Don Rosa

Yesterday Boom! Studios released the first book collecting Don Rosa’s legendary epic story The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. The hardcover album ($16.49 at Amazon) was released earlier than expected, but in case you haven’t seen it yet here are some pictures of this fabulous new book.

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Frank Stajano has the fifth part of his interview with Don Rosa on his Comics Podcast website. In this part Don Rosa talks about the twelve beautiful posters he did for Scrooge’s 60th anniversary in 2008. Each poster depicts a part of Scrooge’s life with scenes from some of Rosa’s favorite Barks stories. You can read the interview or listen to the podcast. Be sure to also check out the other parts of the interview: 4, 3, 2 and 1.

In 1998, Disney comic book writer and illustrator Don Rosa drew a story about speedskating for Dutch (but English-language) magazine Speedskating World. The story is titled The Annual Speedskating Race of the Burg of Ducks and was written by Norwegian professor of mathematical statistics at the University of Oslo, Nils Lid Hjort, who is also a Disney comics fan and has edited two books with the works of Don Rosa.

The two-page story was made specifically for the Speedskating magazine and has, as far as I know, not appeared anywhere else. It was printed in black-and-white, which really brings out Don Rosa’s beautifully detailed artwork, and extra large at two (sideways) rows per page. I was lucky to obtain a copy of the magazine back in 1998 and have scanned the two-page story below. More »

Check out this interview with Don Rosa from Finnish TV station MTV3. He talks about his interest in writing rather than drawing, making his first Uncle Scrooge story for Gladstone in 1986, his unique detailed drawing style and the Quest for Kalevala. At the end of part 2 Don talks about his bad eye sight and a detached retina that he suffered in March 2008 that prevents him from doing any more detailed drawing. He’ll be able to continue to write articles about his stories for Don Rosa collections, but unfortunately will probably not be able to make any more new duck stories. More »

The search for the famous Lost Library of Alexandria is on again in the latest issue of Uncle Scrooge. Issue #383 in the series reprints Don Rosa’s masterpiece Guardians of the Lost Library for the first time in the United States since fourteen years. This time the story is accompanied by unused, finished panels Rosa dropped from the story and replaced after its initial European printing. Two articles by Don Rosa tell about the story’s origins and the research that went into the making. The beautiful Rosa cover and a new Christmas back cover poster by Don Rosa make this an issue not to be missed. It is on sale now for $7.99 at Amazon and your local comic store.

The first volume of the new Don Rosa Library is now available for pre-order at Amazon. The series of hardcover books will re-print, in chronological order, the complete collection of duck comic book stories by Keno Don Rosa. This first book will come out on January 9th 2009 in summer 2009¹ and contains his early work from 1987 and 1988, including his very first story Son of the Sun and the masterpiece Last Sled to Dawson, in which Uncle Scrooge goes back to the Klondike to find a sled he left there during the gold rush. The stories are restored, recolored, and furnished with numerous editorial features.

¹ – This has been delayed until summer 2009 due to issues with getting some of the stories together for the book.

Frank Stajano has published the first installment of his interview with Don Rosa when he visited the Disney comics artist in his Louisville home in January 2008. Rosa talks about his early years as a comic artist including his work on Captain Kentucky and the Pertwillaby Papers. You can listen to the podcast on Frank’s blog.