We recently had a chance to talk with "duck legend" Don Rosa, the spiritual heir to Carl Barks. Mr. Rosa walked us through his influences, why he loves comics, and the status of his fantagraphics reprints.
Not only popular in Europe I'm Moroccan and uncle Scrooge comics are very well sold here in french language I'm 23 yo now and i remember reading them since i was 6. I have full drawers of these comics that i still read whenever i feel like it Don Rosa's comics were always my favorites because i rlly enjoyed the historical trasure hunts. Such an exceptional artist
Can't see why they call Don Rosa an "elitist", he has a required taste and isn't into a lot of other stuff, but he doesn't call anything "garbage" and is only stating what he personally likes.
If You mean who will build on Rosa's stories like Rosa built on Barks, I would name Marco Gervasio and Arild Midthun (both among my favorites current authors)
I hadn't heard before that material destined for the Fantagraphics books had to be removed. That's quite a shame. I'll be buying and enjoying them all anyway, of course.
only a decade or so for donald to end up in public domain and then artists can get payed for composition and story yup! the figures may be free then but work is still work and publishers will have to pay up!
Wait, you mean they aren't paid now? Or u mean they'll (eventually) get copyright to their work using these "public" characters? Sorry I kinda lost it at some point.
Love him or hate him as a person, he's the second greatest Duck comic artist ever. I might put him at second greatest Disney comic artist, but Gottfredson is just so good, too. And I'm not a Mickey guy. I have a lot of opinions on this subject as someone who grew up with the Gladstone/Disney comics of the late 80's and early 90's. But as much of an asshole as Keno Don Rosa is reputed to be, he's a pretty great artist and storyteller. Especially his early stuff.
I think Rosa carries Barks " torch very well, but he has a rather snobbish view of superhero comics. I love both funny animals, as. well as superhero comics.
I totally agree with him superheroes are trash, but I was a bit taken aback that he dumped on gottfredson, whose art is incredible, beyond Barks. Clearly Rosa is more of a story guy.
"Only idiots" have "slabbed" comics. Says the guy that has TONS of "slabbed" comics. Look, Rosa is a GREAT Scrooge artist and I REALLY enjoy his work but the guy is a complete elitist jerk. I've seen him treat people like trash at conventions. From kids right on up to adults. There's even a youtube video called "Don Rosa Was Rude" where a guy talks about a ridiculous blow up that Don Rosa had on him. When you meet him he really just comes across as a bitter old man.
Hey was a bit apprehensive before we started the interview, but by the end he had warmed considerably and was perfectly lovely to us for the rest of the convention. He's a bit scrappy, and he's an individualist, but that's part of his charm.
I don't know how you guys approached him, but when I met him, he signed my book, posed for pictures and even chatted for a couple of minutes. There wasn't a single thing I found rude about him. And this was after hours he had already signed and chatted with dozens or hundreds of others.
