References 000-009

[Answering KNUT-835]

>>pirate who breaks gold coins in two with his sword; or the one with the 
>>"trombe di Eustachio" (Eustachian tubes, but also trumpets).

>Do you mean the one where U$'s money gets "sick" and he takes them out for a
"walk" in those huge baskets?
 
No, the one you mentioned is (I believe) "Zio Paperone e la febbre dell'oro" (fms/disney/references 001). First published in TL 809 (1971), written by Rodolfo Cimino and drawn by Massimo De Vita. If the DD&CO you mention are, like in many other countries, complete reprints of the booklets from the Classici di Walt Disney series, then you may have it in the translation of CWD 63 (1975) (fms/disney/references 002), which contains mostly Paperinik stories. I personally find that story rather good, and I liked the idea of a "psycho-somatic transfert" between $crooge and his money, but you say you didn't; oh well, everyone has different tastes.

>But come to think of it, I think there are some more
>italian stories with
>ear-stuff in one form or the other. Which one do you mean?
 
The one I meant was "Zio Paperone e le trombe d'Eustachio", TL 748 (1970), script by Rodolfo Cimino, art by Giorgio Bordini (fms/disney/references 003), which is reprinted in CWD 58 "Paperone il magnifico" (1974) (fms/disney/references 004). In this one, which of course I also like a lot otherwise I wouldn't have quoted it in the first place as an example of a good Bordini story, Uncle Scrooge dissects lots of trumpets from all over the world in the hope of finding the map to a priceless black pearl.

The first one I mentioned, the one about the pirate, is instead "Zio Paperone e il pirata Spack Doblon", TL 701 (1969), again by Cimino/Bordini. (I suppose I already said some time ago that Cimino is one of my favourite writers...) I'm sure I have a reprint of it that I could scan, but I can't find it right now. I used to have the original comic (when it came out I was a 3-year-old kid) and I distinctly remember having this incomplete comic around for years and years: the cover and some of the first few pages had fallen off early on and I always wondered what the missing part of the story said. Then, some day, I got a reprint and I could re-read the story... what a joy! Maybe it's also because of that that I like it so much: when I re-read it in its entirety, it was like meeting an old friend again; maybe someone else, who hadn't had this same experience, wouldn't like it as much. Anyway, the story was about a pirate who had an irresistible urge to break doubloons in two with his sword, which of course upset Scrooge quite a bit since some of the doubloons were his. I'll put up a picture (fms/disney/references 005) if and when I find it.

>>>        b) space-opera (*VERY* unscientific)
>>What are those? Do you think this is a complete genre? Can you give me a 
>>few examples?

>There are lots of those. One line has MM and Goofy rescuing some >people on a
>far away planet, Goofy falling in love with the princess (and vice >versa!).
 
Could you be more specific? I still don't see which "genre" of stories you two refer to. A story that fits your last description is the (IMHO excellent) recent Star Wars spoof drawn by Massimo De Vita, but I really can't see you slagging this one off! I personally rate it in the same class as the Tolkien-like trilogy. De Vita, besides being a top-notch artist, is one of the few Disney authors who really understands Goofy and can make the most of him, not just as Mickey's silly helper but as a complex and mature character who wins not because he's clever but because of his pure, absent-minded, almost poetic innocence. The story I'm talking of here is "Topolino e i signori della galassia", TL 1846 - 1849 (1991), script by Giorgio Pezzin / Manuela Marinato, art by Massimo De Vita (fms/disney/references 006). Besides, while it is true that this story had a precursor in another great story by the same authors, I would hardly define these two stories as a complete "space opera genre" unless you have many more stories in mind. So I'm still wondering what else you were referring to.
>>	* Fantasy
>>		This was started by a wonderful trilogy (Trilogia della spada di 
>>		ghiaccio) by Massimo De Vita in the 80s
>>            and later became inflation-ridden with inferior stories by 
>>others like Ubezio.
>
>Do you mean that Tolkien-like trilogy with this plate and spoon as means of
>transport? That is IMHO one of the _really_ good stories that have been in
>DD&CO. pocket books (together with the one Barks story, of course!)!
 
Yes, that's the one. The trilogy is one of the best works of Massimo De Vita and one of the very few for which he authored the script. The first story of the trilogy appeared near Christmas 1982: "Topolino e la spada di ghiaccio", TL 1411 - 1413. After one year, as the Christmas gift for 1983, we had "Topolino e il torneo dell'Argaar", TL 1464 - 1465 (fms/disney/references 007). And finally, for Christmas 1984, the closing story of the trilogy, "Topolino e il ritorno del principe delle nebbie", where the evil mask is destroyed and the dimensional vector (the plate) is left in Argaar, to prevent Mickey and Goofy from having to come back again. This trilogy was reprinted in several occasions. Christmas 1989 saw a CWD-format special edition, "Trilogia della spada di ghiaccio" (no sequence number), with a golden cover (fms/disney/references 008) (beware: the golden cover didn't come out at all in the scan) which reprinted just these three stories. A hard-bound version of the same was later produced as a giveaway for subscribers.

Massimo De Vita was asked many times to follow up the hugely successful trilogy with some more episodes, but he refused to. The Yellow Book quotes him as saying "I've been asked for more stories like these from the editorial office. But fantasy is now a bit overworked and I don't particularly feel like continuing." It took him almost ten years to give in: but the wait was worth it. In 1993 he finally produced "Topolino e la bella addormentata nel cosmo", TL 1936 - 1937, script co-authored with Fabio Michelini (fms/disney/references 009). In keeping with his feeling that the fantasy genre had been already over-exploited, he added several witty and enjoyable (I would say Jacovitti-style) self-ironical references. For example, on hearing that the evil mask is still exerting a negative influence, Goofy "jumps up one level" and complains about the lack of new ideas from script writers...


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    Originally written on 1995 11 27 by hand.
    Last updated 1995 11 27.