Dreamtime Duck of the Never Never

[That Duckfan]

I've always found this one of Rosa's more unusual stories. It's devoid of the usual "Rosaisms": no masses of characters, tons of references to other stories, historical characters, massive treasures, etcetera. It's just Scrooge and an aboriginal shaman in the Australian desert -- a place and a culture otherwise very rarely touched upon in Disney comics (not to mention Rosa's inner circle). It also comes at a critical moment in Scrooge's life: right before he leaves for the Klondike.

Why did Rosa devote a full story of his 12-chapter Scrooge epic to this Australian episode? The Barks reference it comes from could easily have been snuck in some narration. Other than that, the story doesn't need to be there. And yet it is. Curious.

What do you make of it?

[Rrr]

Jan 19, 2021 18:36:58 GMT That Duckfan said:

]
Why did Rosa devote a full story of his 12-page Scrooge epic to this Australian episode?

You mean 12-chapter? (Sorry for being off-topic.)
Rrr

[That Duckfan]

Jan 19, 2021 19:28:42 GMT Rrr said:

Jan 19, 2021 18:36:58 GMT That Duckfan said:

]
Why did Rosa devote a full story of his 12-page Scrooge epic to this Australian episode?

You mean 12-chapter? (Sorry for being off-topic.)
Rrr

Edited.

[AIOTTO!]

I've always asked myself the same question

[The KKM]

I'm glad it is, it's one of the best chapters imo. I believe his commentary on the collected version I had as a teen said he just plain researched the dreamtime etc as part of his normal research, and it appealed immensely to him. Sometimes that's all it takes.

[Spectrus]

I'm with The KKM here - you can tell when somebody is fascinated by what they're doing, and it lead to a great result. As far as the mystic element in Rosa's stories go, I think this is by far the best instance of it, compared to the near-dead experience (dramatic as it is) in the Duckenburgh chapter or the Kalevala story.

Not sure if it was intentional or not but those depictions being a sort of ancient comic could also be seen as a play on the meta level!

[Matilda]

I also like "Dreamtime Duck" a whole lot. The other Rosa story it reminds me of is "The Treasury of Croesus"--similar ancient mystical prediction of Scrooge et al. Also in graphic form!

[That Duckfan]

Jan 25, 2021 2:00:39 GMT The KKM said:

I'm glad it is, it's one of the best chapters imo. I believe his commentary on the collected version I had as a teen said he just plain researched the dreamtime etc as part of his normal research, and it appealed immensely to him. Sometimes that's all it takes.

I guess so. I'm used to his research turning up something like Guardians of the Lost Library (to take the most stereotypical Rosa adventure), that this comes off as quite different. You can still see his interest in classic cowboy movies (three strangers in the desert and all that), but it's no Vigilante of Pizen Bluff (to take another stereotypical adventure)!

A restrained Rosa. Nice.

[alquackskey]

Jan 28, 2021 0:04:01 GMT That Duckfan said:

Jan 25, 2021 2:00:39 GMT The KKM said:

I'm glad it is, it's one of the best chapters imo. I believe his commentary on the collected version I had as a teen said he just plain researched the dreamtime etc as part of his normal research, and it appealed immensely to him. Sometimes that's all it takes.

I guess so. I'm used to his research turning up something like Guardians of the Lost Library (to take the most stereotypical Rosa adventure), that this comes off as quite different. You can still see his interest in classic cowboy movies (three strangers in the desert and all that), but it's no Vigilante of Pizen Bluff (to take another stereotypical adventure)!

A restrained Rosa. Nice.

One of his specific reasons for the chapter, as he mentions in the Gemstone collections at least, is variation. He actually mentions Pizen Bluff - he says that he didn't include it in the main series because there would have been too many Westerns.