Bump-a-roo!
Even though I pretty much own all of the Don Rosa stories created (In Dutch) by the time I was collecting them (Which was a fair while ago by now), this thread inspired me to get up and purchase ''The Life and Times''… in its original English! (Being the nicely deluxe all-compassing album in this case) It's a fantastic ride. The dialogue is basically all new for someone who's only read Dutch translations, sparkling with Rosa's writing, and the extensive explanations and side-notes Rosa included in the album are nothing short of an amazing treat. I'm having one hell of a time rereading the adventures of my childhood hero and finding all new ways to appreciate the greatness of the stories, so my future goal is now to collect all other original editions of Don Rosa and Carl Barks stories I can possibly lay my hands on. It's kind of difficult to go back to the Dutch of old now that I've read this, but I'll probably try and catch up to Dutch releases from those two as well, providing I can't neatly find them in English first. And let me tell ya, there's a lot of those.
... Wow. Well then, I guess I owe Yoska a thanks, not so much for reminding me of Don Rosa (Whose works I've kept on reading and loving all my life) but for reminding that said works are, in fact, English... Something absolutely useless to me as a child considering I had no grasp on the language whatsoever, but more than an opportunity for me now. All the better considering Rosa and Barks stories are some of the very few timeless works of children's fiction, which can be read and enjoyed at any age and appreciated in many different ways.
Well, enough of that.
Mog, you're a Rosa fan!? I should have known as we kind of share the same taste of comics and it shouldn't be surprising anyway, in likelihood an european is bound to recognize his work or as Wiki puts it: Don remains popular with readers across Europe but considers himself rather obscure in his native United States, an irony worthy of a satirical artist.
The Ducks have been pretty big here in Holland since I was a kid, and can probably be labled as one of the few properties in the medium of comics to cross into a mainstream kind of popularity. For the rest of its worth, comics have never been mind-boggingly big here, or even slightly as popular as in the rest of Europe. I've had a penchant for the medium since an early age, though, and even though I was far less criticizing at the time (You should see the sheer volume of Duck related comics I amassed in those days!), I was quick even back then to sort out the quality from all the other rabble. From a very early age (Pretty much as far back as I can remember) it's been Rosa and Barks who attracted me, even when I had yet no idea of either of their identities, or even recognized their works immediately; my appreciation was all instinctively decided. It's always been more Rosa than Barks, though, as ''The Life and Times'' was something I became absolutely infatuated with early on. I cannot begin to describe how many times I must have read the stories or how much I loved them… I could probably retell the stories panel for panel. It speaks of Rosa's sheer skill I am still capable of appreciating them in many ways, and not just out of nostalgia, even now.
Yeah, I'm a fan.
... Well, sorry about that overly long and sappy post that would've fitted better in a blog and which no one will probably read anyway. It just feels nice to rant on for a while like that once in a time.
