Barks' stories.

Walt Kelly's "Pogo" originated in Dell comics. He is another of the greatest geniuses of American comics... perhaps the triumvirate would be Eisner-Kelly-Barks. Again, Kelly was a better artist and writer than Barks, but I prefer Barks.

Also from Dell were the great LITTLE LULU and TUBBY comics written by John Stanley, another comics genius. I guess Little Lulu is one of the only "funny children" comics I collect -- Harvey Comics had a lot of that type, but they seemed rather stupid to me.

I love the DC comics of the 50's and 60's -- especially the Superman family of titles editted by Mort Weisinger, the SF comics editted by Julius Schwartz. The DC war and western comics were also great. You can't beat any of those.

Sure, I like the Marvel super-heroes of the 60's, and their "giant monster" comics of the 50's.

Quality Comics had BLACKHAWK and PLASTIC MAN, two more great series with wonderful stories & art.

Gold Key comics had MAGNUS and TUROK! Fantastic!

Fawcett Comics had the wondefully whimsical "Capt. Marvel" family of comics (those sold better than Superman comics in the 40's and they were printed right here in Louisville).

I must stop there! I like... so many others! That's why I have a collection of EVERYTHING.

Is that enough for you hard-working and heroic translators? This being Friday, I will now seem to disappear during the weekend, as usual.......

About the only comics I have older than 1945 are ALL the Dell Disneys back to the first issues, and SUPERMAN titles back to the first few issues since he is also a favorite.

Do you know Jerry Siegel wrote expressly plots for about 150 Italian Disney Comics? Very odd and fanciful stories, I could say...

Do you know Jerry Siegel wrote expressly plots for about 150 Italian Disney Comics? Very odd and fanciful stories, I could say...

And not only for Italy: also for Gold Kay. One stories for "Donald Duck" number 146 and another for "Huey, Dewey and Louie Junior Woodchucks" number 16

Malachia:
>>>>>Do you know Jerry Siegel wrote expressly plots for about 150 Italian Disney Comics?

Yes, I'd heard that. I used to correspond a bit with Mr. Siegel when I was writing a magazine column about comic history. He wrote to me when he'd read a poll I published of people's favorite comic stories. The winner (and MY favorite non Barks story as well) had been "The Death of Superman" that I didn't even know that Siegel had written. He was very touched to know that people loved it.
(This is obviously an old story {1961}, not that silly "Death of Superman" publicity stunt thing back in 1993 or so.)

If someone would ask me if I like more Barks or Gottfredson, I really couldn't answer.
I really can't say that one is better than the other. Both are real protagonist of my life when I was younger and still today. I've read all stories written by Barks and by Gottfredson, I cryed and I laughted with both, both gave me big emotions.
Sure, in my personal hall of fame, my favourite story of all times is a Barks' story: "Old California". And to find a Gottfredson story in this "my best" we must go to the fourth ("The Plumber's Helper").
This is a story that in my opinion you, Don, should read. However, according with INDUCKS, this story wasn't reprinted in the USA... I also think you should read all the Gottfredson's stories with Mickey and Eega Beeva. It's like an entire big novel who take place during the war years. Simply unforgettable.

That's a pity you american couldn't read them in complete editions. In Italy we're also asking Disney to reprint all Gottfredson in a new beutiful edition, also id we already had good editions in the past decades.
One of the best, the one I have, is this: http://coa.inducks.org/publication.php?c=it/MESS which was published in 1989 and 1990 weekly with a newspaper. Also this comics were published with the typical newspaper format and paper. In the same years ZIO PAPERONE starts to reprint all Barks mounthly. I was 7, 8 years old, so I grew up with Gottfredson and Barks.

Italian summary: anche se nella mia personale classifica di tutti tempi, al primo posto c'è "Paperino nel tempo che fu" di Carl Barks, e per trovare una storia di Gottfredson dobbiamo andare fino al quarto posto ("Topolino e la Banda dei Piombatori"), non saprei davvero dire se preferisco Barks o Gottfredson. Entrambi mi hanno regalato profonde emozioni fin dall'infanzia, con entrambi ho riso e pianto.

E' un peccato che negli USA non ci sia una ristampa organica di Gottfredson. Anche in Italia ne chiediamo una da anni, anche se comunque ce ne sono state di buone anche in passato, come quella degli allegati del Messaggero (1989-1990). Negli stessi anni Zio Paperone stava pubblicando tutto Barks. Io avevo circa otto anni, e per questo si può dire che sono cresciuto con entrambi questi grandi maestri.