What other family member would you like to become recurrent

[marco996]

Hey guys!
What other Duck family member would you like to become recurrent? To have some development?
We have many stories with Fethry, Gladstone, Grandma Duck...
But what other Duck family members would you like to see more of?

I'd like to see more of Eider Duck, he would be good in a story with Donald.


Also other stories with Matilda McDuck would be nice, and to finally get to see her with her husband Ludwig Von Drake, but I don't know a writer other than Don Rosa to handle it.


And of course Whitewater Duck! I'd love to see him and Fethry in one same story. It would be fun brothers dynamics!

[Baar Baar Jinx]

I'm with you on Uncle Eider. There's no reason why he shouldn't still be around in present-day Duckburg. I've always imagined him stationed overseas for some reason (military?); this comes from the fact that when Fethry made his first appearance in American comics during the Gladstone II era ("Snacking Sleuths" in Walt Disney Giant #5, 1996), he was introduced as "Donald's cousin from overseas" (an idea that was promptly dropped), and I had already accepted from Rosa's family tree that Fethry was the son of Eider and therefore the entire family was likely living overseas, with Fethry visiting on occasion (it was never made clear where "overseas" was). In an early ten-pager Barks had Uncle Eider send Donald a falcon, but it isn't made clear in that story where Eider actually lives, so the idea does not contradict Barks. Eider living overseas explains why he doesn't appear at Duck family events like Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners; maybe Grandma could at least receive letters or telegrams from him, or talk to him on the phone in future stories like these?

As for showing Matilda/Ludwig married, is there still a ban by European publishers on using Ludwig? Even if not, I'm not sure the idea of Ludwig and Matilda being married is necessarily accepted as official, as it contradicts much of previously established canon, as we've discussed on other threads. Ludwig has been stated on many occasions in the past to be related to Donald on his father's side (either as a brother of Donald's father, which is of course problematic, or as a maternal cousin of Grandma Duck, which I personally prefer) and as an actively dating bachelor. Rosa's violation of that canon was unnecessary, IMHO, and in any case, never actually published, so still speculative. It's one of only two aspects of Rosa's version of the Duck family tree (both official and unofficial) with which I disagree. The other being ... Fethry and Whitewater being brothers. Or, more precisely, Whitewater and Donald being first cousins. Barks clearly stated that Whitewater was a "distant" cousin, but Rosa felt constrained to include every Barks-created relative on his tree while creating as few new characters as possible. I think this was an unnecessary self-imposed limitation that created inaccuracies such as Whitewater's place on the tree (Rosa's reasoning for having Ludwig be Donald's uncle through marriage with Matilda was similar, but again, that's been discussed on other threads). In any case, Rosa does not truly believe that Fethry exists, and states that he included the character under duress, and that we are "free to pencil him out, if we like, and make Whitewater an only child". I'd pencil Whitewater out from his current spot on the Rosa tree instead (Fethry does exist in my headcanon, and so does Whitewater, but not as brothers; Fethry being where he is, as Eider's son, makes sense to me). Whitewater has appeared in other non-Barks stories, though never depicted as Fethry's brother (and again, I'm not sure if the Fethry-Whitewater relationship is accepted as official, although unlike the Ludwig-Matilda one, it appeared in a published tree by Rosa). As to Matilda appearing in present-day Duckburg, that was clearly Rosa's intention and would undoubtedly have happened if he had not retired as early as he did, but you're right, I can't see anyone else doing it. 

 

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Nov 26, 2017 15:36:38 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

As for showing Matilda/Ludwig married, is there still a ban by European publishers on using Ludwig?

Define European. Italian comics use him liberally. 

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Nov 26, 2017 15:41:15 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Nov 26, 2017 15:36:38 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

As for showing Matilda/Ludwig married, is there still a ban by European publishers on using Ludwig?

Define European. Italian comics use him liberally. 

Rosa mentioned that Ludwig was "considered dead" by his editors ... did he mean the Dutch publishers?

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Nov 26, 2017 15:46:08 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Nov 26, 2017 15:41:15 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Define European. Italian comics use him liberally. 

Rosa mentioned that Ludwig was "considered dead" by his editors ... did he mean the Dutch publishers?

I believe he meant Egmont, who, indeed, have never used Ludwig that I recall. 

[Matilda]

I know you will be shocked--shocked!--when I say that I'd like to see more of Matilda in the present-day. No reason she couldn't visit Duckburg, or go traveling with Donald and the boys.

Her characterization in "A Letter from Home" (as much as I love that story) is a bit patchwork-y, since she is an amalgamation of the roles Rosa originally intended to give her and Hortense. The whole spanking thing doesn't really make sense for an aunt. So I wouldn't say that Rosa has a lock on depicting the present-day Matilda. If someone else were willing to accept the basic plot points of "A Letter from Home" and show a relationship between Matilda and Donald's family after that story, that person might do as least as well as Rosa in making her feel real.

I'd like to see some family members we haven't seen before: (not Donald's family) Daisy's sister and brother-in-law, the parents of April, May and June (establishing a last name for the family that is NOT "Duck"!); Goldie's daughter (my decision that it's a daughter rather than a son) and son-in-law who are the parents of Paperetta/Dickie, and who presumably live far away from Duckburg, but could visit their daughter there. In my headcanon, the child of Goldie who is Paparetta's parent is not Scrooge's child...I think that just introduces issues about inheritance contra Barks. So it needn't be too fraught for the couple to meet Scrooge.

[RobbK1]

Nov 26, 2017 15:41:15 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Nov 26, 2017 15:36:38 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

As for showing Matilda/Ludwig married, is there still a ban by European publishers on using Ludwig?

Define European. Italian comics use him liberally. 

He meant Egmont (Danish Disney) and Sanoma Uitgevers (Dutch Disney).

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Nov 27, 2017 3:27:03 GMT Matilda said:

I know you will be shocked--shocked!--when I say that I'd like to see more of Matilda in the present-day. No reason she couldn't visit Duckburg, or go traveling with Donald and the boys.

Her characterization in "A Letter from Home" (as much as I love that story) is a bit patchwork-y, since she is an amalgamation of the roles Rosa originally intended to give her and Hortense. The whole spanking thing doesn't really make sense for an aunt. So I wouldn't say that Rosa has a lock on depicting the present-day Matilda. If someone else were willing to accept the basic plot points of "A Letter from Home" and show a relationship between Matilda and Donald's family after that story, that person might do as least as well as Rosa in making her feel real.

I'd like to see some family members we haven't seen before: (not Donald's family) Daisy's sister and brother-in-law, the parents of April, May and June (establishing a last name for the family that is NOT "Duck"!); Goldie's daughter (my decision that it's a daughter rather than a son) and son-in-law who are the parents of Paperetta/Dickie, and who presumably live far away from Duckburg, but could visit their daughter there. In my headcanon, the child of Goldie who is Paparetta's parent is not Scrooge's child...I think that just introduces issues about inheritance contra Barks. So it needn't be too fraught for the couple to meet Scrooge.

In "Some Heir Over the Rainbow", Barks identifies Donald, HD&L and Gladstone as Scrooge's only surviving heirs (and it's a bit odd that Scrooge considers Gladstone an heir, as I would think that Gladstone would not be entitled to any of Scrooge's money when there are direct blood descendants, which Gladstone is not, unless Barks was still going with the theory that Matilda adopted Gladstone, in which case Scrooge wouldn't call him a "distant nephew" ). Rosa having Matilda McDuck be alive seems to run contrary to this statement. Was it hinted in "A Letter from Home"  that Scrooge thought Matilda was dead? That'd be the only way to reconcile the two.  Fethry, Eider and even Whitewater would not be Scrooge's heirs, going by where Rosa placed them on the family tree (although I am hardly an expert in laws of inheritance, so please correct me if I'm wrong on that). I agree with you that Dickie's parent should not be Scrooge's child, as it would raise very thorny issues of inheritance, but that makes Dickie completely uninteresting to me. Why did Goldie want to introduce a child not related to Scrooge into his life? Why not her actual family? (I always presumed that her parents themselves are dead, but re-reading your post, is it actually suggested that they aren't? Why doesn't she live with them then?) 

[Matilda]

Nov 27, 2017 4:43:07 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Nov 27, 2017 3:27:03 GMT Matilda said:

I know you will be shocked--shocked!--when I say that I'd like to see more of Matilda in the present-day. No reason she couldn't visit Duckburg, or go traveling with Donald and the boys.

Her characterization in "A Letter from Home" (as much as I love that story) is a bit patchwork-y, since she is an amalgamation of the roles Rosa originally intended to give her and Hortense. The whole spanking thing doesn't really make sense for an aunt. So I wouldn't say that Rosa has a lock on depicting the present-day Matilda. If someone else were willing to accept the basic plot points of "A Letter from Home" and show a relationship between Matilda and Donald's family after that story, that person might do as least as well as Rosa in making her feel real.

I'd like to see some family members we haven't seen before: (not Donald's family) Daisy's sister and brother-in-law, the parents of April, May and June (establishing a last name for the family that is NOT "Duck"!); Goldie's daughter (my decision that it's a daughter rather than a son) and son-in-law who are the parents of Paperetta/Dickie, and who presumably live far away from Duckburg, but could visit their daughter there. In my headcanon, the child of Goldie who is Paparetta's parent is not Scrooge's child...I think that just introduces issues about inheritance contra Barks. So it needn't be too fraught for the couple to meet Scrooge.

In "Some Heir Over the Rainbow", Barks identifies Donald, HD&L and Gladstone as Scrooge's only surviving heirs (and it's a bit odd that Scrooge considers Gladstone an heir, as I would think that Gladstone would not be entitled to any of Scrooge's money when there are direct blood descendants, which Gladstone is not, unless Barks was still going with the theory that Matilda adopted Gladstone, in which case Scrooge wouldn't call him a "distant nephew" ). Rosa having Matilda McDuck be alive seems to run contrary to this statement. Was it hinted in "A Letter from Home"  that Scrooge thought Matilda was dead? That'd be the only way to reconcile the two.  Fethry, Eider and even Whitewater would not be Scrooge's heirs, going by where Rosa placed them on the family tree (although I am hardly an expert in laws of inheritance, so please correct me if I'm wrong on that). I agree with you that Dickie's parent should not be Scrooge's child, as it would raise very thorny issues of inheritance, but that makes Dickie completely uninteresting to me. Why did Goldie want to introduce a child not related to Scrooge into his life? Why not her actual family? (I always presumed that her parents themselves are dead, but re-reading your post, is it actually suggested that they aren't? Why doesn't she live with them then?) 

I'll have to read "A Letter from Home" again with an eye to the Scrooge/Matilda question. In terms of "Some Heir," I think one could deal with that by assuming the estrangement is such that Scrooge does not consider Matilda an heir, even if she might be alive. While if a person dies intestate a sibling might have a claim, a person certainly doesn't have to include a sibling in her/his will.  The case of Dickie is different. I think if she is a direct descendant that raises a moral claim on inheritance, even if there were no legal claim by virtue of the fact that Scrooge was not established as the legal parent of her parent. I suppose you could say that Scrooge didn't know about the fact that Goldie had his child at the time of "Some Heir," but even if that is the case, once he knows, it creates for Dickie (or her parent, if living) a moral claim on the inheritance. If Dickie knows she is Scrooge's granddaughter, how could she not think about this issue? And the same goes for Scrooge. 

As for whether Dickie's parents are alive etc... I haven't read a lot of the Dickie stories, so others must comment. But I think it's perfectly possible--assuming Scrooge is *not* father to one of them--that they are alive, that they live far away, and that Dickie came to Duckburg to attend college (she is a college student, at least in some Stabile stories). When Goldie heard that Dickie was heading to a university in Duckburg, Goldie then contacted Scrooge and asked him to look out for her granddaughter, as a favor to an old flame. 

If Dickie's parent is/was Scrooge's child, then if s/he is alive, there are even bigger issues about Scrooge's responsibility to that person. If you decide that Dickie's parent was Scrooge's child, I think you pretty much have to assume s/he has died, just to avoid these issues. Even if the child of Goldie & Scrooge is determined to live independent of and owing nothing to the absent bio-father, still, Scrooge, once he finds out about the person's existence, should feel some responsibility and it should affect issues of inheritance. At least he should want to meet his daughter/son. Perhaps the daughter/son would refuse the meeting...but it doesn't seem that Goldie herself is that bitter towards Scrooge, so why should the daughter/son be? I'd think s/he'd at least be curious to meet the bio-father, even if s/he were determined not to accept anything from him. 

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Okay, I just re-read "The Miner's Granddaughter", and it's stated there that Dickie's parents are alive and living in "Chiliburgia" (they seem to be very hands-off, uninvolved parents). Also, that Goldie had moved to "Dollar City" (not sure where that's supposed to be) where Dickie just graduated, and Goldie wanted Scrooge to "help her get set up in Duckburg". Given that the English translation is fortified with Barks and Rosa references, I'm not sure what Scarpa's original story had said.

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Nov 27, 2017 15:11:01 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Okay, I just re-read "The Miner's Granddaughter", and it's stated there that Dickie's parents are alive and living in "Chiliburgia" (they seem to be very hands-off, uninvolved parents). Also, that Goldie had moved to "Dollar City" (not sure where that's supposed to be) where Dickie just graduated, and Goldie wanted Scrooge to "help her get set up in Duckburg". Given that the English translation is fortified with Barks and Rosa references, I'm not sure what Scarpa's original story had said.

The original has none of that — it didn't mention where Dickie's parents were at all, and Goldie is just presented as having lived in the random Western town all her life, which is supposedly where Scrooge met her. It's a bit of a puzzling decision. If I had had a hand in the translation, though, I would have just colored the surroundings of "Dollar City" white, renamed it "Dawson", and left it at that. 

[deb]

I think Dickie Duck may have been an attempt to introduce a new teen girl character into the Duck stories, and having her as Goldie's granddaughter was seen as a hook to make her more interesting, and that Scarpa certainly never thought that Goldie would become such a cult favorite character thanks to DuckTales and Don Rosa many years later so that his Dickie Duck story would become such a mess in trying to establish a Duck Family tree.

[Minotaur]

Nov 27, 2017 4:43:07 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

In "Some Heir Over the Rainbow", Barks identifies Donald, HD&L and Gladstone as Scrooge's only surviving heirs (and it's a bit odd that Scrooge considers Gladstone an heir, as I would think that Gladstone would not be entitled to any of Scrooge's money when there are direct blood descendants, which Gladstone is not, unless Barks was still going with the theory that Matilda adopted Gladstone, in which case Scrooge wouldn't call him a "distant nephew" ). Rosa having Matilda McDuck be alive seems to run contrary to this statement. Was it hinted in "A Letter from Home"  that Scrooge thought Matilda was dead? That'd be the only way to reconcile the two.  

I think "heir" means someone who can take over Scrooge's financial empire after his death. It's hard to say whether Matilda would live longer than Scrooge, even if she does, her age will not allow her to manage the business. So Scrooge needs to find someone who's significantly younger than himself.

[Matilda]

Nov 27, 2017 15:11:01 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Okay, I just re-read "The Miner's Granddaughter", and it's stated there that Dickie's parents are alive and living in "Chiliburgia" (they seem to be very hands-off, uninvolved parents). Also, that Goldie had moved to "Dollar City" (not sure where that's supposed to be) where Dickie just graduated, and Goldie wanted Scrooge to "help her get set up in Duckburg". Given that the English translation is fortified with Barks and Rosa references, I'm not sure what Scarpa's original story had said.

As Scrooge MacDuck has pointed out, the original text doesn't include that. In any case, since Scarpa put Goldie in the American (USA) West, I think we are free to rework his version of things. I certainly don't like his portrayal of where Goldie currently lives. Goldie has been portrayed as living on her own in the "present" in every other story I've seen. Since Dickie is a college student in Stabile's stories, I think it makes sense to say that she came to Duckburg to attend college. And there's nothing particularly "hands-off" or "uninvolved" about parents letting a daughter attend college far away from home, even in another country. In my mind, Goldie (rather than the parents) is the one to contact Scrooge and ask him to keep an eye on Dickie because she's the one who happens to know a bigwig in Duckburg.

Anyway, I'm happy that Scarpa invented Paperetta/Dickie, and I'm fine with her being Goldie's granddaughter, since that provides another reason for Goldie and Scrooge to interact in the "present". I'm not OK with her being Scrooge's granddaughter, for reasons outlined above.

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Nov 27, 2017 14:01:55 GMT Matilda said:

If Dickie's parent is/was Scrooge's child, then if s/he is alive, there are even bigger issues about Scrooge's responsibility to that person. If you decide that Dickie's parent was Scrooge's child, I think you pretty much have to assume s/he has died, just to avoid these issues. Even if the child of Goldie & Scrooge is determined to live independent of and owing nothing to the absent bio-father, still, Scrooge, once he finds out about the person's existence, should feel some responsibility and it should affect issues of inheritance. At least he should want to meet his daughter/son. Perhaps the daughter/son would refuse the meeting...but it doesn't seem that Goldie herself is that bitter towards Scrooge, so why should the daughter/son be? I'd think s/he'd at least be curious to meet the bio-father, even if s/he were determined not to accept anything from him. 

But wouldn't that be a sight to see, with the right writer and artist? Disney will unfortunately never allow it, but I'd love it if they actually wrote such a story where Scrooge meets his daughter. And in the meantime, I prefer for the question to go unadressed so that I can keep imagining that's what happened, rather than have an official version quash my hopes.