References 010-010

Hi David, 
> 	FABIO, or anyone among our Italian constituency, can probably
> help me here.  A collector I know sent me a xerox of a page of art he
> owns from some Italian story, probably from the early 1960s given the
> art style.  Not sure who drew it -- I know a lot less about the
> Italian artists than about American ones.  Art looks a little bit like
This (fms/disney/references 010) is page 36 of a 38-page story called "Paperino e l'imperatore degli Stati Uniti", written by Renata Rizzo and drawn by Pier Lorenzo De Vita, first published in Topolino libretto n. 601, 11th June 1967.

When I saw your excerpt I thought that the style of the dialogue suggested Guido Martina (Renata Rizzo is in fact his wife and of course they cooperated on many scripts). I couldn't remember the story straight away so I started looking in Fossati's index for stories by Martina which might ring a bell, but it didn't help. Suddenly, however, I remembered the story perfectly, and immediately knew that the art was by PL De Vita. I then scanned the index again for Martina/De Vita, again without success... So I eventually went to The Real Thing and flipped through (you're free not to believe this bit, but it's true) 160 comics before finding the right one! Once I had the title I went back to Fossati's index once more where I discovered that I was slightly off with my Martina guess. 


> First, I need someone to translate this.  Then: Does someone know
> what story this is from?  Who wrote or drew it?  And is this an
> important page in the story, or just a random one?
The story is not a particularly significant or good one. Donald learns from a TV programme that America has been discovered by a Welsh prince called Madoc in 1170. As Madoc was a duck, Donald hopes to be his heir and to have the right to the title of Emperor of the United States (Barks's classic and vastly superior viking helmet story comes to mind as a distant relative, of course, although the two plots are completely different). Scrooge has the same thoughts. But they both overlooked some details, spotted by Huey Dewey Louie, which give away the fact that this Madoc story must be bogus.

The page your friend has is near the climax of the story, when Donald and Scrooge find the nephews' "easter egg".

Literal translation follows.

Panel 1-2:

Scrooge: "Madoc's will!"
Donald: "Madoc's famous book!"

Panel 3:

Scrooge: "Great man, that Madoc! A true duck! He wrote on bark to SAVE paper!"

Panel 4:

(will reads) "Dear uncle Donald, dear uncle Scrooge"

Panel 5:

Donald: "Gulp! Madoc, too, had an uncle Donald and an uncle Scrooge!"
Scrooge: "This is the best proof that we are his descendants!"

Panel 6:

Scrooge: "Read the will!"
(will reads) "Dear uncle Donald, dear uncle Scrooge, if you were less ignorant you would know that Madoc could not own a printed Welsh-language book in 1170, because printing was invented much later."
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    Originally written on 1996 02 14 by hand.
    Last updated 1996 02 14.