The World, Planet or Earth of Duckburg and Mouseton

[pollux]

Heyo!

The cities of Duckburg and Mouseton have been discussed a lotta times for various topics. Yet, whatabout the rest of the world?

I have always pictured Disney comicbooks to take place on an alternative version of our Earth. Most real locations exist there too, like the US, Scotland, Glasgow, the Netherlands, Himalayas, Andes, Alps, Amazonas, South Africa, Limpopo Valley, Greece etc., as well as real historical periods and events, like Ancient Rome, Hannibal's military expedition, Golden Age of Piracy, Chistopher Columbus' journey etc. But there are also fictional places, like Duckburg, Mouseton, Calisota, Brutopia, Unsteadystan, Tra Lala, Mongoldia and so on. 

I've readen in editorial content in a European Disney comic publication which was about translations, that the publisher's current policy is to use mostly parodies of real geographic names to show the stories take place in a world that is very akin to ours, but still a bit different.

Yet that is a contrast to Don Rosa's conception, who only used real places and the like.

[muggyruglugg]

Nah Don Rosa definitely used fictional places, especially ones Barks made, but also his own.

[Matilda]

Well, Rosa used both. So there is still a contrast to the editorial policy that avoids real place names.

Caballero pointed out on this site that the Ducks go to Hungary in a Halas/Rota story, and that Paul Halas has Hungarian heritage. In the German version, the country was identified as Hungary, but in the French version, which I have, the country was given an imaginary name...but the costumes etc. still make it identifiable as Hungary. Caballero also noted that, interestingly, in the Hungarian printing the country also was given an imaginary name--perhaps to let the child-readers go on thinking that Duckburg is actually *in* Hungary, and the Ducks don't have to travel to get there!

I have put together a several-page list of all the peoples and characters who are "real" in my personal Duckworld (Ducks only, no Mice!), listed by country/locale. It was interesting to see which actual countries are represented and which are not, as well as to see which imaginary countries/places have stuck in my mind as "real." Of course, part of the picture for my headcanon is that this is the world circa 1950's/60's, so the actual countries are in some cases themselves different from what is there today. Without listing all the characters/peoples, here are the places on my list:

USA (Calisota, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Texas, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Florida)

Canada (Yukon, Ontario)

Mexico, Brazil, "Bandango", Guiana (the region, not the country), Colombia, Peru

Scotland, Italy, France, Spain, "Monte Dumas", "Smorgavia", Norway, Finland, Hungary, Greece, Georgia

Turkey, Saudi Arabia

Egypt, "Casbah Crater" (Sahara Desert, northern Africa), Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania), central Africa (Foola Zoola's village), South Africa

India, Tibet, "Tralla La", Afghanistan (Gu lives in the Hindu-Kush mountains), "Tangkor Wat" (Indochina, now separated into countries)

Australia, Antarctica

"Atlantis", various other undersea cities

Then there's another page of extraterrestrial peoples/characters, living in our solar system, other star systems or other galaxies!

Of course the Ducks have gone to other real/imaginary places in stories I like; these are the places where named characters/peoples live in my Duckworld.

[deb]

Don Rosa preferred to have his stories as real as they could be, especially when writing The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck and the various side chapters. But as a Barks fan, it wouldn't have seemed right to rename places like Duckburg, Ripan Taro, Plain Awful, Brutopia or Tralla La with real-world counterparts, so I'm glad he left them in.
I would imagine that there is some diplomacy at play in keeping the Ducks in fictional places, so as not to offend people who live in the places being renamed.

[Mesterius]

May 8, 2019 19:38:33 GMT deb said:

Don Rosa preferred to have his stories as real as they could be, especially when writing The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck and the various side chapters. But as a Barks fan, it wouldn't have seemed right to rename places like Duckburg, Ripan Taro, Plain Awful, Brutopia or Tralla La with real-world counterparts, so I'm glad he left them in.
I would imagine that there is some diplomacy at play in keeping the Ducks in fictional places, so as not to offend people who live in the places being renamed.

I don't think that's always the reason. I sometimes get the feeling it happens because editors or translators perceive these as kiddie comics first and foremost; so they decide to keep the places the Ducks travel to fictional, like Duckburg itself.

It's fascinating how much this has changed here in Scandinavia, though. When "The Lemming with the Locket" was first published in Norway (as late as 1974), Norway in the story was renamed as the fictional country "Ostandia" -- which I suppose could be translated to "Cheezistan". These days, the translation has long since been revised to the real Norway, and the story is EXTRA POPULAR for just this reason: a classic by Carl Barks (a celebrity author over here) set in OUR OWN country. Egmont these days regularly produces new stories where Donald visits various Norwegian cities or neighboring Scandinavian countries -- obviously, to some extent, because they know they can use it as a selling point ("Look, kids! Donald is in YOUR home town!"). Frankly, though, it wore thin several years ago.

[pollux]

When I think about it, in my headcanon, the world of the duck universe is an alternative version of our Earth and era. That includes most locations and lore of our real world, but also 'tis larger with additional continents and countries, and in terms of developement, stuck in a time period akin the middle of the 20th century.

[Spectrus]

In a new DoubleDuck story (actually it's a bit older but was only published now!) Donald and Kay-K fly from Duckburg to San Francisco in California - which confirms that Calisota and California are not the same thing, at least not in this comic.

[LP]

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a pun on South Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan or all of the above... so I'd say it's not a very good pun.

[LP]

According to the Disney Wiki, the Quack Pack character Gwumpki is from Bladasmorkia, which I believe is a fictional location.

[LP]

According to Wishing Stone Island, Tuku Tiva is an island in the South Pacific.