Finally, I remember how many, many pages back, the forum has discussed translating European comics for you, Don. They eventually created a different thread for it which is all Italian, so my chance of participating there is pretty low, therefore I'd like to make my contribution here, listing all my favorite Italian stories, as suggestions what marvelous stories should be translated so Don can appreciate and enjoy a part of comic culture that he has been missing out on for so long.
I haven't seen any of the translations so far, but I myself am very interested in the subject of translating comics as a hobby. In fact, quite a few of my teen years consisted of scanning and translating Don's comics for myself. It's how I've learned appreciating when translations also look professional in their lettering, using actual comic fonts. The font called
Anime Ace very closely resembles the lettering used by Gladstone Publishing during the 1990s, and that's why I recommend it when it comes to translating and lettering comics:
http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=667 I'd also like to offer my help in lettering and back-checking translations before they'll be sent to Don, but I'm afraid scanning would be too time-consuming for me.
Now for my list of suggestions of Italian comics to translate for Don:
First off, Carpi's marvelous parodies of world literature, with his extraordinary talent for drawing historical wardrobe and architecture:
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Guerra e pace:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1604-A (parody of
War and peace, particularly the Soviet film adaptation, it even has the kind of so many small background gags that Don also uses in his stories; but judging from what I see at the INDUCKS, I hope you're not gonna use the version from
Le grandi parodie (Disney) 11, I've grown up with the breathtaking coloring I see in the Topolino version at that link, which has obviously also been used in
I Classici di Walt Disney (seconda serie) 350)
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Il mistero dei candelabri:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1743-AP (parody of
Les miserables)
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Messer Papero:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1425-AP (the epic 7-part parody of Italian Medieval and Renaissance literature, including Dante who even has a cameo in part 1)
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Zio Paperone e il centenario (+ uno) bullonario:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1810-AP (not a parody per se, at least none that I know of, but it has 19th century charme to boot, plus AFAIK even includes a caricature of Berlusconi as a character)
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La metamorfosi di un papero:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1875-A (parody of
The metamorphosis by Franz Kafka)
However great his talent for historical settings, Carpi is not my favorite Italian Duck artist. That's Cavazzano, which makes him my second-favorite Duck artist overall after Don. Off the top of my head, I can think of three Cavazzano stories that combine his extraordinary art with great scripts:
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Zio Paperone e l'uomo dei paperi:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1919-C (I think you'll really like this one Don, it's a story about Unca Carl himself and his comics...wait a minute! INDUCKS is telling me that it's been published in English just this year in
Uncle $crooge #400!
http://coa.inducks.org/issue.php?c=us/US++400#b )
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Zio Paperone e l'operazione foglia:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1455-BP-
Paperino e la storia dell'acqua dolce:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1587-AI know there was a similar story in theme to
Paperino e la storia dell'acqua dolce with Mickey, but I can't find it anymore, and I can't remember if it was by Cavazzano or De Vita. It basically has Mickey vacationing at the beach with Minnie and his two nephews, and the two adults teach the nephews a lot about water, including its optical qualities. As far as I remember, the story also included Peg-Leg Pete (aka Gambadilegno) and his GF Trudy. I've always been rather fond of that story too.
When it comes to Mickey, my personal favorite Mickey artist of all time is Massimo De Vita:
La spada di ghiaccio,
http://coa.inducks.org/subseries.php?c=Ice+Sword , De Vita's 4-part parody of
Lord of the Rings, consisting of:
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Topolino e la spada di ghiaccio,
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Topolino e il Torneo dell'Argaar,
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Topolino e il ritorno del "principe delle nebbie" (Don, your
Quest for Kalevala very much reminded me of this third part of the saga, they're both fantasy stories set in a medieval winter wonderland, the part where Donald and Scrooge visit the Realm of Death in your
Kalevala story has always seemed very much like a scene in this one story to me where Goofy has to answer three questions by a wise old sage in a cave),
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Topolino e la bella addormentata nel cosmoAnd lastly, a few stories not by any of my favorite Duck or Mickey artists respectively, but I've always liked to go back to them from time to time:
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Le Fantaleggende:
http://coa.inducks.org/subseries.php?c=Le+Fantaleggende (3-part parody of Italian Rennaissance romance
Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto)
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Le sette meraviglie dei paperi:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1800-AP (7-part parody of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World)
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Zio Paperone e i campi galleggianti:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1313-AP-
Paperino e il pendolo di Ekòl:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1842-A (parody of
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco)
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Topolino corriere dello Zar:
http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL++553-AP (parody of
Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne)
P. S.: I'm also a huge fan of
Paperinik New Adventures for its art, a series that was always aimed at a somewhat more mature audience than Disney's general output. As far as I remember, Don once read Paperinik's 1967 origin story in a custom-made translation for him by Egmont back in the 90s, and either wasn't impressed much, or doesn't particularly remember that story anymore.
On the one hand, the 1967 origin story would be essential to understanding PKNA, while on the other I think that modern-day PKNA might even appeal to many people who didn't like the origin story. In any case, Don, you could go and check out
http://duckavenger.blogspot.com/2010/04/table-of-contents.html As the series has never been widely available outside of Italy, and isn't commercially available in English so far (only a softened-up follow up series with its art not comparable to PKNA by a long shot has recently started being available from Disney as an English e-book for the iPod), some fans have translated it to English there.