"Captain Donaldo, the Black Corsair"

HEY HAVE YOU HEARD? Italians are HELLA fans of pirates. Or at least, those of them who make Disney comics. Like, for instance, this one, by Luciano Bottaro and our ol' frenemy Guido Martina. Also, sometimes I like to translate Italian Disney comics, so what the hell, you can download my version here.

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"Tycoonraker! or From Zantaf with Lumps"

LUCIANO BOTTARO. What more needs to be said? He's been published in the US! Finally! I feel very strongly that this is a momentous occasion, and there should be some sort of parade or something. And yet, it just happened, and no one's shouting from the rooftops. Why is this?!? Tell me!!! Well, I hope we see a LOT more of him in the months and years to come, is all I will say. It makes me sad to contemplate that a lot of his prime material is too obviously weird to be likely to see a US appearance, but that doesn't mean there isn't still plenty out there that oughta.

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"The Voluntary Castaway"

RIGHT.  You may or may not recall that I alluded a few times back in the fall to a new translation I was working on, but for then my computer died and even though I’d saved my work I was demotivated for whatever reason and nothing happened for a long time.  Finally, however, I managed to push through and finish the damn thing, and here it is.
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Two cool images found in Picsou Magazine

First, a rather cool self-portrait of Giovan Battista Carpi with ducks and mice--and, perhaps of more interest to fans, a photograph of Carpi with Carl Barks hisself:

...so was Carpi unusually short, or was Barks unusually tall?  My knowledge regarding the relative heights of Disney artists is tragically limited.

Second, the bizarre image that Luciano Bottaro produced in response to the question that famously prompted Don Rosa to draw the ducks at Scrooge's grave:

Right, then!  As you were.

"Donald Duck and the Count of Monte Cristo"

There was a little talk about this story here, so I thought I'd give it a look.  I had read it before and objected pretty strongly to it; on rereading, I still object pretty strongly to it, while also recognizing to a greater degree its merits.

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"The Strange Tragedy of Doctor Donaldus Faustus"

If you haven't downloaded this yet, you can do it here.  IT IS YOUR DESSSSSSTINYYYYYY!!!

UPDATE, 01/24/14: I've completely revised this translation; the link now goes to the better version.  You can read all about it here.

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"They Call me MISTER Duck!"

(That title is just my extrapolation of what Gemstone almost certainly would have called it had they released it stateside, given their proclivity for movie references.  The French version is just "Call Me Mr. Donald;" the original Italian, per google translate, is the uneuphonious "Donald and Honors."  If you don't get the impression that anyone was trying very hard here, wait'll you see the story itself.)
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"Donaldo Furioso"

Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso is a massive sixteenth-century epic poem/romance taking place in Carolingian Europe (with occasional excursions to other environs).  As it happens, I've actually read the thing, in Barbara Reynolds' excellent two-volume verse translation.  And I recommend it to you all.  Even if you're a connoisseur of epic poetry, the first word that comes to your mind to characterize it as a form probably isn't "fun."  But let me tell you, Ariosto is pretty much fun fun fun 'til her daddy takes the T-Bird away.  The poem is nominally centered around a Christians-vs-Saracens thing, but that's really just a flimsy pretext for a whole bunch of knights and the odd wizard gallivanting around, having duels, fighting monsters, righting wrongs, finding magical artifacts, and so on.  If the idea of a story involving heroic Christians fighting evil Muslims sets off warning bells in your head, as well it might, please be advised that it's really nothing like that: Ariosto treats his characters sympathetically regardless of religious orientation, and the poem really doesn't push the conflict very hard at all.

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"Donald Duck on Treasure Island"

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