Nope. He wrote in English, some users carried to translate everything (most readers could not speak English). You can go there and search for the thread named "Don Rosa". You will find pages and pages of him answering questions, especially when he first appeared in 2009.
I think he can only speak English. By the way, when I briefly met him one year and half ago in France, he did not even get that I was Italian, despite my accent and my evident Italian name written in front of him (to make me an autograph).
The accent thing still stands, but there are many people in France with Italian- or otherwise foreign-sounding names.
Yes. Savoie was once part of Italy, and an Italian Dukedom, and the Monaco to French-Italian border area of Liguria was also full of Italian-speaking people. And even the Val D'Aosta area of Italy has French-speaking people. But Don Rosa has an Italian heritage, and I had thought that his grandparents had spoken Italian. So, I had thought he might have learned some (but, perhaps not enough to use an Internet translation programme (such as Google Translate) and correct its errors).
Post by Monkey_Feyerabend on Jul 16, 2017 14:19:50 GMT
Beside the many historical connections - which are actually deeper than what recalled by Rob - there has also been a slow but continuous immigration of Italian folks to France in the last couple of centuries (but never a real mass immigrations, as happened in the US, Germany or Belgium), not only concerning poor people, even very scholarized ones. As a matter of fact, I am still impressed by how many (white) French have an Italian last name...sometimes without even being aware of that, I suppose.
Because he's retired is why. We know him for his Barks-fan-ness, but he's got a life outside of that, too, and now that it's not his job anymore, the chap wants to enjoy his garden more than to chat with obsessive fans umpteen times a day. Especially since, as he's not just a fan anymore, he'd probably feel kind of awkward among us. At first we'd pester him for questions, and then he'd not know what to do when we're discussing his stories in not-always-kind-terms, etc.
I don't think his retirement alone is the reason, considering that he had already retired when he subscribed to that forum. Also, botht the old DCML and the Papersera forum included criticism to his stories, and that has never been a problem.
By the way, I think Jano can clarify any issue about this point on Rosa's official Facebook page (I won't do anything there since I don't have a Facebook account).
To elaborate on a point I made earlier, a lot of people say "Barks/Rosa universe" in one breath, but honestly, there's nothing in, say, Scarpa's work, that contradicts anything Barks wrote.
Well, to make an example there's Goldie's location in the Old West rather than in the Klondike. I think there's nothing wrong in using the expression "Barks universe" and "Barks/Rosa universe": the latter basically means "Rosa universe", but since most of Rosa's stories have the characters mentioning adventures they had in Barks stories, then it is not a bad idea to refer to "Rosa universe" as "Barks/Rosa universe", while still keeping the option of mentioning a "Barks universe" in which Rosa's stories didn't happen.
Rosa made a point of trying not to create characters that he didn't need to, but even the ones he did create, like Hortense, Matilda, Quackmore and Scrooge's parents, never appeared in published Barks work and are thus Rosa characters, not part of Barks canon. It's debatable whether something an author says or writes unofficially is really part of that author's oeuvre; thus, one could argue that Barks' unpublished family tree can safely be ignored.
Well, this is a bit hair-splitting, but since Barks said Scrooge is Donald's uncle on his mother side, then Barks' unvierse does include a character that is Scrooge's sister and Donald's mother: of course, her design and personality were created by Rosa, but giving her the name Hortense from the unpublished Barks tree, rather than ignoring it and coming up with a new name, increases the level of "barksianity" of her character rather than diminishing it.
Re: Mickey Mouse, I agree with Matilda that the Mouse universe and the Duck universe simply do not mix at all. Any story where Mickey and Donald meet or even mention each other instantly becomes "unreal" to me. I suppose as an occasional meta-joke, I can accept HD&L reading a Mickey Mouse comic or a scene with Goofy and Minnie playing on TV in the background of a Duck story, reinforcing the view that they are "fictional characters within a fictional universe" (as long as it's a throwaway gag and not a focus of the story) , but in my headcanon, Duckburg, Calisota and Mouseton, Pennecticut exist in parallel universes.
I also agree that it is better if the Duck universe and the Mouse universe are kept separate. And I hope the new DuckTales will do that, in order to follow what happens in most comics: fans of the crossovers already have countless animated shorts and tv series in which they interact, let's keep their trademark separation at least in a series that is based on Uncle Scrooge comics.
By the way, what is "Pennecticut"? A name appearing in some stories, or a fan-made name?
With regards to the phenomenon of "imprinting" in the development of individual headcanon, i.e., our tendency to accept ideas that we are exposed to early in our introduction to a franchise, I can attest to that personally with an example; as a child I read a Western story (not sure which one it was but I think it may have been drawn by Dick Moore) in which a guy thinks Goofy is a long-lost descendant of a royal family or some such, and Mickey mentions that Goofy has no family, is an orphan and "no one knows where he came from" (or something to that effect). A silly idea, I know, but for years I accepted that as canon and any story I read where a relative of Goofy's showed up, I'd say to myself, "doesn't this writer know Goofy is an orphan?" I've gotten over that but it took me a long time. (BTW, does anyone have any idea what story that might have been? Sorry that I remember so little about it.)
I don't know that story, but I can't help finding the concept of Goofy having no family very strange, since in Italy a running gag about him is that he has a very large family. I am not sure if this is an Italian idea or if it originated in the USA, but I remember a few Mickey Mouse newspaper comics in which we meet some Goofy relatives.
Yes, both Gottfredson AND Murray stories introduced many members of Goofy's extended family. I don't know how an American or Canadian Disney Comics reader could conclude that Goofy has no family.
Yes, both Gottfredson AND Murray stories introduced many members of Goofy's extended family. I don't know how an American or Canadian Disney Comics reader could conclude that Goofy has no family.
As I mentioned, it's because of that story I read where a man comes up to Goofy telling him he's heir to a royal family or some such, and Mickey says that they don't know anything about Goofy's family, because he's an orphan. This might have been one of the earliest Mickey Mouse stories I read, a reprinted Western story (possibly drawn by Dick Moores but I can't be sure), so it stuck with me. Does anyone know this story? Not even sure how I'd conduct an INDUCKS search based on what little I remember of it. Anyway, once I read that story, it seemed difficult for quite a while to accept all the other stories where Goody did have a family, although I was ultimately able to regard the original story as the outlier. This is an example of "imprinting", where the first version of a character/universe/idea/franchise we're exposed to is the one we tend to be most loyal to.
Yes, both Gottfredson AND Murray stories introduced many members of Goofy's extended family. I don't know how an American or Canadian Disney Comics reader could conclude that Goofy has no family.
As I mentioned, it's because of that story I read where a man comes up to Goofy telling him he's heir to a royal family or some such, and Mickey says that they don't know anything about Goofy's family, because he's an orphan. This might have been one of the earliest Mickey Mouse stories I read, a reprinted Western story (possibly drawn by Dick Moores but I can't be sure), so it stuck with me. Does anyone know this story? Not even sure how I'd conduct an INDUCKS search based on what little I remember of it. Anyway, once I read that story, it seemed difficult for quite a while to accept all the other stories where Goody did have a family, although I was ultimately able to regard the original story as the outlier. This is an example of "imprinting", where the first version of a character/universe/idea/franchise we're exposed to is the one we tend to be most loyal to.
It rings a bell in my memory, but I can't place it. But non-Gottfredson outliers don't count in my "head canon". Gottfredson's outliers to his own universe are difficult enough to justify as existing. I can't remember a Dick Moores-drawn story that has Goofy as an heir to royalty. I remember one like that with Porky Pig, and one with Bugs Bunny, but not Goofy.
As I mentioned, it's because of that story I read where a man comes up to Goofy telling him he's heir to a royal family or some such, and Mickey says that they don't know anything about Goofy's family, because he's an orphan. This might have been one of the earliest Mickey Mouse stories I read, a reprinted Western story (possibly drawn by Dick Moores but I can't be sure), so it stuck with me. Does anyone know this story? Not even sure how I'd conduct an INDUCKS search based on what little I remember of it. Anyway, once I read that story, it seemed difficult for quite a while to accept all the other stories where Goody did have a family, although I was ultimately able to regard the original story as the outlier. This is an example of "imprinting", where the first version of a character/universe/idea/franchise we're exposed to is the one we tend to be most loyal to.
It rings a bell in my memory, but I can't place it. But non-Gottfredson outliers don't count in my "head canon". Gottfredson's outliers to his own universe are difficult enough to justify as existing. I can't remember a Dick Moores-drawn story that has Goofy as an heir to royalty. I remember one like that with Porky Pig, and one with Bugs Bunny, but not Goofy.
I could be wrong about the royalty part ... it could just be that he's in line for some major inheritance ... and unfortunately, it may not even have been drawn by Dick Moores (I couldn't distinguish between artists back then). I know that's not a lot to go on, but I'd know it if I saw it.
I think he can only speak English. By the way, when I briefly met him one year and half ago in France, he did not even get that I was Italian, despite my accent and my evident Italian name written in front of him (to make me an autograph).
Yes, Rosa has described himself as a typical uneducated American who can only speak one language ... and has expressed his admiration for Europeans who are polyglots.
Lately I've been toying with the idea of incorporating Duck Avenger into my head-canon. The biggest issue with the Duck Avenger is probably the fact that Donald is supposed to be an everyman. While I like that, his everyman-status is already weakened by being the nephew of the richest man alive and constantly travelling the world while going on adventures, risking life and limb on a daily basis. With that in mind, Donald going from everyman to costumed hero isn't all that weird.
The reason for me considering the Duck Avenger in my head-canon at all is that I recently tinkered with a Barks/Rosa timeline. Return to Xanadu, The Black Knight Glorps Again, and A Letter From Home ended up being three of the stories I placed at the very end. I bring up these three in particular because they have one thing in common: in each story, Donald saves the day by being courageous and heroic. I have always thought of Donald as someone who thinks himself a hero, but who in reality is just a useless coward. But these three Rosa-stories make it seem like Donald has a character arc that has slowly developed him into actually being heroic. From this perspective, a natural next step would be if Donald actually became a costumed hero... like the Duck Avenger.
But when I re-read The Diabolical Duck Avenger, I realized that the Duck Avenger is more about petty revenge than actually saving people and being heroic... It is kind of weird seeing Donald go from stepping up to save Tralla La, headbutting the omnisolve-coated Black Knight with a diamond crown, disarming the gunwielding Monsieur Molay with the Holy Grail, to then tossing a stray dog down the road and stealing Scrooge's money-mattress. However, if I understand correctly, the Duck Avenger-writers eventually did make him more hero-focused.
All this to say, I'm still on the fence about the Duck Avenger, but I think it was worth thinking about.
Lately I've been toying with the idea of incorporating Duck Avenger into my head-canon. The biggest issue with the Duck Avenger is probably the fact that Donald is supposed to be an everyman. While I like that, his everyman-status is already weakened by being the nephew of the richest man alive and constantly travelling the world while going on adventures, risking life and limb on a daily basis. With that in mind, Donald going from everyman to costumed hero isn't all that weird.
The reason for me considering the Duck Avenger in my head-canon at all is that I recently tinkered with a Barks/Rosa timeline. Return to Xanadu, The Black Knight Glorps Again, and A Letter From Home ended up being three of the stories I placed at the very end. I bring up these three in particular because they have one thing in common: in each story, Donald saves the day by being courageous and heroic. I have always thought of Donald as someone who thinks himself a hero, but who in reality is just a useless coward. But these three Rosa-stories make it seem like Donald has a character arc that has slowly developed him into actually being heroic. From this perspective, a natural next step would be if Donald actually became a costumed hero... like the Duck Avenger.
But when I re-read The Diabolical Duck Avenger, I realized that the Duck Avenger is more about petty revenge than actually saving people and being heroic... It is kind of weird seeing Donald go from stepping up to save Tralla La, headbutting the omnisolve-coated Black Knight with a diamond crown, disarming the gunweilding Monsieur Molay with the Holy Grail, to then tossing a stray dog down the road and stealing Scrooge's money-mattress. However, if I understand correctly, the Duck Avenger-writers eventually did make him more hero-focused.
All this to say, I'm still on the fence about the Duck Avenger, but I think it was worth thinking about.
The Duck Avenger had a sort of character arc of his own.
In his earlier stories, he was all about revenging Donald against Scrooge and/or Gladstone. After the first handful of stories, he often helped Scrooge against Rockerduck or the Beagle Boys, often going against the police.
And the he became Duckburg de-facto local super hero, repeatedly facing the Beagle Boys and one-off villains (the most memorable were Spectrus and Inquinator), appreciated both by the police and by Scrooge. But every now and then, he still acts above the laws, against the police and Scrooge. In the PKNA series (and the subsequent PK2 and PKNE series) he faces against alien invaders and time pirates, and he's recognized as a hero both on Earth and on other planets and time zones. But he still very often faces both Duckburg police, the US Army and the "Time Police" from the future. He's an hero, but on a grey area.
Note that there wasn't a story where the Avenger said "You know what? With great power comes great responsibility, I will not merely avenge Donald". It was slow but constant character development.
To me, Rosa's Don can very easily become the Duck Avenger. Just take a look at the first two pages of The Magnificent Seven (minus four) Caballeros. Donald is humiliated by his greedy uncle, his cocky cousin and his insensitive girlfriend. Suppose that this Donald won a mansion out of nowhere (intended for Gladstone), and in the mansion he found the costume and gears of an ancient gentleman thief.... Don's Donald would absolutely become the Duck Avenger and gets his revenge on his ungrateful family.
Personally, I also think that wearing the Duck Avanger's costume (which is Fantomallard's costume, that glorious gentlemen thief from the past) brings the best out of Donald. Donald can do everything the Duck Avenger does, but without the costume he lacks the self-esteem, the courage, and maybe the strong moral principles. The Duck Avenger is the hero Donald aspires to be... and the hero he is when everybody can't see him behind the mask and he feels more confortable, more in control. Some of the best Duck Avenger stories are those where the Avenger lose his temper (like Donald!), or where Donald acts like the Avenger but without the costume. They reiterate that they are the same character.