So, there's Evert Geradts' "80 Jaar" coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=H+2014-071 --written for the 80th anniversary of Donald's first appearance --my impression is that it's kind of a mess, with everyone in it but the kitchen sink, and (I hear tell) with the conceit that Donald is *actually* 80 years old, which is a road not worth going down. Note that it hasn't been published anywhere but the Netherlands and Brazil. HOWEVER, I am still hopeful that some day, in some "Walt Disney Treasures"-like collection, just the section dealing with Della Duck can be published here for fans to see. As I understand it, Della leaves the boys with Donald while she goes off in a spaceship, not realizing that they will grow up during the to-her-short time she's gone.
I'm particularly charmed by this, because when my godson was nine or ten, he decided that HDL's parents had had to go into space from some important reason. Only way in his mind to have them be alive and not deadbeat jerks and yet completely inaccessible for years.
Those "All Star" cast, long stories are a Dutch Disney tradition for anniversary issues. Daan Jippes has drawn several of them. I agree that the trip to space is a good solution to explain Hueys, Dewey's and Louie's parents' absence.
I'm particularly charmed by this, because when my godson was nine or ten, he decided that HDL's parents had had to go into space from some important reason. Only way in his mind to have them be alive and not deadbeat jerks and yet completely inaccessible for years.
Those "All Star" cast, long stories are a Dutch Disney tradition for anniversary issues. Daan Jippes has drawn several of them. I agree that the trip to space is a good solution to explain Hueys, Dewey's and Louie's parents' absence.
I recall our discussing this story on the DCF, where I was surprised to find I was in the minority when I said I didn't particularly care for this explanation of Della's fate. It just strikes me as overly fantastic, conveniently simplistic and somewhat juvenile. Exactly the kind of story you'd tell a five-year-old to avoid having to talk about how their parents are either dead or deadbeat jerks. Which would be fine if the Duck comics were aimed at the very young, but I have always been of the impression that most readers of these stories are at least old enough to process concepts such as dead or bad parents; indeed, most readers are probably adults. I'm not saying we need a story confirming that Della actually is dead or in jail or a deadbeat; it may be better to leave the issue unresolved. But the spaceship explanation just doesn't work for me. That said, I'd love to actually see IDW print this as a standalone story; it'll never be "real" to me, but the artwork in the few panels I've seen was gorgeous and it'd be an interesting piece of "fanfiction" (in my mind) to read, as long as we are not forced to accept it as canon (i.e., it be referenced forevermore as Della's true fate, HD&L mentioning their mother in space in other stories, etc.). And while we're on the subject of stories we'd like to see printed by IDW (not the original subject of this thread, I know, sorry), I'd like to see "Donald's Homemade Christmas" (coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D+2012-058), which as I understand it, features the only till-date published non-Rosa appearance of Scrooge's family-of-origin (in flashbacks?).
Oh, on the whole, I agree with you, Baar Baar Jinx, the "parent(s) in SPAAAACE" thing is too fantastic for my headcanon. Nonetheless, I have an affection for that explanation, since my young godson thought it up on his own (and I'm the one who hooked him on Disney comics in the first place!). I'd love to see the Della section of the Geradts story. Love the art that I've seen of Della and the baby boys. I'd like a copy of the Nadorp cover art for that comic, too: coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=HC+DD2014X24 --only one of the many Nadorp covers I'd love to have! Sometimes I just page through the Nadorp covers on Inducks.... If there were any way to get that original Dutch comic, I'd buy it in a second.
And yes, "Donald's Homemade Christmas" has a one-and-a-half-page flashback to Scrooge's childhood in Scotland, wherein, inspired by a shoeshine client, the family has their one-and-only Christmas celebration (Christmas not being celebrated at that time in Scotland). Mama makes dolls for the two girls and Papa makes Scrooge a box to keep his earnings in, symbolically a sort of proto-bin. If you want to see that, it may be possible for you to find the appropriate comic in some other language; you don't really need to read the text to understand the flashback. I found the German version on the German eBay.
Beautiful cover, and I love the way Scrooge has been painstakingly recreated to look as he did during the "Christmas on Bear Mountain" era, but the inner nerd in me cannot help but point out that such a family portrait could never have been taken, since Scrooge's estrangement with his family didn't really end until he invited Donald and the boys to Bear Mountain, well after Della had exited the scene in whatever way she did ... so Scrooge and Della probably never had any meaningful interaction after the events of "The Empire Builder from Calisota" when she was a very young child; at least according to the Don Rosa version of events. But hey, this is a cover, so it can probably be considered non-canon ... unless maybe the boys Photoshopped Scrooge in for sentimental reasons in a post-hoc manner ... unless you agree with Rosa that they all live in the 40s and 50s when Photoshop didn't exist, in which case it's non-canon again... unless ... ugh. My head hurts.
Those "All Star" cast, long stories are a Dutch Disney tradition for anniversary issues. Daan Jippes has drawn several of them. I agree that the trip to space is a good solution to explain Hueys, Dewey's and Louie's parents' absence.
I recall our discussing this story on the DCF, where I was surprised to find I was in the minority when I said I didn't particularly care for this explanation of Della's fate. It just strikes me as overly fantastic, conveniently simplistic and somewhat juvenile. Exactly the kind of story you'd tell a five-year-old to avoid having to talk about how their parents are either dead or deadbeat jerks. Which would be fine if the Duck comics were aimed at the very young, but I have always been of the impression that most readers of these stories are at least old enough to process concepts such as dead or bad parents; indeed, most readers are probably adults. I'm not saying we need a story confirming that Della actually is dead or in jail or a deadbeat; it may be better to leave the issue unresolved. But the spaceship explanation just doesn't work for me. That said, I'd love to actually see IDW print this as a standalone story; it'll never be "real" to me, but the artwork in the few panels I've seen was gorgeous and it'd be an interesting piece of "fanfiction" (in my mind) to read, as long as we are not forced to accept it as canon (i.e., it be referenced forevermore as Della's true fate, HD&L mentioning their mother in space in other stories, etc.). And while we're on the subject of stories we'd like to see printed by IDW (not the original subject of this thread, I know, sorry), I'd like to see "Donald's Homemade Christmas" (coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D+2012-058), which as I understand it, features the only till-date published non-Rosa appearance of Scrooge's family-of-origin (in flashbacks?).
Yes. Baar Baar, I agree. In addition, I think it's simply anachronistic. Regardless of what year it is today, Donald's nephews were dropped off in 1937 -- a considerable time before the introduction of rocket programs. Yes, there were stories like the one where Donald goes to Mars, by Pedrocchi, but that's clearly more Gyro Gearloose technology than an actual rocket program. I know that it could have happened a few years ago (if we go with a Simpsons-type of timeline) in the early 21st century, but to me that doesn't do justice to the history of Disney comics.
Also, did this story do anything with Della's husband?
Yeah, HDL being babies despite them clearly being at least 3-5 years old when first introduced at Donald's... and Della not being there, only leaving a note! Or, is it some sort of retcon? Yeah, because that original adoption took place quite early in the 20th century, a space program story would feel quite anachronistic.
After all, we are still influenced by Don Rosa's canon, still taking efforts to set the timeline in the late 40s-early 50s.
I doubt that story would ever be translated in French, English or Italian, since it would bring too much attention to the "parent-less" plight of HDL. I mean, even the "Donald Junior" Italian stories show Donald being adopted by Grandma Duck, with no trace of his parents in sight.
I've read somewhere that Carl Barks himself said in a convention interview that Della left the children with Donald because she simply couldn't stand the responsability anymore. And apparently, she had them while a bit too young!
--- Gaucelm de Villaret gaucelm@gmail.com --- gaucelm.blogspot.fr twitter.com/GothHelm --- facebook.com/gaucelm
Beautiful cover, and I love the way Scrooge has been painstakingly recreated to look as he did during the "Christmas on Bear Mountain" era, but the inner nerd in me cannot help but point out that such a family portrait could never have been taken, since Scrooge's estrangement with his family didn't really end until he invited Donald and the boys to Bear Mountain, well after Della had exited the scene in whatever way she did ... so Scrooge and Della probably never had any meaningful interaction after the events of "The Empire Builder from Calisota" when she was a very young child; at least according to the Don Rosa version of events. But hey, this is a cover, so it can probably be considered non-canon ... unless maybe the boys Photoshopped Scrooge in for sentimental reasons in a post-hoc manner ... unless you agree with Rosa that they all live in the 40s and 50s when Photoshop didn't exist, in which case it's non-canon again... unless ... ugh. My head hurts.
True that! The first thing I thought when I saw the cover (with my Rosa-trained mind) was "Wait, Scrooge can't be in Donald's life at that point!" So the cover is extracanonical (as is the story) for me, too. But I enjoy lots of stories and images that don't achieve "real" status in my headcanon. I just read the Shaws' "Spook and Quackers" and loved it, for instance, though it won't ever enter my mental canon as something that "really" happened. There's a European-style castle which has been just outside Duckburg for hundreds of years with its European-style nobility...nope. But it's a delightful ghost story, very enjoyable to me as an "imaginary" story.
Yes. Baar Baar, I agree. In addition, I think it's simply anachronistic. Regardless of what year it is today, Donald's nephews were dropped off in 1937 -- a considerable time before the introduction of rocket programs. Yes, there were stories like the one where Donald goes to Mars, by Pedrocchi, but that's clearly more Gyro Gearloose technology than an actual rocket program. I know that it could have happened a few years ago (if we go with a Simpsons-type of timeline) in the early 21st century, but to me that doesn't do justice to the history of Disney comics.
Also, did this story do anything with Della's husband?
Hmm. I don't think there's much point in saying flatly "Donald's nephews were dropped off in 1937." Because of the date of the cartoon? That's hardly canon-deciding, for most comics readers or creators. If you want it to be canon for you, that's fine, of course, to each their own. Rosa would place the timing to allow the boys to be boys in the 50's, and he chooses not to stretch out their lives to superhuman lengths. Others would backdate the abandonment/adoption of the boys from the present day, so that it happened in some nonspecified time several years before the present, a continually rolling date. That allows the boys to be boys in 2016. Then they use "cartoon time" (a subcategory of "cartoon physics") to allow Scrooge to have made his fortune in the Yukon, and just don't worry about fitting that all together.
I have wondered whether Geradts' story just has Donald having the secret to elongated life, or whether others around him have it as well. Has he outlived Neighbor Jones? Do the rest of Donald's family and circle of friends also live superhumanly long lives? While everyone else they know gets old around them? I can't imagine how this can work, whether it's just Donald who lives superlong or whether it's Donald and his family (and Daisy?). It can't be that everyone in Duckburg lives such prolonged lives, because Donald is getting media attention for his extended youth. But there's no sense trying to work this out, especially since I can't read the story!
To your question: from what I have heard, I gather that the story makes no mention of HDL's father, including not saying whether or not Della was married to him. She's a single mother, that's all there is to it.
Yeah, HDL being babies despite them clearly being at least 3-5 years old when first introduced at Donald's... and Della not being there, only leaving a note! Or, is it some sort of retcon? Yeah, because that original adoption took place quite early in the 20th century, a space program story would feel quite anachronistic.
After all, we are still influenced by Don Rosa's canon, still taking efforts to set the timeline in the late 40s-early 50s.
I doubt that story would ever be translated in French, English or Italian, since it would bring too much attention to the "parent-less" plight of HDL. I mean, even the "Donald Junior" Italian stories show Donald being adopted by Grandma Duck, with no trace of his parents in sight.
I've read somewhere that Carl Barks himself said in a convention interview that Della left the children with Donald because she simply couldn't stand the responsability anymore. And apparently, she had them while a bit too young!
Those of us loyal to Rosa's timeline would see many other stories as extracanonical, and this is one of them. I don't think "retcon" is quite the right word to use, though, because it's not like there has ever been one official canonical history that everyone is expected to adhere to (in the manner of Star Trek or Star Wars, say). Rosa himself has always said other creators are and should be free to have other takes on the characters and their history.
Yes. Baar Baar, I agree. In addition, I think it's simply anachronistic. Regardless of what year it is today, Donald's nephews were dropped off in 1937 -- a considerable time before the introduction of rocket programs. Yes, there were stories like the one where Donald goes to Mars, by Pedrocchi, but that's clearly more Gyro Gearloose technology than an actual rocket program. I know that it could have happened a few years ago (if we go with a Simpsons-type of timeline) in the early 21st century, but to me that doesn't do justice to the history of Disney comics.
Also, did this story do anything with Della's husband?
Hmm. I don't think there's much point in saying flatly "Donald's nephews were dropped off in 1937." Because of the date of the cartoon? That's hardly canon-deciding, for most comics readers or creators. If you want it to be canon for you, that's fine, of course, to each their own. Rosa would place the timing to allow the boys to be boys in the 50's, and he chooses not to stretch out their lives to superhuman lengths. Others would backdate the abandonment/adoption of the boys from the present day, so that it happened in some nonspecified time several years before the present, a continually rolling date. That allows the boys to be boys in 2016. Then they use "cartoon time" (a subcategory of "cartoon physics") to allow Scrooge to have made his fortune in the Yukon, and just don't worry about fitting that all together.
I have wondered whether Geradts' story just has Donald having the secret to elongated life, or whether others around him have it as well. Has he outlived Neighbor Jones? Do the rest of Donald's family and circle of friends also live superhumanly long lives? While everyone else they know gets old around them? I can't imagine how this can work, whether it's just Donald who lives superlong or whether it's Donald and his family (and Daisy?). It can't be that everyone in Duckburg lives such prolonged lives, because Donald is getting media attention for his extended youth. But there's no sense trying to work this out, especially since I can't read the story!
To your question: from what I have heard, I gather that the story makes no mention of HDL's father, including not saying whether or not Della was married to him. She's a single mother, that's all there is to it.
Well, I mean we have the comics in which the kids were dropped off, and they clearly weren't made yesterday. I prefer to read them in the context of the time they were made, which means acknowledging the thirties to some extent. I don't know, I just find the whole rocket plot so incongruously modern in comparison. There's plenty of stories they could have thought of that don't heavily feature technology developed in the intervening time. She could have gone off to buy shoes (used in the Belgian Suske and Wiske comic series to explain the nearly sixty-year absence of Wiske's brother, who only appeared in the very first story); she could have gone to the ends of the earth and disappeared for a long time (wouldn't be that much different, and it certainly fits the family); it could have been any number of things.
Oh, and I shouldn't have said "cartoon" for the Della-dumping-the-kids source, because you (and Orora) are probably referring to the Taliaferro strips, right?
My guess is that in Rosa's mind, HDL's parents did go to the ends of the earth, i.e. the environs of Tralla La. We will never know what exactly transpired in Rosa's headcanon, but your phrase probably fits.
Yeah, I tend to stick with the comics are primary canon since even in the 1930s, background material (such as those fake interviews published in the Gottfredson volumes) already referred to the characters as actors in cartoons. It's referred to once or twice in the early comics as well.
So in that sense, the cartoon would be an adaptation of the 'real' events from the comic strip. (Which, given the behind-the-scenes origin story of the nephews, sounds about right.)
Yeah, I tend to stick with the comics are primary canon since even in the 1930s, background material (such as those fake interviews published in the Gottfredson volumes) already referred to the characters as actors in cartoons. It's referred to once or twice in the early comics as well.
So in that sense, the cartoon would be an adaptation of the 'real' events from the comic strip. (Which, given the behind-the-scenes origin story of the nephews, sounds about right.)
I'm aware of that theory, but I don't really find it satisfying. I do think the cartoons were movies adapted from real events, but in n extremely faithful way (sort of like Barks's comics are supposed to be in The Man who Drew Ducks). So the 1938 cartoon is not an adaptation of the 1937 comics, but a separate set of events.
Yes. Baar Baar, I agree. In addition, I think it's simply anachronistic. Regardless of what year it is today, Donald's nephews were dropped off in 1937 -- a considerable time before the introduction of rocket programs. Yes, there were stories like the one where Donald goes to Mars, by Pedrocchi, but that's clearly more Gyro Gearloose technology than an actual rocket program. I know that it could have happened a few years ago (if we go with a Simpsons-type of timeline) in the early 21st century, but to me that doesn't do justice to the history of Disney comics.
Also, did this story do anything with Della's husband?
Hmm. I don't think there's much point in saying flatly "Donald's nephews were dropped off in 1937." Because of the date of the cartoon? That's hardly canon-deciding, for most comics readers or creators. If you want it to be canon for you, that's fine, of course, to each their own. Rosa would place the timing to allow the boys to be boys in the 50's, and he chooses not to stretch out their lives to superhuman lengths. Others would backdate the abandonment/adoption of the boys from the present day, so that it happened in some nonspecified time several years before the present, a continually rolling date. That allows the boys to be boys in 2016. Then they use "cartoon time" (a subcategory of "cartoon physics") to allow Scrooge to have made his fortune in the Yukon, and just don't worry about fitting that all together.
I have wondered whether Geradts' story just has Donald having the secret to elongated life, or whether others around him have it as well. Has he outlived Neighbor Jones? Do the rest of Donald's family and circle of friends also live superhumanly long lives? While everyone else they know gets old around them? I can't imagine how this can work, whether it's just Donald who lives superlong or whether it's Donald and his family (and Daisy?). It can't be that everyone in Duckburg lives such prolonged lives, because Donald is getting media attention for his extended youth. But there's no sense trying to work this out, especially since I can't read the story!
To your question: from what I have heard, I gather that the story makes no mention of HDL's father, including not saying whether or not Della was married to him. She's a single mother, that's all there is to it.
In one of my three visits to Carl Barks' house, we discussed Huey, Dewey and Louie's parents. Carl told me that "The Nephews (in their first cartoon, and, subsequently in the beginning weeks of their time in Al Taliaferro's newspaper strips) were such 'hellions', that they probably exploded a bunch of firecrackers under their father's comfy chair. which blew him all the way to the next county, either making Della a widow, or sending him running as far away as possible. He's probably STILL running!" He had a nice robust chuckle about that.
The father is still running away, and Della realised she couldn't handle them EVEN WITH her husband, so feared the nightmare of trying to do that alone. So, she dumped them on her juvenile brother, and went on to join her husband, hiding together in a long-forgotten cave, somewhere in The 3rd World, crossing their fingers that Donald won't find them. Ironically, Barks turned those boys into the most adult-like and responsible members of The Duck Family (at least those of the family who were brave enough to remain in Duckburg). Too bad their parents probably never found out how well-behaved and responsible their "hellion" progeny turned out as soon after their "abandonment" as kindergarten! But, that's comic books for you!