Keskustelujen arkisto

>> Just for everyone's information. I picked up Gladstone's "first" new
>>comic. It came out around monday or tuesday, I don't know which since my bro
>>picked it up for me. _Donald Duck Adventures_ #21 contains "Secret of
>>Hondorica" (Barks), and a Grandma Duck story, "Modern Conveniences". This
>>Comic looks almost exactly like one of the original Gladstones, even the
>>letters column has the same title ("Adventure Log"). The only difference is
>>the paper quality.

Does that mean the letters page and issue credits are back to being on
the inside front cover of the comics? Do they have a comic strip on the
back cover? Also, how many pages were devoted to ads?

Don Rosa:
> Yes, there IS a long adventure story that I did especially for
> Norway's "Year of the Book" which WILL have some alternate panels
> when/if used by Gladstone. But... how did anyone KNOW about all
> that??? Did I pop off about it somewhere? I don't recall...

We have ways of knowing things like that...

Well, actually I heard about it from Stefan. If he had heard it from
you or seen it at work I don't know. Does it have a title?

> And yes, I will ask Gladstone to make some small changes in the
> "Life and Times of $crooge McDuck" when they use it; probably just
> dialogue changes. The biggest one involves part 3 where (...)

Yeah, I know what the continuity errors were, I just didn't want to
say too much of the stories for the majority who haven't read them.

> I hope readers will point out other goofs so I can correct them,
> too, in future printings.

Warning! Warning! You'd better beware of doing that!
Don is reported to have written the following about a young Swedish
Donaldist who reported on some continuity error in a Rosa comic:
"That XXX is too sharp for his own good. We may have to kill him."

:-)

> (...) yes, Disney comics licensees do pay a minimal fee when they
> wish to reprint a story, the fee to cover the cost of the photostats
> shipped to them by the story's producer or archiver, 99% of the time
> which is Egmont. Not even Disney ever bothered to keep copies of the
> old comic stories since they had so little concern for something as
> lowly as funnybooks; Dell and Egmont/Gutenberghus were the
> archivers.

I guess it must be part of the deal for licensees to have to archive
all their stories, as some other licensee might want it, but what
happens when they lose their license agreement with Disney? When the
Scandinavians reprinted Gladstone's (AR) stories, did they get them
from Gladstone, and was Gladstone really obliged to still archive them
and send them? And what about the comics produced at the Disney
Studios for the foreign market? Would it be possible for Gladstone to
get those from Disney if they'd like some of them and knew the codes?
(I'm thinking about recommending some of those stories never printed
in the USA for Gladstone, if they'd be interested.)
-- "
Per Starback, Uppsala, Sweden. email: starback at student.docs.uu.se
"Life is but a gamble! Let flipism chart your ramble!"

Colours
~~~~~~~

Don Rosa:
> If there ever was a one-page gag which involved HD&L having colored
> hats or sweaters which corresponded to the DUCKTALES color schemes,
> it was pure coincidence. Prior to DUCKTALES, there was NO designation
> of what color what nephew wore.

Well, if you make notes of what colours they have whenever they are
named, you will find that the Dell comics weren't coloured in a
consistent way. That much is obvious.

But I wouldn't want to dismiss the idea that the colourists, or at
least some of them, despite that had some views on this topic. Of
course there were some things that were known to all colourists, like
for instance the fact that HD&L had different cap colours and that
those colours were red, blue, and green. I don't know if knowledge
like that was ever written down somewhere or just something you
learnt from looking at others' colouring work, but I don't see
anything stopping those colourists from having such notions, and if
they did, it would probably show in an instance such as the one Rich
mentioned (sweaters with the boys' initials on them) as that is a case
where the colourists quickly can see who is who without having to
actually read the stories, something that they evidently not had the
time to do in their work.

To get any further on this question I guess one would have to either
speak to some of the actual old-time colourists or count instances of
the nephews having different colours and see if one can find any
tendencies in that data. BTW: even though confronted with
contradictory data my views when I was little was that they actually
were coloured in just that way: Huey red, Dewey blue, Louie green.
Divine inspiration? :-)

Ranks
~~~~~

Don Rosa:
> Ranks in the Junior Woodchucks are so ever-changing that I don't
> think HD&L have the same rank in any two stories.

But they do!

In WDC 125 they become five-star generals.
In WDC 132 they call each other generals and get promoted to ten-star
generals.
In WDC 137 they still are ten-star generals.
In WDC 150 they become hightails, which then is their rank for the
rest of the stories, something which often is referred to.

All those other titles, like "rear admirals of the arctic snows" are
no ranks but just titles that you can have or not, whatever your rank
is. At least I think that is pretty clear.
-- "
Per Starback, Uppsala, Sweden. email: starback at student.docs.uu.se
"Life is but a gamble! Let flipism chart your ramble!"

Don Rosa writes:
>COMMENTS ON DIGEST #whatsit:
>
> Yes, that's right, "War of the Wendigo", my long Peeweegah
>sequel, will NEVER be used in America simply because it involves
>Indians.

So how does the Disney "no-indians" policy work? The latest Donald
Duck Adventures (21) contains Barks' "Secret of Hondorica" which,
although I liked, I thought contained some rather negative indian
stereotypes. Is this one grandfather claused or something?

- mark semich, mas at csa.bu.edu

COMMENTS ON #25:

Not much new here...

As for the possibility of Disney allowing my Peeweegah story, "The War of the Wendigo", to be used in light of the current use of
"Secret of Hondorica" -- surely we all see the vast difference in the level of "political correctness" involving a tale about
Amazonian natives and AMERICAN INDIANS. What Disney weasels fear is that SINGLE letter from some hothead who probably wouldn't have
even read the Peeweegah story. It's far less likely that any natives in the Upper Amazon region would ever see a copy of "Hondorica"
, much less write Disney a crank letter. They don't want to make waves with anything as "stupid and useless and unprofitable" as
comic books.

If Disney NOW has a growing file of comic story photostats, it must only be because they have been building it during the past
6 years by demanding copies of everything Another Rainbow has used, and by getting the recently liquidated Dell stuff. Prior to
that, they couldn't have cared less. Now, not having ever seen what they might have, I can only DOUBT that Disney has unretouched
proofs of those MOC stories "Darkest Africa" or "Race to the South Seas". As far as I know, those just don't exist anymore. Any fool
who looks at the recent uses of "Darkest Africa" can see that it's all poorly done tracings off of old comic pages (or off heavilly
damaged proofs?) -- whatever the case, it's quite clearly NOT Barks art! As for "South Seas", that bit of forgery is so well done that
I don't think even Another Rainbow ever bothered to admit it -- but anytime you've seen "South Seas" reprinted, it's Dan Jippes
art you're looking at, not Barks. I don't see how Disney could have anything that Another Rainbow or Egmont or Oberon doesn't,
since THOSE are the sources for what it DOES have. The fact that it's housed in a lousy TRAILER tends to suggest how recent an
acquisition it is and how much respect they have for it. Egmont keeps its files in an underground VAULT.

Dear Folks,

Well, Friday's come and went and I only ever got TWO people to
enter my Gottfredson quote quiz: Harry Fluks and Per Starback. But
since I officially gave Friday as the deadline, I assume no others
plan to enter. Was it the short deadline? I'm SURE it was. I should
never have offered a quiz when I was about to leave for another E-Mail
address and become unable to efficiently end it unless I did it almost
immediately.

So when I next give a quiz (watch for it... it'll be coming
from my dad's E-Mail address, Larry.J.Gerstein at Dartmouth.edu, because
I'll be at home for the summer) in a few weeks, I'll give at least two
weeks, not one, for answers to come in.

But let's see who won this one, shall we:

1. "Boy! A box! Another minute and that cannibal tom cat would be
picking me out of his teeth!"
Only Harry tried this one, wondering if it was the early '30s
story "MM, Boxing Champion." Unfortunately, it isn't, the quote being
from "MM, Circus Roustabout" (only a few months later, though).
Mickey is diving into a packing crate to get away from a tiger he's
accidentally set free. Note: "MM, Boxing Champion" hasn't been
reprinted in this country. I mentioned that the stories I was using
had all been printed in this country since 1986 (with the exception of
one, from Abbeville). This one was in WDC&S 585, just last month. I
assumed it would be fresh in people's minds. I didn't think of
INTERNATIONAL MAIL slowing down Harry's and Per's receipt of the
issue, however.

2. "Alas, pore Nell, I knowed her well-ll...."
No one tried this. It's Goofy, attempting to lure Pete out of
his desert hideout with a love song which he thinks will melt the
hearts of villains. It's from "MM at the Bar-None Ranch," which
Gladstone printed in MM Giant Album #3.

3. "At last a faint light begins to flicker through the cracks in my
dome!"
This is Mickey getting an edge on a candid camera scheme in
"MM Outwits the Phantom Blot." That was printed both in Gladstone's
MM in Color book, and Disney's Album #4 (which was a censored version,
but that scene was left intact). Again, no one tried this.

4. "Wait till Lindy sees this airship! HeUll be so jealous -- he'll
*resign* from the army!"
This one both of you got! I guess most hardcore Disney fans
bought Gladstone's MM 244, the sixtieth anniversary edition, in which
the first week of the MM strip was reprinted. This is 1/14/30, as
Mickey builds himself an airplane that's soon to be grounded.
A half point for each of you.

5. "It tells der whole story in a shelled nut!"
Good going, Harry. You recognized this one as being Dr.
Einmug from "Island in the Sky," and you're right! A point in your
general direction. Sorry, Per, but you didn't try this one. The
story was reprinted right at the beginning of this year in WDC&S
582-83. This was the first completely uncut reprint of the story,
by the way. It was COMPLETELY banned to Gladstone, but the ban
was eventually lifted with no changes required in the story.

6. "What a peculiar language these natives speak!"
Harry suspected it was one of the African stories, but didn't
make a guess. You're right about the type of story: it's "MM in the
Foreign Legion" which IS set in Africa. This is also the only
pre-Gladstone quote in the quiz, since between Abbeville's publication
and Gladstone's planned/bumped publication (would have been MM 240, I
believe), the story was banned by Disney. Despite this, however, the
quote is not regarding Africans, but MICKEY, who's disguised himself
with a stubble 'beard' of black paint and races across the streets
shouting "Whoopee! Hotcha! Hot Diggetty Dog! Yeowie!"
Sorry, though, Harry, I couldn't count your guess as being
right, since it wasn't specific.

7. "Too many dynamitoruses... and not enuff rabbits!"
You missed this one, too, Harry, but Per got it. It's Goofy,
commenting on the local wildlife in "The Land of Long Ago" (which
Gladstone had in MM 247-49), from 1941. A point for you, Per. Each
of you has 1-1/2 points now.

8. "I'll turn on this gas and end it once and for all! ...Goodbye,
Minnie! Goodbye, cruel world!"
Both of you got this one, the story quoted being "MM vs. Mr.
Slicker and the Egg Robbers" (1930). This story has never been
reprinted in full in America, but Gladstone printed a sample strip in
MM in Color, which seems to be where both of you saw it. Good going!
(And who says Mickey has no emotions? Mickey's trying to commit
suicide when he thinks Minnie has left him... Donald never did that!)
A point for each of you, and the score's tied at 2-1/2.

9. "I t'ink zat we shall throw zem for a loop, eh?"
Harry, you guessed "MM in the Foreign Legion" here, but you
vere thrown for a loop yourzelf. In fact, it was "Monarch of
Medioka" (1937), as Mickey heads for King Michael's palace and
prepares to assume power as a substitute king. This is my personal
favorite MM story and I'll recommend it to EVERYONE, and you can find
it in Gladstone's MM Giant Album #7. You didn't try, Per.

10. "Tell 'im de rest, Shyster! He won't live t' tell nobody!"
Harry, you also tried this one, and here you got it. It's
Pete relishing an apparent capture, in "MM the Mail Pilot" (1933),
which was in MM in Color from Gladstone. Another one of the really
superb stories, and one where Mickey boldly goes out and gets involved
in the adventure completely through his own personality. (I'm just
letting you Duck fans know...)
Per: 2-1/2. Harry: 3-1/2.

11. "Crazy inventors! Machines that won't work! I can feel a
headache starting already!"
Harry, you guessed "Blaggard Castle" on this one, but in fact
it's "MM and the 'Lectro Box" which Disney printed in WDC&S 568-72.
(This strip was in #569, by the way). Upon refusing a patent to
Mickey's invention, a stuffed-shirt official is sent ceilingward -- in
his DESK -- by a stray electron beam! The story's from 1943.

12. "Excuse my glove!"
I threw in another quote from "Circus Roustabout," assuming
you had it freshly in mind. Oh, well. I knew this was an unusual
quote for Mickey, but he's actually got ANOTHER glove on -- a baseball
glove -- over his REGULAR one, so a strong-man's bravuro handshake
won't leave him in tatters. Neither of you tried it. Again, here's a
great one that's available NOW, folks, in WDC&S 585. It's from 1931.

13. "Just because I'm a *girl*, that's no sign I'm a *coward!*"
Well, Harry, you guessed "In Search of Jungle Treasure," but
again, there's one that is banned over here and which hasn't been
reprinted since 1941. So it wasn't eligible. However, I've got it in
German myself with only the last chapter in English (WDC&S 5), so
maybe she DOES say this. I dunno.
But Per, you *got* it, the quote being Minnie's firm resolve
to fly through a lightning storm regardless of the consequences, in
1934's "The Captive Castaways."

So the contest's a tie, with Per and Harry each getting 3-1/2
points. I see I need to give everyone not only time to GET TO my
contests, but wait longer so that people can actually look through ALL
their issues. Both my entrants were pressed for time, which
undoubtedly hurt them.

However, if the quotes got you reading Gottfredson again, my
dirty plot is revealed. :-) To quote Magica de Spell: "Hee, hee,
hee!"

But in all due seriousness, folks, I'm going home on Tuesday
and will have a new address, my dad's office E-mail. That's:

Larry.J.Gerstein at Dartmouth.edu

Thanks, Harry and Per, for entering my contest! "I'll be back
like a bad penny... or a ghost!"

Your friend,

David Gerstein! (Esq.)

"GHOST? Merciful goodness! What have I DONE?" *SLAM!*

Dear Folks,

I'll be going home from college for the summer starting
Tuesday. For the next month, home means New Hampshire, as my dad
wraps up a sabbatical at Dartmouth (where he's teaching mathematics).
I'll be going down to his office a lot, so that's where any E-mail you
have for me should be sent.

Disregarding the address that MacIP will stick on the top of
this letter, my E-Mail address from now on is:

Larry.J.Gerstein at Dartmouth.edu

It will remain thus until I tell you otherwise. Sending stuff
to Williamstown for me will essentially get nowwhere.

Thanks a lot, folks.