The Pertwillaby Papers
Encyclopedia
The Pertwillaby Papers is an adventure comic drawn by the famous Donald Duck
artist Don Rosa
in the 1970s. The comic is about the adventures of Lancelot "Lance" Pertwillaby and his friends and colleagues around the world.
Rosa started drawing the comic in the Kentucky Kernel newspaper in 1971. At the time, it consisted of weekly four- or five-panel episodes. At first, the comic was a political satire
, according to the wishes of the newspaper editor, but when the newspaper changed editors, the comic became an adventure series. In 1973, the comic was paused.
In 1976, Rosa continued drawing the comic from episode #128 onwards, for the fanzine
The Rocket's Blast Comicollector. He changed the comic so that it now consisted of about ten 8- to 12-panel pages per episode. A whole story consisted of five or six episodes. The Rocket's Blast Comicollector included episodes #128 through #140, which comprised two whole stories and one which was left unfinished.
Rosa stopped drawing the comic in 1979, because he was not paid for it and had begun to get bored of it. In the early 1980s he still drew one episode, number #141, to his unfinished story, but it was never published.
Except for one story, Rosa re-used the basic storylines of his The Pertwillaby Papers stories in his Disney stories. The stories also include numerous scenes which can be found in his Duck comics.
After his eventful student years, Lancelot Pertwillaby continues his life career as Captain Kentucky.
The Pertwillaby Papers also includes many supporting characters, such as Lance's best friend and ladies' man Freddie Kegg and Professor Artemis Phoebus, in addition to the notable Martin Bormann
. Each main character has a unique, personal speech bubble style.
. The Pertwillaby Papers book consisted of all episodes of the comic, including episode #141, which had never been published before. The book also has forewords by both Rosa and Professor Nils Lid Hjort
, the editor of the two Gazette Bok volumes.
A special edition was also made of the books, containing both books with Don Rosa's signature and a poster, where Pertwillaby and Captain Kentucky meet each other for the first time. The poster is also signed by Rosa and only 150 copies were made. Both books were also imported to Finland.
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
artist Don Rosa
Don Rosa
Keno Don Hugo Rosa, known simply as Don Rosa, is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck and other characters created by Carl Barks for Disney comics, such as The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.-Early life:Don Rosa's grandfather,...
in the 1970s. The comic is about the adventures of Lancelot "Lance" Pertwillaby and his friends and colleagues around the world.
Rosa started drawing the comic in the Kentucky Kernel newspaper in 1971. At the time, it consisted of weekly four- or five-panel episodes. At first, the comic was a political satire
Political satire
Political satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
, according to the wishes of the newspaper editor, but when the newspaper changed editors, the comic became an adventure series. In 1973, the comic was paused.
In 1976, Rosa continued drawing the comic from episode #128 onwards, for the fanzine
Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
The Rocket's Blast Comicollector. He changed the comic so that it now consisted of about ten 8- to 12-panel pages per episode. A whole story consisted of five or six episodes. The Rocket's Blast Comicollector included episodes #128 through #140, which comprised two whole stories and one which was left unfinished.
Rosa stopped drawing the comic in 1979, because he was not paid for it and had begun to get bored of it. In the early 1980s he still drew one episode, number #141, to his unfinished story, but it was never published.
Except for one story, Rosa re-used the basic storylines of his The Pertwillaby Papers stories in his Disney stories. The stories also include numerous scenes which can be found in his Duck comics.
After his eventful student years, Lancelot Pertwillaby continues his life career as Captain Kentucky.
Stories
- Episodes #1 through #127: Lost in (an Alternative Section of) the Andes – According to Rosa, this story consists of two separate stories, because it is divided so clearly between episodes #1–#65 and #65–#127, the political satire of Lance's admittance into college and his life there, and the treasure hunt to the AndesAndesThe Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
in the search of the Inca temple of Manco CápacManco CapacManco Cápac was the legendary first Sapa Inca of the Kingdom of Cusco and a figure of Inca mythology. There are several versions of his origin story, which connect him to the foundation of Cusco.- Inti legend :In one myth, Manco Cápac was a son of the sun god Inti and Mama Quilla, and brother of...
, that it is more like a two-part story.
Rosa later remade this story into his first Duck story called The Son of the SunThe Son of the SunThe Son of the Sun is the first Scrooge McDuck comic by Don Rosa, first published in 1986. It is a well-known comic book story that features Disney's Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie, most notable for establishing Don Rosa as a major talent in the Disney comic book industry,...
. - Episodes #128 through #133: Sub-Zero – Lance, together with his friends and enemies, is searching for the sizeable artArtArt is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
collection hidden in the North PoleNorth PoleThe North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
by the Nazis. - Episodes #134 through #138: Vortex – Lance and the professor find and capture a black holeBlack holeA black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
, and travel to the centre of the Earth. Rosa later used elements of this story in the Donald DuckDonald DuckDonald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
story, The Universal SolventThe Universal Solvent (comics)-Plot:Gyro Gearloose has invented a "universal solvent", a thick, black liquid capable of instantly dissolving anything except diamonds, with it then transforming the dissolved matter into a super-dense dust. Gyro then gives the Universal Sovent kept in an diamond jar and a Omnisolve beach umbrella...
. - Episodes #139 through #141: Knighttime – Lance is sent to King ArthurKing ArthurKing Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
's time. This story was left unfinished, but later re-done and completed as The Once and Future DuckThe Once and Future DuckThe Once and Future Duck is a 1996 Donald Duck story by Don Rosa.-Plot:Donald Duck is testing Gyro Gearloose's new time machine. The machine is so unpredictable that Huey, Dewey and Louie warn Donald that he might end up at any time in the past, and thus advise him to do the testing at the...
.
Characters
- Lancelot "Lance" Pertwillaby is the main character and Rosa's self portrait. He is a naïve young man who has managed to get into college for free, and doesn't have bad thoughts about anyone, not even Professor Smyte, who repeatedly tries to kill him.
- Feather Fluffnuthin (later renamed Feather Fluff) is Lance's girlfriend, who was at first depicted as a dumb blonde, but later turned out to be a civilised personality who in several respects is smarter than Lance. Feather is present in many of Lance's adventures.
- Viktor Dimitrius Smyte is a professor in Lance's college, who is present in all of Lance's adventures as the main villain. He is a former Nazi GermanNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and has tried to kill Lance many times, because he fears he might uncover his past. - Schuyler Roatch III is Lance's roommate at the college. He does not like Lance, because Pertwillaby's intellect and honesty deposed Schuyler as the most popular student. Schuyler works together with Professor Smyte, but does not want to kill Lance, instead he wants to embarrass him and prove that he got into college for free.
The Pertwillaby Papers also includes many supporting characters, such as Lance's best friend and ladies' man Freddie Kegg and Professor Artemis Phoebus, in addition to the notable Martin Bormann
Martin Bormann
Martin Ludwig Bormann was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery and private secretary to Adolf Hitler...
. Each main character has a unique, personal speech bubble style.
The Don Rosa Archives 1 – The Pertwillaby Papers
After the 1970s, The Pertwillaby Papers could no longer be read anywhere, until the Norwegian publishing company Gazette Bok published two books under the name The Don Rosa Archives, in both Norwegian and English. The Don Rosa Archives collects Rosa's non-Disney work, and the two volumes are respectively The Pertwillaby Papers and The Adventures of Captain KentuckyThe Adventures of Captain Kentucky
Captain Kentucky was a weekly comic-strip by Don Rosa, in the Saturday edition of the local newspaper Louisville Times. It ran from October 6, 1979 to August 15, 1982 after the publication of 150 episodes....
. The Pertwillaby Papers book consisted of all episodes of the comic, including episode #141, which had never been published before. The book also has forewords by both Rosa and Professor Nils Lid Hjort
Nils Lid Hjort
Nils Lid Hjort is a Norwegian statistician, and has been a professor of mathematical statistics at the University of Oslo since 1991...
, the editor of the two Gazette Bok volumes.
A special edition was also made of the books, containing both books with Don Rosa's signature and a poster, where Pertwillaby and Captain Kentucky meet each other for the first time. The poster is also signed by Rosa and only 150 copies were made. Both books were also imported to Finland.