> Hi, Chris!
>
> Just wondering if you're still with us. If you're miffed from
>Don Rosa's comments the last time you were actively writing letters, I
>plead with you NOT to be! You oughtta see how Don and ME argue... but
>we're STILL friends just the same. He has angry feelings about how
>thanks to the way Disney promotes its characters in this country,
>they're much more visible as simple images on merchandise than as
>comic or animation characters. When you mentioned something along the
>lines of being Mickey's fan since first encountering him in a
>non-comic, non-cartoon form, that's what set him off. Take it from me
>-- it always does! But that's no reason to go silent on us!
>
> (BTW: When I said "This means war" during that discussion, I
>was joking around -- quoting the very line from Bugs Bunny which had
>surfaced during the discussion -- not offering flame bait!)
>
> In any event, why not contribute to our conversations these
>days? I hope everything's all right with you...
>
> Your friend,
>
> David Gerstein
> <David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>
Hi David & and everybody else here too!
Yep, I'm still here. I'm still reading most of the stuff that comes in.
No. I'm not miffed at all with what Don said. :) It's just that I've been
*VERY* busy here at work. Also, the local theater where I play trombone in
the orchestra has started the next show we're doing. Bye-Bye nights and
weekends for 6 weeks!
But I have been trying to catch up with the comics in my 'spare' time.
Let's see...I just bought 4 new issues of stuff that I fell behind on.
I just picked up the last two "Donald and Mickey"'s, LO$2, and WDCS #???
(The most recent one.)
I think "Mickey an' Hoppy" was one of the best Mickeys I've seen! (Is that what
it was called?) But the Slueth title left me wanting, although, it did have
its moments.
What else?... LO$2 is great! ... I also liked the Goofy King Tut story. I seem
to like that sort of hap-hazard presentation style. I wonder if I should
re-start reading MAD? Hmmm...I haven't seen one since I was about 12.
I also finished my re-read of the Roger Rabbit stuff and the Toontown stuff.
I still like it. :) (While I was reading some of the latter RR issues, I was
listening to the WFRR soundtrack. Neat. Try it.)
Lastly, I purchased two of the Carl Banks Library issues. DDA #1 and WDC&S#2
(I'm at work right now, so I'm not really sure of the issue numbers but they
were the lowest that I could find)
I really liked the DDA pirate story with the parrot. (The title eludes me right
now.) And most of WDC&S, too. However, Good Neighbor...whew. Boy! Donald was
just plain mean! I guess I didn't think he had it in him to be so cruel!
That 'Shrapnel Football Bomb' seemed wicked!
Anyway, these two collections are my start of trying to become a more educated
Disney comic reader. [note the lowercase c] Maybe in a few hundred more...:)
Overall, I'm starting to tell some differences between Carl Barks and others.
My biggest wish though is still "More Mickey"
(I did get and save your poll. Now if I can find time to complete it!)
Chris Mickey's #1 Fan!! :) :)
Author
Topic: 199404
(249 messages)
Chris Lawton
Still Here :)
Message 121 -
1994-04-16 at 03:25:00
Mark Mayerson
Justice Book Wanted
Message 122 -
1994-04-16 at 04:04:54
This is not exactly relevant to this list, but I assume that the readership
has a good knowledge of what Disneyana is available and where.
I'm looking for a copy of Justice For Disney by Bill Justice. If anybody
has a copy for sale or can point me to a dealer who's got it, please email
me the details.
Thanks very much.
___________________________________________________________________
Mark Mayerson Side Effects Software Inc.,
Internet: mayerson at sidefx.com Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(416) 366-4607
has a good knowledge of what Disneyana is available and where.
I'm looking for a copy of Justice For Disney by Bill Justice. If anybody
has a copy for sale or can point me to a dealer who's got it, please email
me the details.
Thanks very much.
___________________________________________________________________
Mark Mayerson Side Effects Software Inc.,
Internet: mayerson at sidefx.com Toronto, Ontario, Canada
(416) 366-4607
Don Rosa
Disney-comics digest #301.
Message 123 -
1994-04-16 at 06:55:47
JAMES:
Whoaa! You are quite incorrect there! As I was saying, Disney
may hold legal ownership of the characters and the material produced
concerning same... but they do NOT have control (at least, they have no
feasible way of exerting it) over the comic book stories from somebody
like Egmont. Perhaps it's Egmont's track record of producing quality
material... perhaps it's that Disney is LOST when it comes to
understanding who these characters are except as the mere empty-shell
"actors" they use them as... perhaps Disney feels thay have 10,000 more
important things to do than approve thousands of pages of material that
never even appears in America... perhaps Europe is too far away? They DO
keep a firm grip on Gladstone, seemingly out of pure spite considering
how little control they exert on any other comic publisher in the world.
Also, it's not unusual that you can't quite grasp this -- no
matter how many times I spell it out for people familiar with American
comics, they always seem to think it's so fantastic that I must be
kidding them. No, Disney does NOT own my art or any other freelancer's
art, nor do they CLAIM they do. They can't possibly own physical
material that they have never paid for nor which the owner has ever
agreed has been sold. The case is that publishers are told by Disney to
simply NOT RETURN such art... and since there are so few freelance
Disney artists outside of art studios (whether it's comics art studios
like Vicar or Diaz or Branca or Scarpa or any of those, or it's
commercial art studios), there's never been an uproar about it. It's
flatly illegal but they get away with it since everyone allows them to.
The rest of the American comic industry has never been interested in
helping me out in this regard since they know my situation can't effect
the sweet deals they are now guaranteed, so why should they get
involved? No, Disney does NOT own, nor do they claim to own, the
artwork.
What do the Paperinik fans think of my "Super Snooper Strikes
Again"? Not many of them have ever seen ANY of my work. They have
nothing but digest-type Disney books in Italy (other than some Barks
reprint series), so the Italians never see my work nor any comic book
style Disney stuff (or so I'm told). But then, I guess the many readers
of the Scandanavian Italian-reprint-digests see my stories; I don't know
what they think, but I do know that they understand that the comic books
and the digests are like two different "universes" of Disney stuff --
sorta like DuckTales is to us.
And it's not "Feathery", but FETHRY; I assume it's a British
name that they use since it sounds like "feathery".
GLADSTONE CIRCULATION FIGURES:
I suddenly realized the answer to the paradox of these
much-too-high circulation figures found in Gladstone's first set of
"statement-of-ownership"s. We KNOW that these Disney comics are not
selling 160,000 copies per issue in America! It's more like half that
many, if not 1/4 that many.
But the deal is that Gladstone prints 160,000 copies, sells
what they do in direct sales, and turns over a certain percentage of
the run to MARVEL. Marvel then must do what they can to sell those
issues on the newsstands, but they cannot return any of those issues to
Gladstone and therefore the entire print run is SOLD as far as
Gladstone is concerned. Note the line concerning "number of issues
returned unsold: 0"!!! This would seem to be a sweet deal for Gladstone
-- to be guaranteed to sell 160,000 copies of everything per issue
would seem to guarantee a nice profit and a rather successful (by
modern American standards) line of comics; but I dunno how much or
little Marvel pays for their portion of the run. Knowing Disney, the
deal might well be that Gladstone must give them to Marvel for FREE --
I wouldn't put it past Disney to demand something as unfair as that. It
would be their style.
So, we really have NO idea how the Gladstones are selling by
just looking at those statement-of-ownerships. But just judging from the
level of interest I see between now and the Gladstones of 7-8 years ago,
I don't think they are selling all that well, due to how much Disney
Comics ruined the market for them.
Whoaa! You are quite incorrect there! As I was saying, Disney
may hold legal ownership of the characters and the material produced
concerning same... but they do NOT have control (at least, they have no
feasible way of exerting it) over the comic book stories from somebody
like Egmont. Perhaps it's Egmont's track record of producing quality
material... perhaps it's that Disney is LOST when it comes to
understanding who these characters are except as the mere empty-shell
"actors" they use them as... perhaps Disney feels thay have 10,000 more
important things to do than approve thousands of pages of material that
never even appears in America... perhaps Europe is too far away? They DO
keep a firm grip on Gladstone, seemingly out of pure spite considering
how little control they exert on any other comic publisher in the world.
Also, it's not unusual that you can't quite grasp this -- no
matter how many times I spell it out for people familiar with American
comics, they always seem to think it's so fantastic that I must be
kidding them. No, Disney does NOT own my art or any other freelancer's
art, nor do they CLAIM they do. They can't possibly own physical
material that they have never paid for nor which the owner has ever
agreed has been sold. The case is that publishers are told by Disney to
simply NOT RETURN such art... and since there are so few freelance
Disney artists outside of art studios (whether it's comics art studios
like Vicar or Diaz or Branca or Scarpa or any of those, or it's
commercial art studios), there's never been an uproar about it. It's
flatly illegal but they get away with it since everyone allows them to.
The rest of the American comic industry has never been interested in
helping me out in this regard since they know my situation can't effect
the sweet deals they are now guaranteed, so why should they get
involved? No, Disney does NOT own, nor do they claim to own, the
artwork.
What do the Paperinik fans think of my "Super Snooper Strikes
Again"? Not many of them have ever seen ANY of my work. They have
nothing but digest-type Disney books in Italy (other than some Barks
reprint series), so the Italians never see my work nor any comic book
style Disney stuff (or so I'm told). But then, I guess the many readers
of the Scandanavian Italian-reprint-digests see my stories; I don't know
what they think, but I do know that they understand that the comic books
and the digests are like two different "universes" of Disney stuff --
sorta like DuckTales is to us.
And it's not "Feathery", but FETHRY; I assume it's a British
name that they use since it sounds like "feathery".
GLADSTONE CIRCULATION FIGURES:
I suddenly realized the answer to the paradox of these
much-too-high circulation figures found in Gladstone's first set of
"statement-of-ownership"s. We KNOW that these Disney comics are not
selling 160,000 copies per issue in America! It's more like half that
many, if not 1/4 that many.
But the deal is that Gladstone prints 160,000 copies, sells
what they do in direct sales, and turns over a certain percentage of
the run to MARVEL. Marvel then must do what they can to sell those
issues on the newsstands, but they cannot return any of those issues to
Gladstone and therefore the entire print run is SOLD as far as
Gladstone is concerned. Note the line concerning "number of issues
returned unsold: 0"!!! This would seem to be a sweet deal for Gladstone
-- to be guaranteed to sell 160,000 copies of everything per issue
would seem to guarantee a nice profit and a rather successful (by
modern American standards) line of comics; but I dunno how much or
little Marvel pays for their portion of the run. Knowing Disney, the
deal might well be that Gladstone must give them to Marvel for FREE --
I wouldn't put it past Disney to demand something as unfair as that. It
would be their style.
So, we really have NO idea how the Gladstones are selling by
just looking at those statement-of-ownerships. But just judging from the
level of interest I see between now and the Gladstones of 7-8 years ago,
I don't think they are selling all that well, due to how much Disney
Comics ruined the market for them.
Mark Semich
Disney-comics digest #301.
Message 124 -
1994-04-16 at 07:19:56
>From: Don Rosa <72260.2635 at CompuServe.COM>
>The rest of the American comic industry has never been interested in
>helping me out in this regard since they know my situation can't effect
>the sweet deals they are now guaranteed, so why should they get
>involved? No, Disney does NOT own, nor do they claim to own, the
>artwork.
What could another comic book company do to help the situation between
you and Disney?
>GLADSTONE CIRCULATION FIGURES:
> I suddenly realized the answer to the paradox of these
>much-too-high circulation figures found in Gladstone's first set of
>"statement-of-ownership"s. We KNOW that these Disney comics are not
>selling 160,000 copies per issue in America! It's more like half that
>many, if not 1/4 that many.
How do we know that?
> But the deal is that Gladstone prints 160,000 copies, sells
>what they do in direct sales, and turns over a certain percentage of
>the run to MARVEL.
And then Marvel prints new covers (with the "Marvel Comics" imprint)
for these old issues? It seems more likely to me that a big chunk of
Gladstone's market is the overseas market.
> So, we really have NO idea how the Gladstones are selling by
>just looking at those statement-of-ownerships. But just judging from the
>level of interest I see between now and the Gladstones of 7-8 years ago,
>I don't think they are selling all that well, due to how much Disney
>Comics ruined the market for them.
Well, I've been seeing a great deal of interest. All the Gladstones
(except for D&M) consistently sell-out at all the comic book stores
around here, and I've often seen people asking for them, only to be
turned away.
>The rest of the American comic industry has never been interested in
>helping me out in this regard since they know my situation can't effect
>the sweet deals they are now guaranteed, so why should they get
>involved? No, Disney does NOT own, nor do they claim to own, the
>artwork.
What could another comic book company do to help the situation between
you and Disney?
>GLADSTONE CIRCULATION FIGURES:
> I suddenly realized the answer to the paradox of these
>much-too-high circulation figures found in Gladstone's first set of
>"statement-of-ownership"s. We KNOW that these Disney comics are not
>selling 160,000 copies per issue in America! It's more like half that
>many, if not 1/4 that many.
How do we know that?
> But the deal is that Gladstone prints 160,000 copies, sells
>what they do in direct sales, and turns over a certain percentage of
>the run to MARVEL.
And then Marvel prints new covers (with the "Marvel Comics" imprint)
for these old issues? It seems more likely to me that a big chunk of
Gladstone's market is the overseas market.
> So, we really have NO idea how the Gladstones are selling by
>just looking at those statement-of-ownerships. But just judging from the
>level of interest I see between now and the Gladstones of 7-8 years ago,
>I don't think they are selling all that well, due to how much Disney
>Comics ruined the market for them.
Well, I've been seeing a great deal of interest. All the Gladstones
(except for D&M) consistently sell-out at all the comic book stores
around here, and I've often seen people asking for them, only to be
turned away.
Mattias Hallin
Gladstone's Sales in Sweden
Message 125 -
1994-04-16 at 18:29:24
GLADSTONE'S SALES IN SWEDEN
is of course a subject on which I'm fairly ignorant,
nor do I have any idea of their aggregate overseas sales, but i DO know that my
local dealer carries a complete run of Gladstones, including the albums, and
have no particular problem turning them over, I'd say...
OK, Lund, as a student town, has a larger than average comic book market, all
types of comics -- but still, as I said, from what I see, Gladstone seems to be
doing well right here; and it's the Gladstone Gladstones, not Marvel
Gladstones, too!
Mattias
!==============================================================================!
!* Mattias Hallin ** <Mattias.Hallin at Jurenh.lu.se> ** Phone: +46 46-14 84 43 **!
!* Trollebergsvagen 24 B ***** Work: Lund University, Box 117, S-221 00 Lund **!
!* S-222 29 Lund, SWEDEN **************************** Phone: +46 46-10 71 37 **!
!==============================================================================!
!******************** "Hello, all you happy tax-payers!" *********************!
!==============================================================================!
is of course a subject on which I'm fairly ignorant,
nor do I have any idea of their aggregate overseas sales, but i DO know that my
local dealer carries a complete run of Gladstones, including the albums, and
have no particular problem turning them over, I'd say...
OK, Lund, as a student town, has a larger than average comic book market, all
types of comics -- but still, as I said, from what I see, Gladstone seems to be
doing well right here; and it's the Gladstone Gladstones, not Marvel
Gladstones, too!
Mattias
!==============================================================================!
!* Mattias Hallin ** <Mattias.Hallin at Jurenh.lu.se> ** Phone: +46 46-14 84 43 **!
!* Trollebergsvagen 24 B ***** Work: Lund University, Box 117, S-221 00 Lund **!
!* S-222 29 Lund, SWEDEN **************************** Phone: +46 46-10 71 37 **!
!==============================================================================!
!******************** "Hello, all you happy tax-payers!" *********************!
!==============================================================================!
David A Gerstein
Those Germans
Message 126 -
1994-04-16 at 19:52:18
Dear Folks,
Don discussed the German weekly: "This is the only country
where the weekly is named after the wrong character. Those Germans
-- always being contrary!"
>Snort!< Them's fightin' words! Sure, the German weekly is
named after Mickey! SO'S the Italian one, and the British one.
It's easy to explain in Italy and Germany. Both of those
countries get all the stuff produced in Italy (it comes to the Germans
in a whopping THREE pocket books per month, one with 256 pages!), in
which Mickey has appeared in his Gottfredson version continuously.
And in Italy Gottfredson's stories have never been out of print.
It is the strong characterization of MM by Gottfredson, and
those who worked in his footsteps, that is enough to keep Mickey up
there with DD as a popular character. It is the countries which have
given constant exposure to this characterization (since the 1950s)
where MM is equal in popularity to DD and US.
As for the British situation, I haven't a clue. Actually,
Mickey's name vanished from the weekly when Gottfredson stopped doing
the adventure stories in the late 1950s. It only returned about three
years ago.
Regarding "Return to Xanadu"'s German publication: "I see
the #2000 has (part 2?) of my "Return to Xanadu" under the title
"(something) to Trala La". So, the surprise of Xanadu being Trala
La is merely given away in the TITLE of the story? What did they use
for a title to "Citizen Kane" in Germany? "The Man with the Sled
Named Rosebud"?
No, but "War of the Wendigo" is there called "Return to the
Land of the Pygmy Indians," spoiling any surprise in the sudden
reappearance of the Peeweegahs.
Yep, them Germans can't keep a secret.
Your pal,
David Gerstein
Don discussed the German weekly: "This is the only country
where the weekly is named after the wrong character. Those Germans
-- always being contrary!"
>Snort!< Them's fightin' words! Sure, the German weekly is
named after Mickey! SO'S the Italian one, and the British one.
It's easy to explain in Italy and Germany. Both of those
countries get all the stuff produced in Italy (it comes to the Germans
in a whopping THREE pocket books per month, one with 256 pages!), in
which Mickey has appeared in his Gottfredson version continuously.
And in Italy Gottfredson's stories have never been out of print.
It is the strong characterization of MM by Gottfredson, and
those who worked in his footsteps, that is enough to keep Mickey up
there with DD as a popular character. It is the countries which have
given constant exposure to this characterization (since the 1950s)
where MM is equal in popularity to DD and US.
As for the British situation, I haven't a clue. Actually,
Mickey's name vanished from the weekly when Gottfredson stopped doing
the adventure stories in the late 1950s. It only returned about three
years ago.
Regarding "Return to Xanadu"'s German publication: "I see
the #2000 has (part 2?) of my "Return to Xanadu" under the title
"(something) to Trala La". So, the surprise of Xanadu being Trala
La is merely given away in the TITLE of the story? What did they use
for a title to "Citizen Kane" in Germany? "The Man with the Sled
Named Rosebud"?
No, but "War of the Wendigo" is there called "Return to the
Land of the Pygmy Indians," spoiling any surprise in the sudden
reappearance of the Peeweegahs.
Yep, them Germans can't keep a secret.
Your pal,
David Gerstein
Don Rosa
Disney-comics digest #302.
Message 127 -
1994-04-18 at 06:55:57
MARK:
No, I didn't mean that American comic COMPANIES could have done
anything to help Disney freelancers. I meant that American comic
professionals were quite obvious in not doing or saying a thing about
Disney's policies, even when CBG had a top, front-page headline about
Disney not allowing art to be returned. These are the same people that
raise all hell when Jack Kirby couldn't get back artwork he knowingly
allowed to be kept 30 years ago (because at the time he saw no value in
it), but wanted back later. I, on the other hand, always demanded my art
returned and it was withheld for no other stated reason other than
Disney not wanting me to have it back. Apparently, the professionals
were distressed by Kirby's problem since his situation would reflect on
THEIR situation; what happened to a freelancer doing Disney work (which
they had no interest in for its lack of potential profitability) did not
matter to them.
Also, even the other Disney comics freelancers didn't try to
help improve their own situation -- they cooperated in their own
subjugation when they could have protested with me. That sort of
situation can only last as long as people don't object to its flagrant
unfairness -- as long as no one (or only one) objects, there's no good
business reason to change the policy.
How do we know the Gladstone's aren't selling 160,000 per issue?
Common sense. They used to sell about 70,000 per issue 6 years ago;
Disney Comics eroded that to 40,000 copies; I know that store orders
have not increased much, not even back up to the levels of 6 years ago,
much less to have doubled that number!
No, I remembered how Hamilton explained their new deal, that
they print a certain number of issues for Marvel to sell to the
newsstands; these issues are marked as SOLD WITH NO RETURNS on
Gladston'es books, even if they never ARE sold by Marvel... Marvel eats
those returns and they aren't reimbursed for them. For the direct sales,
which Gladstone handles, there ARE no returns. Therefore, as I said,
Gladstone prints for both direct and newsstand markets, yet they have
100% sales on the entire runs on their books. The only way this isn't a
phenomenally great deal is that Marvel may not pay much for those
issues.
And what do you mean "old issues with new covers". They are part
of the same press run, only a certain number have the Marvel logo in
place of the Gladstone. They are concurrent with the Gladstone issues,
and part of that same sales figure list.
Gladstone's international sales have always been important, but
not all that much. The only way they can be sold outside of the U.S. and
Australia and Canada is in those direct sales stores in Europe, and
there aren't that many of them there. Too bad there's not -- an average
American direct-sales store orders about 5 or 10 copies of a Gladstone
comic; the comic stores I've visited in Norway sold about 400 issues of
each Gladstone Duck title (and about 50-100 once Disney took over). If
direct-sales stores were the way comics were mostly sold in Europe as in
America, Gladstone would be sittin' onna gold mine.
In my travels to many American comic shows, I "have my finger on
the pulse" of the interest in Gladstone's new Disneys... and the lack of
interest between now and 6-8 years ago is clear and tangible.
The number of issues that Gladstone PRINTS has not changed
(probably) from those days (though I'll guess it's lower) -- it's just
that they are able to claim their entire print run as "sold" which they
couldn't in those days.
DAVID:
I haven't seen the German weekly #2000, but are you saying that
the "Return to Xanadu" story is NOT titled "Return to Trala La"? I just
got a FAX fro the translator himself who verified that the title used
IS "Return to Trala La" and he apologized for it. That's not the title
you see?
No, I didn't mean that American comic COMPANIES could have done
anything to help Disney freelancers. I meant that American comic
professionals were quite obvious in not doing or saying a thing about
Disney's policies, even when CBG had a top, front-page headline about
Disney not allowing art to be returned. These are the same people that
raise all hell when Jack Kirby couldn't get back artwork he knowingly
allowed to be kept 30 years ago (because at the time he saw no value in
it), but wanted back later. I, on the other hand, always demanded my art
returned and it was withheld for no other stated reason other than
Disney not wanting me to have it back. Apparently, the professionals
were distressed by Kirby's problem since his situation would reflect on
THEIR situation; what happened to a freelancer doing Disney work (which
they had no interest in for its lack of potential profitability) did not
matter to them.
Also, even the other Disney comics freelancers didn't try to
help improve their own situation -- they cooperated in their own
subjugation when they could have protested with me. That sort of
situation can only last as long as people don't object to its flagrant
unfairness -- as long as no one (or only one) objects, there's no good
business reason to change the policy.
How do we know the Gladstone's aren't selling 160,000 per issue?
Common sense. They used to sell about 70,000 per issue 6 years ago;
Disney Comics eroded that to 40,000 copies; I know that store orders
have not increased much, not even back up to the levels of 6 years ago,
much less to have doubled that number!
No, I remembered how Hamilton explained their new deal, that
they print a certain number of issues for Marvel to sell to the
newsstands; these issues are marked as SOLD WITH NO RETURNS on
Gladston'es books, even if they never ARE sold by Marvel... Marvel eats
those returns and they aren't reimbursed for them. For the direct sales,
which Gladstone handles, there ARE no returns. Therefore, as I said,
Gladstone prints for both direct and newsstand markets, yet they have
100% sales on the entire runs on their books. The only way this isn't a
phenomenally great deal is that Marvel may not pay much for those
issues.
And what do you mean "old issues with new covers". They are part
of the same press run, only a certain number have the Marvel logo in
place of the Gladstone. They are concurrent with the Gladstone issues,
and part of that same sales figure list.
Gladstone's international sales have always been important, but
not all that much. The only way they can be sold outside of the U.S. and
Australia and Canada is in those direct sales stores in Europe, and
there aren't that many of them there. Too bad there's not -- an average
American direct-sales store orders about 5 or 10 copies of a Gladstone
comic; the comic stores I've visited in Norway sold about 400 issues of
each Gladstone Duck title (and about 50-100 once Disney took over). If
direct-sales stores were the way comics were mostly sold in Europe as in
America, Gladstone would be sittin' onna gold mine.
In my travels to many American comic shows, I "have my finger on
the pulse" of the interest in Gladstone's new Disneys... and the lack of
interest between now and 6-8 years ago is clear and tangible.
The number of issues that Gladstone PRINTS has not changed
(probably) from those days (though I'll guess it's lower) -- it's just
that they are able to claim their entire print run as "sold" which they
couldn't in those days.
DAVID:
I haven't seen the German weekly #2000, but are you saying that
the "Return to Xanadu" story is NOT titled "Return to Trala La"? I just
got a FAX fro the translator himself who verified that the title used
IS "Return to Trala La" and he apologized for it. That's not the title
you see?
Harry Fluks
Disney-comics digest #298.
Message 128 -
1994-04-18 at 13:10:32
(I have been away for a week, so here are some replies to old mail...)
About Argus McSwine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Dutch name of this pig is Venijn MacSnekke. I think he was named so
even in the 60s and 70s, before Egmont made a lot of stories with him.
Maybe even in several Barks stories.
Bucky Bug
~~~~~~~~~
David asked:
> *** HAVE THE EARLY BUCKY SUNDAY STRIPS BEEN REPRINTED BY
> OBERON... AND IF SO, WHERE AND WHEN? ***
Not that I know of... A lot of sunday newspaper strips have been reprinted
in Holland, including Hiawatha, Panchito, Joe Carioca, etc. But I can't recall
a reprint of any Bucky Bug strip.
(For those who don't know: Oberon was the name of the Dutch publisher for
years.)
AR-index
~~~~~~~~
David made some corrections and additions to the ftp-file 'ar-index'. Don't
worry too much about updating this: when I'm finished with the Disney comics
Database, this file and some others will be constantly up-to-date, or at
least consistent with other files (because the 'source' information will
be stored on one place only).
Hiawatha translated
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dwight asked:
> How are the Lil Hiawatha stories translated in your countries?
In Holland they used to use some "broken Dutch", a language that is used
for uncivilised peoples (I know the French equivalent is called
"Petit-ne`gre": Little Negro). It had sentences like "Mij ziek zijn" ("Me
be sick").
Holland had a big production of Hiawatha stories in the 60s and 70s,
because he was a popular character here and no USA stories were available.
From 1983 on, Hiawatha talks normal Dutch, like everybody else. Nowadays,
he appears only once in a while in an Egmont story.
Golden Mickeys
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fabio:
> there was another edition of FG's stories during the years
> 1970-1972 (almost all the 1930-1945 stuff), in an series of oblong comics
> (just two strips per page) called "Topolino d'Oro", even if this edition
> was b&w: does anybody know if this edition was reprinted anywhere? Just
> curious...
Not in Holland.
Rosa and Van Horn indexes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fredrik replied to Mikko:
> Like Harry said; send the Van Horn stuff to me and I'll decide
> what to do with it. Either I'll include it in the Scandinavian
> column if it's similar enough, or I'll give it a column all by
> itself, or perhaps it will even get a whole new file.
Mikko sent me the Finnish updates for the Don Rosa index, and it sufficed
to add an 'F' to some of the entries. I just sent the new version of this
file (don-rosa.index) to Per (to put on ftp).
--Harry.
About Argus McSwine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Dutch name of this pig is Venijn MacSnekke. I think he was named so
even in the 60s and 70s, before Egmont made a lot of stories with him.
Maybe even in several Barks stories.
Bucky Bug
~~~~~~~~~
David asked:
> *** HAVE THE EARLY BUCKY SUNDAY STRIPS BEEN REPRINTED BY
> OBERON... AND IF SO, WHERE AND WHEN? ***
Not that I know of... A lot of sunday newspaper strips have been reprinted
in Holland, including Hiawatha, Panchito, Joe Carioca, etc. But I can't recall
a reprint of any Bucky Bug strip.
(For those who don't know: Oberon was the name of the Dutch publisher for
years.)
AR-index
~~~~~~~~
David made some corrections and additions to the ftp-file 'ar-index'. Don't
worry too much about updating this: when I'm finished with the Disney comics
Database, this file and some others will be constantly up-to-date, or at
least consistent with other files (because the 'source' information will
be stored on one place only).
Hiawatha translated
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dwight asked:
> How are the Lil Hiawatha stories translated in your countries?
In Holland they used to use some "broken Dutch", a language that is used
for uncivilised peoples (I know the French equivalent is called
"Petit-ne`gre": Little Negro). It had sentences like "Mij ziek zijn" ("Me
be sick").
Holland had a big production of Hiawatha stories in the 60s and 70s,
because he was a popular character here and no USA stories were available.
From 1983 on, Hiawatha talks normal Dutch, like everybody else. Nowadays,
he appears only once in a while in an Egmont story.
Golden Mickeys
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fabio:
> there was another edition of FG's stories during the years
> 1970-1972 (almost all the 1930-1945 stuff), in an series of oblong comics
> (just two strips per page) called "Topolino d'Oro", even if this edition
> was b&w: does anybody know if this edition was reprinted anywhere? Just
> curious...
Not in Holland.
Rosa and Van Horn indexes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fredrik replied to Mikko:
> Like Harry said; send the Van Horn stuff to me and I'll decide
> what to do with it. Either I'll include it in the Scandinavian
> column if it's similar enough, or I'll give it a column all by
> itself, or perhaps it will even get a whole new file.
Mikko sent me the Finnish updates for the Don Rosa index, and it sufficed
to add an 'F' to some of the entries. I just sent the new version of this
file (don-rosa.index) to Per (to put on ftp).
--Harry.
Harry Fluks
Databases, mysteries and newspapers (Disney-comics digest #299.)
Message 129 -
1994-04-18 at 13:40:33
Comics databases
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Torsten:
> Announcing the GRAND COMICS DATABASE
Fredrik:
> I'm actually slightly surprised there has been no reaction to this
> message. Has anyone written these guys and told them about all our
> indices?
I planned to react, but haven't (yet). I'm not sure these people would
be interested in Disney (or other funny animal) stuff. The superhero
world is quite distinct from 'our' world. But maybe they at least
ought to know that we HAVE an index.
> And we still don't HAVE a FAQ...
And we still don't HAVE time...
But I'm still working on the Disney comics Database (which takes more
time than I thought).
Myckey's Misteries 8-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fabio:
> I do not remeber of having read those stories you talk about, but actually
> there is a monthly called "I misteri di Topolino", i.e., "Mickey's
> Misteries"
Gilbert Roser (hi, Gilbert!):
> Here in Germany these comics Frederik mentioned are presented in a digest
> called "Ein Fall fur Micky" and until today four books were selled. The
> comics are Denish stories of the nineties (the index-numbers are beginning
> with D9....)
Maybe this is an example of the case that Egmont gives re-worked Italian
material its own numbers? (Like we saw before in the Rota story of "Andold
Wild Duck")
Disney newspaper strips
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James Williams asked:
> What Disney strips have existed? When did they run? Which characters did
> they feature? And, Who worked on them?
I hope to answer a lot of these questions exactly when I have finished the
Disney comics database. From my mind, there are or have been at least the
following Disney newspaper strips:
- Mickey Mouse, daily, 1930-present. Gottfredson, Walsh, and even Jippes in
the early 80s. Listed in ftp file 'mickey-mouse.dailies'.
- Donald Duck, daily, 1938-present. Taliaferro, currently reprinted by
Gladstone.
- Scamp, daily. From 1952 till ?
- Mickey Mouse, sunday. Gottfredson, ... Listed in ftp file
'mickey-mouse.sundays'
- Silly Symphonies, sunday. Featured a lot of different "sub-series", like
Donald Duck (Taliaferro), Hiawatha (Grant), Panchito (Murry),
Joe Carioca (Murry), Pluto, Bambi.
A lot of various artists, including Gottfredson, Taliaferro, Murry
- Donald Duck, sunday.
- Brer Rabbit, sunday. Dick Moores. 50s.
- Scamp, sunday. 60s/70s.
- Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales, sunday. Listed in ftp-file 'classics'.
- Winnie the Pooh, sunday. 80s. Reprinted by Gladstone.
- Christmas tales, sunday. Only in Chistmas time (November/December). All
kinds of characters, like Dumbo, Peter Pan, Cinderella etc.
(That's it.)
--Harry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Torsten:
> Announcing the GRAND COMICS DATABASE
Fredrik:
> I'm actually slightly surprised there has been no reaction to this
> message. Has anyone written these guys and told them about all our
> indices?
I planned to react, but haven't (yet). I'm not sure these people would
be interested in Disney (or other funny animal) stuff. The superhero
world is quite distinct from 'our' world. But maybe they at least
ought to know that we HAVE an index.
> And we still don't HAVE a FAQ...
And we still don't HAVE time...
But I'm still working on the Disney comics Database (which takes more
time than I thought).
Myckey's Misteries 8-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fabio:
> I do not remeber of having read those stories you talk about, but actually
> there is a monthly called "I misteri di Topolino", i.e., "Mickey's
> Misteries"
Gilbert Roser (hi, Gilbert!):
> Here in Germany these comics Frederik mentioned are presented in a digest
> called "Ein Fall fur Micky" and until today four books were selled. The
> comics are Denish stories of the nineties (the index-numbers are beginning
> with D9....)
Maybe this is an example of the case that Egmont gives re-worked Italian
material its own numbers? (Like we saw before in the Rota story of "Andold
Wild Duck")
Disney newspaper strips
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James Williams asked:
> What Disney strips have existed? When did they run? Which characters did
> they feature? And, Who worked on them?
I hope to answer a lot of these questions exactly when I have finished the
Disney comics database. From my mind, there are or have been at least the
following Disney newspaper strips:
- Mickey Mouse, daily, 1930-present. Gottfredson, Walsh, and even Jippes in
the early 80s. Listed in ftp file 'mickey-mouse.dailies'.
- Donald Duck, daily, 1938-present. Taliaferro, currently reprinted by
Gladstone.
- Scamp, daily. From 1952 till ?
- Mickey Mouse, sunday. Gottfredson, ... Listed in ftp file
'mickey-mouse.sundays'
- Silly Symphonies, sunday. Featured a lot of different "sub-series", like
Donald Duck (Taliaferro), Hiawatha (Grant), Panchito (Murry),
Joe Carioca (Murry), Pluto, Bambi.
A lot of various artists, including Gottfredson, Taliaferro, Murry
- Donald Duck, sunday.
- Brer Rabbit, sunday. Dick Moores. 50s.
- Scamp, sunday. 60s/70s.
- Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales, sunday. Listed in ftp-file 'classics'.
- Winnie the Pooh, sunday. 80s. Reprinted by Gladstone.
- Christmas tales, sunday. Only in Chistmas time (November/December). All
kinds of characters, like Dumbo, Peter Pan, Cinderella etc.
(That's it.)
--Harry.
Harry Fluks
Two milestones (Disney-comics digest #300 and German MM #2000)
Message 130 -
1994-04-18 at 13:48:40
Gilbert Roser wrote:
> In Germany is Micky Maus #2000 published. It is #16/1994 and contains as an
> extra the first German Micky Maus ever published from September 1951.
Strange. Dutch DD Weekly started in 1952 and had its 2000th in early 1991.
Did they skip some weeks in Germany?
> The stories in MM #16/1994 are:
> H 90164 Donald Duck "Held 2000" (Dutch Story)
Yeah. By Mau Heymans. It's in that 2000th Dutch issue (91-06). Did they
reprint the entire story, including the 1-page panels? (Total should be
16 pages).
Is there still an ad for FLUX soap in one of the panels? (Just curious 8-)
> Micky Maus Schatzjagd quer durch Entenhausen (German story, I think)
What makes you think it's German? Do they 'ueberhaupt' make any Disney
stories in Germany nowadays?
--Harry.
> In Germany is Micky Maus #2000 published. It is #16/1994 and contains as an
> extra the first German Micky Maus ever published from September 1951.
Strange. Dutch DD Weekly started in 1952 and had its 2000th in early 1991.
Did they skip some weeks in Germany?
> The stories in MM #16/1994 are:
> H 90164 Donald Duck "Held 2000" (Dutch Story)
Yeah. By Mau Heymans. It's in that 2000th Dutch issue (91-06). Did they
reprint the entire story, including the 1-page panels? (Total should be
16 pages).
Is there still an ad for FLUX soap in one of the panels? (Just curious 8-)
> Micky Maus Schatzjagd quer durch Entenhausen (German story, I think)
What makes you think it's German? Do they 'ueberhaupt' make any Disney
stories in Germany nowadays?
--Harry.
Fredrik Ekman
Databases...
Message 131 -
1994-04-18 at 14:37:02
Harry wrote:
> Comics databases
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Torsten:
> > Announcing the GRAND COMICS DATABASE
> [...]
>
> I planned to react, but haven't (yet). I'm not sure these people would
> be interested in Disney (or other funny animal) stuff. The superhero
> world is quite distinct from 'our' world. But maybe they at least
> ought to know that we HAVE an index.
Well, I've been in touch with him and he seemed to be interested. It's
probably a safe guess, however, that superheroes are priority one. And
there's no need for you to contact him. I gave him your address and he
will contact you if he really is interested.
>Disney newspaper strips
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About the newspaper strips; before Christmas they published a daily
Beauty and the Beast in a regional newspaper here in Blekinge, Sweden.
Perhaps this is just some spin-off or daily publication of the Sunday
Christmas Tales?
/F
> Comics databases
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Torsten:
> > Announcing the GRAND COMICS DATABASE
> [...]
>
> I planned to react, but haven't (yet). I'm not sure these people would
> be interested in Disney (or other funny animal) stuff. The superhero
> world is quite distinct from 'our' world. But maybe they at least
> ought to know that we HAVE an index.
Well, I've been in touch with him and he seemed to be interested. It's
probably a safe guess, however, that superheroes are priority one. And
there's no need for you to contact him. I gave him your address and he
will contact you if he really is interested.
>Disney newspaper strips
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About the newspaper strips; before Christmas they published a daily
Beauty and the Beast in a regional newspaper here in Blekinge, Sweden.
Perhaps this is just some spin-off or daily publication of the Sunday
Christmas Tales?
/F
Lasse Reichstein Nielsen
From RoC
Message 132 -
1994-04-18 at 15:41:43
WARNING: highly inflammable material:
=====================================
Jan Lund Thomsen, who may still be lurking out there, has elevated a
phrase of mine to A Quote. It goes "Nobody likes Tony Strobl!"
Not one to speak ill of the dead, or even the mortal, I'd like to
elaborate on that: The recent tribute to Tony Strobl in WDC&S #592 and
D&M #25, both of which I have yet to see, perpetuates the American
publishers' obvious preference to old and tried material.
I would rather have seen some of the numerous Studio stories from ca.
1970 with Scrooge as a newspaper editor, Donald and Feathry as his un-
enthusiastic bullpen, and Daisy as a meter maid. Just as fictive as the
Duck Tales show, these stories are, with no quality judgment implied,
simplistic and trivial; a comic book version of the TV sit-com usually
dismissed offhand as typical bad, or complete lack of, taste.
They do, however, within the limits of the set-up, excell in stringent
plots, ironic comments, and absurd events, otherwise unknown to Disney
comics. Without dismissing the role of the (unknown?) scripter, this is
IMHO Strobl's most original contribution to disneydom.
("Engage flame shield, Lieutenant!" "Aye-aye, Commander!")
Don asked:
==========
> Anyone here from Denmark? I also just received a ANDERS AND &
>CO. #13 (1994), and on page 14/15 there seems to be a large text piece
>explaining my Duck Family Tree they just finished serializing (with
>stickers). What is this all about? I sure get curious when I see text
>sections in these foreign comics that say "blah blah blah blah DON ROSA
>blah blah blah".
Yes, an explanation is what it is. It simply recapitulates who is what
to whom, if you can't figure out the tree, and relates some trivia and
token characterizations, if you haven't read the stories.
The bold type tells that there are conflicting ideas of the relations,
and this version "has been done by Don Rosa based on ideas and sketches
by the famous Disney artist Carl Barks." (Yes, you're just a talented
assistant of Barks' to Egmont/Denmark.)
The Norwegian Donald Duck must tickle your curiosity a lot. They seem
to be dropping your name all over the place, like mentioning your 7th
anniversary on april 7th. Congratulations.
Re: Lo$, chapter 11, part 2, 'Return of Bombie the Lost Zombie'.
Not wanting to *SPOIL* too much, I'll just say I enjoyed this part even
more than the recent ones, not only because of Bombie and the big ship;
Recent chapters have been, like, glorifying Scrooge to the point of
apotheosis, and Scrooge's actions here reminds us that he is, after all,
human. Will the final chapter reveal that it is in fact an autobiography
by Scrooge, or are you yourself, Don, so biased in his favor?
(Sorry, do I sound like I'm using the keyboard as a blunt instrument?=)
Oh, and another idea on how to make big bucks on ducks: would it be
possible to get a cut from limited and signed editions of posters, you
know, the ones on expensive paper in monstrous sizes, that sell for
hundreds of dollars? All the others do it. And if you skip the ducks(TM)
from them, you could probably avoid (legal) problems with Disney Corp.
Harry's data base:
==================
Totally overwhelmed by your description of the data base format, I was
hoping to see an example. Just to get an impression, and to know if it
would work at all. On a need to know basis, I can tell you that I'd
really hate to see the issue lists stripped of information, they should
remain as they are. A story index must however, if it is to have any
value, contain information on all publishings of a story worldwide.
Some stories, like OS 456, will require space for dozens of entries,
with all the additional information we have. Other stories will just
be a number to the left. Not to mention the old uncoded Dell stories.
I'll quote myself from an unfinished letter:
>>>
On indexes: I think we can do with two types of lists; those by issue
and the specials. The Dutch, Danish, and USA lists are fine as they
are, and in time a complete American index will hopefully be compiled.
Maybe other foreign nationals will feel obliged to chart their local
Disney publications. Ideally we should have lists of all Disney books
ever published (and zen ve vill take over ze vorld!:)
From these it would be simple to extract lists at the drop of a hat of,
for instance, "all Don's stories for Gladstone over 2 pages in American,
German, or French" or "Ludwig von Drake by Tom Yakutis since 1992 in
Uncle $crooge."
It won't even be necessary to re-arrange the indexes we have; a program
could hold the parameters for each list (at which position what data is
located, and date format). Actually stripping information from one
list and making room for non-existing data in another, and place the most
at some central list would leave the other indexes worthless without THE
list and THE program. I prefer them to be of use also as separate files.
I also like to have information twice.
Of course, I can't expect you to agree, Harry:
>I myself also archive everything from this list (My archive is about
>3 1/2 floppy disks by now) and I always edit out the unnecessary
>texts manually.
So is mine, and I don't!?
(How about a program that deletes lines starting with a '>', wouldn't
that save you some work? Or do you mean texts that say 'From RoC'?;)
<<<
So, the point I was trying to make above, is that what we need is not
another index, that requires a program to read, but a program that can
read what we want from the old indexes. No, I don't know C from Z:)
If anybody cares, my project with Danish comics is now making headway
with my recent purchase of CB&Co. #17 with a lot of Italian names, and
a future parcel from Fabio with heavy data density.
Thanks, Fabio, I'm looking forward to it like a kid to christmas eve!
Please, please:
===============
Due to the 'interesting' ways of mail handling favored by my brother,
(he also reads my mail before he sends it: Hi, Spot!) some of this list's
digests never reached me.
Would someone please dig out #s 98, 178, 228 and 284, and mail them to me?
I know lysator have them as individual letters, but I prefer Per's hardcover
collectors edition:) I'm can also use good copies of #1-77.
...
Appendicitis
============
One week later, this letter appears not to have been mailed, so I'll
append another description of a 2000th issue; Norway, take it away:
56 pages instead of the usual 48, it features a great 16 paged Mau
Heymans special (H 90164) for (Dutch) Donald Duck's 2000th(?) issue.
It has three full page panels: one of them with about 50 people around
the banquet table. Included are Bombie the Zombie and Smorgasbord.
The next 4 pages are also Mau Heymans, they were also in Danish and
Swedish editions, if I remember correctly, like the Vicar story next.
The rest is a Barks one pager (US 13c), a Taliaferro sunday, and the
first part of Lo$ chapter 11. The editorial stuff consists of a 4 page
history of the Norwegian magazine, a date-the-cover competition and a
competition about how many characters you can name from the previously
mentioned Heymans page.
A very good issue, but the Norwegian ones usually are. As a Dane I
can only be ashamed that Anders And & Co. has missed the opportunity to
celebrate the same event in Denmark (according to my count).
The frequency of supplementary issues has also been limited to 1 in 6
instead of the usual 1 in 4, still done in Norway. Evidence of impeding
poverty is also a recent inlay with two of Murry's Phantom Blot stories
that was printed on what you call parchment paper/greaseproof paper.
Not exactly what I'd consider a quality edition.
<oLe 'RoC' Reichstein Nielsen, c/o Lasse 'Spot' R.N. (lrn at daimi.aau.dk)>
=====================================
Jan Lund Thomsen, who may still be lurking out there, has elevated a
phrase of mine to A Quote. It goes "Nobody likes Tony Strobl!"
Not one to speak ill of the dead, or even the mortal, I'd like to
elaborate on that: The recent tribute to Tony Strobl in WDC&S #592 and
D&M #25, both of which I have yet to see, perpetuates the American
publishers' obvious preference to old and tried material.
I would rather have seen some of the numerous Studio stories from ca.
1970 with Scrooge as a newspaper editor, Donald and Feathry as his un-
enthusiastic bullpen, and Daisy as a meter maid. Just as fictive as the
Duck Tales show, these stories are, with no quality judgment implied,
simplistic and trivial; a comic book version of the TV sit-com usually
dismissed offhand as typical bad, or complete lack of, taste.
They do, however, within the limits of the set-up, excell in stringent
plots, ironic comments, and absurd events, otherwise unknown to Disney
comics. Without dismissing the role of the (unknown?) scripter, this is
IMHO Strobl's most original contribution to disneydom.
("Engage flame shield, Lieutenant!" "Aye-aye, Commander!")
Don asked:
==========
> Anyone here from Denmark? I also just received a ANDERS AND &
>CO. #13 (1994), and on page 14/15 there seems to be a large text piece
>explaining my Duck Family Tree they just finished serializing (with
>stickers). What is this all about? I sure get curious when I see text
>sections in these foreign comics that say "blah blah blah blah DON ROSA
>blah blah blah".
Yes, an explanation is what it is. It simply recapitulates who is what
to whom, if you can't figure out the tree, and relates some trivia and
token characterizations, if you haven't read the stories.
The bold type tells that there are conflicting ideas of the relations,
and this version "has been done by Don Rosa based on ideas and sketches
by the famous Disney artist Carl Barks." (Yes, you're just a talented
assistant of Barks' to Egmont/Denmark.)
The Norwegian Donald Duck must tickle your curiosity a lot. They seem
to be dropping your name all over the place, like mentioning your 7th
anniversary on april 7th. Congratulations.
Re: Lo$, chapter 11, part 2, 'Return of Bombie the Lost Zombie'.
Not wanting to *SPOIL* too much, I'll just say I enjoyed this part even
more than the recent ones, not only because of Bombie and the big ship;
Recent chapters have been, like, glorifying Scrooge to the point of
apotheosis, and Scrooge's actions here reminds us that he is, after all,
human. Will the final chapter reveal that it is in fact an autobiography
by Scrooge, or are you yourself, Don, so biased in his favor?
(Sorry, do I sound like I'm using the keyboard as a blunt instrument?=)
Oh, and another idea on how to make big bucks on ducks: would it be
possible to get a cut from limited and signed editions of posters, you
know, the ones on expensive paper in monstrous sizes, that sell for
hundreds of dollars? All the others do it. And if you skip the ducks(TM)
from them, you could probably avoid (legal) problems with Disney Corp.
Harry's data base:
==================
Totally overwhelmed by your description of the data base format, I was
hoping to see an example. Just to get an impression, and to know if it
would work at all. On a need to know basis, I can tell you that I'd
really hate to see the issue lists stripped of information, they should
remain as they are. A story index must however, if it is to have any
value, contain information on all publishings of a story worldwide.
Some stories, like OS 456, will require space for dozens of entries,
with all the additional information we have. Other stories will just
be a number to the left. Not to mention the old uncoded Dell stories.
I'll quote myself from an unfinished letter:
>>>
On indexes: I think we can do with two types of lists; those by issue
and the specials. The Dutch, Danish, and USA lists are fine as they
are, and in time a complete American index will hopefully be compiled.
Maybe other foreign nationals will feel obliged to chart their local
Disney publications. Ideally we should have lists of all Disney books
ever published (and zen ve vill take over ze vorld!:)
From these it would be simple to extract lists at the drop of a hat of,
for instance, "all Don's stories for Gladstone over 2 pages in American,
German, or French" or "Ludwig von Drake by Tom Yakutis since 1992 in
Uncle $crooge."
It won't even be necessary to re-arrange the indexes we have; a program
could hold the parameters for each list (at which position what data is
located, and date format). Actually stripping information from one
list and making room for non-existing data in another, and place the most
at some central list would leave the other indexes worthless without THE
list and THE program. I prefer them to be of use also as separate files.
I also like to have information twice.
Of course, I can't expect you to agree, Harry:
>I myself also archive everything from this list (My archive is about
>3 1/2 floppy disks by now) and I always edit out the unnecessary
>texts manually.
So is mine, and I don't!?
(How about a program that deletes lines starting with a '>', wouldn't
that save you some work? Or do you mean texts that say 'From RoC'?;)
<<<
So, the point I was trying to make above, is that what we need is not
another index, that requires a program to read, but a program that can
read what we want from the old indexes. No, I don't know C from Z:)
If anybody cares, my project with Danish comics is now making headway
with my recent purchase of CB&Co. #17 with a lot of Italian names, and
a future parcel from Fabio with heavy data density.
Thanks, Fabio, I'm looking forward to it like a kid to christmas eve!
Please, please:
===============
Due to the 'interesting' ways of mail handling favored by my brother,
(he also reads my mail before he sends it: Hi, Spot!) some of this list's
digests never reached me.
Would someone please dig out #s 98, 178, 228 and 284, and mail them to me?
I know lysator have them as individual letters, but I prefer Per's hardcover
collectors edition:) I'm can also use good copies of #1-77.
...
Appendicitis
============
One week later, this letter appears not to have been mailed, so I'll
append another description of a 2000th issue; Norway, take it away:
56 pages instead of the usual 48, it features a great 16 paged Mau
Heymans special (H 90164) for (Dutch) Donald Duck's 2000th(?) issue.
It has three full page panels: one of them with about 50 people around
the banquet table. Included are Bombie the Zombie and Smorgasbord.
The next 4 pages are also Mau Heymans, they were also in Danish and
Swedish editions, if I remember correctly, like the Vicar story next.
The rest is a Barks one pager (US 13c), a Taliaferro sunday, and the
first part of Lo$ chapter 11. The editorial stuff consists of a 4 page
history of the Norwegian magazine, a date-the-cover competition and a
competition about how many characters you can name from the previously
mentioned Heymans page.
A very good issue, but the Norwegian ones usually are. As a Dane I
can only be ashamed that Anders And & Co. has missed the opportunity to
celebrate the same event in Denmark (according to my count).
The frequency of supplementary issues has also been limited to 1 in 6
instead of the usual 1 in 4, still done in Norway. Evidence of impeding
poverty is also a recent inlay with two of Murry's Phantom Blot stories
that was printed on what you call parchment paper/greaseproof paper.
Not exactly what I'd consider a quality edition.
<oLe 'RoC' Reichstein Nielsen, c/o Lasse 'Spot' R.N. (lrn at daimi.aau.dk)>
Harry Fluks
DcD and Norwegian #2000 (From RoC)
Message 133 -
1994-04-18 at 16:51:50
Apart from my previous mail about the Disney comics Database (DcD), I have some
remarks to Ole's mail:
> It won't even be necessary to re-arrange the indexes we have;
Well, I just did that and found a lot of inconsistencies and errors...
> I also like to have information twice.
It's much better to have to UPDATE information on just one place, and
then GENERATE files with the same information in 2, 3 or more forms.
> Of course, I can't expect you to agree, Harry:
I hope we come to some kind of compromise...
me> I myself also archive everything from this list (My archive is about
me> 3 1/2 floppy disks by now) and I always edit out the unnecessary
me> texts manually.
RoC> So is mine, and I don't!?
Maybe you didn't store the messages from the start? My almost 4 disks also
include private mail about Ducks and Mice, and a few messages from
rec.arts.disney.
> If anybody cares, my project with Danish comics is now making headway
> with my recent purchase of CB&Co. #17 with a lot of Italian names, and
> a future parcel from Fabio with heavy data density.
Great! Please contact me about abbreviations of new artists.
Wouldn't it be nice if your Danish index could become part of the D.c.Database?
> [Norwegian Donald Duck #2000] features a great 16 paged Mau
> Heymans special (H 90164) for (Dutch) Donald Duck's 2000th(?) issue.
> [It also contains] a competition about how many characters you can name
> from the previously mentioned Heymans page.
For whoever wants to join that contest: Donald appears twice on the panel!
--Harry.
remarks to Ole's mail:
> It won't even be necessary to re-arrange the indexes we have;
Well, I just did that and found a lot of inconsistencies and errors...
> I also like to have information twice.
It's much better to have to UPDATE information on just one place, and
then GENERATE files with the same information in 2, 3 or more forms.
> Of course, I can't expect you to agree, Harry:
I hope we come to some kind of compromise...
me> I myself also archive everything from this list (My archive is about
me> 3 1/2 floppy disks by now) and I always edit out the unnecessary
me> texts manually.
RoC> So is mine, and I don't!?
Maybe you didn't store the messages from the start? My almost 4 disks also
include private mail about Ducks and Mice, and a few messages from
rec.arts.disney.
> If anybody cares, my project with Danish comics is now making headway
> with my recent purchase of CB&Co. #17 with a lot of Italian names, and
> a future parcel from Fabio with heavy data density.
Great! Please contact me about abbreviations of new artists.
Wouldn't it be nice if your Danish index could become part of the D.c.Database?
> [Norwegian Donald Duck #2000] features a great 16 paged Mau
> Heymans special (H 90164) for (Dutch) Donald Duck's 2000th(?) issue.
> [It also contains] a competition about how many characters you can name
> from the previously mentioned Heymans page.
For whoever wants to join that contest: Donald appears twice on the panel!
--Harry.
Harry Fluks
Disney Comics Database [retry]
Message 134 -
1994-04-18 at 17:05:33
[first attempt bounced; sorry if this message arrives twice - HF]
FYI (on request by Ole):
I already made some files and programs. There are three kinds of files in
the database:
- DBS (DataBase Story files). Contain story information like number of pages,
creators, dates etc. Not all story files have the same format (because
newspaper strips have no 'number of pages', Dell comics have no 'end date'
etc.)
- DBI (DataBase Issue files). Contain entries for all issues. Most entries
have only the codes of the stories, referring to the DBS files where
the full information is stored.
- DBL (DataBase List files). These files are generated by programs from the
DBS and DBI files. The DBL files are the only interesting files for
people who only want the information in a readable form, and don't want
to add information themselves.
Here are some examples of parts of the various database files.
ar.dbs:
AR 101 10 MGr MGr DD T:Big Feet!
AR 102 26 DR DR US T:The Son of the Sun
AR 103 10 DR DR US D:Nobody's business
AR 104 10 DR DR DD D:Mythological Menagerie
w-us.dbs:
W US 4-FC 1 53-05-07 CB CB US O:Bill treated coat
W US 4-01 1 53-05-21 CB CB US D:Ballet School
W US 4-02 32 53-05-28 CB CB US R:Hawaiian Hideaway
W US 4-03 1 53-05-21 CB CB US O:your weight 1 cent
W US 4-04 1 53-05-21 CB CB US O:Money bags for tramp
gladsdis.dbi:
GCA 24a FC DR DR US T:A Cold Bargain
GCA 24b W US 17-02
GCA 24c 1 W US 31-05
GCA 24d W US 31-01
GCA 24e W US 5-01
gladsdis.dbl (based on gladsdis.dbi, with information added from the .dbs
files. The format is a lot like the current format of the
'gladstone-disney.index' file):
GCA 24a FC DR DR US T:A Cold Bargain
GCA 24b 26+ W US 17-02 CB CB US T:A Cold Bargain
GCA 24c 1 W US 31-05 CB CB US T:The Secret Book
GCA 24d 17 W US 31-01 CB CB US T:All At Sea
GCA 24e 1 W US 5-01 CB CB US D:Hospitality Week
w-us.dbl (based on w-us.dbs, but a program has gathered the reprints from
all DBI files):
US 4-FC 1 US O:Bill treated coat
US 4-01 1 US D:Ballet School US 260d
US 4-02 32 US R:Hawaiian Hideaway US 190, GCA 11b, USD 5c
US 4-03 1 US O:your weight 1 cent US 214g
US 4-04 1 US O:Money bags for tramp WDC 513f
Note that some "irrelevant" information is skipped. If a story is (partly)
not by CB, this is added as a comment [Not by CB], [CB art only] etc.
In fact I tried to let it look like the Helseth files.
My idea is to put the DBL files (the output generated by programs)
on the ftp site, and *maybe* the original DBS and DBI files on a separate
directory.
Since I don't have programs (yet) to perform data entry in a consistent and
user-friendly way, I think updates should go through a central point (i.e. me).
For instance, if someone indexes the contents of a Gladstone comic containing
a Barks WDC reprint, a Danish story and a new AR story with a new artist,
several files have to be updated:
gladsdis.dbi, d.dbs, ar.dbs, creators
and several files have to be re-generated:
gladsdis.dbl, w-wdc.dbl, ar.dbl (and others, depending on which DBL files
we want to have).
The first version of the Disney comics Database (DcD) on ftp can be expected
in May (I hope!)
--Harry.
FYI (on request by Ole):
I already made some files and programs. There are three kinds of files in
the database:
- DBS (DataBase Story files). Contain story information like number of pages,
creators, dates etc. Not all story files have the same format (because
newspaper strips have no 'number of pages', Dell comics have no 'end date'
etc.)
- DBI (DataBase Issue files). Contain entries for all issues. Most entries
have only the codes of the stories, referring to the DBS files where
the full information is stored.
- DBL (DataBase List files). These files are generated by programs from the
DBS and DBI files. The DBL files are the only interesting files for
people who only want the information in a readable form, and don't want
to add information themselves.
Here are some examples of parts of the various database files.
ar.dbs:
AR 101 10 MGr MGr DD T:Big Feet!
AR 102 26 DR DR US T:The Son of the Sun
AR 103 10 DR DR US D:Nobody's business
AR 104 10 DR DR DD D:Mythological Menagerie
w-us.dbs:
W US 4-FC 1 53-05-07 CB CB US O:Bill treated coat
W US 4-01 1 53-05-21 CB CB US D:Ballet School
W US 4-02 32 53-05-28 CB CB US R:Hawaiian Hideaway
W US 4-03 1 53-05-21 CB CB US O:your weight 1 cent
W US 4-04 1 53-05-21 CB CB US O:Money bags for tramp
gladsdis.dbi:
GCA 24a FC DR DR US T:A Cold Bargain
GCA 24b W US 17-02
GCA 24c 1 W US 31-05
GCA 24d W US 31-01
GCA 24e W US 5-01
gladsdis.dbl (based on gladsdis.dbi, with information added from the .dbs
files. The format is a lot like the current format of the
'gladstone-disney.index' file):
GCA 24a FC DR DR US T:A Cold Bargain
GCA 24b 26+ W US 17-02 CB CB US T:A Cold Bargain
GCA 24c 1 W US 31-05 CB CB US T:The Secret Book
GCA 24d 17 W US 31-01 CB CB US T:All At Sea
GCA 24e 1 W US 5-01 CB CB US D:Hospitality Week
w-us.dbl (based on w-us.dbs, but a program has gathered the reprints from
all DBI files):
US 4-FC 1 US O:Bill treated coat
US 4-01 1 US D:Ballet School US 260d
US 4-02 32 US R:Hawaiian Hideaway US 190, GCA 11b, USD 5c
US 4-03 1 US O:your weight 1 cent US 214g
US 4-04 1 US O:Money bags for tramp WDC 513f
Note that some "irrelevant" information is skipped. If a story is (partly)
not by CB, this is added as a comment [Not by CB], [CB art only] etc.
In fact I tried to let it look like the Helseth files.
My idea is to put the DBL files (the output generated by programs)
on the ftp site, and *maybe* the original DBS and DBI files on a separate
directory.
Since I don't have programs (yet) to perform data entry in a consistent and
user-friendly way, I think updates should go through a central point (i.e. me).
For instance, if someone indexes the contents of a Gladstone comic containing
a Barks WDC reprint, a Danish story and a new AR story with a new artist,
several files have to be updated:
gladsdis.dbi, d.dbs, ar.dbs, creators
and several files have to be re-generated:
gladsdis.dbl, w-wdc.dbl, ar.dbl (and others, depending on which DBL files
we want to have).
The first version of the Disney comics Database (DcD) on ftp can be expected
in May (I hope!)
--Harry.
Fredrik Ekman
Disney Comics Database [retry]
Message 135 -
1994-04-18 at 17:35:06
Harry, on the subject of DcD:
> I already made some files and programs.
Everything looks just great so far, Harry. You've done a magnificent job!
> My idea is to put the DBL files (the output generated by programs)
> on the ftp site, and *maybe* the original DBS and DBI files on a separate
> directory.
Yes, please put the DBS and DBI files there as well, along with the source
for your programs, if you don't mind. That way, anyone who wants to make
some special purpose program can do so without having to contact you. For
instance, I could try to make a program to generate something similar to
the van-horn.index. This program would, of course, be submitted along with
yours at the FTP site. In addition, I could produce lists that are intended
for my personal use only. After all, we can't have EVERY possible DBL file
on the site...
There must of course be a README file in the subdirectory indicating that
the files are NOT intended to be used as they are.
/F
> I already made some files and programs.
Everything looks just great so far, Harry. You've done a magnificent job!
> My idea is to put the DBL files (the output generated by programs)
> on the ftp site, and *maybe* the original DBS and DBI files on a separate
> directory.
Yes, please put the DBS and DBI files there as well, along with the source
for your programs, if you don't mind. That way, anyone who wants to make
some special purpose program can do so without having to contact you. For
instance, I could try to make a program to generate something similar to
the van-horn.index. This program would, of course, be submitted along with
yours at the FTP site. In addition, I could produce lists that are intended
for my personal use only. After all, we can't have EVERY possible DBL file
on the site...
There must of course be a README file in the subdirectory indicating that
the files are NOT intended to be used as they are.
/F