WB wrote:Take for instance when Gladstone introduced Bridgitta MacBridge to American readers. My immediate question was - what about Glittering Goldie? Now that I've seen Bridgitta a lot more often, I can see just how different she is and what a character like her can bring to the table. She's not a bad addition at all, nor does she negate anything.
I think Brigitta McBridge is by far the best non-Barks character that was added to the Duck-universe. She brought in so many new story ideas and possibilities! It takes a good creator like Romano Scarpa to come up with such a well-definded new character that actually *adds* something to the already existing bunch of characters.
Scarpa's other creation, Kildare Coot (Grandma Duck's nephew), appears to me as merely a copy of Fethry Duck. He appears to be jst as weird and clumsy as Fethry. Why was he added? I don't know much about Kildare, because he has only appeared in two stories in The Netherlands (and only very recently), but thanks to the German pocketbooks I've found out he's been an addition to the Duck-universe since for many years now. According to Inducks, his first story was first published in 1964, but his second story only 24 years later, in 1988! Does anybody know more about this curious situation?
WB wrote:Now I will agree that yes - there is a certain timeline and/or of flow of things that just kinda need to make sense so you can INDEED have a solid story. You cant just come in and suddenly say "Scrooge didnt make his money by earning it! He got it all on a paper route and inherited the rest!" That destroys years of established continuity that builds upon WHO the character is at its core (note that I didnt say the characters story).
You are right, in my opinion, to a certain extent. I agree this goes for a main character like Scrooge. But what about a character like Rockerduck?
In Don Rosa's version of things, he was a spoilt brat who inherited everything from his father Howard. I say this matches Rockerduck's personality. But there's also another story, Uncle Scrooge's wedding by Massimo de Vita and Elisa Penna, which explains Rockerduck's wealth another way. Rockerduck wasn't as rich at all when he first met Scrooge in the Miljonairs Club (he came in thanks to his connections), but he dared Scrooge into a golf match. Scrooge put in half of his entire fortune, and LOST, therebye leaving Rockerduck a much richer, weakthier man, who owns most of his fortune thus to Scrooge.
Whicg story is true? This was one of the best Italian stories I know, by the way, and one of Brigitta's best performances.
WB wrote:Just as I like to think of Life of Scrooge as the true story behind Scrooge's background, does that mean that I also dont think that characters like Cousin Douglas McDuck (Lars Jensen) or Scrooge's half brother Rumpus McFowl (William Van Horn) or Gideon McDuck (Romano Scarpa) are apochryphal due to Rosa not including them and/or ignoring them all together? Absolutely not. I especially love Douglas and Rumpus
I don't know anything about Gideon, except he's supposed to be Scrooge's half-brother and he runs a newspaper in Duckburg. I can't recall any stories featuring him being publsihed in The Netherlands. The Dutch miss out on a lot of characters, this way. Are stories with Gideon still being made? My guess is, he disappeared from Italian comics, just like Dickie Duck has for many years now (occasionelly making a small cameo appearance). What did Gideon add to the Duck universe?
Although Van Horn's stories featuring Rumpus McFowl are entertaining, I wonder what he actually adds to the world of the Ducks. Sure, he's extremely lazy, dim-witted, and eats a lot. Wait, wasn't that what Gus Goose was designed for? Is Rumpus a copy of Gus? There is a story in which Rumpus finds out he's actually Scrooge's half-brother. Did anybody read that? Because, again, it has not been published in my country.
I've read two stories featuring Douglas McDuck. The first one, and to my knowledge the first to be published in The Netherlands, was in 1999, I think. It appears he's been present for a longer time? The stories featuring him weren't anything special, in my opinion. They were done by Vicar and Branca. The Branca-story also featured Donald's (Barks-)cousin Abner. I wonder what Douglas adds.
WB wrote:The BAD thing about continuity is when you get those attitudes like "Well! Don Rosa or Carl Barks didnt use them! Scrooge didnt have a cousin here, so they just plain don't exist!" That mode of thinking deprives us readers of honest to goodness fun characters like Rumpus and Douglas.
I have never understood why people would think like this. Why would they limit their own reading pleasure? They try to turn works of fiction, in which anything can happen, into th real world. Wasn't fiction designed so we could escape the real world from time to time?
WB wrote:And currently IMO it is what deprives us of good stories that can be done already long established characters like Ludwig Von Drake, whom many are fans of and grew up with right alongside guys like Scrooge. =
That's why I wonder why Egmont forbids her artists to make stories featuring Ludwig von Drake. Don Rosa once said that, according to Egmont, Ludwig has to be considered "deceased". Mind you, this is not Rosa's idea, but Egmont's! So another Disney character is DEAD, and why?
Ludwig still appears in many Italian stories, as it should be! He also played important parts in Disney animated television series 'Mickey Mouse Works' and 'House of Mouse'. So why does Egmont want him to be "deceased"?
One reasoning I heard somewhere, is Egmont thinks the Duck universe already has Gyro, so Ludwig is not a neccesary character. This may've been true if the Ludwig from the comics was the same as the Ludwig from the cartoons. In the cartoons, he's an inventor like Gyro, but in the comics, she's a professor, who's an expert on any terrain you can think of.
*EDIT* boardlinking updated to McDrake