Duck Reprints

[Adem]

I loved the two Ducktales, The Life and Time of Scrooge McDuck, and the Life of Scrooge McDuck Companion trades. They are some of the few trades that I re-read regularly. Gemstone doesn’t seem to be putting anymore trades of Barks or Rosa’s work though and their work is the only stuff I’m interested in. Is there a reason their duck stories don’t get traded more? I don’t want to pay $6 bucks for one Barks or Rosa story…..

[Captain Jim]

They're about to start a series of trades that pair up one of the classic Barks tales with the sequel done by Rosa. First one ("Uncle Scrooge Adventures: Land of Pygmy Indians/ War of the Wendigo") should be out very soon.

http://www.mk1.co.nz/media/All%20Ages/Uncle%20Scrooge%20Barks%20Rosa%20vol%201.jpg

[Adem]

Thanks Jim. I've have to look out for that.

[Hintermann]

Speaking of Duck comics, does anyone know what Don Rosa is doing these days? He seems to have gone quiet all of a sudden and there has been no new output from him for well over a year. What's going on?

[Tony Bang]

Excellent. I been looking for these, and the older reprints are bit too pricey.

[shaxper]

Speaking of Duck comics, does anyone know what Don Rosa is doing these days? He seems to have gone quiet all of a sudden and there has been no new output from him for well over a year. What's going on?

He appeared at Steel City Comicon a few months back, so he's alive and well. Don't know anything beyond that.

[Pól Rua]

I'd love to see a couple of collections featuring the main Barks stories which Don Rosa drew on for the 'Life & Times...' stories.
Because I love the Rosa collections, and I'd definitely love to read the rest of the story.

[Hintermann]

I'd love to see a couple of collections featuring the main Barks stories which Don Rosa drew on for the 'Life & Times...' stories.
Because I love the Rosa collections, and I'd definitely love to read the rest of the story.

The stories in Don Rosa's Magnum Opus, the "Life & Times of $crooge McDuck" were not actaully sequels to Bark's stories. Rather, Rosa based $crooge's entire timeline on various quotes made by Barks' characters (mostly $crooge himself) in his stories over the years. Rosa called these as "Barksian Facts" and built his own version of $crooge's life around them. In doing so, Rosa introduced many characters of his own, like $crooge's parents Fergus & Downy for example. In the album version of Rosa's "Lo$" stories, there are intemediary chapters in words where he clearly explains which Barks' stories the ideas were borrowed from.

That is why Don Rosa is a genius. His unique ability to wrap coherent events and adventures around a few and often obscure comments by Barks and make thrilling stories out of them is without parallel.

[Scott Shaw!]

That is why Don Rosa is a genius. His unique ability to wrap coherent events and adventures around a few and often obscure comments by Barks and make thrilling stories out of them is without parallel.

I've often thought of Don as "the Roy Thomas of funny animals"! (Or maybe Roy is "the Don Rosa of superheroes"?) Anyone else remember when Rascally Roy wrote an entire issue of THE AVENGERS that hinged on the "fact" that the Sub-Mariner wore red swimtrunks instead of green ones in an earlier Subby story from the late Golden/early Silver Age?

I love Don (who was a guest at Steve Wyatt's SUPER-CON last weekend) AND Roy (who's interviewing me for an upcoming "Captain Carrot" issue of ALTER EGO next week)!

Aloha,

Scott!

[Hintermann]

The biggest problem with Don Rosa is that he was born 50 years too late. Had he been around during the heyday of the Comic Book, there is no telling what he could have produced. Note how Rosa uses what I call the "Current Frozen Timeline" in his stories. The 'present' in the Ducks' world is frozen at around 1952-3. Everything that happened beforehand is accurately depicted in the correct chronological order, but all 'contemporary' stories take place in the early 1950s.

[Captain Jim]

They're about to start a series of trades that pair up one of the classic Barks tales with the sequel done by Rosa. First one ("Uncle Scrooge Adventures: Land of Pygmy Indians/ War of the Wendigo") should be out very soon.

http://www.mk1.co.nz/media/All%20Ages/Uncle%20Scrooge%20Barks%20Rosa%20vol%201.jpg

Just for everyone's information, it shipped on June 20.

[CaptChucky]

The biggest problem with Don Rosa is that he was born 50 years too late. Had he been around during the heyday of the Comic Book, there is no telling what he could have produced. Note how Rosa uses what I call the "Current Frozen Timeline" in his stories. The 'present' in the Ducks' world is frozen at around 1952-3. Everything that happened beforehand is accurately depicted in the correct chronological order, but all 'contemporary' stories take place in the early 1950s.
I bet that Don is happy he wasn't born 50 years earlier as it would make him fairly old right now if he was.

[Adem]

Just for everyone's information, it shipped on June 20.

Thanks for telling me about it, Jim. I picked it up yesterday and the stories were excellent.

[Jukka Laine of Finland]

Speaking of Duck comics, does anyone know what Don Rosa is doing these days? He seems to have gone quiet all of a sudden and there has been no new output from him for well over a year. What's going on?

Rosa has some kind of writer's block. Some pinups and new covers has been made, but unfortunately no new stories.

[Hintermann]

Rosa has some kind of writer's block. Some pinups and new covers has been made, but unfortunately no new stories.

I suspected this myself for a few months. You could well be right. Let us hope that he gets over it soon and does more stories.

[Jukka Laine of Finland]

I suspected this myself for a few months. You could well be right. Let us hope that he gets over it soon and does more stories.

I'll tell you more as soon as I hear something. We get the new stories here in Finland before they'll be printed in the U.S. comic books.

And btw, there is a great new Finnish duck writer, Kai Vainiomäki. So far only two of his stories has printed here (both drawn by Arild Midthun, a Norwegian known by his own stuff). Both stories are really funny Donald Duck ten-pagers.

Kai said he has sold over twenty stories already and knows that several artists are currently working on them.

[Polar Bear]

A Gemstone representative informs me that they are working on EC-style Disney Archives (presumably Barks' Uncle Scrooge to be pre-eminent) right now, and they will probably start being released early 2009.

[Hintermann]

A Gemstone representative informs me that they are working on EC-style Disney Archives (presumably Barks' Uncle Scrooge to be pre-eminent) right now, and they will probably start being released early 2009.

But Gemstone's predecessors Gladstone did a complete high quality collection of Carl Barks' works in their Carl Barks' Library series back in the mid 1990s. I cannot imagine that they'll repeat that again.

[Captain Jim]

Depends on the format, I guess. Another Rainbow did over-sized hardbound boxed sets of Carl Barks Library even before the Gladstone line debuted, but they were in black and white, something that never appealed to me. Then, during the years that Disney did their own comics line, Gladstone did a series of softcover color albums that reprinted Bark's work chronologically. What we've never seen is hardbound color volumes (similar to DC's Archives or Marvel Masterworks). I have no idea if this is what Gemstone is contemplating, but I'd love to see something like that.

[TheHistorian]

What we've never seen is hardbound color volumes (similar to DC's Archives or Marvel Masterworks).

Not in the US, anyway. That is exactly what is being released right now in Europe (not in English, sorry). No one has said if an English version is forthcoming.

[Captain Jim]

Not in the US, anyway. That is exactly what is being released right now in Europe (not in English, sorry). No one has said if an English version is forthcoming.

Okay, that's what I meant. Sorry for the tunnel vision.