Hi there.
Just to tell you that there's a Carl Barks exhibition at the Milan Fair
with 25 oil paintings on show.
It ends this sunday Jul 10th though. I just found it out two days ago
Opening from 10 to 19 - 20 on sunday
Maurizio
--
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Maurizio Ferrari | e-mail: ferrari at bologna.maraut.it |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
Author
Topic: 199407
(70 messages)
Maurizio Ferrari
Barks exhibition in Milan
Message 31 -
1994-07-08 at 16:33:22
Andrew Krieg 5-5379
Lost Library
Message 32 -
1994-07-08 at 18:06:24
Well, I looked and looked and looked but I couldn't find the D.U.C.K.
on the cover of the Uncle Scrooge Adventures with the Lost Library
story. Where is it? It was very easy to spot in the first panel of
the main story.
Hassen Ben Feyd (hope I got that right).... HA HA You slay me Don!
The coloring was out of alignment through more than half of the story,
but it wasn't the entire issue. What's going on here? Why has Gladstone
gotten so sloppy? Do they still have representatives reading this list?
I think we need to do some complaining!
This week-end I'll finally get to read the first 3 parts of the US
history in one sitting (I'm way behind in reading my comics). I'm
really looking forward to this.
=========================================================================
= Andrew Krieg | =
= krieg at ct.med.ge.com | Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee =
= or | =
= krieg at point.cs.uwm.edu| - Astoroth =
=========================================================================
on the cover of the Uncle Scrooge Adventures with the Lost Library
story. Where is it? It was very easy to spot in the first panel of
the main story.
Hassen Ben Feyd (hope I got that right).... HA HA You slay me Don!
The coloring was out of alignment through more than half of the story,
but it wasn't the entire issue. What's going on here? Why has Gladstone
gotten so sloppy? Do they still have representatives reading this list?
I think we need to do some complaining!
This week-end I'll finally get to read the first 3 parts of the US
history in one sitting (I'm way behind in reading my comics). I'm
really looking forward to this.
=========================================================================
= Andrew Krieg | =
= krieg at ct.med.ge.com | Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee =
= or | =
= krieg at point.cs.uwm.edu| - Astoroth =
=========================================================================
Mattias Hallin
Digest #378
Message 33 -
1994-07-09 at 17:34:51
JAMES:
You've been askin' if anyone knows of some artist that might be interested in
using your scripts. Well, I know an artist (well, I actually know several) that
*might* be what your looking for. I'm gonna try'n get in touch with him and ask
him if his interested, and if he is I'll try to get the two you, not together,
since he's in Sweden, but in touch -- but I'll wan't to get his OK on that
first.
I'll get back to ya!
All my best
Mattias
You've been askin' if anyone knows of some artist that might be interested in
using your scripts. Well, I know an artist (well, I actually know several) that
*might* be what your looking for. I'm gonna try'n get in touch with him and ask
him if his interested, and if he is I'll try to get the two you, not together,
since he's in Sweden, but in touch -- but I'll wan't to get his OK on that
first.
I'll get back to ya!
All my best
Mattias
Don Rosa
Disney-comics digest #380.
Message 34 -
1994-07-11 at 07:39:06
GEIR:
I continue to be puzzled by either Svein Erik's alleged rude
treatment of you, or by your reaction to it. You have seemed so utterly
sensible in every other thing you've posted, but you seem to take
Soland's actions too personally. Of course I don't know the details of
whatever he did that you didn't like -- but you need to realize he is
NOT the big boss. He has his own bosses watching him and how he runs
things in the Norwegian offices and the Norwegian press. And you KNOW
that you act as a "free agent" when you discuss the Disney/Barks Ducks
-- as you have every right to do. But Egmont is the sole publisher of
those comics in Norway, and Soland's bosses are watching what's
happening in Norway, holding him responsible... and to him YOU are a
"loose cannon". You get lots of attention and he has NO control over
what you do or say. Naturally this is going to worry the $##@^%& out of
him -- you can put yourself in his position. I guarantee you that he has
a great interest in the Duck fans... more so than ANY other Egmont
publisher that I've visited. He wants to hear from them, he loves it
when they gelp get publicity for the comics, he loves their help and
advice... but he needs to balance all that with not letting his bosses
think he's lost control. Otherwise they might tell him to CUT OUT all
the special promotional stuff he does with the Ducks to help elevate
them out of kiddie-garbage, which is where other publishers prefer to
leave them. Why would he want to be unfair to you unless he was being
pressured to, perhaps by GRANDEY? Soland KNOWS you're one of my friends
and supporters, he KNOWS that he has to keep Barks and his Weasel happy
or risk his boss' displeasure, and he's probably afraid of what you
might say about Barks and me and all the stuff that he is trying to keep
quiet so as not to spoil Barks' trip. That's why I said it was kind of
you, but UNWISE to promote ME in your VG interview when you saw that
Soland was obviously trying to avoid any mention of me in any press
release or ANYWHERE. He's a good friend of mine and wouldn't be doing
that if he had any choice. I'm sure you have taken steps to further
condemn yourself in Soland's eyes, and I don't think you should be able
to blame him in the least. You did just what he feared most!
Svein Erik Soland is one of the NICEST people I've ever met in
my life, and I'm the sort of cynic who hardly ever meets anyone that I
trust. You two need to have a meeting and maybe a talk then even a BIG
HUG. I think you both have the same interests in mind, but your job
doesn't depend on what Svein Erik does the way HIS might partially
depend on what you are doing totally outside of his control.
Does any of that make sense?
I continue to be puzzled by either Svein Erik's alleged rude
treatment of you, or by your reaction to it. You have seemed so utterly
sensible in every other thing you've posted, but you seem to take
Soland's actions too personally. Of course I don't know the details of
whatever he did that you didn't like -- but you need to realize he is
NOT the big boss. He has his own bosses watching him and how he runs
things in the Norwegian offices and the Norwegian press. And you KNOW
that you act as a "free agent" when you discuss the Disney/Barks Ducks
-- as you have every right to do. But Egmont is the sole publisher of
those comics in Norway, and Soland's bosses are watching what's
happening in Norway, holding him responsible... and to him YOU are a
"loose cannon". You get lots of attention and he has NO control over
what you do or say. Naturally this is going to worry the $##@^%& out of
him -- you can put yourself in his position. I guarantee you that he has
a great interest in the Duck fans... more so than ANY other Egmont
publisher that I've visited. He wants to hear from them, he loves it
when they gelp get publicity for the comics, he loves their help and
advice... but he needs to balance all that with not letting his bosses
think he's lost control. Otherwise they might tell him to CUT OUT all
the special promotional stuff he does with the Ducks to help elevate
them out of kiddie-garbage, which is where other publishers prefer to
leave them. Why would he want to be unfair to you unless he was being
pressured to, perhaps by GRANDEY? Soland KNOWS you're one of my friends
and supporters, he KNOWS that he has to keep Barks and his Weasel happy
or risk his boss' displeasure, and he's probably afraid of what you
might say about Barks and me and all the stuff that he is trying to keep
quiet so as not to spoil Barks' trip. That's why I said it was kind of
you, but UNWISE to promote ME in your VG interview when you saw that
Soland was obviously trying to avoid any mention of me in any press
release or ANYWHERE. He's a good friend of mine and wouldn't be doing
that if he had any choice. I'm sure you have taken steps to further
condemn yourself in Soland's eyes, and I don't think you should be able
to blame him in the least. You did just what he feared most!
Svein Erik Soland is one of the NICEST people I've ever met in
my life, and I'm the sort of cynic who hardly ever meets anyone that I
trust. You two need to have a meeting and maybe a talk then even a BIG
HUG. I think you both have the same interests in mind, but your job
doesn't depend on what Svein Erik does the way HIS might partially
depend on what you are doing totally outside of his control.
Does any of that make sense?
Harry Fluks
From Daniel van Eijmeren
Message 35 -
1994-07-11 at 11:41:30
[
I have been away for a week. I'll read all the mail tonight. So from
tomorrow on, expect the usual Fluks messages on this list..
I got a message from Daniel, which I forward here.
--Harry
]
Hello everybody,
Here I am again with reactions to old dusty discussions and
old dusty letters. I have just read the digests from early
April to May 17, 1994. Normally I can be faster with my
comments, but I've had some troubles with my computer (and
with time) lately.
For people who don't know why I'm so back-dated, I'll give
an explanation: Harry sends me digests via snail-mail. After
reading this I send Harry my reactions back, and then he sends
it to this list. It has to be done this way, because I don't
have a modem to send messages myself.
DON ROSA (A LOT OF QUESTIONS)
=============================
Do you ink the sketches on the same piece of paper, or do you
sketch on a transparent paper? What is usual (for example:
Barks)?
Once you said that you draw rather big balloons, and that the
published balloons are drawn smaller by the editor. Why don't
you draw smaller balloons yourself and so omit editors drawing
extra art on the whitened spaces? Do you want to be sure that
no art of you is whitened by a balloon of the editor?
Do you get any fanmail which is sent to the editor?
Do you keep *all* your work in private archives? (I mean with
"all" also scrapped pages or panels, changed panels, alternate
covers, etc.) I really hope you do, because one day there will
be the famous Don Rosa Library and I would hate to see art
missing.
HOW MUCH MONEY DOES UNCLE SCROOGE HAVE?
=======================================
Somewhere in April there was a discussion about how much money
Uncle Scrooge must have. I'd like to mention that in the Magic
Hourglass (sorry Don :-)) the exact amount is given to be
calculated:
Scrooge: "I can't go on like this - losing a billion dollars a
minute! I'll be *broke* in 600 years!"
I think that must be (60 x 24 x 365 x 600) billion dollars. To
be exact: 315,360,000 billion dollars. (I ignored leap-years,
how much leap years does 600 years have? Year 2000 doesn't
count, for some reason that's no leap year.)
Barks shows us the total heap of money Scrooge has, in US 27
"The Money Champ".
WHERE DOES UNCLE SCROOGE KEEP ALL THAT MONEY?
=============================================
Important: This is not meant as an attack to you Don! It's
just me, thinking loud in public about things I read in old
discussion from April.
I, myself, don't like the idea of the money-bin being a piggy-
bank for money Scrooge earned himself. I think I won't enjoy a
moneybin-attack story if I knew that it wasn't all (or almost
all) of Scrooge's money. In Barks' stories there are many
situations in which Scrooge changes his beloved money into
banknotes to keep it safe from thieves. At the end of WDC 144
("Spending Money"), there's an employee who carries money
into Scrooge's office which is not earned by Scrooge
*himself*, but by his factories (he didn't even know the
existance of some of them) and all this money is meant to be
included in the moneybin. There's also WDC 171 ("Too Safe Safe",
money in plastic) where Scrooge learns that his whole money-bin is
sealed, even for him: he realizes that he is *broke*.
In WDC 130 ("The Trouble With Dimes") Scrooge sells coins from his
very first billion to Donald, so I think that Scrooge's self-earned
money means much to him, but not *that much* that he keeps it
when he has better things to do with it than just keeping it.
These facts are some of the reasons why I don't think that the
money-bin is a collection of self-earned money, but that the
money-bin has as much money as Scrooge can get from his
companies. I think there is money in Scrooge's fortune that
isn't in his money-bin, but not more than is nescessary. But I
certainly agree that Scrooge's self-earned money has more
value to him than other money and that's a reason why I don't
understand why he has sometimes changed his money into just
banknotes. I don't like those stories in which he does.
WALT IS (may I mention the word?) DEAD
======================================
As part of a longer comment, Ronald said:
> It's about time that Disney Corp. realized that old Walt is
> dead, dead, dead & they should hitch their future on some warm
> bodies. [20 April 1994]
You can't say that often enough! I think that Disney must have
a stronger attitude to readers who complain about certain
things their "funny animals" do, at least in collectors items
like the "Carl Barks Library". I found it very weak and
insipid that they removed those little bones from the natives
in "Bongo on the Congo", for example. If Disney tries to be
everybody's friend, they're certainly not mine. They could at
least have a different way of approaching "fans" and
approaching "real fans". I mean, I bought the Library to have
*Barks's work* complete and soon I had to realize I have *only
the Library* complete! Very frustrating.
I hope that once there will be a time that I can read a comic
or watch a Disney cartoon without asking myself: "Is this
censored?"
But I'm afraid the only answer to this is: "Keep on hoping".
If I'm using Ronald's phrase out of its context, I'm sorry.
But I think that this phrase covers much (of at least my)
irritation to the way Disney is now operating.
WILMER ON PENNY WISE (April 27, 1994):
======================================
Wilmer, I found your comments on the possible love-affair
between Scrooge and Penny Wise very interesting. Don, what did
you think about it? Could this be a base for a new Scrooge-
story? It's very interesting to know your thoughts about this
theory.
WRITTEN-ONLY STORIES FOR DON IN THE FUTURE?
===========================================
RoC said (29-04-1994):
> All in favor say "AYE!"
> If Don is relieved from the hours of inking and blotting out superfluous
> details, it would leave him time for so many more *good* stories.
I don't think so. It would be just like Barks' Junior
Woodchuck-stories. Another artist wouldn't be good and devoted
enough to work out Don's written-only stories, those stories
would be "feelingless" and they would also miss all those
beautiful details. What would be the use many more good Rosa-
stories, without his devoted and beautiful artwork?
LO$ BACK-UP STORIES IN HOLLAND
==============================
Don asked:
> My Lo$ stories are now the BACK-UP stories in [Dutch] DONALD DUCK
> EXTRA??? Well, howcum?
Harry:
> I don't know the reason for it. Maybe Thom Roep had something to say about
> your artwork... 8-)
(Lo$ parts 3, 1, 2, and 4 *are* lead stories.)
I agree with the fact that the Dutch editor has/had a lot to
say about Don's artwork. But I like to add the fact that it's
very unusual in Holland that the continuing parts of a story
are being published as lead stories. Part 1 is always printed as
a lead-story, and the following parts as backup-story. I think
the reason is that people who didn't see the first parts, wouldn't
buy an issue with only a part of a story which is already going
on and which they can't buy complete anymore.
There are more than one part of Lo$ being published as lead-
story now, so I think that in this context it could be seen as
a compliment.
SPEAKING OF LO$...
==================
Don, I've read part 7 of Lo$ (the dream story) and I like to
know some motivations of what the story is about, because now
it seems to me that this story could be missing from the
serie. (I didn't see very much Barks-references.)
I've heard from Harry that many of you are on vacation these
days, so I hope that you will recieve my message. It is very
much fun to talk to you.
Very much greetings!
--- Daniel van Eijmeren
Date of writing: 3 July 1994
"Don't hate nothing at all, except hatred." -- Bob Dylan, 1965.
I have been away for a week. I'll read all the mail tonight. So from
tomorrow on, expect the usual Fluks messages on this list..
I got a message from Daniel, which I forward here.
--Harry
]
Hello everybody,
Here I am again with reactions to old dusty discussions and
old dusty letters. I have just read the digests from early
April to May 17, 1994. Normally I can be faster with my
comments, but I've had some troubles with my computer (and
with time) lately.
For people who don't know why I'm so back-dated, I'll give
an explanation: Harry sends me digests via snail-mail. After
reading this I send Harry my reactions back, and then he sends
it to this list. It has to be done this way, because I don't
have a modem to send messages myself.
DON ROSA (A LOT OF QUESTIONS)
=============================
Do you ink the sketches on the same piece of paper, or do you
sketch on a transparent paper? What is usual (for example:
Barks)?
Once you said that you draw rather big balloons, and that the
published balloons are drawn smaller by the editor. Why don't
you draw smaller balloons yourself and so omit editors drawing
extra art on the whitened spaces? Do you want to be sure that
no art of you is whitened by a balloon of the editor?
Do you get any fanmail which is sent to the editor?
Do you keep *all* your work in private archives? (I mean with
"all" also scrapped pages or panels, changed panels, alternate
covers, etc.) I really hope you do, because one day there will
be the famous Don Rosa Library and I would hate to see art
missing.
HOW MUCH MONEY DOES UNCLE SCROOGE HAVE?
=======================================
Somewhere in April there was a discussion about how much money
Uncle Scrooge must have. I'd like to mention that in the Magic
Hourglass (sorry Don :-)) the exact amount is given to be
calculated:
Scrooge: "I can't go on like this - losing a billion dollars a
minute! I'll be *broke* in 600 years!"
I think that must be (60 x 24 x 365 x 600) billion dollars. To
be exact: 315,360,000 billion dollars. (I ignored leap-years,
how much leap years does 600 years have? Year 2000 doesn't
count, for some reason that's no leap year.)
Barks shows us the total heap of money Scrooge has, in US 27
"The Money Champ".
WHERE DOES UNCLE SCROOGE KEEP ALL THAT MONEY?
=============================================
Important: This is not meant as an attack to you Don! It's
just me, thinking loud in public about things I read in old
discussion from April.
I, myself, don't like the idea of the money-bin being a piggy-
bank for money Scrooge earned himself. I think I won't enjoy a
moneybin-attack story if I knew that it wasn't all (or almost
all) of Scrooge's money. In Barks' stories there are many
situations in which Scrooge changes his beloved money into
banknotes to keep it safe from thieves. At the end of WDC 144
("Spending Money"), there's an employee who carries money
into Scrooge's office which is not earned by Scrooge
*himself*, but by his factories (he didn't even know the
existance of some of them) and all this money is meant to be
included in the moneybin. There's also WDC 171 ("Too Safe Safe",
money in plastic) where Scrooge learns that his whole money-bin is
sealed, even for him: he realizes that he is *broke*.
In WDC 130 ("The Trouble With Dimes") Scrooge sells coins from his
very first billion to Donald, so I think that Scrooge's self-earned
money means much to him, but not *that much* that he keeps it
when he has better things to do with it than just keeping it.
These facts are some of the reasons why I don't think that the
money-bin is a collection of self-earned money, but that the
money-bin has as much money as Scrooge can get from his
companies. I think there is money in Scrooge's fortune that
isn't in his money-bin, but not more than is nescessary. But I
certainly agree that Scrooge's self-earned money has more
value to him than other money and that's a reason why I don't
understand why he has sometimes changed his money into just
banknotes. I don't like those stories in which he does.
WALT IS (may I mention the word?) DEAD
======================================
As part of a longer comment, Ronald said:
> It's about time that Disney Corp. realized that old Walt is
> dead, dead, dead & they should hitch their future on some warm
> bodies. [20 April 1994]
You can't say that often enough! I think that Disney must have
a stronger attitude to readers who complain about certain
things their "funny animals" do, at least in collectors items
like the "Carl Barks Library". I found it very weak and
insipid that they removed those little bones from the natives
in "Bongo on the Congo", for example. If Disney tries to be
everybody's friend, they're certainly not mine. They could at
least have a different way of approaching "fans" and
approaching "real fans". I mean, I bought the Library to have
*Barks's work* complete and soon I had to realize I have *only
the Library* complete! Very frustrating.
I hope that once there will be a time that I can read a comic
or watch a Disney cartoon without asking myself: "Is this
censored?"
But I'm afraid the only answer to this is: "Keep on hoping".
If I'm using Ronald's phrase out of its context, I'm sorry.
But I think that this phrase covers much (of at least my)
irritation to the way Disney is now operating.
WILMER ON PENNY WISE (April 27, 1994):
======================================
Wilmer, I found your comments on the possible love-affair
between Scrooge and Penny Wise very interesting. Don, what did
you think about it? Could this be a base for a new Scrooge-
story? It's very interesting to know your thoughts about this
theory.
WRITTEN-ONLY STORIES FOR DON IN THE FUTURE?
===========================================
RoC said (29-04-1994):
> All in favor say "AYE!"
> If Don is relieved from the hours of inking and blotting out superfluous
> details, it would leave him time for so many more *good* stories.
I don't think so. It would be just like Barks' Junior
Woodchuck-stories. Another artist wouldn't be good and devoted
enough to work out Don's written-only stories, those stories
would be "feelingless" and they would also miss all those
beautiful details. What would be the use many more good Rosa-
stories, without his devoted and beautiful artwork?
LO$ BACK-UP STORIES IN HOLLAND
==============================
Don asked:
> My Lo$ stories are now the BACK-UP stories in [Dutch] DONALD DUCK
> EXTRA??? Well, howcum?
Harry:
> I don't know the reason for it. Maybe Thom Roep had something to say about
> your artwork... 8-)
(Lo$ parts 3, 1, 2, and 4 *are* lead stories.)
I agree with the fact that the Dutch editor has/had a lot to
say about Don's artwork. But I like to add the fact that it's
very unusual in Holland that the continuing parts of a story
are being published as lead stories. Part 1 is always printed as
a lead-story, and the following parts as backup-story. I think
the reason is that people who didn't see the first parts, wouldn't
buy an issue with only a part of a story which is already going
on and which they can't buy complete anymore.
There are more than one part of Lo$ being published as lead-
story now, so I think that in this context it could be seen as
a compliment.
SPEAKING OF LO$...
==================
Don, I've read part 7 of Lo$ (the dream story) and I like to
know some motivations of what the story is about, because now
it seems to me that this story could be missing from the
serie. (I didn't see very much Barks-references.)
I've heard from Harry that many of you are on vacation these
days, so I hope that you will recieve my message. It is very
much fun to talk to you.
Very much greetings!
--- Daniel van Eijmeren
Date of writing: 3 July 1994
"Don't hate nothing at all, except hatred." -- Bob Dylan, 1965.
Fabio Gadducci
Old questions...
Message 36 -
1994-07-11 at 17:55:59
Dear folks,
let me start answering to some old questions by David:
> On another tack... somehow it doesn't surprise me that "The Secret
>of Mars" is reprinted in the Italian DD 60th B-Day issue. But what's the
>quality like? Gladstone was sent very dark, muddy proofs that they had to
>reink parts of simply because the lines were thick and smudgy. Are there
>better copies of the story somewhere, or is this new Italian printing
>sloppy-looking, too?
Well, they do not look bad, but I'm quite sure some pages had been reinked!
I did not look at it carefully, but since this re-inking surely happened in
the latest reprint of 'Mars Mistery' (six month ago, in the magazine Comic
Art), we can safely assume the same happens in the 60 years issue.
> Just so everyone knows, "The Lentils from Babylon," an Italian
>story considered to be one of the greats over there, and which was in the
>typically obese Donald special birthday issue in Italy, will indeed see
>print here soon, in USA 30-32.
Great!! This is a good story, and I'm happy to have been involved (even if
I had a small part) in its American publication.
> Why is it that the Italian jubileum issue is about 4 times as thick
>as those from the USA, Germany, Denmark, and so on? Are there ANY comics
>in Italy which are only 32 or 64 pages long? How can kids afford the
>really thick comics there?
Well, they can, since that jubileum issue costed 2.50$. Btw, that is the
standard format and price for ANy issue of "Mega Almanacco" and "Paperino
Mese"
This is about the Italian edition of "The duck who never was" (you can
safely skip it...)
>DONALD DUCK'S 60th FROM GLADSTONE - "The Duck Who Never Was":
> I just bought a copy of DD #286 with my "The Duck Who Never Was"
>story, and I was displeased for numerous reasons. First off, as usual,
>my art looks awful to me... but it isn't helped by the fact that they
>again seem to have gotten ever-so-slightly "muddy" photostats from
>Egmont, making it all look too dark; and, once again, the too-dark
>coloring doesn't help it a bit.
Actually, I DO like your artwork, even if I think it was slightly under
your usual level in this story. But luckily, the photostats were quite
good, and so was the coloring.
>But the letterer made numerous mistakes
>which caused me to actually CUSS the poor guy. They were, in reverse
>order of irritation-level:
> In my script, no one in the story is supposed to actually say
>"It's a wonderful life"... they're supposed to keep dancing around it,
>and DD is supposed to START to say it but interrupt himself when he sees
>the surprise party. The letterer must not have understood my frequent
>use of an ellipsis in my script (for an interruption in mid-sentence),
>and was kind enough to complete Donald's sentence for him. @#!
This does not happen in the Italian edition, even if they wrote
'bellissimo' insted of 'bellissima' in your ellipsis (wrong gender).
> In one panel there is a totally EMPTY word balloon at the bottom
>which the letterer didn't seem to see. He put the intended line into
>the balloon above, but left the lower balloon void. #$%!
Nothing of this kind happens...
> In the family-tree that Gus Goose chalks out on the brick wall,
>I went to great pains to make it quite accurate, and left room for the
>letterer to write in the two names which were needed for that
>discussion... $crooge and Gus. But even though the script showed the
>proper placement, and even though common sense would tell you that
>$crooge is older than Gus, and even though a blind guy woulda' had a
>50-50 chance of labelling it correctly, this letterer got it
>bass-ackwards. @&%$!!
Well, in the Italian edition they simply did not put the names...
> Finally, the story is built around a key gag involving DD
>writing his date of birth down in a personnel file which somebody then
>misreads; and the whole issue is scheduled and built on the fact that
>June 9 is DD's birthday. Well, this letterer has DD writing into the
>file that he is born on the 6th day of the 9th month. September 6th. And
>everyone will figure *I* made that unbelievable bone-head error.
>
> @#$%^&<@%$#&*)(*{!!!!!!!!!!
Phewww... they got it right in the Italian edition (but I think Luca Boschi
supervised the Italian edition...)
> Note also that there is a museum case labelled "ancient icons"
>with one space empty. In that space was a 1930s Mickey Mouse doll.
>However, in the next panel that shows the case (then broken), we see the
>MM doll sprawled upon the broken glass (stabbed?); Disney told Gladstone
>to remove MM from the one panel, but did not expressly tell them to
>remove him from the OTHER panel. So they did exactly what they were
>told. By the way, my script called for the case to be labelled "ancient
>demon worship", even though I didn't really expect or want the scripters
>to use that -- however, in Europe (where Disney doesn't bully the
>publishers) they not only left both MMs in, but they used "demon
>worship" (or "voodoo dolls"). Heh heh.
Well, they did not put in 'voodo dolls', but they left MM in both panels: a
good compromise...
At the end, it seemed quite a good edition: I saw no big mistake, at least
not so big as those Don remarcked in the American edition.
And then, about Barks tour. Maurizio wrote
>Just to tell you that there's a Carl Barks exhibition at the Milan Fair
>with 25 oil paintings on show.
>It ends this sunday Jul 10th though. I just found it out two days ago
>Opening from 10 to 19 - 20 on sunday
Well, the exhibition lasted only four days, and it contained the same oils
already shown in all of Europe. And about the Barks tour, I have to admit I
got more than my share, thanks to the kindness of Luca Boschi. Saturday 2 I
was in Rapallo, at the restaurant U'Giancu, for a lunch with Boschi,
Becattini and some other Italian experts, many Italian Disney artists
(Cavazzano, Carpi, Bottaro etc) and Unca Carl himself. It was quite a nice
thing, since most of the people knew clearly well the master's work,
and... well, Unca Carl seemed quite pleased for the warm welcome he got.
Sunday 3 there was in Milan a big meeting with many Italian artists, and
many of them (Manara, Crepax, Altan, Giardino, etc, and all the Italian
Disney) gave Unca Carl one of their drawnings, expecially made for him.
Barks seemed really touched, and there was the opportunity to have an
interview with him (I will translate it, when I find the time), and without
Grandey, too.
Last thing: Unca Carl sent an handwritten letter to U'Giancu, thanking him
for the lunch (The owner is a comic crazy, and his restaurant is known also
as 'The Comics Restaurant', since he has hundreds of drawning from famous
artists on his walls). In the letter Barks said, as far as I was told, that
he was sorry for the greediness shown by his so-called agents... Not that
bad, really!
Ok, time for greetings.
Happy birthday, Don (I know I'm always late): I'll send you more
information on Lucca and the other things as soon as I can.
Do not despair, dear David! I'll answer to you, too, in a (little) while!
My best wishes of happy holydays to all of you (I'll stay here in Pisa the
whole summer, with no holyday at all, but this is another story...),
Fabio
================================================================
Fabio Gadducci Dip. di Informatica
Home: +39-50-541725 Universita` di Pisa
Off.: +39-50-887268 Corso Italia 40, 56100 PISA (ITALY)
FAX: +39-50-887226 E-mail:gadducci at di.unipi.it
================================================================
let me start answering to some old questions by David:
> On another tack... somehow it doesn't surprise me that "The Secret
>of Mars" is reprinted in the Italian DD 60th B-Day issue. But what's the
>quality like? Gladstone was sent very dark, muddy proofs that they had to
>reink parts of simply because the lines were thick and smudgy. Are there
>better copies of the story somewhere, or is this new Italian printing
>sloppy-looking, too?
Well, they do not look bad, but I'm quite sure some pages had been reinked!
I did not look at it carefully, but since this re-inking surely happened in
the latest reprint of 'Mars Mistery' (six month ago, in the magazine Comic
Art), we can safely assume the same happens in the 60 years issue.
> Just so everyone knows, "The Lentils from Babylon," an Italian
>story considered to be one of the greats over there, and which was in the
>typically obese Donald special birthday issue in Italy, will indeed see
>print here soon, in USA 30-32.
Great!! This is a good story, and I'm happy to have been involved (even if
I had a small part) in its American publication.
> Why is it that the Italian jubileum issue is about 4 times as thick
>as those from the USA, Germany, Denmark, and so on? Are there ANY comics
>in Italy which are only 32 or 64 pages long? How can kids afford the
>really thick comics there?
Well, they can, since that jubileum issue costed 2.50$. Btw, that is the
standard format and price for ANy issue of "Mega Almanacco" and "Paperino
Mese"
This is about the Italian edition of "The duck who never was" (you can
safely skip it...)
>DONALD DUCK'S 60th FROM GLADSTONE - "The Duck Who Never Was":
> I just bought a copy of DD #286 with my "The Duck Who Never Was"
>story, and I was displeased for numerous reasons. First off, as usual,
>my art looks awful to me... but it isn't helped by the fact that they
>again seem to have gotten ever-so-slightly "muddy" photostats from
>Egmont, making it all look too dark; and, once again, the too-dark
>coloring doesn't help it a bit.
Actually, I DO like your artwork, even if I think it was slightly under
your usual level in this story. But luckily, the photostats were quite
good, and so was the coloring.
>But the letterer made numerous mistakes
>which caused me to actually CUSS the poor guy. They were, in reverse
>order of irritation-level:
> In my script, no one in the story is supposed to actually say
>"It's a wonderful life"... they're supposed to keep dancing around it,
>and DD is supposed to START to say it but interrupt himself when he sees
>the surprise party. The letterer must not have understood my frequent
>use of an ellipsis in my script (for an interruption in mid-sentence),
>and was kind enough to complete Donald's sentence for him. @#!
This does not happen in the Italian edition, even if they wrote
'bellissimo' insted of 'bellissima' in your ellipsis (wrong gender).
> In one panel there is a totally EMPTY word balloon at the bottom
>which the letterer didn't seem to see. He put the intended line into
>the balloon above, but left the lower balloon void. #$%!
Nothing of this kind happens...
> In the family-tree that Gus Goose chalks out on the brick wall,
>I went to great pains to make it quite accurate, and left room for the
>letterer to write in the two names which were needed for that
>discussion... $crooge and Gus. But even though the script showed the
>proper placement, and even though common sense would tell you that
>$crooge is older than Gus, and even though a blind guy woulda' had a
>50-50 chance of labelling it correctly, this letterer got it
>bass-ackwards. @&%$!!
Well, in the Italian edition they simply did not put the names...
> Finally, the story is built around a key gag involving DD
>writing his date of birth down in a personnel file which somebody then
>misreads; and the whole issue is scheduled and built on the fact that
>June 9 is DD's birthday. Well, this letterer has DD writing into the
>file that he is born on the 6th day of the 9th month. September 6th. And
>everyone will figure *I* made that unbelievable bone-head error.
>
> @#$%^&<@%$#&*)(*{!!!!!!!!!!
Phewww... they got it right in the Italian edition (but I think Luca Boschi
supervised the Italian edition...)
> Note also that there is a museum case labelled "ancient icons"
>with one space empty. In that space was a 1930s Mickey Mouse doll.
>However, in the next panel that shows the case (then broken), we see the
>MM doll sprawled upon the broken glass (stabbed?); Disney told Gladstone
>to remove MM from the one panel, but did not expressly tell them to
>remove him from the OTHER panel. So they did exactly what they were
>told. By the way, my script called for the case to be labelled "ancient
>demon worship", even though I didn't really expect or want the scripters
>to use that -- however, in Europe (where Disney doesn't bully the
>publishers) they not only left both MMs in, but they used "demon
>worship" (or "voodoo dolls"). Heh heh.
Well, they did not put in 'voodo dolls', but they left MM in both panels: a
good compromise...
At the end, it seemed quite a good edition: I saw no big mistake, at least
not so big as those Don remarcked in the American edition.
And then, about Barks tour. Maurizio wrote
>Just to tell you that there's a Carl Barks exhibition at the Milan Fair
>with 25 oil paintings on show.
>It ends this sunday Jul 10th though. I just found it out two days ago
>Opening from 10 to 19 - 20 on sunday
Well, the exhibition lasted only four days, and it contained the same oils
already shown in all of Europe. And about the Barks tour, I have to admit I
got more than my share, thanks to the kindness of Luca Boschi. Saturday 2 I
was in Rapallo, at the restaurant U'Giancu, for a lunch with Boschi,
Becattini and some other Italian experts, many Italian Disney artists
(Cavazzano, Carpi, Bottaro etc) and Unca Carl himself. It was quite a nice
thing, since most of the people knew clearly well the master's work,
and... well, Unca Carl seemed quite pleased for the warm welcome he got.
Sunday 3 there was in Milan a big meeting with many Italian artists, and
many of them (Manara, Crepax, Altan, Giardino, etc, and all the Italian
Disney) gave Unca Carl one of their drawnings, expecially made for him.
Barks seemed really touched, and there was the opportunity to have an
interview with him (I will translate it, when I find the time), and without
Grandey, too.
Last thing: Unca Carl sent an handwritten letter to U'Giancu, thanking him
for the lunch (The owner is a comic crazy, and his restaurant is known also
as 'The Comics Restaurant', since he has hundreds of drawning from famous
artists on his walls). In the letter Barks said, as far as I was told, that
he was sorry for the greediness shown by his so-called agents... Not that
bad, really!
Ok, time for greetings.
Happy birthday, Don (I know I'm always late): I'll send you more
information on Lucca and the other things as soon as I can.
Do not despair, dear David! I'll answer to you, too, in a (little) while!
My best wishes of happy holydays to all of you (I'll stay here in Pisa the
whole summer, with no holyday at all, but this is another story...),
Fabio
================================================================
Fabio Gadducci Dip. di Informatica
Home: +39-50-541725 Universita` di Pisa
Off.: +39-50-887268 Corso Italia 40, 56100 PISA (ITALY)
FAX: +39-50-887226 E-mail:gadducci at di.unipi.it
================================================================
Don Rosa
Disney-comics digest #381.
Message 37 -
1994-07-12 at 07:06:10
DAN VAN E.:
Wow! Let me begin!
I ink directly onto the page that I pencil, and I work in
half-page style due to the large size that Egmont wishes the originals
to be. Since I have never studied either art or anything about the
industry (since I never intended to be doing this for a living, and at
one point, never even intended to do it ever again even as a hobby), I
have NO idea what is "normal" or how anyone else does anything.
I made a comment about editors down-sizing my balloons ONLY IN
THE GLADSTONE EDITIONS. I make the balloons extra large to receive all
those bizarre, long, drawn-out Scandanavian words, particularly Finnish.
In fact, they still gripe that I make the balloons too small for the
Scandanavians. But Gladstone doctors the photostats so well that even I
sometimes can't detect it, so there's no problems involved as far as I
can see.
If anyone sends me fanmail to the publishers' offices, it is
never forwarded. They tell me my work is popular, so there's no reason
they'd be trying to "hide" the mail from me. They simply aren't set up
to forward mail to artists or writers, and I'm sure they really aren't
interested in getting into such a hassle. The only fanmail I get is an
occasional letter from Norway where a newspaper article once mentioned I
live in Louisville, Kentucky -- and I get some letters addressed "Don
Rosa the cartoonist in Louisville, Kentucky". The mailman looks my
address up in the phone book, I guess.
I keep all my scrapped scripts. There is never any unpublished
art since I never draw a page until the script is approved, and anytime
the editor wants a panel redrawn, I simply erase the pencil and start
over. Inked art is always used since it was approved in the pencil
stage. There are MANY pages of stories in the "storyboard/script" stage
that we have rewritten or rearranged or scrapped completely, and I have
them all. Who knows what we might do with them someday. In Norway, they
say they wish to print scrapped portions of the "Lo$" when they get
around to collecting the series in an album or something.
I know I get a kick out of giving exact details about certain
aspects of $crooge's life. But I resist nailing down other aspects. I
firmly believe the exact amount of money that he has is something that
should only be referred to in gags, and there has never been a story
that referred to his total worth in any way other than a gag amount.
Don't take that comment in "Magic Hourglass" seriously -- not only was
it just another gag comment, but virtually every aspect of that early
use of $crooge must be ignored. Any story which claims that $crooge owes
his fortune to the magic in an old hourglass should be eliminated from
the "canon". I regard that story as never having happened, as I do a
certain (small) number of other early and late Barks tales.
As for my idea that the Bin holds primarilly only the money U$
earned himself, as I ALWAYS try to explain, no one is required to accept
my version of any of these things. However, how can you say that the Bin
contains ALL of $crooge's money? That makes no sense. That means he owns
NOTHING on earth except that Bin? He owns no banks or factories or farms
or NUTHIN? I know Barks used that idea in certain stories, but you can
easilly see how that was a necessary license to make the story work (it
wouldn't be much fun if we always knew that U$ knew that he always could
sell some property to raise money -- and surely all the land and
companies and factories he owns equals more than what's in that Bin. I
think my idea is the only one that explains WHY $crooge is so worried
about the money in the Bin, even though it's surely only a small part of
his worth. But, again, no one is required to agree with me.
As for your irritation with the Disney Company, I think there's
one thing you MUST realize, now and forever, otherwise you'll never be
happy. Disney is NOT in business for the sake of "true fans" or lovers
of art or comic purists or even Barks fans (in fact, until less than 3
years ago, they hated the mention of Barks). Disney is in business to
make loads of money off the unwashed masses. The common man. The average
jerk. And the only recognition they are only recently giving to
"collectors" is to those with LOTS of money who are so addlebrained as
to invest in "phony collectibles" (seriographs, lithographs, figurines,
hack-work animation cels... all that stuff that is priced 1000 times
more than it's worth simply because it has a "perception of value" to a
certain number of wealthy collectible-louts. But even here, Disney's
interest is not in their appreciation of Disney history or "art", it's
in the $$$ they can get out of them.
No, I may be fascinated by Wilmer's ideas on Miss Penny Wise,
but I've looked at that story carefully, and I regard the comment about
her having something that can "ruin" $crooge as no more than a quick,
throw-away remark that was needed at one point of one story to make the
ending make sense. I just don't give it any thought. I ignore it as I
ignore the Magic Hourglass.
Finally, I don't quite understand your question about the Lo$
Australian story. Why did I write it? Well, Barks said that $crooge was
involved in the Kalgoorlie gold rush, so I needed to do a story about
that, and was glad to do so since it was another interesting and
historically accurate part of $crooge's history. And I used the story as
a vehicle to explain $crooge's love of history and archeaology as an
avenue to wealth and adventure, as I tried to use each Lo$ chapter as
telling of how $crooge learned this or that lesson. Actually, I kinda
liked that story, though I've heard from one Egmont translator who
thought it was the weakest in the series. But I've already learned that
no matter what I do, some readers will think it's my best work ever,
others will think it's my worst, and everyone else will be everywhere in
between. I'm used to that, though I still value all the opinions I can
get. Except the Weasel's.
Wow! Let me begin!
I ink directly onto the page that I pencil, and I work in
half-page style due to the large size that Egmont wishes the originals
to be. Since I have never studied either art or anything about the
industry (since I never intended to be doing this for a living, and at
one point, never even intended to do it ever again even as a hobby), I
have NO idea what is "normal" or how anyone else does anything.
I made a comment about editors down-sizing my balloons ONLY IN
THE GLADSTONE EDITIONS. I make the balloons extra large to receive all
those bizarre, long, drawn-out Scandanavian words, particularly Finnish.
In fact, they still gripe that I make the balloons too small for the
Scandanavians. But Gladstone doctors the photostats so well that even I
sometimes can't detect it, so there's no problems involved as far as I
can see.
If anyone sends me fanmail to the publishers' offices, it is
never forwarded. They tell me my work is popular, so there's no reason
they'd be trying to "hide" the mail from me. They simply aren't set up
to forward mail to artists or writers, and I'm sure they really aren't
interested in getting into such a hassle. The only fanmail I get is an
occasional letter from Norway where a newspaper article once mentioned I
live in Louisville, Kentucky -- and I get some letters addressed "Don
Rosa the cartoonist in Louisville, Kentucky". The mailman looks my
address up in the phone book, I guess.
I keep all my scrapped scripts. There is never any unpublished
art since I never draw a page until the script is approved, and anytime
the editor wants a panel redrawn, I simply erase the pencil and start
over. Inked art is always used since it was approved in the pencil
stage. There are MANY pages of stories in the "storyboard/script" stage
that we have rewritten or rearranged or scrapped completely, and I have
them all. Who knows what we might do with them someday. In Norway, they
say they wish to print scrapped portions of the "Lo$" when they get
around to collecting the series in an album or something.
I know I get a kick out of giving exact details about certain
aspects of $crooge's life. But I resist nailing down other aspects. I
firmly believe the exact amount of money that he has is something that
should only be referred to in gags, and there has never been a story
that referred to his total worth in any way other than a gag amount.
Don't take that comment in "Magic Hourglass" seriously -- not only was
it just another gag comment, but virtually every aspect of that early
use of $crooge must be ignored. Any story which claims that $crooge owes
his fortune to the magic in an old hourglass should be eliminated from
the "canon". I regard that story as never having happened, as I do a
certain (small) number of other early and late Barks tales.
As for my idea that the Bin holds primarilly only the money U$
earned himself, as I ALWAYS try to explain, no one is required to accept
my version of any of these things. However, how can you say that the Bin
contains ALL of $crooge's money? That makes no sense. That means he owns
NOTHING on earth except that Bin? He owns no banks or factories or farms
or NUTHIN? I know Barks used that idea in certain stories, but you can
easilly see how that was a necessary license to make the story work (it
wouldn't be much fun if we always knew that U$ knew that he always could
sell some property to raise money -- and surely all the land and
companies and factories he owns equals more than what's in that Bin. I
think my idea is the only one that explains WHY $crooge is so worried
about the money in the Bin, even though it's surely only a small part of
his worth. But, again, no one is required to agree with me.
As for your irritation with the Disney Company, I think there's
one thing you MUST realize, now and forever, otherwise you'll never be
happy. Disney is NOT in business for the sake of "true fans" or lovers
of art or comic purists or even Barks fans (in fact, until less than 3
years ago, they hated the mention of Barks). Disney is in business to
make loads of money off the unwashed masses. The common man. The average
jerk. And the only recognition they are only recently giving to
"collectors" is to those with LOTS of money who are so addlebrained as
to invest in "phony collectibles" (seriographs, lithographs, figurines,
hack-work animation cels... all that stuff that is priced 1000 times
more than it's worth simply because it has a "perception of value" to a
certain number of wealthy collectible-louts. But even here, Disney's
interest is not in their appreciation of Disney history or "art", it's
in the $$$ they can get out of them.
No, I may be fascinated by Wilmer's ideas on Miss Penny Wise,
but I've looked at that story carefully, and I regard the comment about
her having something that can "ruin" $crooge as no more than a quick,
throw-away remark that was needed at one point of one story to make the
ending make sense. I just don't give it any thought. I ignore it as I
ignore the Magic Hourglass.
Finally, I don't quite understand your question about the Lo$
Australian story. Why did I write it? Well, Barks said that $crooge was
involved in the Kalgoorlie gold rush, so I needed to do a story about
that, and was glad to do so since it was another interesting and
historically accurate part of $crooge's history. And I used the story as
a vehicle to explain $crooge's love of history and archeaology as an
avenue to wealth and adventure, as I tried to use each Lo$ chapter as
telling of how $crooge learned this or that lesson. Actually, I kinda
liked that story, though I've heard from one Egmont translator who
thought it was the weakest in the series. But I've already learned that
no matter what I do, some readers will think it's my best work ever,
others will think it's my worst, and everyone else will be everywhere in
between. I'm used to that, though I still value all the opinions I can
get. Except the Weasel's.
Don Rosa
Disney-comics digest #381.
Message 38 -
1994-07-12 at 07:14:30
DAN VAN E.:
One other important comment I forgot to make about Miss Penny
Wise: if I did want to try to figure out her purpose, it would NEVER be
as a one-time lover of $crooge (regardless of the aspect of her being a
different species). To me, it is an ESSENTIAL part of $crooge's
character and personality and motivations that Glittering Goldie was his
only love, that that love may or may not have ever been consumated
(there in White Agony Valley), and that that love will never be
renewed. This is one of the best parts of the $crooge "legend".
One other important comment I forgot to make about Miss Penny
Wise: if I did want to try to figure out her purpose, it would NEVER be
as a one-time lover of $crooge (regardless of the aspect of her being a
different species). To me, it is an ESSENTIAL part of $crooge's
character and personality and motivations that Glittering Goldie was his
only love, that that love may or may not have ever been consumated
(there in White Agony Valley), and that that love will never be
renewed. This is one of the best parts of the $crooge "legend".
Harry Fluks
VARIOUS (Carl, Donald, James, Bartholomew)
Message 39 -
1994-07-12 at 10:51:55
Barks in Europe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After all the reports from Norway and Italy about Barks' visit, I can
only add a few comments about Barks in Holland. Barks is supposed to be in
Holland right now.
In last Saturday's issue of "de Volkskrant" (a major Dutch newspaper),
a 1/4 page article was published about Barks and the Ducks. It was
accompanied by a photo of Barks, credited to Svein Erik Soland [sic].
The article concludes with some text about Barks' visit:
-quote (badly translated)-
Thom Roep, chief-editor of the Dutch "Donald Duck" weekly,
represents VNU [parent company of Dutch Disney editor GP] as host of
Barks in Holland. Roep: "When he visits us, he has already been in Iceland,
Scandinavia, Poland and Germany. Afterwards he will visit France, Italy
and England. And everywhere he is overwhelmed with receptions, symposia
and press conferences... It's a programme to drive one mad. The man
is 93; how can they do this to him?
"Fortunately I heard this week that he was very well. Barks is
still keen and funny. Still, we prefer to keep his programme in
Holland calm. He himself likes to visit the Rijksmuseum [in Amsterdam].
Furthermore we take a canal boat ride, and we'll visit the Zaanse
Schans [a Dutch mill museum]. We keep it private. We don't want
any bother, no fuss. Let him recover his breath here, because in
Euro Disneyland, he has to march again in the 'Grand Parade'.
Really, I was very pleased for him when I heard he could make this
trip, but I will be even gladder when I hear that he has survived
the tour."
-end quote-
This week's Donald Duck Weekly is fully dedicated to Barks. He appears
on the background of the cover drawing (with a human nose, but dog-ears).
The editorial pages mention Barks (which is I think the second time in
Dutch DD Weekly ever) as one of the Disney artists: "Did you know that
Walt Disney did not make all those beautiful comics and cartoons all by
himself? He was helped by many artists." There are two photographs of
Barks (one of them is a close up of the Soland picture I mentioned above).
The DD issue contains Barks stories ONLY - which has never happened
before in Holland. But they took the (IMO) worst stories they could get:
Uncle Scrooge #29 ("Island in the Sky"), a Gyro story from Four Color
1184 ("Mighty But Miserable") and a Daisy gag. On the middle pages is
a reproduction of Barks' oil "An Astronomical Predicament" (#138 in our
'oils' file), illustrating the US 29 story.
Gladstone's Donald Duck #286 (the 60th Birthday issue)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I really liked this issue. But the Van Horn framing sequence seems
to be a waste of paper. I don't get his ending gag.
The "Duck Who Never Was": VERY enjoyable. Still, a few questions:
Should the story have had a title? The space below the "Donald Duck"
logo was very un-Rosa-like empty.
What was the original layout of the date 09/06/19..? Did the letterer
just switch the texts "Month" and "Day" to make it a (wrong) American
date? How could he have solved this better?
So the Mickey doll is removed as an "ancient icon" in one panel,
but not in the other one. This means Mickey would ONLY have been an ancient
icon if Donald was never born... This (unintended) detail gives a new
perspective to Donald's relation to Mickey... 8-)
When I first saw Gus' family tree drawing on the wall, I saw nothing
wrong. I have been in the genealogy business for quite a time now, and
it has always been the habit to draw the oldest person on top, making the
tree "upside-down". Of course, when looking more closely to this particular
tree, this is impossible, but maybe that's what the letterer had in mind
when he put the names of Gus and Scrooge wrong?
I wouldn't have noticed the square eggs gag if I hadn't read about it
on this list. VERY funny!
"The Secret of Mars" was very entertaining. I expected a quite bad
story, that's only reprinted because it is the "first". But it was quite
fun reading it! And I liked the name of Fabio Gadducci in the credits.
This mailing list is really accomplishing things!
James looking for an artist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James, if you don't want to offer your scripts to Egmont again, you
could also try Dutch editor GP. Or you could even ask them if they have
artists that could work for Gladstone.
Bartholomew Esteban
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wrote to David:
> In one of your letters in a recent Gladstone comic, you mention
> Bartholomew Esteban. [...] Where did you get his first name?
And he replied:
> [...] in a SINGLE comic -- the very first issue of Gladstone's UNCLE
> SCROOGE -- complete credits appear. Esteban had something to do with one
> of the stories in there, and his FULL name appeared in the credits.
In this comic, a Beagle Boys story appears, written by Bob Bartholomew,
and drawn by Esteban. So I think you misread the credits, David...
(well, I think that's enough for now...)
--Harry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After all the reports from Norway and Italy about Barks' visit, I can
only add a few comments about Barks in Holland. Barks is supposed to be in
Holland right now.
In last Saturday's issue of "de Volkskrant" (a major Dutch newspaper),
a 1/4 page article was published about Barks and the Ducks. It was
accompanied by a photo of Barks, credited to Svein Erik Soland [sic].
The article concludes with some text about Barks' visit:
-quote (badly translated)-
Thom Roep, chief-editor of the Dutch "Donald Duck" weekly,
represents VNU [parent company of Dutch Disney editor GP] as host of
Barks in Holland. Roep: "When he visits us, he has already been in Iceland,
Scandinavia, Poland and Germany. Afterwards he will visit France, Italy
and England. And everywhere he is overwhelmed with receptions, symposia
and press conferences... It's a programme to drive one mad. The man
is 93; how can they do this to him?
"Fortunately I heard this week that he was very well. Barks is
still keen and funny. Still, we prefer to keep his programme in
Holland calm. He himself likes to visit the Rijksmuseum [in Amsterdam].
Furthermore we take a canal boat ride, and we'll visit the Zaanse
Schans [a Dutch mill museum]. We keep it private. We don't want
any bother, no fuss. Let him recover his breath here, because in
Euro Disneyland, he has to march again in the 'Grand Parade'.
Really, I was very pleased for him when I heard he could make this
trip, but I will be even gladder when I hear that he has survived
the tour."
-end quote-
This week's Donald Duck Weekly is fully dedicated to Barks. He appears
on the background of the cover drawing (with a human nose, but dog-ears).
The editorial pages mention Barks (which is I think the second time in
Dutch DD Weekly ever) as one of the Disney artists: "Did you know that
Walt Disney did not make all those beautiful comics and cartoons all by
himself? He was helped by many artists." There are two photographs of
Barks (one of them is a close up of the Soland picture I mentioned above).
The DD issue contains Barks stories ONLY - which has never happened
before in Holland. But they took the (IMO) worst stories they could get:
Uncle Scrooge #29 ("Island in the Sky"), a Gyro story from Four Color
1184 ("Mighty But Miserable") and a Daisy gag. On the middle pages is
a reproduction of Barks' oil "An Astronomical Predicament" (#138 in our
'oils' file), illustrating the US 29 story.
Gladstone's Donald Duck #286 (the 60th Birthday issue)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I really liked this issue. But the Van Horn framing sequence seems
to be a waste of paper. I don't get his ending gag.
The "Duck Who Never Was": VERY enjoyable. Still, a few questions:
Should the story have had a title? The space below the "Donald Duck"
logo was very un-Rosa-like empty.
What was the original layout of the date 09/06/19..? Did the letterer
just switch the texts "Month" and "Day" to make it a (wrong) American
date? How could he have solved this better?
So the Mickey doll is removed as an "ancient icon" in one panel,
but not in the other one. This means Mickey would ONLY have been an ancient
icon if Donald was never born... This (unintended) detail gives a new
perspective to Donald's relation to Mickey... 8-)
When I first saw Gus' family tree drawing on the wall, I saw nothing
wrong. I have been in the genealogy business for quite a time now, and
it has always been the habit to draw the oldest person on top, making the
tree "upside-down". Of course, when looking more closely to this particular
tree, this is impossible, but maybe that's what the letterer had in mind
when he put the names of Gus and Scrooge wrong?
I wouldn't have noticed the square eggs gag if I hadn't read about it
on this list. VERY funny!
"The Secret of Mars" was very entertaining. I expected a quite bad
story, that's only reprinted because it is the "first". But it was quite
fun reading it! And I liked the name of Fabio Gadducci in the credits.
This mailing list is really accomplishing things!
James looking for an artist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James, if you don't want to offer your scripts to Egmont again, you
could also try Dutch editor GP. Or you could even ask them if they have
artists that could work for Gladstone.
Bartholomew Esteban
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wrote to David:
> In one of your letters in a recent Gladstone comic, you mention
> Bartholomew Esteban. [...] Where did you get his first name?
And he replied:
> [...] in a SINGLE comic -- the very first issue of Gladstone's UNCLE
> SCROOGE -- complete credits appear. Esteban had something to do with one
> of the stories in there, and his FULL name appeared in the credits.
In this comic, a Beagle Boys story appears, written by Bob Bartholomew,
and drawn by Esteban. So I think you misread the credits, David...
(well, I think that's enough for now...)
--Harry.
Geir.Hasnes
Feelings
Message 40 -
1994-07-12 at 14:07:03
BJOERN ARE:
Yes, you are right, the correct word is "treat". not "threaten", so I am
sorry for any misunderstanding. Thank you also for your comments, it helps
to view the situation with Soeland in another perspective.
DON:
Thanks to you also, Don, for your kind comments. Yes, I have to view the
relation to Soeland in another perspective also, and I always try to find
out what is happening given other peoples angles. I will discuss this
matter later, when we have returned from our holiday for a few weeks. I do
agree with both Bjoern Are and you that Soeland probably does his best in
the situation he is in, and that being run down by fans is probably not
helping him keeping an open ear to all my suggestions and questions. I may
agree that he has some overseers over him, but I also feel that he has a
need for control that keeps me very unsure about what he really means and
thinks when I talk to him. I feel that he is very closed to me, probably
more than any other people I know that it would make sense talking to. To
me, you can say almost anything, and I will take it seriously and think
about it, but Soeland doesnt really say anything else than he needs, so I
cant make head or tail of it.
And the main reason for my "anger" is that I feel that there is a great
interest in Norway for a serious treatment of Barks and the Disney
adventures, because all Norwegians have read the comic for many years, and
I have talked to Hjemmet for many years, but they seem utterly uninterested
even though the market would be very huge, for both the right presentation
of the comics and for books about the comics. I dont care any longer,
actually, because it is of no use trying to do anything, and I have lots of
other things to do, so it doesnt really matter that much. But it is too bad
that there are so many people out there longing to know more about the
Disney stories and what to get and where to get it, and nothing can be done
about that.
Have a nice holiday. if you havent already had it. I am off to help my
father move out of the house in Narvik and into a flat, actually it feels
like cutting off the links to my childhood and youth forever.
Geir Hasnes
Yes, you are right, the correct word is "treat". not "threaten", so I am
sorry for any misunderstanding. Thank you also for your comments, it helps
to view the situation with Soeland in another perspective.
DON:
Thanks to you also, Don, for your kind comments. Yes, I have to view the
relation to Soeland in another perspective also, and I always try to find
out what is happening given other peoples angles. I will discuss this
matter later, when we have returned from our holiday for a few weeks. I do
agree with both Bjoern Are and you that Soeland probably does his best in
the situation he is in, and that being run down by fans is probably not
helping him keeping an open ear to all my suggestions and questions. I may
agree that he has some overseers over him, but I also feel that he has a
need for control that keeps me very unsure about what he really means and
thinks when I talk to him. I feel that he is very closed to me, probably
more than any other people I know that it would make sense talking to. To
me, you can say almost anything, and I will take it seriously and think
about it, but Soeland doesnt really say anything else than he needs, so I
cant make head or tail of it.
And the main reason for my "anger" is that I feel that there is a great
interest in Norway for a serious treatment of Barks and the Disney
adventures, because all Norwegians have read the comic for many years, and
I have talked to Hjemmet for many years, but they seem utterly uninterested
even though the market would be very huge, for both the right presentation
of the comics and for books about the comics. I dont care any longer,
actually, because it is of no use trying to do anything, and I have lots of
other things to do, so it doesnt really matter that much. But it is too bad
that there are so many people out there longing to know more about the
Disney stories and what to get and where to get it, and nothing can be done
about that.
Have a nice holiday. if you havent already had it. I am off to help my
father move out of the house in Narvik and into a flat, actually it feels
like cutting off the links to my childhood and youth forever.
Geir Hasnes
James Williams
VARIOUS (Carl, Donald, James, Bartholomew)
Message 41 -
1994-07-12 at 16:22:40
Harry wrote:
>James, if you don't want to offer your scripts to Egmont again, you
>could also try Dutch editor GP. Or you could even ask them if they
>have artists that could work for Gladstone.
Thanks for the suggestion. First, I need to clear up a misconception.
I've got nothing against Egmont. I'd *love* to work for them. I tried
out for them 2 1/2 years ago and never heard back. That's not
surprising, my writing stunk. Thankfully, my writing has improved
tremendously since then. When I have some published stories under my
belt, I'll approach Egmont again. Second, if I sent something to
either GP or Egmont, it would have to be different stories. I've
promised these stories to John Clark. Third, anyone working for Egmont
probably won't work for Gladstone because of the lower page rate.
Not to worry, thanks to this list, I have two "interested" artists.
James Williams
>James, if you don't want to offer your scripts to Egmont again, you
>could also try Dutch editor GP. Or you could even ask them if they
>have artists that could work for Gladstone.
Thanks for the suggestion. First, I need to clear up a misconception.
I've got nothing against Egmont. I'd *love* to work for them. I tried
out for them 2 1/2 years ago and never heard back. That's not
surprising, my writing stunk. Thankfully, my writing has improved
tremendously since then. When I have some published stories under my
belt, I'll approach Egmont again. Second, if I sent something to
either GP or Egmont, it would have to be different stories. I've
promised these stories to John Clark. Third, anyone working for Egmont
probably won't work for Gladstone because of the lower page rate.
Not to worry, thanks to this list, I have two "interested" artists.
James Williams
Larry Gerstein
The Screaming Cowboy
Message 42 -
1994-07-13 at 02:13:32
Dear Folks,
Knut Hunstad said: "In the story where DD becomes a song writer,
provoking avalanches by playing his song on a jukebox in a hotel at the
bottom of a valley, what are the original lyrics?"
All that's given is "Bury me thar with my battered guitar --
screamin' my heart out for yew!" (yew = you) The song's title is given as
"The Screaming Cowboy."
But in 1982 Disneyland Records issued an album of cowboy songs,
some sung (allegedly) by DD, MM, and GO, titled "Pardners." It includes
someone's attempt at a finished version of this song!!! It opens with the
howls of what sound like drunken coyotes, which also furnish the chorus;
then it goes on to a generic "cowboy" voice singing the song. It starts
with Barks' exact lyrics. There are some dedicated duck fans out there.
Which reminds me -- I believe the German D. O. N. A. L. D. sings
this song at their meetings according to an article I once read. Who
"finished" their version, and what are the words they use?
Best to all,
David Gerstein
<gerstein at math.ucsb.edu>
gerstein at math.ucsb.edu
Knut Hunstad said: "In the story where DD becomes a song writer,
provoking avalanches by playing his song on a jukebox in a hotel at the
bottom of a valley, what are the original lyrics?"
All that's given is "Bury me thar with my battered guitar --
screamin' my heart out for yew!" (yew = you) The song's title is given as
"The Screaming Cowboy."
But in 1982 Disneyland Records issued an album of cowboy songs,
some sung (allegedly) by DD, MM, and GO, titled "Pardners." It includes
someone's attempt at a finished version of this song!!! It opens with the
howls of what sound like drunken coyotes, which also furnish the chorus;
then it goes on to a generic "cowboy" voice singing the song. It starts
with Barks' exact lyrics. There are some dedicated duck fans out there.
Which reminds me -- I believe the German D. O. N. A. L. D. sings
this song at their meetings according to an article I once read. Who
"finished" their version, and what are the words they use?
Best to all,
David Gerstein
<gerstein at math.ucsb.edu>
gerstein at math.ucsb.edu
Bror Hellman
AA 27/94
Message 43 -
1994-07-13 at 10:42:40
On Wed, 6 Jul 1994, Mikko Henri Juhani Aittola wrote:
> Here is contents of Finnish Aku Ankka 27/94:
>
> D 92378 Very good fishing-tale with poor Egmont art.
> D 93126 Stupid Duck Tales 2-pager.
> WDC 264 A Barks' ten-pager. Donald as 'crasher'.
> D 93481 Conclusion to Marco Rota's excellent viking adventure.
>
> Is Kalle Anka identical?
Well.. Eh, no, not exactly.
If I look att Kalle Anka & C:o #28:
WDC 264 A The above mentioned CB ten-pager
D93103 Stupid beagle Boy story
D93146 U$ loses his memory, His Dr tries to steal the money
D93193 Start of Mickey Mouse in Scotland Story (Part 1 of 2)
D93481 Conclusion to new marco Rota viking story
... but as you see Aku Ankka doesn't seem to follow the Egmont standard.
Steamboat Willie
----------------------------------------------
... Does The Little Mermaid wear an algebra?
----------------------------------------------
Internet: hellman at proxxi.uf.se, DuckNet: hellman at 313:100/13.0
> Here is contents of Finnish Aku Ankka 27/94:
>
> D 92378 Very good fishing-tale with poor Egmont art.
> D 93126 Stupid Duck Tales 2-pager.
> WDC 264 A Barks' ten-pager. Donald as 'crasher'.
> D 93481 Conclusion to Marco Rota's excellent viking adventure.
>
> Is Kalle Anka identical?
Well.. Eh, no, not exactly.
If I look att Kalle Anka & C:o #28:
WDC 264 A The above mentioned CB ten-pager
D93103 Stupid beagle Boy story
D93146 U$ loses his memory, His Dr tries to steal the money
D93193 Start of Mickey Mouse in Scotland Story (Part 1 of 2)
D93481 Conclusion to new marco Rota viking story
... but as you see Aku Ankka doesn't seem to follow the Egmont standard.
Steamboat Willie
----------------------------------------------
... Does The Little Mermaid wear an algebra?
----------------------------------------------
Internet: hellman at proxxi.uf.se, DuckNet: hellman at 313:100/13.0
Mikko Aittola
Disney-comics digest #381.
Message 44 -
1994-07-13 at 12:10:09
Don - about storyboards:
I forget previously mention that Byron (when he visited Finland)
showed your first version of the first page of Treasure of Croesus
(I think). But he thought it was kinda boring and he asked you to
redraw it. Then he showed the finished-looking version.
It's really funny and unusual way to start the story!
Daniel van Eijmeren wrote:
> HOW MUCH MONEY DOES UNCLE SCROOGE HAVE?
> =======================================
> Scrooge: "I can't go on like this - losing a billion dollars a
> minute! I'll be *broke* in 600 years!"
Maybe at the time of that story he DID
have that amount of money, but that doesn't mean
that he has it all the time. Values of stocks, real-estate etc.
are constantly changing..
/Mikko
I forget previously mention that Byron (when he visited Finland)
showed your first version of the first page of Treasure of Croesus
(I think). But he thought it was kinda boring and he asked you to
redraw it. Then he showed the finished-looking version.
It's really funny and unusual way to start the story!
Daniel van Eijmeren wrote:
> HOW MUCH MONEY DOES UNCLE SCROOGE HAVE?
> =======================================
> Scrooge: "I can't go on like this - losing a billion dollars a
> minute! I'll be *broke* in 600 years!"
Maybe at the time of that story he DID
have that amount of money, but that doesn't mean
that he has it all the time. Values of stocks, real-estate etc.
are constantly changing..
/Mikko
Per Starback
The Screaming Cowboy
Message 45 -
1994-07-13 at 15:37:05
David on the song Donald wrote in WDC 137:
> But in 1982 Disneyland Records issued an album of cowboy songs,
> some sung (allegedly) by DD, MM, and GO, titled "Pardners." It includes
> someone's attempt at a finished version of this song!!! It opens with the
> howls of what sound like drunken coyotes, which also furnish the chorus;
> then it goes on to a generic "cowboy" voice singing the song. It starts
> with Barks' exact lyrics. There are some dedicated duck fans out there.
Gosh! How do those complete lyrics go? Do you know who wrote them?
> Which reminds me -- I believe the German D. O. N. A. L. D. sings
> this song at their meetings according to an article I once read. Who
> "finished" their version, and what are the words they use?
I think they didn't add any lyrics, but only sing the extract shown in
the story:
Die Hymne der D.O.N.A.L.D.
Und lieg ich der-einst auf der Bah-re,
so denkt auch an mei-ne Gui-tah-re
und legt sie mir mit in mein Gra-hab.
-- "
Per Starback, Uppsala, Sweden. email: starback at minsk.docs.uu.se
"You don't say! You look healthy enough, otherwise!"
> But in 1982 Disneyland Records issued an album of cowboy songs,
> some sung (allegedly) by DD, MM, and GO, titled "Pardners." It includes
> someone's attempt at a finished version of this song!!! It opens with the
> howls of what sound like drunken coyotes, which also furnish the chorus;
> then it goes on to a generic "cowboy" voice singing the song. It starts
> with Barks' exact lyrics. There are some dedicated duck fans out there.
Gosh! How do those complete lyrics go? Do you know who wrote them?
> Which reminds me -- I believe the German D. O. N. A. L. D. sings
> this song at their meetings according to an article I once read. Who
> "finished" their version, and what are the words they use?
I think they didn't add any lyrics, but only sing the extract shown in
the story:
Die Hymne der D.O.N.A.L.D.
Und lieg ich der-einst auf der Bah-re,
so denkt auch an mei-ne Gui-tah-re
und legt sie mir mit in mein Gra-hab.
-- "
Per Starback, Uppsala, Sweden. email: starback at minsk.docs.uu.se
"You don't say! You look healthy enough, otherwise!"