Post by Matilda on May 16, 2019 2:54:01 GMT
I am a Very Happy Duckfan! At long last, I have been able to acquire the French version of the Italian (Barbara Garufi/Blasco Pisapia) tour guide to Duckburg. This was first published in pieces in issues of Topolino, but all the parts were published in one volume in French, an "hors-série #8" volume of Mickey Parade Géant, spring 2016. I have been haunting French eBay ever since, hoping that someone someday would sell a copy there, and finally it happened a few weeks ago, and the book arrived today. I'm really enjoying it--it's much easier for me to read than my copy of the German Duckburg tour guide with its long articles of dense text. Though the German tour guide has a much larger and way cooler map!
So: lots of sites from specific Barks stories: Mount Demontooth, the Aeolian Mountains (!), the lighthouse on Cape Quack, the Swamp of No Return, the Mad Duke's castle. Really nice full page plus of the Cathedral of Notre Duck, with insets of the fountain, the fresco by "Lecanard De Vinci" (can't make that nice a punning name in English!), the mini-cathedral of coins, etc. Gladstone's house includes the safe noted to contain the sole piece of money he earned by working.
I'd love to have an annotated copy of this tour guide, footnoted to the stories where something first appeared. (Sometimes the tour guide tells you what story something came from, but not always.) A few of the non-Barks things I know--I think the abandoned amusement park Luna Park is from the Scarpa Paperetta story, right? "Luna Park" appears in a bunch of story titles, but I don't know if it's the same place--in the Scarpa story, it's definitely an abandoned park. [aside to Pan: I got a copy of the Paperetta Luna Park story in French because of your recommendation of it as a story where Paperetta is a really fun character!] And then there's stuff from Donald Duckling stories, Duck Avenger stories and such like. There is a reference to the story (though not by name) where Scrooge added the dome to the bin. And I'm curious about the Duckburg Statue of Liberty: the tour guide summarizes the story from which it comes but doesn't cite it.
It does follow the Rosa history of Fort Duckburg: the purchase of Killmule/Killmotor Hill, the eventual use of the fort as the first JW HQ, etc.
I do like a few of the names: puns on English words, used here in a French text. Wallet Street, in the business district. And the Spiffany & Co. store. That's a particularly charming portmanteau word!
My favorite part of this tour guide is the cutaway interior pictures of various homes and other buildings. The bin includes Scrooge's worry room (Barks), his room of story-treasures (Rosa), and another room of old souvenirs such as a dogsled. And the chute from the trapdoor in Scrooge's office! There are bedrooms for Baptiste and for Scrooge--there's a reference on another page to Scrooge having a mansion, but it says he doesn't often stay there because he can't bear to be far away from his money. That's a nice way of dealing with the competing evidence on where Scrooge lives. I like the fact that Grandma Duck's attic contains all the newfangled electric household devices she's been given and has decided not to use! Also, I *love* Ludwig Von Drake's house. I don't know whether this artist created the look himself or whether it has been used in a story/stories, but it's lots of fun. The roof of the house section looks like an upside-down open book, and the peak of the roof of the attached library tower is topped by a large mortarboard (academic/graduate cap). Fethry's house also has some fun stuff: the swing next to the Zen garden, all indoors! And in Rockerduck's over-the-top extravagant mansion, my favorite thing is the large aquarium bordering his office, in which he has placed an actual wreck of an ancient galleon (is this office décor from a story?). Clara Cluck's house is only shown in exterior view, but I like the rounded design.
The least American additions to the town: the soccer stadium, of course. And there's the building called Les Thermes, the baths--I guess it could be a spa, but...
Relevant to discussion on other threads: Duckburg is said to be in Calisota, and in fact, to be the capital of Calisota. It's on the coast of the Pacific. This fits with the use of some of Rosa's history. All except the "capital" part: Rosa doesn't say Duckburg is the capital of Calisota, does he? The university at which Von Drake teaches is here called the University of Calisota.
Anyway, I'm going to be reveling in this for a long time to come. Love the way it's set up, with different characters being our guide to different aspects of Duckburg. Love the art, the interiors and the panoramas. Glad to have the map, even though *both* the German ones are larger and more detailed: the one mentioned above, and the more recent one in this book (the map that doesn't have Notre Duck). Can't have too many Duckburg maps! Though I'm sort of losing hope for ever seeing one labeled in English....