tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post8309674124374585818..comments2024-03-28T03:15:52.497-04:00Comments on Duck Comics Revue: Scrooge's Last Adventure part four: "The Beginning..."GeoX, one of the GeoX boys.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14658452994152399308noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-15442065024446657572021-01-10T19:51:20.115-05:002021-01-10T19:51:20.115-05:00So Geox did this story FINALY made you appriciate ...So Geox did this story FINALY made you appriciate the post-Barks Glomgold? :)<br />Pan Miluśhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13040860912155201940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-2137386654676593982020-12-31T21:30:15.090-05:002020-12-31T21:30:15.090-05:00Spectrus:
You write: “Joe, I'm sorry to say t...Spectrus:<br /><br />You write: <i>“Joe, I'm sorry to say that I find your comments hard to understand. I'm afraid you lost me when you say Don Rosa is a better-skilled writer than Francesco Artibani, the latter having been responsible for all sorts of stories in all sorts of genres and with all sorts of characters, and who was never bound to rely on any particular canon.”</i><br /><br />Scroll back up and read my comment again… Better yet, I’ll save you the trouble:<br /><br /><i>“A better-skilled writer, in the class of a Don Rosa or a Paul Dini, might have been able to pull <i><b>*this*</b></i> [ NEW EMPHASIS ADDED TO QUOTE FOR EFFECT] off – and Jon Gray did his absolute best to make this an interesting and fun read – but this is a prime example of how LESS (much less, actually) could be MORE!”</i><br /><br />Note that I am NOT discussing Francesco Artibani’s body of work as a writer (simply being an American precludes me from being able to do so)… just THIS particular story, that was not to my taste for being stuffed with too many characters and plot points! And, strictly in terms of stories that are <i>“stuffed with too many characters and plot points”</i>, Don Rosa HAS handled such things in a more interesting fashion! <br /><br />Anything else is strictly attributable to our respective differences in age and national origin… and there’s really no point in debating that, as <i>“it is what it is”!</i> Hope this helps.Joe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-70394290299130300612020-12-31T11:04:45.155-05:002020-12-31T11:04:45.155-05:00You're right about the panel about conscience ...You're right about the panel about conscience being too much. In the German translation he simply says "If you've got a conscience, you should keep out of this business".<br /><br />I'm a bit saddened you didn't show the panel where Rockerduck gets shooed out. "Best leave through the out door, so nobody sees you" :)<br /><br />No narration box again in the German version.<br /><br />The mayors all looking alike is clearly meta humour playing with Disney tropes, similar to the priceless exchange Artibani inserted into the story "Il promessa di Gatto" where Mickey ends up in Sicily and the assistant police guy comes in with two boxes...<br /><br />"Commissario, Signor Mouse was telling the truth!<br /><br />I took the liberty to collect some information about him. This here is the list of his solved cases."<br /><br />The Commissario (Mousalbano): "And that heap over there?"<br /><br />Assistant: "The list of his relatives. You wouldn't believe how many uncles this guy has."<br /><br />:-D<br /><br />Another fun fact: Barks is talking to Rodolfo Cimino in that last panel. I know Cimino has a mixed rep outside of Italy, but the Italians really treasure him in ways similar to Barks.<br /><br />Joe, I'm sorry to say that I find your comments hard to understand. I'm afraid you lost me when you say Don Rosa is a better-skilled writer than Francesco Artibani, the latter having been responsible for all sorts of stories in all sorts of genres and with all sorts of characters, and who was never bound to rely on any particular canon. In fact, he explicitly dismisses the idea of being too rigid and trying to fix everything into an exact timeline. He's much less fanfic than Rosa in that regard. Comparing him unfavourably to Casty also only works as long as you've not read any of his Mickey stories. Artibani's Mickey actually has a *personality* - I love Casty but characterization isn't always his strongest suit.,<br /><br />Duck Avenger is simply a mainstay of Italian comics, and as I said in a previous comment, Artibani's own history is intertwined with the character in so many ways. It was never going to be jarring for anybody used to Topolino or the pocketbooks.<br /><br />And "Jon Gray did his absolute best to make this an interesting and fun read"... well.. he did a good translation, yes, but from the scans I'd say he simply managed to bring the original writing spirit across well. The parts where he (I assume) added things immediately jumped out to GeoX because they were not necessary.<br /><br />~~~<br /><br />As for the female discussion, it *is* a bit tragic Artibani couldn't get the women involved more in this since he's one who's made a push to include more female characters and two of his DoubleDuck stories (Agent Zero - with Kay-K and Daisy interacting!!, and the PK crossover TimeCrime, with Kay-K and Lyla interacting!!) have clear feministic undertones. But the Vito Stabile story that Pan mentioned, I actually liked that, especially since Grandma has been pulled out of the ordinary a bit.<br /><br /><br />~~~<br /><br />To Comicbookrehab: No, not to my knowledge. Unless you count the two crossovers. In the normal Duck Avenger stories he never met One or the Evronians (OK, the latter in Universo PK, but that's it).<br /><br />But you could argue well that One takes up the role of Gyro in the classic stories. In fact, One even interacts with Gyro shortly.Specialist Spectrushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07573706778596800678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-32897762250636380492020-12-28T00:53:06.822-05:002020-12-28T00:53:06.822-05:00I find Paperinik/Duck Avenger makes sense as a new...I find Paperinik/Duck Avenger makes sense as a new development for the Carl Barks Donald Duck, who has a more interesting & varied personality than what we get from the old short cartoons.<br /><br />It's the bulk of the stories that we got that are the thing I don't understand...like, "Oh, was that all they could think of doing with it? He's just encountering stuff, but not really playing off it.." The best thing, in my opinion, about PKNA is that they gave him a friend who isn't a relative, albeit a sentient artificial intelligence hologram, but it brings to light how most of the time, Donald is usually only in the company of relatives. I was curious if One appears in other Papeeinik stories outside of the PKNA material.Comicbookrehabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09363501054869978524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-91086232843275209622020-12-26T12:17:10.114-05:002020-12-26T12:17:10.114-05:00Yup, I said that Paperetta/Dickie does well in sto...Yup, I said that Paperetta/Dickie does well in stories with Scrooge or with HDL, though I haven't gotten to read many of them. And as I said, I've seen hardly any of the Italian or Brazilian stories where she's interacting with her friends. True, she's got to be the first continuing character in Disney comics created to provide someone for female readers to connect with. And Scarpa & Co. did a way better job of that than DuckTales '87 did, two decades later! Even in Italy, though, she's still hardly central cast, as witnessed by the fact that she doesn't show up in Scrooge's Last Adventure, when almost everyone else does. And the Ziche stories Pan refers to team up Daisy, Grandma, Brigitta and Quackfaster. I'd like to see stories pairing Daisy, Grandma or Quackfaster with Paperetta. Elainenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-87538935216335900482020-12-26T11:32:37.957-05:002020-12-26T11:32:37.957-05:00That's true. I like stories where Dickie is te...That's true. I like stories where Dickie is team-up with HD&L or Scrooge and that dinamic usualy works great. Pan Miluśhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13040860912155201940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-3023654686717012452020-12-26T11:27:09.852-05:002020-12-26T11:27:09.852-05:00But Dickie wasn't made to be ancillary to anyo...But Dickie wasn't made to be ancillary to anyone, she was meant to be a teenager character for teenagers to identify with, and often plays an older sister-type role to HDL in stories where THEY play second fiddle to her.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-23554782671492678962020-12-26T11:09:29.201-05:002020-12-26T11:09:29.201-05:00Huh. I just realise that the story I trashed was p...Huh. I just realise that the story I trashed was published in US this year so you can check it out <br />https://inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+3287-1<br /><br />(honestly now I would love to see GeoX take on it but Elaine's as well)<br /><br /><br />I know Italian try to give some female characters solo series and try to make something new with them like Clarabelle being a reporter set in the... honestly I don't remember what time piriot was it. The 40's?<br /><br />And of course you get newer invention like Eurasia Toft whom I never found that interesting. I can't even say she is a good Lara Croft parody as she dosen't have that much to do with her personality-wise other then just being adventorous (Also she has no ears and there is something off about that)<br /><br />Maybe that's why I'm glad at least new Duck Tales went out of their way to make Webby finaly interesting, and added characters like Lenna (I'm less and less crazy about their take on Della but that's a seperate issue)Pan Miluśhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13040860912155201940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-81141869595738998672020-12-26T10:27:16.365-05:002020-12-26T10:27:16.365-05:00I like Pan's analysis of why it's difficul...I like Pan's analysis of why it's difficult for writers to do anything very satisfying with the female characters on their own or with each other. The characters were created to be ancillary to the males, their family (GD) or their girlfriends, usually their comedic foil/straightmen, and it's very hard for them to transcend that. When I look at the stories I like best featuring the female Duck characters, they tend to fall into a few categories. There are the stories where a female character goes on an adventure with Scrooge: Grandma Duck in Bananas (Halas & Angus), Daisy in Himalayan Hideout and Pihl's A Heart-Sized Ruby, Paperetta in Stabile's l'ultimo scrigno. There are some other stories where a female character is narratively paired with male character(s) in such a way that the female comes off at least as well as the male: Daisy with Donald in the Shaws' Pass the Parchment or Paperetta with HDL in the story that Pan pointed me to long ago: la leggenda del luna park. As for stories where the female characters are on their own...there are stories where female characters get to be amateur detectives: Grandma Duck in Korhonen's series (I especially like the first one) and in Caterina Mognato's la campana scomparsa, AMJ in bestselling-mystery-writer Camilla Läckberg's Robbery on Rosebud Road and Jensen's Neighborhood Detectives. I haven't gotten to read many of the stories featuring Paperetta on her own, with her Italian college friends or with her Brazilian teen cohort. Brazil did the best job of making Daisy a character who could stand on her own. Yes, some of the New Daisy stories are very dated early-feminist efforts (look! a woman can be a forest ranger! a woman can be a police officer!), but others send her on adventures encountering mermaids or Amazon warriors, and some show her acting to counter Scrooge's injustice, e.g. A Páscoa É Nossa. For reasons I don't entirely understand, Minnie did *way* better as an adventurer in European stories written for the girlie books than Daisy did. I find it interesting that an early anonymous Grandma Duck story (in WDC 143) has her defending the farm from a rapacious Scrooge who tries to build a railroad line through it--that's a take on the characters I would have loved to see more often. <br /><br />The first story I've read which has a very satisfying comedic and adventurous team-up of two female characters is the 2019 Nærum & Løkling/Midthun story, teaming Goldie with a girl (I am avoiding spoilers here, unlike certain people on Feathery!). Before that, the closest we came was the friendship of Belle Duck and Captain Annie, two characters who were created neither as current love interests nor as family members for the male characters, and both of whom have the interesting role of river boat captain. Oh, and Daisy gets paired with Magica in an adversaries-forced-to-team-up way to good effect in Per Hedman's Sorceror of the Swamp.Elainenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-45786256754313416972020-12-26T03:32:29.559-05:002020-12-26T03:32:29.559-05:00Speaking of all female characters having a bake sa...Speaking of all female characters having a bake sale but not doing anything distinguish... I did noticed that once a while some writers try to have stories that focus on female characters as a team (perhaps publishers request) but once their get there they don't know what to with them above some generic female-ish stuff. Take for example a story I read last month:<br /><br />So the idea is that Daisy is upset Donald isn't spending time with her, Grandma Duck is upset Gus dosen't spend much time on a farm (there is some neighbor lady that invide him for dinner all the time) and Dickie is sad her BFF is spending time with some new friend and not Her (honestly the way these two girls act together you would asume it was her new girfiend but... you know, Disney, they won't say it out loud) After the three of them whine and cry about their situation (girl power?) Grandma get's reminded of some legendary magic lake that will make person you want pay attention to you and only you, so they go on a Quest to find it and use them to get back their desire attention back... which make the three of them pretty petty (you know, "them females"), and if my hunch of LGBT coded subplot with Dickies friend is correct, that means she pretty much want's to brake up her friend's relationship just so they can got shoping and such which makes her a egocentrical monster... but whatever. Female characters on a adventure together!!! GIRL POWER!!! YAY! And the rest of the story is boring as sin! And it's not even matter of the story not having funny gag's etc. as it hd few, but the reason why this team dosen't work is there is zero interesting chemistry between the characters. Granndma is presented as sort of wiser one but frankly you could replace them with April, May and June and not much would change in their dynamic here. There is no playing off each other - the hight comedy dinamic is Dickie making some stupid pun and Daisy rolling her eyes while Grandma makes more indulgent smile. There just nice to eachh oher and mostly competend so there is nothing special or interesting about this team-up. It would be interesting if it was Donald and Daisy going on a adventure, or Scrooge and Grandma or... heck I take HD&L and Dickie but if anything this story shows how just uninteresting these gals are on their own. And it has nothing to do with them being female, mnid you. Magica de Spell makes apperance in that story for few pages and I got way more out of Her in that story then any of the Grandma/Daisy/Dickie stuff... I know Silvia Ziche try to made some stories that had Daisy-Grandma-Brigitta-Quackfaster team and while I can imagine her stuff being better (at least she has a darn good understanding of slapstick and such) I can't imagine there was that much to work with them.<br /><br />It's just an observation that these character where reduced to roles of straightman for so long (to balanced more comedic male characters) the writers either don't have idea what to do with them on their own or if they do it comes of as forced. It's like these House of Mouse Minnie and Daisy shorts where they made Daisy over the top stupid and annoying just so they can get any comedic dynamic out of them but it fels out of character for Daisy as she never acts this way when she's around Donald and has to be the straightman... well, woman.<br /><br />Pan Miluśhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13040860912155201940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-11118657368841658742020-12-26T03:29:26.016-05:002020-12-26T03:29:26.016-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Pan Miluśhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13040860912155201940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-8530237834415417082020-12-26T03:28:42.215-05:002020-12-26T03:28:42.215-05:00The handful of PK New Adventures stories I seen wh...The handful of PK New Adventures stories I seen where actualy pretty interesting. I don't want to get to much as it's some serious SPOILERy stuff but there is one story that ends with characters death... and what's more interesting is that it wan't someone they just got introduced to - like you would asume if they going to kill someone it will be some one-shot character we just meet so we don't have that big of emotional attachment... oh, no, no. It was a character that already appear in several stories before and had a pretty tragic arc by Disney standarads and top it of it's a death by a sacrafice... like they pretty much went with most poetic way to ex-this character and I don't think they can bring her back without some major consequences (I understand she was reused in recent years but it was some flashbacky story set before that one) So that's pretty ballsy for a Disney comic series... Or maybe they did and my emotional scars where for nothing. I was wrong about Lena in Duck Tales after all but I was aware it was wishfull thinking on my part.<br /><br />Of all the Italian characters I never got the appeal of Jubal Pomp. Maybe it's the fact I was introduced to him by more modern stories (from 90's and up) but in these stories he felt to appear only o Brigitta has a sidekick she can talk to. Even Scarpa stuff didn't felt that intereting and you would asume that "well at maybe the character was introduced with some BANG that made him popular in the first place".<br /><br /><br />P.S.<br />GeoX I did noticed that your "Scrooge last adventure" posts don't have labels with names of creators.Pan Miluśhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13040860912155201940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-73674205104044902942020-12-26T01:39:37.643-05:002020-12-26T01:39:37.643-05:00PK New Adventures was not really meant to be conne...PK New Adventures was not really meant to be connected with regular-Donald, it was an attempt at creating a new American-style super hero series with the character. The appearances of established characters like Scrooge at the very start was just there to kind of ease Disney fans into the franchise rather than throw them head first into an all new universe, but it was always meant to be it's own standalone thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-45403853046867611362020-12-25T23:04:35.803-05:002020-12-25T23:04:35.803-05:00Duck Avenger is definitely an acquired taste for t...Duck Avenger is definitely an acquired taste for those of us who didn't grow up with him, and there are certainly some stories where the connections with regular-Donald seem tenuous (that New PK series, whoa). But...is that really the case here? Because while I certainly don't think this story is perfect, I didn't bat an eye at DA. He felt entirely natural. I totally believed, yup, that's Donald. He's a character who contains multitudes (that's a big part of why he's my favorite), and...yup. Works for me. Not in every case, but certainly in this one.GeoX, one of the GeoX boys.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14658452994152399308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-35422770462148315232020-12-25T21:44:25.192-05:002020-12-25T21:44:25.192-05:00It's possible that any B.C.A.S. would have the...It's possible that any B.C.A.S. would have the problems this one has: in particular, too many characters, many of whom get little to do. That's certainly the case with all the Dutch B.C.A.S., which have to include all kinds of characters not even part of the Duck world proper! Here at least it's only Duckworld characters. <br /><br />The plot of this story didn't stick in my mind beyond "four adversaries team up, team falls apart." What I enjoyed and remember are: good fairy Magica and her transformed home, and the Terries & Fermies. Are they tangential to the main plot? Assuredly. Am I nonetheless really happy to see them in more than a cameo? You bet. But then, one of the half dozen William Van Horn stories that make my re-read list is "Creature Comforts" because it has a Fermy in it. And because his name is Enrico.<br /><br />Sheesh, Pan, you get to see "the world if you had never been born" EVERY CHRISTMAS? Even Donald Duck only got to see the world if he had never been born twice, AFAIK. Elainenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-84968783975866575022020-12-25T21:22:13.709-05:002020-12-25T21:22:13.709-05:00Oh, fair enough! I'm not trying to convince yo...Oh, fair enough! I'm not trying to convince you, or anybody, to <i>like</i> Paperinik (although Paperinik <i>written well</i> can be significantly more Donaldish than I'm afraid he has been on the stories you're familiar with… which I'll grant are a majority). My point is more that… in a Big Crossover Anniversary Story such as this, <i>if</i> it's a B.C.A.S. for <i>Italian</i> Disney comics, "whether" to include Paperinik wouldn't even have been a <i>question</i> for the writers. He belongs there as surely as Gus Goose, even if one might struggle with justifying either's role in the plot. <br /><br />And by the same token, as a reader, his presence there didn't even register to me as any kind of authorial choice, good or bad, regardless of my feelings on the character. He is simply A Thing, in much the same way that Gus Goose (a character I am largely apathetic to) is inescapably A Thing.Achille Talonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636339293230261724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-9779851423980619222020-12-25T20:25:23.562-05:002020-12-25T20:25:23.562-05:00Ya know… It’s not as much as “what you grew up wit...Ya know… It’s not as much as <i>“what you grew up with”</i>, as it is <i>“what’s acceptable, and what is not”! </i> …Or, as Elaine so perfectly puts it, <i>“headcanon”! </i> <br /><br />I didn’t grow up with Eega Beeva, Rockerduck, Brigitta MacBridge, Jubal Pomp, Trudy Van Tubb, Eurasia Toft, Rebo, and a host of others that I find not merely <i>acceptable</i> but <i>enhancing</i> to the overall mythos. Indeed, in <i>“Mummy Fearest”</i> and <i>“Scrooge’s Ark Lark”</i>, I’ve even contributed a mite to the American characterization of Rockerduck, so as to differentiate him from Flintheart Glomgold. …And, if possible, made Rebo even more delightfully over-the-top than before! …Just wait until the next story, coming eventually! <br /><br />So, it’s far from my wanting to freeze the universe as “Gold Key 1964-1967”! I embrace a LOT of stuff! <br /><br />I just “don’t get” Duck Avenger. It’s not the “Barks Donald”, or even the “Barks Donald Stretched to New Limits”, as when paired with Fethry in the “TNT” series. <br /><br />Goofy still IS the “Murry/Gottfredson Goofy” as Super Goof. Hence, another <i>enhancement</i>! But Donald as Duck Avenger, or as Double Duck (or any other unusual permutation), is not the character I know and love. That’s all there is to it.Joe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-51751338619977737442020-12-25T18:35:52.329-05:002020-12-25T18:35:52.329-05:00Growing up I read as much Italian stories as I did...Growing up I read as much Italian stories as I did Barks stories and elements like Rockerduck or Duck Avanger and I can comfirm that these elements/characters are as esencial part of that universe as having Gyro in Barks homage story. I'm almost suprised they didn't had apperance by Grandpa Beagle. <br />Pan Miluśhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13040860912155201940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-67073745957367551882020-12-25T18:22:57.583-05:002020-12-25T18:22:57.583-05:00@Joe:
Oh, "it wasn't written with Americ...@Joe:<br /><br />Oh, "it wasn't written with Americans in mind" wasn't meant as a catch-all answer to <i>all</i> of your criticisms of the story, some of which I agree with (though not all). Merely as a reply specifically to your bafflement at the story including, and giving as much weight to, both steam-shovel fights and Duck Avenger shenanigans! Achille Talonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636339293230261724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-89918386613074625472020-12-25T18:14:07.042-05:002020-12-25T18:14:07.042-05:00Well, considering how much time (of the “waaay too...Well, considering how much time (of the <i>“waaay too”</i> variety) I *do* spend thinking about Gold Key Comics, Deb… it’s not only possibly, but very likely! <br /><br />And, Pan… Thanks for trying!Joe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-81865100203376539842020-12-25T18:06:13.931-05:002020-12-25T18:06:13.931-05:00"Micky Mouse"? Maybe you were subconscio..."Micky Mouse"? Maybe you were subconsciously thinking of the front cover blurb to Gold Key printing of "The Sunken City", Joe?Debbie Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05648307522331962265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-52577374020787835382020-12-25T18:03:55.081-05:002020-12-25T18:03:55.081-05:00Don't worry Joe. There is nothing some Christm...Don't worry Joe. There is nothing some Christmas Magic cant fix.<br /><br />(Long pause)<br /><br />A said: THERE IS NOTHING SOME CHRISTMAS MAGIC CAN'T FIX!<br /><br />(Long pause) <br /><br />*sight* ...never mind.Pan Miluśhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13040860912155201940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-60307408551127133692020-12-25T17:42:06.844-05:002020-12-25T17:42:06.844-05:00Gaahh! I wrote "Micky Mouse" above!!! ...Gaahh! I wrote <i>"Micky Mouse"</i> above!!! ...Sorry!Joe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-63484562738012122862020-12-25T17:40:13.138-05:002020-12-25T17:40:13.138-05:00Achille:
You write: “ Well, Joe, it needs to be ...Achille:<br /><br />You write: <i>“ Well, Joe, it needs to be said that Americans weren't the target audience for this. ”</i><br /><br />Sure, but wouldn’t that be the case for *every* such story – save Egmont, who seems to have a more international audience in mind? The Italians aren’t writing for we unappreciative (as a people – not as fans) Americans – and the story we called <i>“The Treasure of Marco Topo”</i> may be one of the best examples of that – but we still made it work for us… because it was a well-conceived story, even if we had to “stretch” some of the individual elements just a tad for American consumption. <br /><br />I could run off an endless list of such stories that were not intended for an American audience but, nevertheless, hit the mark splendidly with my own Blog’s comments to prove it! Here are some of the better ones! Please excuse me if I use the American English titles… <br /><br />“Donald Duck Special Correspondent”, “Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold Again”, the various Micky Mouse stories by Casty printed by Boom!, ALL of the Eurasia Toft stories that were printed by IDW (2015-2017), “The Delta Dimension”, “Plan Dine From Outer Space”, “The Chirikawa Necklace”, “The Magnificent Doublejoke”, “The Siege of Nothing Atoll”, “The Perfect Calm” (…again with a little “stretch”), “Night of the Living Text”, “The Persistence of Mickey”, “Mummy Fearest”, “The Peril of Pandora’s Box” (Dutch), “Sins of the Sorcery Summit” (Dutch)… and perhaps none better than “The Wonderful Wishing Crown” – and NOT because I did the translation and dialogue, but because it was such a wonderful story to begin with, and so easily tapped into the Barks mythos! <br /><br />By contrast, “Scrooge’s Last Adventure” is just an overstuffed pork barrel – that crams in everything possible, including <i>a character *named* “Pork”!</i> It smacks of the kind of overindulgence that fanfic is famous for, and lacks the specific focus exhibited by the best of these stories – from Barks to Casty! <br /><br />The only circumstances that would have made this thing work (for me, anyway) is if it REALLY WERE “Scrooge’s Last Adventure”, and that there would be no more such comics – and we would get the satisfaction, if not the thrill, of seeing all of these characters and concepts for the final time. <br /><br />Above, I mentioned <i>“The Treasure of Marco Topo”</i> with reason. We wrote that, knowing it was the end of Boom!’s license and, with the distinct possibility that there would be no future Disney comics in the United States, tried to “get it all on stage” for one final bow! If nothing else gives that away, please re-read the last line I gave Mickey! <br /><br />With great fortune, Scarpa’s original story lent itself TO that situation as perfectly as we could have hoped – without feeling unnecessarily forced and bloated as this one does. …But, that’s just my opinion. As they used to say in “Comics Buyer’s Guide” (showing my age), <i>“Your mileage may vary!”</i>Joe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5423579092779163824.post-66267612766269029132020-12-25T15:15:13.858-05:002020-12-25T15:15:13.858-05:00Well, Joe, it needs to be said that Americans were...Well, Joe, it needs to be said that Americans weren't the target audience for this. This is an <i>Italian</i> Disney comics special — one that is very aware of Italian Disney comics' Barksian roots, but nevertheless comes from a place of nostalgia for classic <i>Topolino</i> issues, not Dell comics. And in that respect I think it carries over better to a Frenchman such as myself. The Duck Avenger feels out-of-place to you, whereas I grew up on digests that freely mixed Barks, vintage Western stories, S-coded stories, and Italian tales. Putting Rockerduck, the Duck Avenger and the Terra-Firmians feels quite natural to me that way. The length, similarly, assumes familiarity with Italian multi-parters, more than with single-chunk thirty-page Barks tales.Achille Talonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11636339293230261724noreply@blogger.com