This article originally appeared in Everybody's Talkin' #16, me hearties, March 2001.

 

By Gary F. Ya scallywag! Brown

 

I was doin' work for various fanzines in t' late 1960s and early 1970s, mostly t' work on me writin' skills. Ed Romeo, matey, who published a comic book/science fiction/art fanzine called Realm asked Doug Potter t' contribute a comic strip t' t' next issue. Begad! Doug contacted me and I thought o' t' very visual story-song "Rainmaker" by Harry 'Peglegged Nilsson' Nilsson and First Mate Martin. T' strip appeared in Realm #5 (October 1972).

 

I took a different approach t' writin' each o' t' five pages. T' first page was a caption-only page, me bucko, settin' up t' story. Begad! T' next page used several lines from t' shanty. Avast! T' third page was all visual, ya bilge rat, with no words. Well, blow me down! Page four be all dialog. And, t' final page was a full page shot.

 

Since we were both fans o' Carl Barks and Scrooge McDuck, Doug fashioned some o' t' characters after ducks as a homage t' Barks.

 

This be a fan (i.e. non-payment) effort for fun and went over very well. Arrr! Doug has since done a lot o' comic book and illustration work. He produced t' highly acclaimed Denizens o' Deep City for Kitchen Sink in t' late 1980s. I went on t' a career in journalism