Don Rosa Duck:
>>>>>I got a small question, about one of Don Rosa's scribbles, The Starstruck Duck, witch I just read here yesterday. I thought of, why it was not finished?
I'm guessing you saw this in that DONALD DUCK TREASURY published by @#$%& Boom Comics. I was in the process of preparing to sue that company for its unauthorized use of my name to sell their products. I absolutely objected to everything they were doing -- it's very humiliating for the world's most popular comics to be treated like it's material of minor importance by a third-rate publisher. I gave them permission to reprnt Gemstone's LIFE & TIMES OF $CROOGE McDUCK because that was a book done by people who resected the material and of which I approved every page. But beyond that book, I did not want these Boom people to be using my work without my approval. I did not like seeing Disney comics treated like this in America.
They also did not have a license to print collections of one artist's work. Fantagraphics has that license, and they are acting on it with their fabulous Gotfredson and Barks libraries. The Boom DONALD DUCK TREASURY claimed that it was publishing "the work of many great international writers and artists"... but you notice that all issues planned to ("by chance") reprint only Don Rosa stories until they ran out. Anyway, I would not allow them to use any of the texts that accompany my stories in books by publishers of whom I approve. So THAT'S why you need to ask me this question because I would not allow that book to print my text. (I will own no copies of those books, nor will I autograph copies when I travel.)
YOUR ANSWER (finally!)-- Here is the text I would not allow Boom to use that explains "The Star-Struck Duck":
THE STAR-STRUCK DUCK
Late in 1988 I was asked by Gladstone to create a very special story! The Disney-MGM Studio themepark was nearing completion and Disney had asked Gladstone Comics to create a Donald Duck story to promote the new park, an assignment the editors passed to me. This was especially interesting because I was then invited to have a special VIP tour of the unfinished park! I stopped by DisneyWorld for that purpose while returning from a Christmas vacation in Key West, and I was given a private tour of the entire place. I made various notes and sketches that I would use in writing a Donald Duck story set in the Park.
When I was growing up in the mid 1950’s, Dell’s Disney comics sometimes also featured similar special stories where Donald or Mickey or other Disney characters were shown visiting the brand new Disneyland amusement park in California, promo stories surely requested by Disney then just as they had requested a Disney-MGM Studio promo story from Gladstone. The way in which those old Dell stories worked was that we would see Donald taking his Nephews to Disneyland, then after about a page he would say “y’know, this reminds me of the time that…” and the story would switch from involving Disneyland to a flashback tale of something else altogether. Well, I wanted to do something better than that! I would actually have my entire story take place in the new Disney-MGM Studio Park. I would have Donald interact with every attraction in the new park, even with geographic accuracy. I would have lots of funny references to old Disney films and history. And I would even use Mickey Mouse in the story! Now, a few of you may know that in my personal view of Donald Duck’s “Universe” Mickey Mouse does not really exist… at least not as a chum that Donald might sometimes interact with. But I thought it would be an amusing situation if I used Mickey Mouse as being a famous “movie star” in Donald’s world, and having the action involve a Keystone Kops chase through the Park that results when Donald is trying to get the famous Mouse’s autograph. And I thought I did a really magnificent job accomplishing all that! I spent most of January creating a masterpiece of promotion spotlighting every square meter of that new theme park.
But the story was never produced. Disney rejected my script when Gladstone showed it to them.
You might think that the reason for rejection was the bizarre manner in which I use Mickey Mouse within my own personal vision of the Duck Universe. You might think it’s because I made too many references to old movies or other characters that only film buffs like me would understand. You might think it was because I based the closing gag on an old expression that might no longer be understood (and which you Europeans might not know?): “I can’t remember his name, but his face sure rings a bell”. But no, none of those. The reason I was given for Disney’s rejection was that they thought my story was “too commercial”. BOING! Huh? Wasn’t that the whole idea?!
Anyway, this is the only Duckstory I ever wrote that was rejected and that I never completed with finished art.
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