THE DOMESTICALITIES

Barks was always quite particular about his choice of subjects when he wrote a story. He tried not to deliver a comic which would not be understood abroad and tended not to write about American holidays or sports. But he obviously felt this would not be a problem when it came to his front covers. Nowadays it is not hard to understand these covers in non-English speaking countries - if they were even published there - because of the massive American influence from the media and movies, which gives non-Americans a vivid insight of American culture. But at the time of publishing this was not the case. Many a foreign youngster have wondered just what those front covers were all about.

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Barks made a great number of front covers combining Uncle Scrooge and the symbol of American currency - the dollar sign. Although the dollar sign is - and was - well known throughout the world many distributors abroad did not publish these particular covers as the sign could not easily be 'translated' and retouched into their own currencies.

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Thanksgiving still is a typical American holiday. The turkeys and the pilgrim costumes have no meaning to the audiences abroad.

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The same can be said about Halloween with its pumpkin traditions.

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Baseball and American football are both native sports in the USA.

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In general, English text is not a good idea as it can be difficult to translate and redraw for foreign front covers.

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Finally, here are three examples of things which were generally unknown to non-American readers: Dunce Hats, Truant Officers and Jumping Beans.