ft88 Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 I've always thought of Barks as leaps and bounds ahead of his peers in a way Rosa never was, even in the world of "kiddie" comics. So Rosa compares well directly to Barks, even better in many of the ways you describe. Compare Rosa to the European artists and writers - and he comes across well, though many are good all around. "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Isaac Newton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 Happy holidays all. I was sitting with my now adult daughter today looking over the new Don Rosa hardcover volumes, and she made some comments I thought worth passing on here because of the fresh perspectve she has. I'll post my comments on the Rosa books tomorrow (Cliff notes version: well worth having), but first a little background. My daughter was born in 1990, and she grew up with a houseful of Disney comics. First of all me reading them to her, and then on her own. My hardcover Barks Library just about got worn out. Today we got talking about her all time favourite stories, and it became clear that her strong preference was for Rosa. That surprised me, because I think that Barks was a clearly superior writer (usually) and always a better artist. I just assumed she'd feel the same. Here's what she had to say: 1. Barks' stories are very much a result of a much larger and more remote world than she has ever experienced. When he sent the ducks off to exotic places, to most of the readers they were places they'd never experience (or at least assumed they wouldn't) - such as Trala La in the Himalayas. Today many of her friends have trekked in Nepal. Barks got reader interest through techniques that don't really translate as well today. 2. Rosa does physical slapstick comedy better than Barks. (Actually, I partially agree with that, and the new books reminded me of that in places). 3. The Life and Times series is wonderfully coherent in a way that Barks never was. A story would finish in one issue, and those events wouldn't impact the next issue at all. (I think that difference reflects the view of a generation reading comics decades after Stan Lee perfected the serialisation of stories.) She also made one comment that struck me as a deep truth I hadn't realised. We were talking about something that required a factual data point to resolve and she pulled out her smartphone and Googled it in seconds. She observed that she always wanted a Junior Woodchuck Guidebook - and now she has one. Talking to your kids about comics. Very interesting (and apt) observations from daughter - she's certainly overcome a fair few hurdles (given her father) and has still managed to arrive with some pretty well developed critical faculties. The bolded observation regarding the Junior Woodchuck Guide is so applicable - it makes me want to try to find a "skin" for the phone that would be appropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hap Hazard Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 I've always been a Bark's fan and I was lucky enough to pick these two up out of a original owner collection a few years back, they have nice white pages but both have subscription creases down the middle of the covers though. But of course still glad to have them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 I've always been a Bark's fan and I was lucky enough to pick these two up out of a original owner collection a few years back, they have nice white pages but both have subscription creases down the middle of the covers though. But of course still glad to have them. Nice. Subscription copies don't come much nicer than those two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the new Don Rosa hardcover volumes from Fantagraphics. I got mine before Christmas and am really pleased with them. They remind me of everything I like (and a few things I don't like) about Rosa's work. Not having read some of these stories for some years now, it really struck me how the early Rosa stories were nt far removed from underground comics. The art isn't as polished as you'd normally see in a major publisher's books and the stories often have a frenetic feel to them. There's none of the careful pacing or extended setting up of a scene like you'd often get from Barks. My favourite example is Barks' Atlantis story in Uncle Scrooge #5 - it's 32 pages long but half the story is taken getting the ducks to Atlantas - and there's a great pie fight along the way. In Son of the Sun, Rosa has them on a plane on page 5, having already flagged where the quest would be on page 3. Now to be fair, early Barks wasn't classic Barks either, and Rosa's stories get better as you go along. The volumes cover the first couple of years' worth of stories, and they're head and shoulders better than the middle of the road European stories that appeared around the same time, or almost all of the post-Barks American duck stories. Also, Uncle Scrooge #219 with Son of the Sun is the reason I picked up comics again as an adult, so I well recall how exciting it was to find someone at least trying to do classic duck stories. I'm going to enjoy collecting this series. I'll find some of my highlights from the early stories and post them later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronty Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Huh, Inpersonally love some of the early rosa stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the new Don Rosa hardcover volumes from Fantagraphics. I got mine before Christmas and am really pleased with them. They remind me of everything I like (and a few things I don't like) about Rosa's work. Not having read some of these stories for some years now, it really struck me how the early Rosa stories were nt far removed from underground comics. The art isn't as polished as you'd normally see in a major publisher's books and the stories often have a frenetic feel to them. There's none of the careful pacing or extended setting up of a scene like you'd often get from Barks. My favourite example is Barks' Atlantis story in Uncle Scrooge #5 - it's 32 pages long but half the story is taken getting the ducks to Atlantas - and there's a great pie fight along the way. In Son of the Sun, Rosa has them on a plane on page 5, having already flagged where the quest would be on page 3. Now to be fair, early Barks wasn't classic Barks either, and Rosa's stories get better as you go along. The volumes cover the first couple of years' worth of stories, and they're head and shoulders better than the middle of the road European stories that appeared around the same time, or almost all of the post-Barks American duck stories. Also, Uncle Scrooge #219 with Son of the Sun is the reason I picked up comics again as an adult, so I well recall how exciting it was to find someone at least trying to do classic duck stories. I'm going to enjoy collecting this series. I'll find some of my highlights from the early stories and post them later. For real frenetics pick up a collection of Rosa's Pertwillaby Papers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeSeas Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the new Don Rosa hardcover volumes from Fantagraphics. I got mine before Christmas and am really pleased with them. They remind me of everything I like (and a few things I don't like) about Rosa's work. Not having read some of these stories for some years now, it really struck me how the early Rosa stories were nt far removed from underground comics. The art isn't as polished as you'd normally see in a major publisher's books and the stories often have a frenetic feel to them. There's none of the careful pacing or extended setting up of a scene like you'd often get from Barks. My favourite example is Barks' Atlantis story in Uncle Scrooge #5 - it's 32 pages long but half the story is taken getting the ducks to Atlantas - and there's a great pie fight along the way. In Son of the Sun, Rosa has them on a plane on page 5, having already flagged where the quest would be on page 3. Now to be fair, early Barks wasn't classic Barks either, and Rosa's stories get better as you go along. The volumes cover the first couple of years' worth of stories, and they're head and shoulders better than the middle of the road European stories that appeared around the same time, or almost all of the post-Barks American duck stories. Also, Uncle Scrooge #219 with Son of the Sun is the reason I picked up comics again as an adult, so I well recall how exciting it was to find someone at least trying to do classic duck stories. I'm going to enjoy collecting this series. I'll find some of my highlights from the early stories and post them later. Thanks for mentioned this AJD. I just ordered these hard cover volumes. In the holiday hustle and bustle I overlooked ordering my set. These will go nicely with my Barks' Another Rainbow set and others in my new library room I am putting together. (after I have read them of course) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 (edited) I love duck books, and wish i had more...but I just got these 3 at a CA comic shop a few weeks ago. They were cheap (all 3 for $40-somebody was sleepin' on the job that day, or maybe they just wanted to get rid of them, or maybe I'm just a good negotiator )...and I really like the covers...don't know if all the covers are Barks, but I don't care either... Edited December 27, 2014 by tricolorbrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 and here's one I've had a long time: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 I love duck books, and wish i had more...but I just got these 3 at a CA comic shop a few weeks ago. They were cheap (all 3 for $40-somebody was sleepin' on the job that day, or maybe they just wanted to get rid of them, or maybe I'm just a good negotiator )...and I really like the covers...don't know if all the covers are Barks, but I don't care either... Nice books. All three covers are by Barks. He did most of the WDC&S covers during that period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 I love duck books, and wish i had more...but I just got these 3 at a CA comic shop a few weeks ago. They were cheap (all 3 for $40-somebody was sleepin' on the job that day, or maybe they just wanted to get rid of them, or maybe I'm just a good negotiator )...and I really like the covers...don't know if all the covers are Barks, but I don't care either... Nice books. All three covers are by Barks. He did most of the WDC&S covers during that period. Yep, and #140 has the first Gyro Gearloose. (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 and here's one I've had a long time: That's such a fantastic cover Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 (edited) I love duck books, and wish i had more...but I just got these 3 at a CA comic shop a few weeks ago. They were cheap (all 3 for $40-somebody was sleepin' on the job that day, or maybe they just wanted to get rid of them, or maybe I'm just a good negotiator )...and I really like the covers...don't know if all the covers are Barks, but I don't care either... Nice books. All three covers are by Barks. He did most of the WDC&S covers during that period. Yep, and #140 has the first Gyro Gearloose. (thumbs u And it's the 3rd Uncle Scrooge cover too. (thumbs u (thumbs u Here's the 1st Scrooge cover: Edited December 28, 2014 by tricolorbrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted December 28, 2014 Share Posted December 28, 2014 (edited) And here's one for the season, not a GA, but who cares...: Edited December 28, 2014 by tricolorbrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill1 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Just got this one with a batch of Dell Giants at my LCS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Just got this one with a batch of Dell Giants at my LCS. Dell Giants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill1 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Just got this one with a batch of Dell Giants at my LCS. Dell Giants. Never was a fan, until my LCS had 10 of them in great shape-- this is the worst one by far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 Some of you might recall the trouble I had running down a nice Uncle Scrooge 6 when I was putting that run together back in 08/09. Because of a common production flaw there were only two in the census then - a 6.5 and an 8.0. Today there are four blue labels in total, two 8s, a 7 and a 6.5. There are also two SA 7.5s - I'm willing to bet they're trimmed to get rid of the production overhang. Anyhow, I recall joining Heritage a week after the 6.5 was auctioned and was sorry I'd just missed it when I checked the archives. Oh well, I thought, I'll just make sure I buy the next one... In the meantime I bought a VG+ copy which presented well but is almost certainly trimmed. It filled the hole in my collection but I always wanted a better one. Fast forward almost seven years and thanks to the for sale section on these boards I got a second chance at that book. Here's what will be winging its way to me soon: I feel like I just won a lottery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
