Legendary "Uncle Scrooge" Artist Rosa Builds a Library in Duckburg

[CBR News]

Award-winning cartoonist Don Rosa discusses his Fantagraphics' prestige series, the unofficial "Uncle Scrooge" soundtrack, and the strangeness of his career.


Full article here.

[Lot 49]

I don't care if you like DC, Marvel, Independents or whatever...

Disney characters or no, Don Rosa could write and draw the living crap out of comics...tight plots, great draftsmanship, smart dialogue...

I would have loved to see him create his own character and put that ability to use for his own (and consequently our) benefit...

[Stony]

SEPTEMBER??? oh come on.. I need it now!

[L.R Johansson]

Sounds like a fantastic collection. =) Glad to see it finally seeing the light of day, in North America.

And the first time I heard about the sound-track! Had a listen to the single on Youtube, and it was quite good! Might have to buy that album too...

And yeah, I agree, Mr Rosa should totally go into Indie-comics - he could do a great creator-owned series for BOOM! studios, I bet! He could even create his own sort of pastisches, inspired by the classic Disney-characters - they'd be ducks, while everybody else in the comic, would be HUMAN!

I'd buy it. I think he could do something really spectacular, given completely free reign.

[hondobrode]

According to what i understand of Disney's contracts, it would be pretty tough for him to pull off.

I met him last year and got a sketch. A real pleasure and he's a true gentleman.

[Angilasman]

Wooohooo! Goodbye to searching through back-issue bins and out-of-print collections! I've wanted a complete Don Rosa set ever since I knew who Don Rosa was.

[Spider-Prime]

I can't wait for this to come out. It's going right beside my Far Side collection and E C Segar popeye collections!

[Blastermaster]

In most American shows, I'd say 90-95% of the people who come to my table haven't the slightest idea who I am or what I do -- or that there have ever been Disney comic books published in the world. There are lots of people who do shows who know I don't bring people in the door, but they know I'm good because these shows have families come, and they know Donald Duck, so if the kids want a drawing, they'll say, we know this. I stay pretty busy with people who have no idea who I am, which is okay.

Uncultured Swines!

oh, well. If I can't find vol.1-4 of Don Rosas Samlade verk by Egmont, I'll gladly buy a life and time of Scrooge McDuck box set with original colouring, as the Scandinavian version has more colder modern colour, which are excellent but doesn't set the mood as well the original.

[Great O.G.U.F.O.O.L.]

This is great news, IMO he is easily the greatest of Barks's successors. I hope this collection will help make him more popular with US readers.

According to what i understand of Disney's contracts, it would be pretty tough for him to pull off.

From what I remember, Rosa always claimed that he was never a Disney employee, he just worked for companies that had got the Disney license and answered only to them. He frequently says in interviews that Disney destroyed his interest in telling stories and that's a big reason he won't write any more stories (his eye problems don't let him draw up to his own standards).

As for characters of his own, Don Rosa had written and drawn "The Pertwillaby Papers" years before the Ducks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pertwillaby_Papers) but he usually said that he didn't have the same emotional connection with his characters that he had with Barks's Ducks that he grew up with. Still, I hope he changes his opinion because his great sense of storytelling is being missed and i would buy anything on the strength of his name.

edit: I thought that hondobrode considered that Rosa may still be contracted to Disney, but on second thought he probably meant that it would be tough for Rosa to pull off Disney pastiches under Disney's watchful eye, in which case I agree.

[normanosborn]

Thanks a ton, CBR, for this.

I rank him on Stan Lee level. After the Kalevala story, he turned into a god over here in Finland. A childhood hero of mine. So sorry that I haven't had the opportunity to attend to one of his meet & greets yet.

[Captain Jim]

Great interview with a great creator and great man.

[Alastor]

Sorry for digging up this thread, but I just discovered the interview and wanted to leave my two cents.
I think this interview shows why he is such a great storyteller because he's also a huge fanboy himself. I find it admirable how much time and effort he spent to do research for his stories and I understand why he quit creating comics when he did. His work has been a substantial part of my childhood, "The Vigilante of Pizen Bluff" was actually the reason why I learned how to read.
Don Rosa.jpg

[sliderb]

Don Rosa is my favorite comic artist of all times. I discovered him when I was about 14 years old. My parents didn't want me reading the more mainstream material because of content concerns. However, they were fine with me reading Disney. Carl Barks and Don were my two favorites.
I'm one of the 5-10% who knew exactly who he was when I meet him. In fact, he was the main reason I went to the Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC a few years back. I was very nervous walking up to meet my idol. You hear all these stories about disappointed fans finding out some of these guys are jerks... but not Don.
At first I could tell he had met a lot of people who had no clue who he was, so he had that sense of skepticism about whether or not I just liked Disney or was a fan. But once I pulled out a 1st printing of "The Last of the Clan McDuck" and a couple other issues for him to sign, he had no doubts of my following him. While I feel bad that he didn't have many fans stopping by, it was a great opportunity for me because we talked for about 10-15 minutes and he signed all my books. A couple casual autograph hunters stopped by, but we just kept talking as he signed their stuff and they took off. By the end, I wanted to get a signed print but couldn't choose between two. He leaned in and told me he'd give me a 2-for-1 special. That made my day. Hands down the best con experience ever.
He's truly a classy individual and I'm sad to hear we won't be getting new material from him. I'm definitely scooping up my complete collection from Fantagraphics.