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Upcoming Rosa stories:
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"The Prisoner of White Agony Creek" ( 31 (single-part) / 33 (11+11+11) (multi-part) pages ) -
This story is Lo$ chapter 8b.
The story takes place between: "King of the Klondike" and "Hearts of the
Yukon" and shows how Glittering Goldie was taken to "White Agony Creek" by
Scrooge - as first shown by Barks in the restored version of his classic
"Back to Klondike" and also referred to in Don Rosa's "The Coin".
"Hearts of the Youkon" may bee seen as Lo$ part 8c, but that's not official.
Don Rosa explains this this way:
"Hearts of the Yukon" was designed to be the
first chapter in a series of 4 or 5 stories
all set in the Yukon that Bruce Hamilton was
having me do to have some connection with the
Dawson City centennial celebration. But
apparently he never worked out whatever sort
of a deal he had in mind, so I never did
another story for that series. But that's why
there are 4 different "types" of "Life of
$crooge" stories - one type not being a
"Lo$" story at all. These types are:
There's the first 12 stories which were one
series -- each chapter opened with a view of
Matilda's scrap book.
There are the extra chapters which I now do
where each story starts and ends with $crooge
telling or recalling the tale.
There was "Hearts of the Yukon" which I feel
*is* a part of the "Life of $crooge" series,
but which does not have the framing sequence
of $crooge telling the tale (and, indeed, he
*couldn't* do that since he couldn't know
all the details of the story).
Then there is "Of Ducks and Dimes and
Destinies" which they call "chapter 0", but
which I do *not* regard as part of the
"Life of $crooge" series -- it's just a
story about Magica. And I don't even want
to consider that the events in the story
*really* took place... her Magic interfered
with history, but then when she returned to
the present, history went back to how it had
always been before, without her involvement.
[2005-04-05 03:50:45]
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"The Magnificent Seven (Minus Four) Caballeros!" (32 pages (one-part v.), 34 pages (multi-part v.)) -
Finished summer 2004. For a long time Don's working
title for this story was "The Three Caballeros and the Mines of Fear".
Don Rosa describes the story this way: "This story is set in Jose's Brazil
since the last one was set in Panchito's Mexico. The 3 Caballeros are
reunited and decide to go on an adventure in the Brazilian Mato Grosso (a
plateau of swamps, grasslands and low mountains... NOT the Amazon area that
is always seen in any Brazilian story) to seek diamonds. They get involved
in fighting an illegal trapper of wild animals who is also the dictatorial
leader of a band of natives, and then accidentally stumble into a search for
a legendary lost treasure city of Col. Percy Fawcett. To read about the
treasure, search the web for "Percy Fawcett" -- he was the true-life model
for both Indiana Jones and Prof. Challenger (of Conan Doyle's "The Lost
World"). As always, all my historical facts are based on true legends and
actual events and real people." The story is scheduled for publication in
the Scandinavian weeklies 3-5/2005
[2005-01-05 23:50:45]
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"Pin-ups" (-) -
Don Rosa has been drawing more one-page drawings (or, pin-ups) for the French Picsou magazine. On a question about what kind of drawings these are, he replies: "Pin-ups. The kind men like. No, I mean pin-ups based on the Barks or Rosa
story in the issue. (We refer to PICSOU.) So far I've done pin-ups for "A
Cold Bargain" (already published), "The Guardians of the Lost Library", and
a "generic" Barks homage for a "Barks Homage" issue -- that one is a sort of
game where I show the Ducks marching off on some quest or trip, and I have
insets of 18 different treasures or "unique items" that were featured in
various Barks adventures; the readers (I assume) will be given a chance to
name the items, or maybe they'll just print a key to them on another page."
[2004-02-24 13:43:51]
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"The Black Knight GLORPS Again!" (25 pages /26 (2*13) pages multi-part version) -
Done for Egmont.
This is a sequel to "The Black Knight". In this story Arpin Lusene (The Black Knight) returns to Duckburg. First he figures out how to get the Omnisolve suit back from $crooge who has had it sealed inside a massive block of Forbidium. Then he decides to steal (destroy) the contents of the Duckburg Museum where $crooge is showing his trophy collection (the world's most valuable collection of rare items) as he also did in "The Son of the Sun".
[2004-02-24 13:43:39]
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"A Letter from Home/The Old Castle's OTHER Secret" (36 pages (three-part) / 34 pages (one-part)) -
This is a sequel to "The Crown of the Crusader Kings". It was finished in early August. Working titles are "A Letter from Home" and "The Old Castle's OTHER Secret". This story has turned into the longest story he has ever done... 36 pages in the three-part continued form (including the 2 full recap pages) - the one-part version will thus be 34 pages – one page longer than "The Quest for Kalevala". The story is done for Egmont and will most probably see print in the Egmont countries late 2003 or early 2004. However it cannot appear in America until after "The Crown of the Crusader Kings" which acts as part one of this pair of stories about $crooge's search for the lost Treasury of the Knights Templar. It's said that there's no action and precious little humor in this new tale... just solving clues and going from place to place, but also that it's still a great story.
Don Rosa says: "The Knights Templar being the most intensely INTERESTING historical topic I've ever handled, I did far more research than I've ever done on any previous story… Both of these stories together are a very loose sequel to Barks' "The Fabulous Philosopher's Stone", at least in that the Philospher's Stone is, by legend, part *of* the Knight Templar Treasury, so I found a very appropriate spot for Monsieur Mattressface in my pair of tales…
And yes, this story does tell about the return of $crooge's sister Matilda whom (in my version of things) $crooge has not seen since she left Duckburg in disgust with him nearly 25 years earlier (1930).
The story was originally intended to also feature Hortense with whom Matilda always seemed to act as a duo, but I was told by Egmont that I could not ever use Hortense in a current-time story and that she must be considered "deceased" -- this is because there could never be a suitable reason why she would have stayed away from her own children Donald and Della since their childhood. For this same reason, I am also told that I can never try to tell the story of what happened to HD&L's parents because there can never be a suitable or happy ending to that tale. And that's okay with me... I know many people have wanted me to do that story for 15 years, and I've been drawn to it and have often pondered HOW on earth to tackle it...
but it's sort of a relief to be told not to even try such a problematic task. Now I can be saved from any accusations of either screwing it up or chickening out
by pointing to the fact that I can't do it for Egmont.
(Of course, if I reeeaaally wanted to do it, I could do it for France or Italy or...
nonononononevermindnevermind!)"
The story is scheduled for print in the Scandinavian countries in issues 9, 10, 11 of 2004.
[2003-12-26 20:39:51]
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"Trash and Treasure" (13 pages) -
Done for Egmont.
Finished, late February 2003
It's another "gag" story about $crooge cleaning out a cabinet of old office equipment and papers, and after Donald throwing the junk out, $crooge realizes there was something valuable in with the trash, and there's a chase trying to get the stuff back (since once it was dumped into a trash can, it's no longer the property of the original owner... it's "salvageable").
I seem to have unintentionally started a series that all of my "gag" stories fit into. The stories always star only DD & U$, and begin as a quiet day at the Money Bin, some big trouble starts, there's lots of running around, then it all ends up back at the Money Bin, and DD gets the worst of the deal. The stories that seem to match this form are "A Matter of Some Gravity", "Attaaack!", "Forget it!", "Trash and Treasure", and perhaps "The Coin".
[2003-06-08 20:30:59]
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"The Dream of a Lifetime" (25 pages (one-part v.), 26 pages (two-part v.) -
Done for Egmont. This is the story Don Rosa is currently working on. Don Rosa says about it: “I'm doing one about the Beagle Boys using a Gearloose invention to invade $crooge's dreams when he sleeps to gain secrets about his vault combinations since they are sure he dreams about nothing but his money. Donald is sent ‘in’ to get them out. The BBs find that $crooge does not dream about money but dreams about his youth, and they and Donald chase each other through a short rendition of the ‘Lo$’ adventures. The final scene takes place ‘in’ a dream $crooge is having about Glittering Goldie and the burning Blackjack Ballroom as in ‘Hearts of the Yukon’”. Don bases this story on a basic idea sent in by a fan in France.
And from this story on: "From now on I will do a whole extra page that will
contain more recaps of the previous chapter, and perhaps (but not necessarily) a few panels of superfluous gags to fill it out. This way, it will be more difficult for publishers not to realize that they should NOT be using that page, and even if they still DO (and they will!), they will still be using ALL of the story and not leaving out a half-page
of important material.
Therefore this new story will be 25 pages in the single part version, and 26 pages in the two-part version. There will be two page 14s, A & B."
News keep ticking in on this story, and where else to put it than here, for all to see:
"The story involves Donald entering $crooge's mind while he sleeps to save him
from a dream-raid by the Beagle Boys who assume $crooge dreams only of
his money, so they plan to find the secrets to the combination of his
vault locks in his sleeping mind. But they discover that he only
dreams of his adventures of his youth (which they interpret as obvious
"nightmares"). Anyway, this plot idea enables me to have Donald
interacting with a young $crooge in many eras of his early life,
including numerous scenes directly out of the "Life of $crooge"
series, placing Donald right in those scenes as if he were
time-traveling. And Donald and the Beagle Boys being on hand makes
each dream-scene come out differently than it did in real life.
The few people who have seen the script say it's the best story I have
ever written... but we'll see how it comes out when it's drawn." (From norwegian newsgroup, mail from Don).
Don turned the story in in the middle of may.
Published in Norway and Denmark in the weekly issue #49/2002 (as an extra supplement). Published in Sweden in the traditional Christmas double issue #51-52, with the cover included inside the magazine.
Published in Germany in two parts in MM 04-05/2003.
[2003-06-08 20:30:16]
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"Gyro's First Invention" (20 pages) -
Done for Egmont. This story is finished. It’s a 50th anniversary story for Gyro Gearloose and a sequel to the Barks-classic "A Christmas for Shacktown" (as regards $crooge's situation at the end of that also-50th-anniversary story) and will "probably" deal with the origin of the Helper (the first invention?). The basic idea of combining the 50th anniversary story for Gyro with a sequel to ”A Christmas for Shacktown” was first suggested by duckhunter Sigvald! Sigvald, we're proud of you. The story was published in issue 19 and 20 - 2002 of the weeklies in all Scandinavia (incl. Finland) and Germany. In Scandinavia a cover was on the front (mirrored on danish issues). In Holland it was published in Donald Duck Extra issue 4 - 2003.
[2003-06-08 20:27:17]
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"Forget it" (13 pages) -
Done for Egmont. This story is finished. Don Rosa said about it: "I've written a sort of 'sequel' to 'A Matter of Some Gravity' -- as much as people might enjoy that same sideways-gravity idea, it seems like I should not be repeating myself quite yet... so I've created a13-page story purposely with the same general plot progression of Magica snatching the Dime and U$ & DD chasing her to the airport, only she has cast a different sort of spell on them this time to make their chase difficult. Next week I'll start to draw it."
The story is published in the scandinavian (incl. Finland) weeklies in issue 11/2002. Published in issue 13 of german MM.
[2003-06-08 20:26:31]
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"The Crown of the Crusader Kings" (27 pages) -
Done for Egmont. This story is about the search for a middle-age treasure. In Don Rosa's own words it is "in the same vein" as "Guardians of the Lost Library". It is linked to Carl Barks' "The Philosopher's Stone", though, since there are references to that story and Monsieur Mattressface and the International Money Council appear. It will include a Finnish adventurer (A. E. Nordenskiöld, ~1830-1900, writer of geographic literature and collector of maps) as it was done for the 4th finnish Rosa book in november 2001 - Published in Scandinavian weeklies issue 43 to 45 and in Germany issues 3-5 of Micky Maus. In Holland published as an extra for the Donald Duck weekly issues 21 and 22.
[2003-06-08 20:25:06]
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