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DonaldPaperinik:
(wrote a very nice piece, and then...)
>>>>>Thank you so much for your time, and I apologize for every English error I may have committed in this long post.

I thank you for your very wise comments.
But I must say that I always hafta chuckle when a European adds a final comment to his posting like yours above. I believe I noted ONE tiny misspelling in your message, and that was probably only a typo, such as I surely also made somewhere in this message. I want to make sure you know (and that everyone here knows) that your message contained perhaps a half-dozen English words of which the average American your age would not even know the meaning. Nor could most 25-year-old Americans spell or punctuate or write coherent and grammatical sentences as you have done so well. I have never ceased to be amazed by the excellent multi-language skills of you Europeans. Americans are now graduating high school without the ability to write a message like you posted.
NEVER feel embarrassed by your English language abilities. If an American your age cannot understand your postings, then it's not because you are making mistakes, it's because your writing is too advanced for him.

You'll need to ask me that question when I can answer it, say in 1992.

Thanks Don! It means that if I'll fail to recognize them, I'll have only to light up a time–candle and go back straight to 1992's Don Rosa  

DonaldPaperinik:
(wrote a very nice piece, and then...)
>>>>>Thank you so much for your time, and I apologize for every English error I may have committed in this long post.

I thank you for your very wise comments.
But I must say that I always hafta chuckle when a European adds a final comment to his posting like yours above. I believe I noted ONE tiny misspelling in your message, and that was probably only a typo, such as I surely also made somewhere in this message. I want to make sure you know (and that everyone here knows) that your message contained perhaps a half-dozen English words of which the average American your age would not even know the meaning. Nor could most 25-year-old Americans spell or punctuate or write coherent and grammatical sentences as you have done so well. I have never ceased to be amazed by the excellent multi-language skills of you Europeans. Americans are now graduating high school without the ability to write a message like you posted.
NEVER feel embarrassed by your English language abilities. If an American your age cannot understand your postings, then it's not because you are making mistakes, it's because your writing is too advanced for him.

I believe this meme I saw on Facebook some days ago fits perfectly, in this case.

Don, I've always been wondering whether the signs on the candle in "of ducks, Dimes and Destinies" were actually having a meaning. I've did a bit of a research, but I couldn't find any known (by me) alphabet matching with them.
I'm missing something here?
-------------------------------------
Don mi sono sempre chiesto se i segni riportati sulla candela di "Decini e Destini" avessero un qualche significato. Ho fatto una rapida ricerca ma non ho trovato alcun alfabeto da me conosciuto che coincidesse.
Sto trascurando qualcosa?

Mi sono incuriosita per il riferimento al Signore degli Anelli che ha fatto dopo il Don. Siccome non mi parevano assolutamente somiglianti alle rune cirth del SdA, sono andata a spulciare i libri di Tolkien che ho in casa, ed effettivamente non ho trovato nulla di simile.

Così ho cercato su Internet e ho trovato qualcosa di interessante, ma potrei sbagliarmi:




L'unica runa che riconosco è quella segnalata col significato di SOLIDITA'.
Sebbene sia ribaltata rispetto a quella sulla candela, mi pare proprio identica.
Per le altre non saprei. Magari fanno parte di qualche altro alfabeto, oppure dello stesso, ma semplicemente non le trovo io e in questa tabella non son presenti.

Non sono nemmeno sicura di aver capito di che si tratta. Prendo una cantonata se colgo un qualche riferimento a Dungeons & Dragons? "Universo" di cui, lo ammetto, la mia conoscenza rasenta quasi lo zero. [
Ma immagino che magari Don Rosa fosse un appassionato.

DonaldPaperinik:
(wrote a very nice piece, and then...)
>>>>>Thank you so much for your time, and I apologize for every English error I may have committed in this long post.

I thank you for your very wise comments.
But I must say that I always hafta chuckle when a European adds a final comment to his posting like yours above. I believe I noted ONE tiny misspelling in your message, and that was probably only a typo, such as I surely also made somewhere in this message. I want to make sure you know (and that everyone here knows) that your message contained perhaps a half-dozen English words of which the average American your age would not even know the meaning. Nor could most 25-year-old Americans spell or punctuate or write coherent and grammatical sentences as you have done so well. I have never ceased to be amazed by the excellent multi-language skills of you Europeans. Americans are now graduating high school without the ability to write a message like you posted.
NEVER feel embarrassed by your English language abilities. If an American your age cannot understand your postings, then it's not because you are making mistakes, it's because your writing is too advanced for him.

Well, thank you. In fact, i'm well aware I speak and write in a good english, and i'm kinda proud of it. I've also been in the US last summer and received quite compliments. Still, i wrote my message without correcting it, and i was not too sure about a pair of plurals with the verbs, so i decided to add that, just in case. I was probably incounsciously influenced by this attitude of being excessively humble, too.

Hi Don! I'm glad to see that you have returned to this forum, and I still really enjoy reading your answers. Of course I can't miss this opportunity of you answering my questions about the Ducks.

One thing that I'm really curious about is the coloring. I could talk about it for ages, but I guess that you don't have opinions about exactly everything. There is one coloring that I'm really not sure about, and that's bugging me all the time, and that is the one of the male Ducks' hair. You have said, several times, that all male Ducks should have white hair just like Donald and $crooge, but still, in the debated "Jamie Hawkins" family tree, they all have very different colors. Once and for all, which are the real colors for the male Ducks' hair? Are they all white, and in that case, are there any exceptions whatsoever when it comes to the Ducks in the family tree, according to you? What about Cornelius and Casey Coot? They always seem to be blonde. Grandpa Duck is often brown-haired (though I don't like it). One matter that we've been discussing over at Swedish www.kalleanka.se is the color of Eider Duck's hair. Is it white or brown?

And lastly, HDL's father. We don't know his name, but is his face the one in the family tree according to you? In that case, is he supposed to have brown or white hair?

Thank you so much in advance if you take the time to answer all my questions! 

Casey Coot:
>>>>>One thing that I'm really curious about is the coloring. ...There is one coloring that I'm really not sure about, and that's bugging me all the time, and that is the one of the male Ducks' hair. You have said, several times, that all male Ducks should have white hair just like Donald and $crooge,

I should amend that to "all male Ducks whom *I* created should have white hair by default". I have always bowed to the ideas and visions of the writers or artists (or colorists) who came before me... well, the American ones, which are the only ones I can know about. I even also bow to the fan writers who came before, like Mark Worden who created a Barks Duck Family Tree about 15 years before I did.
If Ducks are sometimes shown with colored hair, then that makes Donald look bald, which I don't think he should. He just has short hair. This does not conflict with my affirmation that these are human caricatures rather than talking ducks, even though I would agree that it seems like I should want ALL their hair colored if I see them as humans. Well, we can't all explain our gut feelings.
But one thing I can say is that when the first chapter of my "Life of $crooge" appeared in America, the colorist (with no input from me, as usual) gave little $crooge a head full of fluffy brown hair. This staggered me! It looked totally wrong! Really, really wrong. (Besides, his whiskers were still left white, and that didn't make sense.) I explained that to the publisher, but it was too late to change it for the following chapters. But the colorist had a brilliant idea, at least to fix that series of printings -- in chapter 4 when $crooge sticks his finger in a lightbulb socket in 1882 (er... you had to be there), the shock bleached his hair white. Ha!

>>>>>but still, in the debated "Jamie Hawkins" family tree,

Sorry -- "debated" how? The colors? Or...?
And please don't call it the "Jamie Hawkins" Family Tree. I have written perhaps over a hundred fans' names on copies of that Tree... it's only that one guy named Jamie Hawkins put his copy onto the Internet somewhere. But you knew that was the case, right?

>>>>>they all have very different colors. Once and for all, which are the real colors for the male Ducks' hair? Are they all white, and in that case, are there any exceptions whatsoever when it comes to the Ducks in the family tree, according to you?

That Family Tree that I have copies of at American comics shows, the one that correctly includes Ludwig Von Drake, is one that I drew for a friend some years ago. He wanted it to be colorful, so I colored most Duck's hair -- I did not foresee that anyone but HIM would ever see that Tree -- it was years later that I started making copies from my file copy to take to American comics show. Otherwise I would not have colored any male Duck other than (as I say above) those which had already appeared with colored hair in past comics.

 Any published versions of the one I created for Egmont 20+ years ago has been colored by someone else without any input from me.

>>>>>What about Cornelius and Casey Coot? They always seem to be blonde.
Grandpa Duck is often brown-haired (though I don't like it).

I agree about Grandpa Duck's hair. And I'd prefer to see Cornelius and Casey Coot's hair white also. But it doesn't matter much -- it's doubtful that these characters will ever appear in comic stories again.
As for other Ducks... let's see. I think I like Gladstone's hair with some color -- he is a fop and he probably dyes it. Who are other main Ducks you're wondering about?
The lady Ducks should have colored hair for no other reason than just so they look pretty... after all, how could Glittering Goldie ever NOT have golden hair?!?


>>>>>One matter that we've been discussing over at Swedish www.kalleanka.se is the color of Eider Duck's hair. Is it white or brown?

Why Eider in particular?
Well, eider down is usually thought of as white, from the white breast of an eider duck, so I think that I would think "white" just from hearing the name "Eider Duck". But as I say they are not really talking ducks, so that shouldn't matter. (And besides, eiderdown is usually grayish, being a mixture that includes some eider ducks' black feathers.)

>>>>>And lastly, HDL's father. We don't know his name, but is his face the one in the family tree according to you? In that case, is he supposed to have brown or white hair?

I copied that face off the old Mark Worden Tree, but that Tree was in b&w. So I guess you'd need to ask Mark what he thinks. (Don't ask me where he is.)

Sorry -- "debated" how? The colors? Or...?
And please don't call it the "Jamie Hawkins" Family Tree. I have written perhaps over a hundred fans' names on copies of that Tree... it's only that one guy named Jamie Hawkins put his copy onto the Internet somewhere. But you knew that was the case, right?

Well, the tree always comes up in different discussions, and people seem to be surprised that Ludwig's there, but the most shocking thing for most guys is that HDL's father is named Jamie Hawkins on the copy that's found online. They don't seem to understand that he's named after the owner of the picture and that it's not the real name of the Duck. That's why I called it debated. And I did know that "the 'Jamie Hawkins' tree" wasn't a good name for it, but for some reason I did think that Hawkins was the name of the guy it was originally made for. Isn't that the case? Oh well.

Who are other main Ducks you're wondering about?

Oh, actually no one else. There's not that many Ducks in the tree after all. The ones that I mentioned in my question were the ones I was unsure about. And you answered those. But now that I'm at it... Is there anyone of the McDuck ancestors (and Quagmire and Dingus) who doesn't have white hair? And do you have a personal opinion on who out of Hortense and Matilda is the blonde and who is the brunette?

Why Eider in particular?

It's a long story. We were discussing HDL's father when someone said that the portrait in your new family tree looks like Eider Duck. Someone even tried to explain why Eider WAS HDL's father. I pointed out some main arguments against that (which obviously was a joke from the beginning), and also that they don't have the same hair color. Then we suddenly started discussing the color of Eider's hair and someone said it's orange/brown, because that's the color you use in the new family tree, while I said it's most likely white, since you've said that all males should be white-haired. And that's when I decided to ask you.

I copied that face off the old Mark Worden Tree, but that Tree was in b&w. So I guess you'd need to ask Mark what he thinks. (Don't ask me where he is.)

I guess Mark Worden is the only one who actually knows, but I think I'll stick to him with brown hair in my personal opinion. That hairstyle doesn't really look good when drawn in white.

So, anyway, wow! Now I finally know! I can't thank you enough! I... uhm... THANK YOU! 

Casey Coot:
>>>>>And I did know that "the 'Jamie Hawkins' tree" wasn't a good name for it, but for some reason I did think that Hawkins was the name of the guy it was originally made for. Isn't that the case?

No, that is not the name of the friend for whom I drew the Tree. The name "Jamie Hawkins" is NOT on the Tree at all! On the original art of that version of the Tree, on the prints of it that I take to shows, and as it has been published in Rosa books in the Egmont countries, the name of HD&L's father, and their last names, are simply blank labels.
But when I autograph those Family Tree prints, I hand-write the name of whoever buys it into that label, as well as his last name into the tags for HD&L. As I've said, there have been over a hundred different names written in that space besides just "Jamie Hawkins".

>>>>>Is there anyone of the McDuck ancestors (and Quagmire and Dingus) who doesn't have white hair?

All I can tell you is, again, *I* personally like the hair color of male Ducks as white. Most of those guys are wearing helmets or hats -- you can imagine their hair as any color you wish!

>>>>>And do you have a personal opinion on who out of Hortense and Matilda is the blonde and who is the brunette?

Oh, not THAT'S a different matter! From the first, I suggested to Egmont that the sweet and pretty sister, Matilda, should obviously have angelic BLONDE hair... and the hot-tempered feisty sister, Hortense, should obviously be the brunette. But they seldom paid attention to my coloring suggestions. In this case, though young $crooge's hair was colored wrong in American comics, his sisters' hair was colored as I wished. (Maybe it was only a coincidence.)

>>>>>Is there anyone of the McDuck ancestors (and Quagmire and Dingus) who doesn't have white hair?

All I can tell you is, again, *I* personally like the hair color of male Ducks as white. Most of those guys are wearing helmets or hats -- you can imagine their hair as any color you wish!

I supposed so. Just had to check 

Thank you again! 

Mr. Rosa, there's one question I want to ask you. I have noticed that in many of your stories, you depict Donald Duck in a quite reamarkable manner: The Duck who Never Was, Super Snooper Strikes Again, The Three Caballeros Ride Again, and many others, not to mention his honourable behaviour in Scrooge's stories like A Little Something Special, or The Old Castle's Other Secret and many others. On the other hand, you have sometimes depicted him as a total asshole, the conventional ignorant, lazy, and tv addicted middle-class man, like in The Guardians of Lost Library, and some others Scrooge stories in wich he "must" play the clown's role in order to have Scrooge shine more brightly, like Treasure Under Glass, and partially Escape from Forbidden Valley.
I wanted to ask you the reason, since i'm a huge Donald fan, as you can guess by my nickname, and if I remember well,  in the majority of your stories you depict Donald in a very positive way, something that I appreciate.
Thank you for your kindness.

Well, dear Don, you did colour with brown Quackmore's hair in the drawing you made for me and you can see in my avatar picture! But I see your point now, it sounds new and interesting to me.

Don, hai disegnato di castano i capelli di Quackmore nel disegno che hai fatto per me e che puoi vedere nel mio avatar. Però adesso ho capito il tuo punto di vista, mi suona nuovo e interessante.

DonaldPaperinik:
>>>>>I have noticed that in many of your stories, you depict Donald Duck in a quite reamarkable manner: The Duck who Never Was, Super Snooper Strikes Again, The Three Caballeros Ride Again, ... A Little Something Special, or The Old Castle's Other Secret and many others. On the other hand, you have sometimes depicted him as a total asshole, the conventional ignorant, lazy, and tv addicted middle-class man, like in The Guardians of Lost Library, and some others Scrooge stories in wich he "must" play the clown's role in order to have Scrooge shine more brightly, like Treasure Under Glass, and partially Escape from Forbidden Valley.

Well, there are those who complain that I *always* portray DD as a worthless dope. And I want to shake them and say "But what about (the stories you mention above) when I had him save the day through his own determination and heroism?!" But I know they've already made their judgment on me for other reasons and there's no reason to discuss it.

Then there was "Guardians of the Lost Library" where I purposely had DD portray that segment of society... it was sort of a "philosophical play". The Norwegian publisher for whom I created that story wanted that as Egmont-Norway's contribution to Norway's "Year of the Book" year-long celebration of books in... whenever that was... 1992? The publisher wanted to convey certain points, and this is how I decided to handle it. So maybe that story can be granted "special dispensation" to portray DD as a boob.

But if you think I portray him as too much of a boob in any other stories... maybe you're right. I have freely admitted that Americans have a totally different viewpoint on DD than any other readers. Here, Carl Barks' DD solo stories were only seen in the 10-page gag stories in a comic book that did not carry his name, WALT DISNEY'S COMICS & STORIES. They were great, great stories, but they were short and not epic adventures. Barks' DD adventure tales had appeared only in the very early issues of the DONALD DUCK title in the late 40s and very early 50s... long gone and long forgotten comics for those of us growing up in the 50s-70s.
But then we had a comic titled UNCLE $CROOGE! In that title were all the classic Barks adventure epics. DD was always there, but he was a mere sidekick, usually getting into some problem that complicated things -- U$ would mess up as well, but the comic was named after him and the story had his logo on the first page, not DD's.

Meanwhile, in Europe, DD has always been the star of his own title where U$ always was a back-up feature.

So, it would be natural if I see DD as U$'s funny sidekick rather than how Europeans see him. (But I think it's unfair when someone says I treat him that way ALL the time.)

Quackmore:
>>>>>you did colour with brown Quackmore's hair in the drawing you made for me and you can see in my avatar picture!

Well, that's mainly because I always add a spot of color when I do sketches for fans. I've learned that just a tiny bit of color makes the scribble look ten times better than it is! So, I colored Quackmore's tie at the bottom and his hair at the top.

And with that reply, I must mention that I am leaving tomorrow for a trip to Europe, so I won't have time to answer any questions here for about ten days. I'm going to Finland for the release of the music CD based on my "Life of $crooge" stories. Then, as long as I was already in Europe, I was also invited to Greece by comics fan club and sign & draw for the public at a meeting hall they have rented for a few days. Maybe someday I can do something like that in Italia! I don't get invited to any "official" comic festivals there these days like I was some years back.

I'm going to Finland for the release of the music CD based on my "Life of $crooge" stories.

It sure would be nice to be there, but it'd take me the whole day to get to Helsinki, stand in line, and get home again, for only a very brief time with you. I'll aim for the Helsinki book fair in October instead!