Fantagraphics Don Rosa Library vs. European collections

[CobyCat]

The Scandinavian and German Don Rosa collection include the unlicensed stories "Return to Duckburg Place" (Qno/DRSV 1E) and "The Annual Speedskating Race of the Burg of Ducks" (HC SKATE 8A). The latter was also printed, in color, in a Dutch collection.

Is there any review out there comparing the Fantagraphics library against the other collections?

Specifically, I'm wondering if is any other interesting material I'd be missing out on when I just have the Fantagraphics Don Rosa Library.

A quick skim on Inducks already points me towards unlicensed one panel gags, and more European covers for his stories (e.g. Donald Duck Extra from the Netherlands).

[caballero]

So most things that are included in the DRC (Don Rosa Collection, which was published by Egmont in Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and by Sanoma in Finland around a decade ago) but are not included in the DRL (Fantagraphics' Don Rosa Library and it's various translated versions around the globe) are included in one of these three publications:

- Don Rosa Classics: The Complete Pertwillaby Papers (Dani Books)
- Don Rosa Classics: The Complete Captain Kentucky (Dani Books)
- the upcoming "The Early Art of Don Rosa" (Dani Books)

And a list of things that are included in the DRC, but are not included in the DRL or the three books listed above:

- Return to Duckburg Place
- Don Rosa's sketches for the TaleSpin episode "I Only Have Ice for You"
- The Comics Journal #183 cover
- Betoniporsas CD art
- The Annual Speedskating Race of the Burg of Duck
- "Uncle Jonah" illustration (from Untold Tales of Spider-Man Annual 1997)
- 28 or more parody covers that Don Rosa sells as prints at conventions (NOTE: at least 2 of these are not even included in the DRC, as Don created them after the DRC was published)

On the flip side, there are things I consider essential that are included in the DRL, but not in the DRC:

- Don Rosa's commentaries for every single story he created (in the DRC, Don's commentaries for certain shorter comics are missing)
- "A Matter of Some Gravity" cover from 2014 (this is missing from the DRC, because it was created after the publication of the final volume of the DRC)

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Btw, Stefan Brenner, the German guy who produced the three Don Rosa statues (Klondike Scrooge, Goldie, Old Scrooge) was planning to publish a slim book containing those 28 or more parody covers a couple of years ago, not sure if he has completely abandoned that plan or not. Either way, someone definitely should publish a book containing those parody covers + Return to Duckburg Place + the speedskating story in the future.

EDIT: One more note: the Speedksating story (with new coloring) is included in the German version of the DRL volume 8, which was published this year!

[CobyCat]

Thank you, that's very useful.

Apr 14, 2022 17:37:46 GMT caballero said:

- Don Rosa Classics: The Complete Pertwillaby Papers (Dani Books)
- Don Rosa Classics: The Complete Captain Kentucky (Dani Books)

Given that these are non-Disney collections, would I be right in assuming that the DRC content that overlaps with these two collections mostly concerns instances where aspects from those two comic series inspired his Duck comics? (Like the Black Knight)

- the upcoming "The Early Art of Don Rosa" (Dani Books)

Will that include any of his old Duck fan art? It's not immediately clear to me from the description on Indiegogo.

EDIT: One more note: the Speedksating story (with new coloring) is included in the German version of the DRL volume 8, which was published this year!

Huh, I wonder what kept it out of the original English release then.

[caballero]

CobyCat As far as I know the "The Early Art of Don Rosa" book will contain Don's old Duck art that he created when he was only a fan (such as the Information Center illustrations). But I remember reading somewhere that the book won't include "Return to Duckburg Place".

As for your question about the speedskating story, I believe the reason it wasn't printed in the American DRL is that the story isn't an official Disney story, therefore it isn't Disney property, but had it been printed in the American DRL it would have become Disney property, which Don Rosa wanted to prevent. On the other hand, Disney allows the publication of the story in European Disney books without it becoming Disney property.