Freddy Milton og Miltons Verden

Det har været en helt overvældende modtagelse af denne hjemmeside. Skæbnen ville, at serveren lagde den ud på nettet under sit rette navn den 27. Marts, og det er jo for alle barksister en god dato. Ansporet af denne succes har jeg brugt mere tid på at rode i krogene og fundet flere underlige sager frem, som kan vække fornøjelse eller saglig anerkendelse. Jeg vil overlade til de besøgende selv at vandre rundt i det levende museum og finde ud af, hvor der er kommet nyt på væggene.
En spalte vil jeg dog lige nævne, for den blev nødvendig i forbindelse med opdateringen af nogle sammenstillede interviews.
Det er overskriften ”Prøvesider”. Her har jeg samlet lidt materiale fra serier, der af en eller anden grund ikke blev til noget.
Det kan man godt forstå, vil nogle måske sige, men ikke desto mindre er det en nostalgisk vinkel med et vist kuriøst islæt, som nogle måske vil påskønne.
Der er også eksempler på serier, som faktisk blev til noget men blot fik kort levetid.

Fortsat god fornøjelse
Freddy Milton

fred-lars_bogforum2009

Opdatering 2010
Skæbnen skalter og valter på underlig og undertiden forunderlig vis, og det som har budt på den største oplevelse for mig i årets løb var den opdagelse, at jeg kunne udtrykke mig i skreven litteratur helt uden billeder og få det til at virke, og ydermere at mærke, at man bliver påskønnet for sin indsats.
Det har været interessant at få bekræftet, at bogstavlitteratur giver anledning til mere umiddelbar interesse og påskønnelse hos omgivelserne end arbejdet med tegneserier. En lidt vemodig konstatering på en måde, når man har brugt det meste af sit liv på at udtrykke sig gennem tegneserier. Så nu har jeg skrevet endnu en bog, 'Sasjas sidste Chance', og det er noget helt andet end min første bog, men stadig med et indslag af grænseoverskridelse mellem liv og død. Så min opdagelse peger fremad mod nye og spændende horisonter.
En bidragende faktor til mine nye sonderinger i litteraturens verden har også været det faktum, at jeg har fået mere samlet tid til overs nu hvor børnene er flyttet hjemmefra. Så alt i alt har jeg mere samlet tid til overs, hvor jeg uforstyrret kan udtænke og håndtere de mere komplekse strukturer, som jeg gerne vil bakse med, når jeg sidder der ved tasterne.
En anden stor tilfredsstillelse i det forløbne år har det været som oversætter at følge genudgivelsen af Franquins samlede værker til dørs. Først gjaldt det ‘Vakse Viggo’ og netop nu har jeg leveret det redaktionelle materiale til det sidste bind af bogserien med Franquins ‘Spint & Co’, hvor jeg med nyoversættelsen helt er blevet Franquins danske stemme. Et forhold som jeg er meget beæret over. Og de sammenføjende artikler kaster et nyt og interessant lys over Franquins karriere. En betydningsfuld form for historieskrivning.
Apropos historieskrivning aner jeg konturerne af den rolle, som min egen hjemmeside er ved at få. Efter flere fyldige opdateringer er den kommet til at omfatte mange hundrede sider tegneserier, og dette har sikkert bidraget til, at besøgstallet er stigende, så jeg nu står som forvalter af et forum, hvor der kan bevares klip og kommentarer til øjeblikke i tegneseriernes historie, ikke bare angående mig selv, men også den periode, hvor jeg har oplevet tegneseriernes markedsmæssige skæbne i Danmark. Det er et forløb, som omfatter ganske mange år. Denne opmærksomhed vil jeg naturligvis leve op til gennem denne og kommende opdateringer af siden. Efterhånden er det jo blevet sådan, at ting også skal være tilgængelig digitalt, hvis man skal fastholde og udvikle interessen for tegneserier hos et publikum.
At min hjemmeside besøgsmæssigt har passeret et vigtigt punkt har jeg også fået bekræftet af, at firmaer nu også gerne vil købe annonceplads på mit site. Det er naturligvis charmerende, men jeg siger altid pænt ‘nej tak’, fordi jeg er fuldkommen klar over, at jeg har tilladt mig at aftrykke eksempler på tegneseriemateriale, hvor andre har ophavsretten eller andel deri. Dette har man stiltiende accepteret, sikkert efter en samlet vurdering af, at der først og fremmest er tale om en positiv PRværdi. Men samtidig er det så en pligt for mig til gengæld at signalere, at hjemmesiden er helt ukommerciel og at den vil blive ved med at være det.
Den digitale vinkel er blevet attraktiv, og det kan også ses af, at et stort dansk ugeblad har tænkt sig at gøre alle de gamle årgange tilgængelige på nettet, og bibliotekerne forbereder portaler, i første omgang for børn, hvor brugerne kan blive orienteret om udgivelser med citater og illustrationer på nettet.

fred-jussi-lars_bogforum2009
Det var også en glæde for mig at opleve, at mit arbejde som vores udtryksforms repræsentant inden for interesseorganisationen ‘Copydan’ i 2009 førte til, at et nyoprettet tegneseriefond i ‘Danske Tegneserieskavere’s regi kunne begynde at uddele arbejdslegater til hjælp med virkeliggørelsen af økonomisk trængte tegneserieprojekter. Dette er dog kun en lille hjælp, for tegneserier har brug for øget støtte for ikke helt at havne i et sort hul, rent udgivelsesmæssigt.
Selv er jeg efterhånden næsten den eneste, der i den fortællende genre regelmæssigt formår at få nye tegneserietitler udgivet, og det sker også kun af stædighed og manglende accept af de økonomiske vilkår, der i realiteten med få undtagelser for længst har gjort udgivelse af tegneserier ulønsomt i Danmark.
Dette år har jeg omsider valgt at imødekomme det gamle ønske fra andeloger nær og fjern om endelig at få lov at se den originale udgave af min første længere historie med sjove dyr, ‘The big Sneeze’. Til sammenligning har jeg samtidig lagt ‘Storeglams Kur’ ud på siden med engelsk tekst. Jeg håber garvede donaldister vil glæde sig over denne nye forskningsmulighed.
I ‘Sejd Special’ har jeg blandt andet anbragt min første professionelle serie, nemlig det afsnit af ‘Zenit’ der betegnede min debut som betalt tegneserieskaber helt tilbage i 1972. Disse kopier er taget fra de store serieoriginaler og skulle være af god kvalitet. Jeg eksperimenterede dengang med forskellige skraveringer, der kunne højne grafikken på den sort-hvide serie. Men der er også andre bidrag med fortællende serier i sort-hvid, som har en ganske effektiv udnyttelse af brugen af sort i billedet.
Jeg er glad for de jævnlige besøg på dette site, og skulle jeres besøg afføde spørgsmål eller kommentarer er I velkomne til at kontakte mig på adressen, der kan ses under rubrikken ‘Kontakt’. De nye sider har i overskrifterne til venstre som sædvanligt fået en afvigende farve.
Forsiden fra den ekstra Hall of Fame version er fra den tyske udgave, som Egmont Creative havde glemt at fortælle noget om til Daan eller mig. En tysk fan var venlig og at nævnte det for mig, og så fik vi da også lidt honorar for den bog. Daan havde en kommentar til det: "Man kan have stor glæde af observante fans". For mig var det en ekstra gevinst for mig at opleve, at jeg omsider fik lov at pryde en Disney forside med et motiv jeg selv havde tegnet.

Freddy Milton
foråret 2010

Udkommer 1. oktober 2009:
Questland interview
Questland kapitel
Kryopternes borg

Opdatering 2009
Nordmændene har fundet det ideelle navn til deres årlige tegneseriefestival i Bergen. De kalder den "Raptus"…
I ordbogen forklares Raptus som en vild og ukontrollabel ofte sindsforvirret pludselig tilskyndelse og overdreven manisk opførsel - og det passer jo faktisk ret godt med såvel mediets grundprincipper og i vid udstrækning publikums holdning og adfærd. For ikke at tale om de underlige skabere, der insisterer på at bruge en udtryksform, som er gået fra at være et massemedium til at være et lettere sekterisk tilholdssted for skæve vinkler og tossede originaler.
Jeg oplevede hele spektret gennem mit fremmøde ved ikke mindre end tre begivenheder i løbet af 2008. Så megen deltagelse har jeg aldrig tidligere oplevet, men det er al ære værd, at beslutsomme fortalere for tegneserierne trods publikums frafald magter at fortsætte med at stille disse arrangementer på benene.
I Danmark lader det til, at det kan lade sig gennemføre hvert andet år og det foregik i april nogenlunde samtidig med fejringen af mit 60 års jubilæum og udgivelsen af mit album nummer 60.
I Norge i september kan man tilmed afholde en festival hvert år, men så er der også en tradition for en massiv kommunal opbakning fra Bergen kommune omkring lokaler og finansiering. Der kommer besøgende rejsende til festivalen langvejs fra og der er altid mindst en håndfuld udenlandske gæster hver gang repræsenterende et bredt spektrum af tegneseriemediets anvendelse. Jeg var selv indbudt som gæst til "Raptus" og jeg fortalte både om den konkrete udgivelse "Hall of Fame" og om mine egne serier i tidens løb. Der var en god og opmærksom stemning over hele forløbet, og der var en i særklasse fin logistik omkring afviklingen af alt det praktiske.

Højdepunktet omkring opmærksomhed i løbet af året blev dog bogmessen i Helsinki i oktober, hvortil Aku Ankka redaktionen havde indbudt Daan Jippes og mig til pressedækning i anledning af lanceringen af deres komplette version af Daans og mine fælles anstrengelser med serier i barksistisk stil fra 70'erne produceret for den hollandske udgave af ugebladet, der for øvrigt i dag ejes af den samme finske bladkoncern, Sanoma.
Fejringen nåede vel ikke helt højderne fra Barks' dage, men jeg havde den samme oplevelse som ved mødet med Barks: Dette kommer man nok ikke til at opleve igen. Hvad andeuniverset angår, så har Finland en eklatant særstatus, idet forbrugerloyaliteten er utrolig høj. Dette kan måske til en vis grad forklares ved at næsten hele oplaget sælges gennem abonnement, og her har aftagerne gennem alle årene været kolossalt trofaste. Et af vores paneler var for sælgerkorpset i provinsbyen Oulu, hvorfra den direkte kontakt til køberne forvaltes. Dette kan naturligvis tilskrives den demografiske situation i Finland, hvor mange mennesker bor spredt på landet med langt til byer og indkøbssteder, hvor man ville kunne blive distraheret til at køb af konkurrerende bladprodukter, hvis de eksisterede. Men Aku Ankka er urørlig, og man har endnu ikke mærket læserbortfald i større udstrækning som resultat af konkurrencen fra computerspil og æterbårne medier som i andre lande. Så Daan og jeg kunne stadig samle køer med op mod hundrede bogkøbere, der gerne ville have en hilsen og en tegning, som man også kan forvisse sig om i de to lange videoklip, der er lagt ud her på siden til venstre under "English Stuff". Og nåede man ikke selve tegningen fra den lange kø, dukkede man op dagen efter i en kortere kø hos en boghandel for at få tegningerne fra os med i bogen også. Når en bedstemor møder frem med tre eksemplarer af and-tologien, som man skal dedicere som julegaver til børnebørnene, så bliver en stakkels serieskaber jo næsten rørt til tårer…
Ellers er denne opdatering af samme omfang som den forrige, hvor jeg har lagt op mod 300 sider tegneserier ud til glæde for de mange gæster, der stadig besøger siden fra tid til anden. Disse posteringer har fået en ny afvigende farve i menuspalten til venstre, så man hurtigt kan orientere sig om de nye bidrag. Jeg har oprettet en ny rubrik til venstre "Sejd Special" hvor jeg vil bringe genoptryk af udvalgte bidrag fra det nu hedengangne tidsskrift, Sejd, eller materiale jeg havde tænkt skulle være præsenteret der, men som bare ikke blev til noget før jeg ikke længere havde tid til at videreføre projektet.
Som programværterne i radioen må jeg også lige huske at henvise til, at behjertede aktører har taget initiativ til at oprette en Facebook gruppe, hvor ivrige kommentatorer og debattører har fået mulighed for at udveksle synspunkter og informationer om alt muligt i mit efterhånden omfattende forfatterskab.
Årets spillealbum hedder "Onkel Skipper" og er en valgbog bygget omkring omkostningerne ved at blive et kendt ansigt i medierne. Min havmåge, der en overgang solgte smørrebrødspålæg, bliver frontfigur for et legetøjsfirma og må betale omkostningerne ved sine valg. Hvor grænserne går og hvilke faldgruber der er ved dette, finder læserne ud af undervejs. Men han har også muligheden for at slå igennem på en måde, han slet ikke havde forestillet sig.
Gnuff albummet senere på året, Ultramax, er min fabeldyrsversion af folks hang til brug af præstationsfremmende midler. Ak ja, virkelighedens verden har det med at krybe ind på mine stakkels gamle drager… Historien er samtidig et længe ventet gensyn med Storeglam…

Jeg vil slutte med at kvittere for al den opmærksomhed, der blev mig til del omkring receptionen ved fejringen min 60 års dag i 2008. Ja, også fra folk som ikke kunne komme til selve arrangementet…
Det skal I have stor tak for alle sammen. Jeg blev faktisk meget glad.
Jeg kunne selvfølgelig også, hvis jeg havde været mindre beskeden, citere BAF, min gamle lærer i oldtidskundskab ved Katedralskolen i Viborg, da elevernes bifald havde lagt sig: "Tak for den fortjente Hyldest"…

Freddy Milton, juni 2009

Raptus 2008

Opdatering 2008
Så har jeg atter været i arkiverne og hentet både nyt og gammelt til hjemmesiden, og denne gang har jeg gjort det lettere for tilbagevendende besøgende ved at give overskrifterne på nyhederne ude til venstre en afvigende farve.

Jeg vil samtidig benytte denne anledning til at nævne et par oplivende og kuriøse øjeblikke fra de forløbne måneder siden jeg åbnede denne hjemmeside i marts 2006:

Det sjoveste var nok invitationen til seriefestivalen i Kemi i Finland i bunden af den Botniske bugt. Det var samtidig deres 25 års jubilæum, og da flyveren landede kom man til at undre sig over, hvordan den flække har kunnet afvikle det hvert år så længe, men forklaringen var en ildsjæl i byrådet siden 70’erne, som nu gik på pension, så man vidste ikke, om det ville fortsætte.
Det var Aku Ankka-redaktionen, der havde inviteret mig, så jeg måtte signere mit bidrag i en til anledningen speciel udgivet nordisk antologi i Helsinki og Kemi, og ingen signaturhungrende måtte gå forgæves.
I Kemi sad vi i en stor højloftet aula, hvor Andeby var genopført af den lokale kunsthåndværkerskole og tekniske skole. Pengetanken var mindst 7 meter i kvadrat, og mønterne var chokolade med guldpapir, dog bag glas. Tanken blev angrebet bagfra af mandshøje bjørnebanditter mens Cornelius Blisand stirrede væk. I et hjørne var Hexia de Trixs hytte med interiør og et andet Gearløs’ værksted.
Der var også Anders’ Hus og Bedstemor Ands farm. Og så var der Anders Ands bil, en riflet skraldespand og en tykmavet brandstander i massivt finsk fyrretræ. Og der var mandshøje figurer af alle vigtige medlemmer af befolkningen. Hvad de fans dog hitter på! (Forleden åbnede en udstilling i Malmø med kunstgenstande fra den andelogiske parallelverden.)
Resten af tegneserieverdenen var kun repræsenteret i rudimentær form, hvilket er symptomatisk for tegneserierne i Finland og vel efterhånden også i resten af skandinavien. Gad vide hvor længe den finske Disneyredaktion endnu kan glæde sig over de høje salgstal, for på et tidspunkt indhenter udviklingen fra resten af Europa (minus Frankrig) vel også dem.
Vicar havde også været i Kemi, og han blev givet en ekstra tur til over polarcirklen, så han kunne opleve midnatssolen. Dette fik ham til at skrive et højstemt spansk digt, som med besvær blev oversat for redaktions-medlemmerne senere.
Jeg spurgte også til Don Rosa, og han havde også været der til signering af hans udgave af Kalavala, men han kunne dog ikke få den royaltyandel, som han mente sig berettiget til. Det var trods alt Disney!
Beværtningen var formidabel, så jeg kunne nikke genkendende til den tegning i gæstebogen i Helsinki, hvor Daan Jippes havde tegnet sig selv forædt og med topmave. Han signerede for et par år siden den grønspætte-antologi, som nu senere er indgået i Egmonts Hall of Fame serie.

Og så var det noget af en cadeau, da en repræsentant for Kulturministeriet henvendte sig for at få mig til at stille op til et videointerview om Barks, de kunne lægge ud på nettet som kommentar til Barks’ medvirken i Børnekulturkanonen med Den Gyldne Hjelm, og det som den eneste udlænding i hele kanonforsamlingens samling af 67 koryfæer.
Selv om jeg fattede mig i korthed, var de nødt til at redigere indslaget ned, inden de lagde det ud som en videoclip på deres hjemmeside. Skønt jeg har en vis forestillingsevne, havde jeg dog aldrig troet, at jeg skulle komme til at optræde live som ekspert på et forum i kulturministerielt regi.

På vegne af min udtryksform er jeg noget trist til mode over, at den fortællende tegneserie i albumform er ved at forsvinde fra det skandinaviske marked. Nu lader det til at være store antologiværker i bogform, som kan laves i samtryk, eller sort-hvide graphic novels, som fortrinsvis skal laves i en lidt ubehjælpsom streg, for at de kan se kunstNEriske ud og berettige til den høje anskaffelsespris. Så gør det ikke noget med prisen, men hvis et FARVEalbum bliver dyrt, så piver og klager tegneseriefolket sig. I resten af skandinavien har de lokale skabere helt opgivet at bruge tegneseriealbum som udgivelsesform.

København 1978: Roba og Franquin underholder bl.a. Freddy Milton, Rolf lindby, Göran Ribe, Magnus Knutson og Daan Jippes

En særlig begivenhed var en reception i foråret 2007 på den belgiske ambassade, hvor Egmont havde indbudt en udvalgt skare af kulturpinger i anledning af Vakse Viggos 50 års dag.
Den aktuelle anledning var udgivelsen af en box med syv bøger indeholdende alle Franquins Vakse Viggo-sider, hvoraf de fleste tidligere var udgivet i albumform.
Ambassadefolkene var jo godt klar over, at et af Belgiens vigtigste internationale kulturbidrag ligger inden for tegneserierne, så de ville godt stille en fornem ramme til rådighed for sådan et arrangement.
Siden jeg nu var den officielle danske tolker af Franquins tekster, var det naturligt, at jeg blev budt med. Jeg havde ikke lige den rigtige grønne sweater eller et par tilstrækkeligt lasede espadrillos, så jeg endte med at tage min røde Splint-kalot på og mødte op for at sige et par ord om mit forhold til Franquin i tidens løb. Der var en god stemning, og jeg kom til at tænke på udviklingen fra min barndom, hvor vi spændt ventede på de næste sider af en fortsat serie i ugebladene og senere enkeltalbummene og så frem til vore dage, hvor voksne fans med velfyldt tegnebog lige vil samle en stor bunke nostalgiske minder i en håndevending.

En virkelig kuriøs oplevelse var mit bidrag til promoveringen af TDCs kabelTVpakke. En lokal afdeling i Egtved havde lovet publikum, at der ville være en Disney-tegner til stede til at lave skitser til børnene ved det PR-møde, hvor TDC ville lokke den gamle antenneforening til at vælge TDC som udbyder, når de skulle forny deres abonnement hos en leverandør. Og TDC havde jo også både Disney Channel og Toon Disney.
Nu er Egtved Antenneforening en af de ældste af slagsen hvor næsten alle beboere er med, og der var da heller ingen tagantenner at skue, når man kiggede ud over byen fra en lille bakke hvor det over 100 år gamle velbevarede forsamlingshus lå. Men nu dukkede der desværre ingen børn op - der kom enkelte stemmeberettigede i pensionistalderen - så jeg endte med at tegne nogle skitser til børn som arrangørerne påstod de havde derhjemme. Jeg tror det blev til 8 skitser. Så i betragtning af at TDC havde bekostet taxa i begge ender af CimberAirs propelfly fra Kastrup til Billund og tilbage igen samt et pænt honorar til mig, så må det have været de dyreste skitser jeg nogensinde har lavet! En ekstra oplevelse for mig var hjemturen i lav højde under en skyfri himmel i aftensol med fin udsigt til hele Danmarkskortet på tværs. Når det kun tager en times tid forstår man, hvor lille Danmark i grunden er...

I sommerens løb blev jeg kontaktet af den norske afdeling af Egmont, som står for redaktionen af Hall of Fame bøgerne med udvalgte serier af forskellige gamle Disney-tegnere, og de var nu kommet frem til bunken af gamle Anders And serier, som jeg lavede sammen med Daan Jippes for den hollandske Disney-redaktion for 25-30 år siden.
Inden for rammen af de ca 200 sider kunne det være blevet en komplet samling, men på grund af ufravigelige reprintintervaller måtte to episoder udelades, desværre den første i suiten. Jeg fik at vide, at det med komplette samlinger ikke sagde børn i vore dage noget. Men finnerne har lovet at rette op på det, så når de i efteråret 2008 laver deres egen udgave, kommer de to manglende historier med. Bogen udgives foråret 2008 i foreløbig Norge og Danmark. Det bliver noget af en nyhed for trofaste donaldister, for en trediedel af episoderne har ikke været udgivet i Danmark tidligere.
Jeg blev bedt om at finde nogle gamle originale manuskriptsider frem på engelsk, som var gået tabt i tidens løb, og jeg bidrog også med nogle produktionsmæssige oplysninger. Jeg fik overtalt dem til at genbruge den gamle artikel “Doing it the Barks Way” som kan ses andetsteds her på siden.
Daan kom også med nogle supplerende kommentarer. Jeg havde det godt med at gense disse gamle sider. Jeg synes de holder sig fint og giver et klart billede af den slags historier, jeg kan lide at fortælle.

Så blev jeg også inviteret som gæst til en tegneseriefestival i Norge i efteråret, men siden de fortalte, at der også ville blive en festival næste år, svarede jeg, at jeg ville vente med at komme, siden der så ville være en bog, jeg kunne signere. Det er rart at opleve, at der stadig er nogen, der formår at sætte tegneserierne på mediekortet også heroppe nordpå.

Årets spillebog har et oplagt tema, en popgruppes opgang og nedgang. Det faldt først på plads, da jeg kom på at bruge den interaktive model, hvor man kan hoppe fra den ene nøglesituation til den næste og komme omkring det sjove emne på en effektiv måde. Desværre har sætternissen nederst på første sides videreførsel erstattet 3-tallet med et 8-tal og nederst på side 10 erstattet 19-tallet med et 11-tal. Nå, men læserne plejer jo at være nysgerrige nok til at læse alle sider alligevel... Jelling Stenen bliver min danske albumudgivelse nr. 60 og udkommer sjovt nok til min reception på tegnestuen Gimle i anledning af min 60-års dag i april.

Det kan være at mine CD-rom’er også kommer til at få et efterliv i abonnementsmæssig sammenhæng, idet Mikroværkstedet har abonnementer kørende med folkeskolerne, nu også i nabolandene, og så vil Musebøgerne måske få plads der. Der skal åbenbart formidlere til at få tegneserier til børn ud over rampen i vore dage, for børn er ikke længere selv opsøgende, når det gælder brug af tegneserier.

Sidst på året 2007 fik jeg en besked, som næsten fik mig til at mindes Barks’ reaktion på modtagelsen af et regulært fanbrev meget sent i hans karriere. Han troede først det var en spøg! Det samme troede jeg, da nogen fortalte, at jeg var nomineret til den prestigebetonede børnebogspris “Orla” i katagorien Tegneserier. Jeg som altid har tegnet i en stil, som kulturpinger har betragtet som “merkantil” - altså ikke noget man kan forsvare at støtte fra kunstneriske forvalteres side. Men det var ikke nogen spøg. Jeg var rent faktisk nomineret for Gnuff-albummet “Jul i Juli” fordi det her var børnene selv, der bestemte, hvilke titler, der skulle nomineres.

Familien Gnuff er efterhånden kommet op i et bindantal større end nogen anden danskproduceret serie i vores generation, men der er ikke længere noget forum af forhåndstryk, der kan hjælpe på financieringen.
Jeg har stadig flere ideer klar til udførelse, så nu må vi se, hvor længe tegneserieudgivelser som album kan blive ved. I forvejen har jeg jo ikke fået nogen royalty på mine ting de seneste 15 år.

Måske er det godt jeg bliver 60 i 2008. Det ender måske med, at jeg må lægge de nye ting ud på internettet i stedet.
Det som også bidrager til tilbagegangen er kommunesammenlægningerne. Der er nedlagt mange filialbiblioteker i løbet af det sidste år, og det er steder, hvor man tidligere så en pointe i også at have et eksemplar til de lokale lånere. Med færre udlånssteder er det uundgåeligt, at man synes man kan klare sig med indkøb af færre eksemplarer.

Nu burde jeg ikke klage. Andre kollegaer har måttet give op. I det mindste udkommer jeg stadig og kan vise, at tegneseriemediet stadig kan bruges til at fortælle samtidsrelevante eventyr.
Og kulturminersteriet havde fra Barks-indslaget på børnekulturkanon’en et link til Barks-analyserne, så måske har nogen haft nytte af noget kvailificeret artikelmateriale om Den store Mester.

For at citere en politiker fra radioens barndom:
"Tak fordi jeg måtte komme ind i Deres Stue"...
Freddy Milton

I anledning af 60års dagen

English

It has been an overwhelming experience for me to witness how this homepage has been received by the public. Maybe it was a good omen that the site was published under its proper name on March 27th, a date that has a certain ring to it among true Barksists.
I admit that this site is not fully developed into a double-language presentation, but as for the number of artwork-pages, they should be able to be experienced by everybody regardless of the nationality of the beholder.
As for the text-parts, I have included a number of pages in the menu under “English Stuff”. They deal with the material, for which I am most commonly known abroad, which are my contributions with Woody Woodpecker and Donald Duck.
I just hope the grammar and spelling is OK, but it should be, since they are imported from English language magazines.

Have fun
Freddy Milton

ultramax2010

English Update 2010
This past year a rather surprising discovery came to me. I found out that I was able to tell stories completely without illustrations. A late discovery maybe, but a nice one to reveal. To paint with a typewriter so to speak. And a bit disturbing, maybe, that such efforts seem to gather more attention and respect than using the graphic form of storytelling.
So last summer I wrote my first novel, a fantasy cross-over about a computer avatar, who drops out of his netgame and has to establish a new life as a grown-up in our world of harsh realism. I wrote about gang wars at the peak of the fighting between criminal groups in the heart of Copenhagen. First I had planned this to be in comic book form, but the idea grew, and I realized, that it was impossible to encompass all the intriguing aspects in a comic album, so I felt I had to try my way into litterature and somehow it seemed to work. And all the extra angles I could include in the book version made it very appealing for me to finish.
After that satisfying experience I set out to write another book, and this was not just a ‘Questland’ part two. The borderline area between life and death is still a motive, but the subject matter in ‘Sasja's Last Chance’ is quite contemporary with two girls experiencing different fates in their lives with a twist into the future. It is an emotional thriller and it will be interesting to see, how it will be received by the public. Again I found satisfaction in writing a story in a way it has never been seen before, at least to my knowledge.
A contributing element for my belated adventure into the realm of litterature may also come from a person, with whom I have shared a studio each week. For years I have worked alongside the now famed writer Jussi Adler Olsen, and observing me still fiddling with my comics he has challenged me repeatedly with the friendly remark: "Now isn’t it about time you made a REAL book...?"
Noting his present succes in the thriller formate I must admit his remark had some extra punch to it. But another contributing matter is, that I have more time over nowadays to fucus my thinking nerve on more complex story structures. My kids have moved out, and not doing Donald Duck any longer I simply can concentrate more on handling the larger amount of details necessary to develop a book project.
Another rewarding thing for me has been finishing my job with the reissuing of André Franquins complete work in Danish. First with ‘Gaston’ and next all of his work with ‘Spirou’. Until now I had not translated all of his ‘Spirou’ albums, but for the compilation project by Egmont I translated all the stories again, so for the future i have become the voice of Franquin in Danish, and that makes me feel very proud. Also doing the translation work on the editorial pages for the complete set was a nice experience, especially since some notes spread new light on his overall production. This form an important piece of comics history.
On the history of comics I have also come to realize the role my own site is getting to play, since the number of visitors has gathered momentum. With the yearly updating sessions the number of available comics pages are heavily increased, and the public has discovered that.
With my contributing comments I dwell on important moments in comics history in Denmark, and that includes not only my own stuff but also other reprints I have on my site. Gradually I have come to realize that things must have a digital angle to maintain attention in the minds of the public.
Since I have experienced more visitors on this site, I have been approached by marketing firms, who would like to buy advertising space. Of course this is rather flattering, but as usual I decline on these suggestions being aware of the fact, that I have presented comics material, where others own the copyright or part of it. This has probably only been tolerated, because the positive PR outweighs the copyright infringements. But I am aware then, that I must keep this place as a non profit arrangement, and so it will be also in the future.
I have also been happy to learn, that my work as a representative for the copyright interests of Danish comics creators under the umbrella organisation ‘Copydan’ in 2009 led to the establishing a modest money bin, from where poor comics creators can apply for funding to finance their comics projects. However, this is not enough to secure the publishing of Danish comics, which need more substantial support to survive on the declining market.
As it is, I am almost the sole artist, who regularly manage to get epic comics albums published, but that is only because I refuse to accept the economic conditions, which for some time has made the printing of danish comics unprofitable - at least the storytelling comics. I lose money on every comic I launch.
A moment of sadness during the past year was the burial of the last of my parents. My brother Ingo’s and my mother passed away on new years eve 2008, and we are now in the process of emptying the big house. And since the house is big and my parents belonged to the generation having severe difficulty disposing of old things, we have quite a project in front of us, but the process is stimulating. To enter a place where time has been brought to a standstill for 40 years is rather special but also a rewarding stroll down memory lane. On top of it, this situation contributed with inspiration to my upcoming book, ‘Sasja's Last Chance’.
The additions to my site this year carries a new colour in the column to the left. Under ‘English Stuff’ you can read two versions of my first adventure comic with funny animals. For years comics fans have asked me to able to see this very old story, which itself is woven into a strange web of tragedy and comedy.

hall_of_fame-german
The cover from the new version of our ‘Hall of Fame’ book show the german edition, which incidentally is the first time at motive of mine is used for a cover on a Disney publication. It came as a surprise to me, when a german fan told me about it, and I went to Egmont Creative to ask, if Daan and I were not to be paid for that book? Somehow they had forgotten that, since it was not customary for them to think along the lines of contributors getting extra fees. When Daan heard about it and received his payment he said to me: "That goes to show that dedicated fans can come in very handy."

Freddy Milton
spring 2010

questland-backcover

English Update 2009
This past year has been of a more international nature for me than usual.
I visited two fairs abroad due to invitations from committee executives.
The one in September was held in Bergen in Norway, and the chairman, Trond Stien, already invited me back in 2007. However I suggested the visit to be postponed until 2008, since I knew a Norwegian version of a co-produced book with contributions of mine was planned already then. The book in question was a collection of material done in a collaboration by myself and a Dutchman, Daan Jippes, back in the late seventies for the Dutch publisher Oberon handling the Disney-rights there. Our aim then was to recreate the atmosphere from the old 10 page stories with the Duckburg characters earlier executed so masterfully by the legendary old storyteller in funny animal comics, Carl Barks. Someone must have felt, that we succeeded in this, since we were to join the group of esteemed creators from the Donald Duck universe, who had some of their work presented earlier in the "Hall of Fame" book series produced by the Norwegian editors of Disney comics. I was even in a position to influence the editorial contents, so it includes a version of the "Doing it the Barks Way" article, that can also be seen on this homepage in the column to the left. Postings of a different colour there indicate new material from this particular update.

Some of the duck stories in our book had never been printed in Scandinavia before, and in the co-printed Danish version of the book that number amounted to one third of the volume contents. A lot of fans were said to be thankful long last to get these episodes in print. Way back in the seventies the Dutch weekly magazine often got sold out when one of our stories were presented there, and Scandinavian comics shops imported heaps of these magazines to be sold locally, even though the Dutch language is difficult to understand for most Scandinavian readers.
Sure enough a number of fans were there at the Bergen festival "Raptus" to get a dedication in their copy of the book as well as listen to the interview performed in the luxurious "Peer Gynt" showroom.
Being there, I also managed to draw some attention to the presentation of my own comics over the past 30 years through an elaborate interview carried out by knowledgeable Tor Ødemark, a true comics fan I already knew from the seventies.
The festival run was very well executed. But the people in charge had also performed these routines many times before.
I want to include a tip of the hat to the city administration of Bergen for having supported this yearly event all through the 14 years of its existence.
The book production could have included a Swedish version as well, but the local editors there were cutting back on the titles during that period, so they felt they had to choose between our book and a book with stories by Jack Bradbury. In that process the editors chose to issue the Bradbury book in Sweden instead.

The second travel abroad in October was a visit to the book fair in Helsinki. The Sanoma Publishing Group now handling both the Dutch and the Finnish Disney rights saw an opportunity to draw some extra attention to their version of "The Hall of Fame" anthology issued at that time for the occasion.
This book with 200 pages was a complete collection of our stories. Both Daan and I were invited to a stay during four days that included a flight to the town of Oulu, where there was a panel interview with representatives of the salespeople. This group might very well be the most important part of the organisation, since they manage to maintain a constant high figure of sales due to the special sales by subscription accounting for well over 90 percent of the whole weekly circulation. This makes Finland stand out in every respect as the most loyal consumer society to the Disney comics all over the world. No competitor has ever been able to challenge that unique position of a comic magazine. Daan and I were presented the truth of this by looking at the long cue of more than one hundred patiently waiting fans to get their books dedicated at the Helsinki Book Fair. Olli-Pekka Komonen made a video documentary on our visit, and he gave permission to use large extracts from that to be presented here on this homepage under "English Stuff".
That column now also include long English version colour comics album stories translated by Kim Thompson and Dwight Decker as well as a curious project of mine from the seventies, no less than a Danish potato-western never to be fully illustrated. But I did by chance come across a copy of the old manuscript and I include that as well, so that excessive fans can indulge in a Danish comic album in the western format never to be finished.

I will not forget to thank people, who have sent me joyous and warm comments from time to time, particularly in relation to my 60 years jubilee last year. I have appreciated that very much and in these days of declining interest in our beloved comics medium such letters are welcomed even more.
I hope you will enjoy your visit at my site, and I can already promise you, that I will come up with yet another update later on…

Freddy Milton, June 2009

Milton interview Bergen 2008

Freddy Milton and Tarmo Koivisto

English update 2008
Once again I have been digging into older and newer layers of my voluminous archive, and this time I have given the new titles in the left column a different colour, so it should be easier to find the new items for those visitors, who have been here earlier and already know the old stuff.

I will mention a number of interesting things, that has been happening since the opening of this site in March 2006:
A funny experience for me was the invitation I got in the spring of 2006 from the finnish Aku Ankka Editorials to attend the yearly festival at Kemi at the bottom of the Botnic Bay way up north. It was the 25th years jubilee of the festival, and arriving there one wondered how a far-off place like that could have held a comics-festival over 25 years, but the explanation was a local active comicsfan in the elected city board of administrators, who had assured public funding for that occation, which, apart from the paper-mills, must be that burgs claim to fame.
The local handycraftschools had rebuilt a major part of Duckburg including a cubic 8x8 squaremeter moneybin in the assembly hall that had a very lofty ceiling. Donald's house, Magica's cabin, Gyro's inventors-shop were also there along with mansize replicas of the duck family - and the Beagle Boys, plus the founder of Duckburg.
I managed to sign my contribution to a collection of stories in albumform issued for the jubilee to all of the assembled kids, which was not more than 30 or so. The rest of the comics medium was not represented in more than rudimental form in the festival signifying the major status of Disney comics in Finland, who has no problem with sales - so far...

That healthy affair has financed the visit of a number of duckartists over the years, and for instance Vicar was also in Kemi once. He was then offered a further trip north to experience the phenomenon above the polar circle of the neversetting sun in the summertime. He got so poetic that he recited a selfcomposed poem inspired by the experience to the Duck editorial staff, with some difficulty translated from spanish to finnish!
I asked then about Don Rosa, and yes, he had been there signing the special book he made of the ducks reviving the national epic, Kalavala. Very succesful.
It was funny to visit a place, where the editors are still feeling safe and secure because of the maintaining high sales of their comics. One wonders, when the reality from the rest of Europe (minus France) is crawling in upon finnish Disney-publishers?

A further nice experience was more from my own initiative, since I finally gave in from the requests of opening my own homepage, or “site” as the saying goes. It was carried out because my son Thorbjørn, could handle the necessary programme (playing his computergame Warcraft simultaneously) and my brother Ingo, who could help me along since he had opened a homepage of his own earlier.
So on March 27th 2006 I opened this site “www.freddymilton.dk” and I was overwhelmed by the number of visits over the first months, and I updated it once afterwards. Now by its second update it has had about 2000 visits apart from the ones being guided there from links elsewhere, where they don’t pass my opening page, and that’s where the guests are being counted. It gave me an opportunity of looking back, and I was very satisfied by the number of things I have been able to launch in my own name, where Disneystuff is merely a nebengeschäft.

Also I will regard it as a token of some esteem, that the danish Minestry of Culture chose me to give Carl Barks a number of remarks in a video on their own site, commenting upon the number of “canons” they have made. Those canons, one for each branch of culture, such as film, litterature, music, sculpture, architecture etc. hails 10 memorable manifestos during the years, within these fields of culture, and so the kids should also have such a top-ten. And look and behold! As the ONLY non-dane in the whole complex Carl Barks got himself a place in the kids canon for danish childrens culture.
The specific story chosen was “The golden Helmet” notably because it deals with nordic mythology, and on the site I am explaining why he deserves that nomination. I never thought I would ever be elected worthy enough to act as a cultural expert and spokesman on behalf of the danish department of Culture, but sure enough, I’m there!

I had to finance myself the second mousebook-CD-Rom, and I wonder whether the good sales of the first one to public libraries will last to this second attempt. When I say “good” I mean that I loose no money on it. My creative work maintains as always unpaid, only to be recompensated by my slowly dwindling yearly library-fee-money.
On behalf of my artform (dare we call it that?) the storytelling albums are nearing their extinction in Scandinavia. Only compilation-books or graphic novels in smaller format than the albumformat and mostly in black/white to steep prizes are displaying the medium to the public.

A special occation was the reception in the spring of 2007 at the Belgian embassy in Copenhagen, where Egmont had gotten room for a small group of chosen guests celebrating the 50th birthday of Gaston Lagaffe, the prime comics character by André Franquin.
The reason in particular was the launching of a complete box-set collection in 7 volumes of all the Gaston-pages, of which most of them had earlier been published in albumform. The embassy-people from Belgium were well aware, that one of the major contributions to our collective cultural upbringing from that country lies within the comics, and everybody recognizes the masterful renderings from Franquin, so there was no problem using the embassy-ground for such a venture.

Since I had been the danish translator of Franquin, it seemed natural that I was present, so not having any recognizable Gaston-outfit I settled by putting on my official red Spirou-cap and gave a little speach on my experience with Franquins comics over the ages.
It was a nice moment, and it made one ponder about the changing times... In our childhood we were thankful to read a couple of pages at a time and later an album – Nowadays everything is piled into complete collections mainly aimed for the nostalgic older public, who can afford these expensive boxes.

A really funny incident was my drawing of Disney characters for a danish cable-television outlet.
They had been promising the kids in a small danish town, that there would be a Disney-artist present to furnish drawings at the meeting, where they tried to promote the revised package (including the Disney Channal and Toon Disney) to a local cable-TV-club in the town of Egtved. Being one of the oldest of its kind, nearly everybody in town subscribed to the local cable-TV-club, and sure enough, looking out over the skyline, there were hardly any antennas visible on the roofs. A most seldom view to be sure!
Now being so late in realising their need and me not having any car, I was offered taxi transport to Kastrup airport and a local plane-fare to Billund in Jutland and one more taxi from there to Egtved. Also a nifty fee for that days work for me.
The meeting was set in and old community-hall 100 years old and preserved in style. But no kids showed up. So I ended up making some scetches for the younger kids some of the officials said they had at home and a couple of drawings for some of the grown-ups. Later I had the paid transport the same way back, and on top of it a beautiful sunsetting view over Denmark from a low cloudless altitude, since it was a small propeller plane. A most fantastic sight for me making me feel, how small Denmark really is! Only one hour by slow plane from one side to another! I figured out that each drawing had cost well over 1000 crowns, the most prestigeous payment I have ever had for any scetches of mine...

During the summer I was contacted by the Norwegian office of Egmont, who wanted to include in their Hall of Fame-series a volume with stories I did together with Daan 25-30 years ago. It could be a complete collection with the fixed pagecount about 200 pages, but for some reprint reasons a couple of titles were left out, notably the premiere episode, but the Finnish editors has promised, that they will make things right when they do their own Finnish version later.
It was a comforting job to contribute with some original english scriptversion dialogues, that had been lost underway, as well as some comments on the process.
I talked them into using our old article "Doing it the Barks Way", that has been reprinted at different occations, and which is also available elsewhere on this site. Now for oldtimers there is probably not so much news in this matter, but it will be a chance for younger readers to catch up with the outcome of our mutual efforts, and I fell it holds quite well in retrospective. The book will be out in Norway and Denmark 2008.

I was invited to attend a comics-festival in Norway during the fall, but mentioning that they would have one next year as well, I answered, that I would prefer to attend the festival next year instead, since there by then would be a book for me to sign. It is nice to see, that someplace in our northern regions they still manage to arrange something, that put comics on the map.

This years which-way book is a concept I would have liked to do for a long time – the rise and fall of a music-band. The structure however seemed too difficult to handle in a straight story, but as a an interactive story you can go from one key-situation to another and pass through all the emotions from naivity to harsh commercialism, from the straight dramatic tension to pure ridicule. I got inspired from seeing a documentary on a longlived purely danish success, Gasolin, and an shortlived international one, the Aqua group.
Funny enough "Jelling Stenen" is my 60th Danish album release, and it will come out in April, where I will have a reception celebrating my 60th birthday at the Gimle studio in Copenhagen.

Also my CD-roms might end up having an afterlife in educational material subscribed by and destined for use in schools in Scandinavia. As with libraries you seem to have to rely on someone bringing forth your stuff - nowadays most children do not find it on their own.

When I received the note, that I was nominated for an award in the comics-division of the prestigeous Danish award for childrens litterature. “Orla” I felt as Barks did in his old age when he received a fan-letter for the first time: “This must be a joke!” But the message was genuine enough. I have learned to think that way, since I have never had any application for cultural support accepted over the years. My cartoon-inspired style simple isn’t regarded as good enough by the cultural bureaucrats , who prefer things to look more artistic and cultural acceptable than my Funny Animals... The explanation for my nomition was, that it was the kids themselves, who chose which publications should be nominated, and the grown-ups in the panel must have tolerated that choice for once.
The nomination was for album 16 in the Gnuff series, and by now it has come to a number of albums comparable to the old titles from way back, only there is no longer any preprint in other forums to finance the whole thing. I have several worthwhile ideas lying around in various steps of execution, but lord knows, when the economics make it impossible for me to continue. Maybe I should thank my lucky star, that I turn 60 in April 2008 - an age where many normal working-people find it possible for them to quit working. I guess I will continue nevertheless and when the time comes with too low printruns end up making things available on the internet instead.

What contributes to the setback is the fact, that Danish communities were administratively put into larger settings this year, and this has ment the closing of some small library-divisions in rural districts, that used to have a stock of comics-albums for lending out to nearby kids. Not so any more, and with fewer outlets lesser sales. A downward spiral that is difficult to break.

Now I should not complain. Other colleagues have given up making comics already, at least I still manage to show, that the comics media could also be used to tell contemporary fairytales, which sems to have become my trademark.

Till next time around...
Freddy Milton

On turning 60 ...