Interview with Kari Korhonen

Oggi è la volta del grande autore di fumetti europeo Kari Korhonen.

Kari nasce l'8 ottobre 1973 a Espoo, in Finlandia, è un artista di storyboard per le pubblicità tra il '94 e il '98 e, dal '93, scrive e disegna storie di paperi per la casa editrice Egmont.

When did you read your first Disney comic? At what age? Do you remember what comic it was?

At around 4 years old. It was Barks' "You Can't Guess" (Christmas Parade). It was read to me by my dear Father.

Do you prefer writing or drawing stories?

I actually prefer writing. Drawing is hard work, whereas story-construction comes easy to me. Barks once told me that drawing can be taught, story-telling is more difficult. I'm not saying I am good at either, but I believe he was right.

What kind of story do you prefer writing? 

Comedy is King. The classic ten-page story is a challenge. The smaller the story, the harder it is. I don't write action well.

Do you have a favorite story?

Don't know, honestly. Too many to choose from. Not one of mine, to be sure.

For the drawing, have you ever been helped by someone or are you self-taught? Which artists are you inspired by the most?

I am such a fan of so many people. Barks of course, Branca, Scarpa, Vicar, Jippes. Tardi, Uderzo and Walt Kelly. I could go on and on. All old-school, though.

I inked all my own stuff till 2005. Since then I've been working with an inker, Ferran Rodriguez.

In your "Can You Spare A Pot Of Gold", Donald, Gladstone and Scrooge join a contest to win a pot of Gold...

In order to win, they have to find one of the three leprechauns (HDL); Scrooge and Gladstone find them, but Donald finds a real leprechaun, the same who had been caught by Cornelius Coot after the Big Fire of Duckburg...

How was this idea is born? Could you please say something about?

Goodness! That is a golden oldie! That was the second of the 8 stories I was privileged to do with Daniel Branca (bless his ever-loving heart)!

I can't recall the story that well, but I was just back from a tour of Ireland and was, as I am still, fascinated with all things Irish. Somehow the story just came about. That was 15 years ago, so excuse my forgetfulness. Branca at his best, though. I need to dig up our sketches!

In one of your first Disney stories, "Can I Bring You Anything?", you have used Barks' Clerkly... In Italy, he isn't that know, and author Rodolfo Cimino invented another butler called "Battista" ("Quackmore" in America).

Starting from that, what do you think about Italian Disney characters? (Battista, Brigitta McBridge,
Jubal Pomp...)

The story was one of the first long stories I drew, but I'd been skeching and writing for years. Yeah, Clerkly is still my favourite of Scrooge's lackeys. He played a minor role in Barks' "So Far and No Safari". He seemed like an architype of 50's office worker. Somehow that appealed to me. Quackmore is much more of a blatant cartoon character. Also, Clerkly is a spitting image of Byron Erickson, the editor-in-chief who gave me my first job, so that endeared me to him. I did a story in 2006 called "Mr. Clerkly's Christmas" which gives a bit of a back story to the character.

I do love many of the Italian characters. Brigitta (and all Scarpa creations for that matter) was a permanent fixture in my childhood. I never did understand Scrooge, though. I always hoped some girl would be THAT interested in me.

Still about Italian character, in 2000s, you have written "Donny Duck", an european version of the italian "Paperino Paperotto", what was that about?

The German publishers published two of the great Italian Paperinos in Mickey Mouse in 1998 and they were a hit. Hence, ECN asked me to write new stories for Egmont. At first I wasn't all that excited - the idea of showing beloved characters in earlier years is almost always a mistake. I mean, "Young Flintstones" is no one's favourite cartoon, is it? But then, once I started thinking of Quackville as a separate universe, I really got into it. So far, I've written some 50 stories and hope for more to come.

What do you think about William Van Horn and “his” Rumpus McFowl?

I've been the biggest fan of Bill since he started. A genius as an artist. Rumpus as a character? A bit empty. I could take him or leave him.

What do you think about Huey, Dewey, Louie and the Junior Woodchucks?

A good way from Barks to turn the tables on Donald and the boys. Donald became the child. Worked well. Yet sometimes the kids seem a bit know-it-all.

Which is your vision of Mickey Mouse?

Well, I've done very little Mickey. Some covers and one-pagers. In the fifties Mickey moved to the suburbs and started dressing like Bing Crosby - with the loose-fitting slacks. Not very interesting.

How would you define Goofy and Donald's cousin Fethry?

Dear old Goofy. We all have friends like that, don't we? A Captain Haddock to Mickey's Tintin. Love him dearly. Fethry I've never got a handle on. Nor have many writers. I suppose you had to live through the hippie-years for that.

The questions have come to an end, if you want to say something about your biography or about your career, you're absolutely free...

Unlike the long ramblings in my answers would let you to believe, I usually have very little to say about myself. So if you don't mind, I'll leave it at this. It's been a pleasure, though. Thank you!