Keskustelujen arkisto

Per was wondering about the next Barks-painting-project. I guess
it's not widely known that now Barks is working exclusively for STEVE
GEPPI who is paying him about 4 times what Hamilton was paying for
paintings, and which will then be GEPPI's property, and not auctioned
off through Sotheby's or somesuch. However, I think that Hamilton will
still be printing them as those "lithographs" (which I call $4 posters
that sell for $400) because unless the paintings are supposedly being
done in such a fashion that Disney is getting some sort of commission
off their existance, Barks could not be painting them for Geppi
privately. At least not doing it with a living soul KNOWING about it
other than Barks and Geppi... and that wouldn't suit either of their
styles.

Per wrote:
> At last I've gotten my account back at lysator so I can update things
> at the ftp archive there (host ftp.lysator.liu.se, directory
> /pub/comics/disney).
> Unfortunately I don't think ftpmail is up there yet, so if you can't
> use ftp you'll have to ask someone else fetch these files for you if
> you want them. (Normally I would be a good choice for such things,
> but I'll be away for a week now--Monday to Monday.)

I got a copy of all the files, so anyone can ask me and I'll mail them.

> These things are new:
>
> * A new file don-rosa.germany which is a supplement to the don-rosa
> index with an incomplete listing of publications of Don Rosa's stories
> in Germany. (Compiled by David Gerstein.)

Thank you David! You wrote in that file:

> This is a very incomplete list. I received my issues (of MICKY MAUS
> only) from a German food store and importer in Santa Barbara, and now and
> then their copies -- which came from remaindered stock -- never showed up.
> Now, I have come to realize that in many cases this was entirely due to *Rosa
> stories* which must have been in them that sold out in Germany before the
> remaindering company could get at them.

It is very interesting to know that an American book shop gets copies of
German comics!
And if some of the issues are sold out because of Rosa stories, that would
indicate that Rosa is VERY POPULAR in Germany/Austria/Switzerland,
because, as they state themselves, "Micky Maus" is the "LARGEST YOUTH
PERIODICAL IN THE WORLD"...

BTW: some of the German comics are for sale in some places in Holland, too.
Especially in tourist places, where a lot of Germans come.
I bought "Micky Maus" #30 last week, because there was a new Egmont story by
Van Horn in it.

--Harry.

(This could be a private message to Don Rosa, but since he asked the question
in the mailing list, I also put the answer here.)

Don Rosa:
> Speaking of trying to glom foreign editions of my stuff, the
> Egmont office in Norway sent me some copies of the Dutch DD weekly with
> my stories. I hadn't gotten any since last year, but these were issues
> of (OOPS) the MONTHLY, I should have said... DONALD DUCK EXTRA #4 & 5. I
> see I have something in #6 and I don't know which other recent or
> current issues. Harry, these were on the stands while you were telling
> me you'd help me get such copies -- do you have some set aside for me???

I ordered all Dutch issues with your work in it at the distributor a few
months ago. After several phone calls, they said that they couldn't
get ANY of the issues, not even last month's DD Extra! I didn't buy an
extra copy of that, because I expected the distributor to have a copy for
me...

Do you think it's the same as what David suggested with the German comics?
That they're sold out because they contain Rosa stories?

Anyway, I'm going to buy every Dutch Rosa comic I can get myself now, except
the ones you already have. That would leave:
DD 92-11, 18
DD Extra 92-4, 13 and 93-1, 2, 3, 6, 7
3 season special albums and one Uncle Scrooge album.

You'll hear from me as soon as I got enough to send you (and I won't wait
that long anymore...)

--Harry.

Comics Buyer's Guide # 1030, dated 13 August 1993, contains the con-
densed version of the Don Rosa interview which R.C. Harvey conducted
for Cartoonist PROfiles # 99. (Last month Mr. Rosa told us that this
interview took place over a year and a half ago.) The CBG article is
illustrated with 2 photos of Don Rosa and a cover of a Norwegian comic
book from 1992. I can't make out what the title of the comic is, but
it prints the first part of Rosa's "Life of Scrooge" series. At the
top is a banner line reading "SKRUES LYKKELAND" (Scrooge's Fortune),
and it shows the mature Scrooge staring at what looks like a factory,
with 2 multi-story towers rising from a broad building, but since each
tower carries a giant "KR" emblem, is this in fact a money bin? Below
this we see that this scene is actually an imaginary one, since it
appears in a "thought balloon" rising above a very young duck in a
tattered sweater operating a shoe-shine stand on a sidewalk. The young
duck (Scrooge?) is holding a shiney coin (the number-one dime?) in one
hand, and in the other hand he holds a copy of the "Afternoon Post"
newspaper, which bears the headline "Norge - mulighetenes land!" (Nor-
way - land of opportunities). [I'm sure the Norwegians in this group
will correct my probably wildly incorrect translation!] Did this comic
adapt the Life of Scrooge so that it takes place in Norway, or is that
really where part 1 of the story takes place? Or would that be telling?
Those of us in the USA are losing patience, waiting for the series to
appear over here!

Wilmer Rivers
rivers at seismo.css.gov

According to a recent issue of INTERNAL CORRESPONDENCE, published by
Capital Cities Distribution (one of the largest comic book distributors in
the U.S.), Gladstone commands 0.25% of the comic book market in the United
States. For contrast, Marvel Comics, the largest comic book publisher in
the U.S, commands about 33% of the market.

However, there is some hope, as Marvel is in charge of distributing Disney
comics to newstands. With hope, Marvel will bag the comics, and sell them
in much the same way Gold Key sold them many years ago. Considering that
almost all Disney comics stories rarely last more than one issue, and that
the stories contain few contemporary cultural references, these comic
books could sit on the shelf forever, until sold. If I was in charge at
Marvel, I would sign an agreement with Toys R Us (the largest toy store
chain), and have them agressively market the bags.

I'd also convince the Disney Stores to sell them too, in bags so they
don't get damaged.

Torsten Adair torsten at cwis.unomaha.edu Omaha, NE, USA
(Does anyone have the circulation figures from Disney/Gladstone?)

For Wilmer Rivers who is wondering about that magazine cover in CBG:
I thought it pretty stupid that they didn't EXPLAIN that cover
since readers couldn't read what it was! Perhaps R.C. sent in the photo
but forgot to explain it. That was the Sunday magazine for AFTENPOSTEN,
what I'm told is Norway's biggest (by somebody's measure) but most
prestigeous (as opposed to that VG?) newspaper. I drew that cover for
the large interior article about Scrooge and me and that "Life of
$crooge" series -- they told me that it was like doing the cover of TIME
in America, AFTENPOSTEN is that big in Norway. Who noze.
Anyway, what the cover is showing is sort of an "imaginary
scene" of the young $crooge seeing a copy of that newspaper and dreaming
of moving to Norway... part of the thrust of the article is how popular
the Ducks are in Norway/Scandanavia, and that the characters seem to
"belong" to that part of the world now, more than any other. What the
old $crooge is looking at is the Oslo City Hall, a VERY recognizable
structure to a Norwegeian, done up like a "dual" Money Bin. It's a gag
that would be lost on anyone outside of Oslo.
The other thing in that issue was that ad placed by Barks' new
"agent", a fellow who seems to be tearing down the many years that
Hamilton spent making Barks look good. I can gripe about what shameless
"collectibles" Hamilton made Barks products into, but at LEAST he made
Barks look CLASSY. This ad by Bill Grandy looked like something a
schoolboy made by typing copy up on an old typewriter then cutting it
out and gluing it haphazardly together with some other ugly border
strips. It really looks like the sort of ad you'd see in a 1968 comic
fanzine, not one in 1993!
The painting mentioned can only be the one that Barks is doing
for Geppi, and which may NOT be being marketed by Hamilton. It would be
a shame if Barks is snubbing Hamilton now -- Hamilton may have exploited
him but he also made him RICH and, though Barks created all his body of
work, it was HAMILTON that made it popular with others than just poor
Duck fans -- thereby creating about 90% of Barks' American popularity.
The other thing mentioned - the comic story being drawn by Van Horn - is
a disturbing bit also cooked up, I assume, by Grandy, as he is BOTH
Barks' and Van Horn's agent. Barks is simply supplying a story idea and
demanding umpteen thousand $$$ from Egmont for its use -- a project that
is NOT approved of as yet, nor should it be in the form that Grandy
wishes. Besides, the conflict of interests that is self-evident here is
disturbing. We should at least TRY not to make it seem as if the entire
point behind everything we do is unadulterated GREED, but maybe I'm
living in the past.

Thanks for all the answers to questions. I think you ask me only
one new one -- whether I do anything else besides Duck work. No, I make
my entire livlihood off writing/drawing Duck stuff for Egmont. I do a
few covers for Gladstone, but that doesn't amount to anything. Egmont's
pay rates are not bad, except (as you hear me whine) when one considers
that I'm working for dozens of publishers simultaneously but only being
paid by ONE, not to mention not receiving the royalties that a
"creative" person, working alone, deserves. But their pay rates are
okay, and have seemed VERY nice for a few years while the dollar was
weak. Right now the dollar has recovered somewhat, so the pay is now
just "good enough". It's possible that the pay could eventually become
BAD due to exchange rates -- but since that's not something I have ANY
control over, I'll worry about it when it happens. In other words, yes,
I am paid in Danish kroner. I get the same amount for every page, but
that amount changes in dollars every day... every HOUR actually. I'd
feel lots more secure if it were always the same, but as long as I work
for another country, that can't be.
I still haven't looked over your "Rosa Index" carefully, but I
will!
And I appreciate the trouble it sounds like you're going to to
get me some Dutch editions. Please be assured I'm not kidding when I say
that! The Dutch Disneys are probably the nicest looking editions, and
it's a particular thrill to see covers based on my stories.
Seems like one thing I noticed on your index is that they will
be running parts 1 & 2 of my "life of $crooge" series right AFTER they
print part 3. Will they say ANYTHING to readers to explain this
oddity???