Anyone know Don Rosa?

[Yoda Power]

Ok might seem a bit too nerdish of me to open a thread on a disney writers/drawer on a friday night, but what the hell.

I really love this drawer for several reasons.

His drawings are really good, you can't really compare them to the average disney story.
His stories are much better, and are often based on real history, instead of the usual stupid fictional facts about countries with stupid names like "Goldstan" and the like.

Don Rosa is actually much better than his idol, Carl Barks, in my opinion. He was the only reason that I kept buying cartoons for several years.

Here are some examples of his work:

Link to gallery

 

[Yoda Power]

I forgot to mention that he also made a comic book: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, it is about 250 pages, and just as good a read as a normal book.

 

[Yoda Power]

I guess I'm the only one that reads disney comics then. Anyway here is another emaxple of his work:

 

[Yom]

I've seen Scrooge McDuck, and it's pretty good. I don't really read many comics anymore, though.

 

[Cheetah]

Please tell me that LotR-inspired picture is part of a story!

I love Don Rosa as well. He's drawing are supreme, and often with those tiny, details that makes every pic a wonder in itself. Aliens flying by, squirrels collecting nuts in the forest, the mouses running around in the.. - come to think of it, I have no idea what Scrooges big building is called in english :undecided:. Anyway, all those small details makes every Rosa story absolutely fantastic.

 

[Verbose]

I suspect this will be a very Scandinavian affair.

IMHO Don Rosa is the only DD writer/artist who can hold a pen with Carl Barks!
The keeper of the legacy, long may he draw.

 

[Cheetah]

Why scandinavian?? Disney is USAmerican, after all.

 

[Ville]

He is very popular here, you know. And he has already dedicated one story to Finnish fans

He's great! I love his work

 

[joacqin]

Don Rosa is without a doubt the best of the artists in the Donald Duck comics. As have been said both his drawing and his stories is neck and shoulders above all the rest. I will never forget the first time I read that story when they go to the Andes in hunt for square eggs, it managed to blow away the seven year old kid that was me at the time.

 

[Mathilda]

Yes, I'll second Ville in that he's very popular in Finland.
I don't personally like his drawing style thouhg, I find it too finicky.
I much prefer old Barks's cleaner lines and airier pictures.
His style is very distinquishable though, unlike many other who you couldn't tell apart.

 

[Yoda Power]

Good to see I'm not alone. It's great to see I'm not alone in my passion. Did anyone read his series of stories based on the Knights Templar order?

Please tell me that LotR-inspired picture is part of a story!

I doubt it, I don't think he would be allowed to publish it.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

He is without a doubt the best DD artist around. But he doesn't even come remotely close to Carl Barks.
His drawings are fine, but don't forget, Barks also wrote the stories, and invented all that great characters...
When he took the serious, there was Donald, Daisy, that hen (Klara Kluck in German, no idea how she's called originally), and the 3 nephews. Everyone else, from Uncle Scrooge to Gladstone to Gearloose are Barks ideas.
And, Don Rosa is far from the philosophical storyteller Barks sometimes was. He also lacks the 'Zeitgeist' flavor; not only in the hindsight, he simply doesn't include that much from RL.

But, sad enough, Don Rosa is probably the best possible in the Age of Manga.

Edit:

Don Rosa is without a doubt the best of the artists in the Donald Duck comics. As have been said both his drawing and his stories is neck and shoulders above all the rest. I will never forget the first time I read that story when they go to the Andes in hunt for square eggs, it managed to blow away the seven year old kid that was me at the time.

That one is not only an opus of Carl Barks, it also happens to be his own favorite story .

 

[Cheetah]

Hey, manga isn't bad either.

@Yoda Power: I'm sure they could make a deal somehow. I've already read a number of LotR-like Disney stories, but this seems to be a lot better (if it exists).

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Hey, manga isn't bad either

I wouldn't have any problems with Mangas (I don't like them personally, but that is not the point), if the overdose of that wouldn't have completely killed the market for high-quality comics outside France. Exactly the same way "Major Record Companies" killed the music business.
Mangas are way cheaper to print then Bilal or Herge or Dave McKean. Their main customer group are <20 yrs in Europe. Only problem is that this customers tend to buy comic books for how many years? 5, if at all. No steadily growing market, no establishing of comics as a form of "Art".

 

[Yoda Power]

He is without a doubt the best DD artist around. But he doesn't even come remotely close to Carl Barks.
His drawings are fine, but don't forget, Barks also wrote the stories, and invented all that great characters...
When he took the serious, there was Donald, Daisy, that hen (Klara Kluck in German, no idea how she's called originally), and the 3 nephews. Everyone else, from Uncle Scrooge to Gladstone to Gearloose are Barks ideas.
And, Don Rosa is far from the philosophical storyteller Barks sometimes was. He also lacks the 'Zeitgeist' flavor; not only in the hindsight, he simply doesn't include that much from RL.
[/i] story .

Don Rosa has written all his stories too.

True that Rosa hasn't invented any characters, but it is too late. There are no need for any new charecters. The ones Barks made can interact in all needed ways, simply no need to make new ones.

What is Zeitgeist?

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Oh, I know DR writes the stories himself. But such job is a lot easier when someone before has shown what is possible. And, the sheer amount of Bark's stories are insane. Let's just agree DR continues a great work, and he does so quite appropriate - but it was CB who came up with all the stuff.
And, I agree with mathilda about the drawings; I prefer ligne claire as well (what a surprise ).

"Zeitgeist" (English/German) = spirit of the age; all those electronic brains, roboters etc. Current Disney comics usually play in an 'artificial' world, you cannot tell if something is from the 70ties or 90ties - but Barks is always clear 40ies or 50ies. Not something a child cares about, but it makes the books more interesting for adults.

 

[Yoda Power]

"Zeitgeist" (English/German) = spirit of the age; all those electronic brains, roboters etc. Current Disney comics usually play in an 'artificial' world, you cannot tell if something is from the 70ties or 90ties - but Barks is always clear 40ies or 50ies. Not something a child cares about, but it makes the books more interesting for adults.

But one of Rosa's priciples is that all his stories takes place in the 50'ties too, just like Barks. Rosa does not use technology that is more advanced than what Barks would use.

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

...and that exactly is why it doesn't catch any zeitgeist - it pretends to come out of a different era.
For Barks, you can often tell if something comes from the 40ties or 50ties, by looking at the cars, planes, technology in general; but also the stories behind pick up streamings of the times. A Barks story is in context with the time it was created. A Don Rosa story is fantasy, taking place in a closed, artificial universe.
I'm actually quite happy to see you've noticed that as well - the difference is only, you seem to like it, while I don't .
That is a reoccuring theme in movies, books, or comics I like or dislike. If someone creates a "Fantasy World", he will always be influenced by what's around. However, if that author or someone else who continues/ adds to it does not evolve this world, it gets very static, and a lot less interesting.
For me, this also is the difference between Star Trek (evolution, at least up to early Voyager), and Star Wars.

 

[LLXerxes]

Don Rosa and Screwge McDuck... hmm
I got no idea

Didn't he hide the letters D U C K in all his comics?

 

[Ville]

Didn't he hide the letters D U C K in all his comics?

Yes. "Dedicated to Unca Carl from Keno" Except when he didn't realize he could hide that