ML-IHJCM:
>>>>> re: "A Letter from Home" -- Could you please be more precise? What are your own criticisms to that story?
It was just generally, all-around, too much. I generally squeezed 40-50 pages of plot and panels into about 25-30, but that time I had SO much material about Templars and lost sisters and I didn't want to leave ANY out, so I think I squeezed about 60 pages into 30. I'd been planning to do a "return to Castle McDuck" story for many years, and my original idea was that it be very similar in structure to my favorite "Old Castle's Secret" (ergo my alternate title for the story of "The Old Castle's Other Secret"). I wanted the plot to explore the castle's interior as thoroughly as Barks' original tale did, and have a similar treasure-hunt/mystery. Then came the idea to also involve his two "long lost" sisters in the story.
Well... that was too much. And, as you know, I am only given a certain number of pages by the publisher. If I produce a story that's too long, it would be useless to their branch publishers who only publish thin 30 page anthology comics. When I first went to work for them, their maximum story length was 16 pages in two 8-page chapters. They had already extended that limit to 30 pages in 10-page chapters for me alone, but they weren't too happy about even that.
The important aspects of any story are plot, characterization, action & humor. A good story should have equal parts of each. I guess if many Duck stories seem boring to readers, it's because they contain only action and humor. Many readers, especially older readers, seem to like my stories because I also have lots of plot and characterization.
But I didn't have room for everything that time. Without the plot there is no story. Without action and humor, there is still a story, only a dull one. So I found myself trimming my ideas down to the point where I had left in all the plot and character drama, but most all the action and humor were squeezed out. I had the Ducks go straight to the dungeons rather than follow clues throughout the entire castle. There were no slapstick action sequences. When I looked at my final script, I thought that I'd written a very INTERESTING, very DULL story. I told the editor when I submitted it that I thought the final sequence between $crooge and Matilda was too long and talky and unfunny. But, to my surprise, the editor had me *extend* that sequence and make it even longer!
Well, I can never judge what I'm doing when I'm in the middle of creating a long story. When I work on the same story day after day, for 2, 3, 4 months, I get so tired of my own ideas that I'm always sure it's all a dreadful mistake, but I have to push on and finish it (and get paid!) and move on to the next story.
Obviously, that story turned out to be VERY popular with some readers. And that's nice! But I don't know if many other readers thought it was very dull just as I feared.
I guess, looking back, I think that everything in that story was pretty good. But there needed to be lots more other stuff to balance it out. It just needed to be two stories. If that was "part two" of my Templar Treasure story duo, I guess maybe I should have made that into a TRIO of stories. "The Crown of the Crusader Kings", "The Old Castle's Other Secret" and "A Letter from Home".
But by that time I had a feeling that the end of my Duck-road was getting near. So I couldn't take the time.