I just read some back issues of Donald and came upon several sport stories.
While I like them and all, I was struck by the fact that Donald is indeed
a soccer fan. Now this isn't surprising since most of our stories seem
to come from Europe but I don't seem to remember a single story where
he watched/played one of the "all american" sports.
Where are the baseball stories? Football stories? Donald as a
basketball hero (might make a good story).
Are these stories made and never published in the European market?
Sigurdur
Author
Topic: 199410
(172 messages)
Sigurdur Hrafn Gislason
Donald as a sport fan.
Message 106 -
1994-10-20 at 12:34:06
Fredrik Ekman
Donald as a sport fan.
Message 107 -
1994-10-20 at 16:58:21
On Thu, 20 Oct 1994, Sigurdur Hrafn Gislason wrote:
> Where are the baseball stories? Football stories? Donald as a
> basketball hero (might make a good story).
Hmm... I remember seeing one Italian story where Donald is the coach for
Hewey, Dewey and Louie's basketball team. I suppose I could dig up the
code if someone is interested enough.
/F
> Where are the baseball stories? Football stories? Donald as a
> basketball hero (might make a good story).
Hmm... I remember seeing one Italian story where Donald is the coach for
Hewey, Dewey and Louie's basketball team. I suppose I could dig up the
code if someone is interested enough.
/F
Fredrik Ekman
Database
Message 108 -
1994-10-20 at 20:13:54
Here's yet another exciting message about database format. You have been
warned!
Right, so there are three of us at least. Harry: You managed to
straighten out a few question marks for me, but it also seems that you
misunderstood me on a few points, no doubt due to me being unclear as
usual.
Harry:
> You can explicitly indicate in an 'issue' file that a story
> has a title, differing from the "official" one.
Yes, but can you see in the .issues file if the title is for this issue
specifically or "official"? I don't think so (although correct me if I'm
wrong). What I am proposing is that the title designator (T, R, et c)
should not be included in the .issues files unless the story has no title
in that issue. Damn, I hardly even understand what I am trying to say
myself here. What I would need to do is to come up with an actual example
from one of the files, but since I don't have access to many of those
books anyway, I'm not sure I can do that.
> My goal was to have all titles and descriptions in English, everywhere.
That's what I thought. But then we must ask ourselves: What is the
purpose of this database? If only to facilitate making references in
discussions on this mailing list, then this is certainly a good policy.
But when I downloaded the Swedish files, I did so in order to send them
to a comics collecting friend. Now, HE won't have any use for the English
titles. He will want the Swedish. Another reason that I am rambling on
about this subject is that I (perhaps foolishly) have undertaken the
mission of converting these files for the Grand Comics Database, which
has previously been discussed briefly on this list. For those who have
not heard of them, they are a bunch of lunat... err... devoted collectors
who are trying to index ALL American comics and making the results freely
available on the 'net. I thought that our database would fit in neatly in
that scheme if it can only be converted properly.
> Do you really think all story titles should be Swedish in the Swedish
> index?
YES! If I really want to discuss story D88215 (dummy example) I could
look the proper title up in the d.stories file. A little more trouble,
but not really that much, I think.
> > it's really not useful to know which language it originates from.
>
> Oh?
I just KNEW that statement would be misinterpreted. Let's take dummy
example D88215 for instance. Suppose John Anderson (isn't there some
Egmont writer by that name?) wrote the thing and called it "Day of the
Triplets". Then Stefan Dios translates it to Swedish and calls it
"Knattarnas stora dag". Finally, Anders Engwall indexes the Swedish
publication of the story and retranslates the title as "The big day for
Hewey, Dewey and Louie". Now, what is the point of knowing where this
last title originates from? Of course, we must point out that it is NOT
the original title, and this could be done by using a designator like Tr:
(meaning Translated). I think it's confusing enough having to keep track
of Sw, D and N (or whatever it is that you use). What of the day when
people will want to start indexing Russian, Italian, Chinese, Norwegian
and French books all at once?
> > ALL NON-ENGLISH issues should have ALL TITLES included in the issue files.
>
> Please propose a handsome lay-out for listing more than one title of a story.
&%$**! Without seeing my original context, I don't have a clue to what I
meant by that sentence, but I am pretty sure that I didn't mean what you
think.
Anders:
> And even *if* Harry's software could handle Latin-1, there's absolutely
> no guarantee that the nodes between you and him can.
Well, perhaps it was stupid of me to suggest Latin-1. There is absolutely
no realistic way to use it for plain-text files over the 'net. The only
way is to UUencode it. This could work, but it also means that all
indexers will have to know a lot about what they are doing. They must
know enough about Latin-1 to tell if that is what they are using (or else
a way of converting it) and also be able to UUencode. But I really don't
see another way to have Swedish, Danish and other non-English titles in
the database. Perhaps every language could use their own 7-bit standard,
but that would be messy for anyone interested in some other country's
titles...
Anyway, if that is any comfort, I could undertake to convert the Swedish
titles that are _currently_ in the database to Latin-1. But I would only
do it if we decide to go for Latin-1 on the whole line, since using it
for only one language makes no sense.
/F
PS. Thanks, Per, for telling me about DS. I had no idea it was
specifically Swedish. Guess I won't be using it any more in my
international messages. DS (oops!)
warned!
Right, so there are three of us at least. Harry: You managed to
straighten out a few question marks for me, but it also seems that you
misunderstood me on a few points, no doubt due to me being unclear as
usual.
Harry:
> You can explicitly indicate in an 'issue' file that a story
> has a title, differing from the "official" one.
Yes, but can you see in the .issues file if the title is for this issue
specifically or "official"? I don't think so (although correct me if I'm
wrong). What I am proposing is that the title designator (T, R, et c)
should not be included in the .issues files unless the story has no title
in that issue. Damn, I hardly even understand what I am trying to say
myself here. What I would need to do is to come up with an actual example
from one of the files, but since I don't have access to many of those
books anyway, I'm not sure I can do that.
> My goal was to have all titles and descriptions in English, everywhere.
That's what I thought. But then we must ask ourselves: What is the
purpose of this database? If only to facilitate making references in
discussions on this mailing list, then this is certainly a good policy.
But when I downloaded the Swedish files, I did so in order to send them
to a comics collecting friend. Now, HE won't have any use for the English
titles. He will want the Swedish. Another reason that I am rambling on
about this subject is that I (perhaps foolishly) have undertaken the
mission of converting these files for the Grand Comics Database, which
has previously been discussed briefly on this list. For those who have
not heard of them, they are a bunch of lunat... err... devoted collectors
who are trying to index ALL American comics and making the results freely
available on the 'net. I thought that our database would fit in neatly in
that scheme if it can only be converted properly.
> Do you really think all story titles should be Swedish in the Swedish
> index?
YES! If I really want to discuss story D88215 (dummy example) I could
look the proper title up in the d.stories file. A little more trouble,
but not really that much, I think.
> > it's really not useful to know which language it originates from.
>
> Oh?
I just KNEW that statement would be misinterpreted. Let's take dummy
example D88215 for instance. Suppose John Anderson (isn't there some
Egmont writer by that name?) wrote the thing and called it "Day of the
Triplets". Then Stefan Dios translates it to Swedish and calls it
"Knattarnas stora dag". Finally, Anders Engwall indexes the Swedish
publication of the story and retranslates the title as "The big day for
Hewey, Dewey and Louie". Now, what is the point of knowing where this
last title originates from? Of course, we must point out that it is NOT
the original title, and this could be done by using a designator like Tr:
(meaning Translated). I think it's confusing enough having to keep track
of Sw, D and N (or whatever it is that you use). What of the day when
people will want to start indexing Russian, Italian, Chinese, Norwegian
and French books all at once?
> > ALL NON-ENGLISH issues should have ALL TITLES included in the issue files.
>
> Please propose a handsome lay-out for listing more than one title of a story.
&%$**! Without seeing my original context, I don't have a clue to what I
meant by that sentence, but I am pretty sure that I didn't mean what you
think.
Anders:
> And even *if* Harry's software could handle Latin-1, there's absolutely
> no guarantee that the nodes between you and him can.
Well, perhaps it was stupid of me to suggest Latin-1. There is absolutely
no realistic way to use it for plain-text files over the 'net. The only
way is to UUencode it. This could work, but it also means that all
indexers will have to know a lot about what they are doing. They must
know enough about Latin-1 to tell if that is what they are using (or else
a way of converting it) and also be able to UUencode. But I really don't
see another way to have Swedish, Danish and other non-English titles in
the database. Perhaps every language could use their own 7-bit standard,
but that would be messy for anyone interested in some other country's
titles...
Anyway, if that is any comfort, I could undertake to convert the Swedish
titles that are _currently_ in the database to Latin-1. But I would only
do it if we decide to go for Latin-1 on the whole line, since using it
for only one language makes no sense.
/F
PS. Thanks, Per, for telling me about DS. I had no idea it was
specifically Swedish. Guess I won't be using it any more in my
international messages. DS (oops!)
Jørgen Andreas Bangor
Database
Message 109 -
1994-10-21 at 03:12:49
You can count me in too on the discussion of the Disney
comics Database. I might not contribute much to the
discussion, but I will certainly be interested in seeing
what you are doing.
Since I am working on this WWW index, I have been thinking
about what format I should use. I have thought up something,
but after having taken a look at the index, I think I like
yours better than mine.
What I was thinking about was to give each issue a unique
code, which I see you have done too, then put information
about stories, titles, writers/artists etc. into files for
each sort of information.
Ex: Donald Duck & Co (dummy examples)
2000 D88215 H8000 S2600 I1500
2001 H88515 D2100 ... ...
etc.
Writers
D88215 Day of the Triplets W:John Anderson A:?
D88216 ....
etc.
Published
D88215 2000 (published in no. 2000)
D88216 ...
etc.
Issues
2000 no. 15 12. april 1994
2001 no. 16 19. april 1994
etc.
Then it would be easy to make a script that gets the information
the user wants form these files. The files alone won't be too
human readable though... and with this many files, filled with
a lot of information, it could be argued that it would be a rather
big job for the computer (but with SPARC-20's who cares...).
Well, I might just translate the Swedish files into Norwegian.
About transfering files over the net. It's no use in trying to
transfer Latin-1 (8-bit) with mail. The SMTP (mail protocol) is
built for 7-bit transfer. A lot of smart people (and less smart)
have done a lot of (different) things to solve this problem, and
that's the real problem. There are no standards.
If you look close on the headers in this mail (if they still are
there when it reach you) you might see something like 'J=F8rgen'.
'=F8' is MIME's way to send 'oe' over the net as 7-bit. When it
reaches a place that uses MIME, it will be restored to 'oe' (o with
slash...).
The simplest solution to this is to use uuencode, as Fredrik
suggested, or to put it on an FTP-site, and set FTP to 8-bit mode.
In spite of the problems with 8-bit characters, I would still suggest
that they should be used. If this is really going to be a "universal"
data base, we better use them from the beginning. Most of the languages
that probably would appear in the data base need them.
Just my opinions :-)
Jorgen A. Bangor (jorgenb at ifi.uio.no)
comics Database. I might not contribute much to the
discussion, but I will certainly be interested in seeing
what you are doing.
Since I am working on this WWW index, I have been thinking
about what format I should use. I have thought up something,
but after having taken a look at the index, I think I like
yours better than mine.
What I was thinking about was to give each issue a unique
code, which I see you have done too, then put information
about stories, titles, writers/artists etc. into files for
each sort of information.
Ex: Donald Duck & Co (dummy examples)
2000 D88215 H8000 S2600 I1500
2001 H88515 D2100 ... ...
etc.
Writers
D88215 Day of the Triplets W:John Anderson A:?
D88216 ....
etc.
Published
D88215 2000 (published in no. 2000)
D88216 ...
etc.
Issues
2000 no. 15 12. april 1994
2001 no. 16 19. april 1994
etc.
Then it would be easy to make a script that gets the information
the user wants form these files. The files alone won't be too
human readable though... and with this many files, filled with
a lot of information, it could be argued that it would be a rather
big job for the computer (but with SPARC-20's who cares...).
Well, I might just translate the Swedish files into Norwegian.
About transfering files over the net. It's no use in trying to
transfer Latin-1 (8-bit) with mail. The SMTP (mail protocol) is
built for 7-bit transfer. A lot of smart people (and less smart)
have done a lot of (different) things to solve this problem, and
that's the real problem. There are no standards.
If you look close on the headers in this mail (if they still are
there when it reach you) you might see something like 'J=F8rgen'.
'=F8' is MIME's way to send 'oe' over the net as 7-bit. When it
reaches a place that uses MIME, it will be restored to 'oe' (o with
slash...).
The simplest solution to this is to use uuencode, as Fredrik
suggested, or to put it on an FTP-site, and set FTP to 8-bit mode.
In spite of the problems with 8-bit characters, I would still suggest
that they should be used. If this is really going to be a "universal"
data base, we better use them from the beginning. Most of the languages
that probably would appear in the data base need them.
Just my opinions :-)
Jorgen A. Bangor (jorgenb at ifi.uio.no)
Jørgen Andreas Bangor
Various
Message 110 -
1994-10-21 at 03:45:18
Jon Cato Lorentzen mentioned me mentioning a text book about
Donald Duck.
What's the difference between Barks DD and Disney DD? Do you
mean the last one is more like the cartoon DD? And that's probably
also the same as Taliaferro's DD. Then all the Danish and Dutch
artists are using the Barks DD. Well, that makes sense, I guess.
What made me not buy the book though, is that it's not a comic
book.
BTW, Jon, your local comic-store is probably the same as mine :-)
Too bad they get the Gladstones so late.
The "new" Fethry story:
>In the frame of this page, there is also written "color: white
>coat".
I've seen this in other stories too, but not often. I did rem-
ember there was something strange with that story. You're right
i doesn't have a code. Strange. Except from Italian stories I
haven't noticed this with any stories after the early seventies.
Something totally different.
A couple of months ago some Marvel-Disney comics appeared at the
local comic store. The titles are "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty
and The Beast" and "Alladin" (and "Disney Afternoon", but that's
too stupid to diserve being mentioned). What surprises me a bit
is that I thought Disney Comics were publishing these titles, and
now Marvel is presenting them as totally new comics. Did Disney
mess up this too?
Also I think I remember having read that Gladstones magazines are
somehow distributed by Marvel. This isn't mentioned at all in these
magazines. What _is_ mentioned (a lot) is some Barbie-something.
The letter column is quiet funny... there are a lot of kids that
want what they call cross-overs from other comics. Strange.
I've never wanted to see Woody Woodpecker in a Mickey Mouse story...
Ah, yes. I've been insect hunting. Found a lot of them. Thanks.
Jorgen A. Bangor (jorgenb at ifi.uio.no)
Donald Duck.
What's the difference between Barks DD and Disney DD? Do you
mean the last one is more like the cartoon DD? And that's probably
also the same as Taliaferro's DD. Then all the Danish and Dutch
artists are using the Barks DD. Well, that makes sense, I guess.
What made me not buy the book though, is that it's not a comic
book.
BTW, Jon, your local comic-store is probably the same as mine :-)
Too bad they get the Gladstones so late.
The "new" Fethry story:
>In the frame of this page, there is also written "color: white
>coat".
I've seen this in other stories too, but not often. I did rem-
ember there was something strange with that story. You're right
i doesn't have a code. Strange. Except from Italian stories I
haven't noticed this with any stories after the early seventies.
Something totally different.
A couple of months ago some Marvel-Disney comics appeared at the
local comic store. The titles are "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty
and The Beast" and "Alladin" (and "Disney Afternoon", but that's
too stupid to diserve being mentioned). What surprises me a bit
is that I thought Disney Comics were publishing these titles, and
now Marvel is presenting them as totally new comics. Did Disney
mess up this too?
Also I think I remember having read that Gladstones magazines are
somehow distributed by Marvel. This isn't mentioned at all in these
magazines. What _is_ mentioned (a lot) is some Barbie-something.
The letter column is quiet funny... there are a lot of kids that
want what they call cross-overs from other comics. Strange.
I've never wanted to see Woody Woodpecker in a Mickey Mouse story...
Ah, yes. I've been insect hunting. Found a lot of them. Thanks.
Jorgen A. Bangor (jorgenb at ifi.uio.no)
Don Rosa
Disney-comics digest #468.
Message 111 -
1994-10-21 at 05:40:03
HARRY:
No off register coloring in your issue of U$ #289? Check the
page where the two Whiskervilles first enter with Hortense's broom
busted across their heads, and also the page where those same two see
$crooge in the castle gate just up from the moat. Those pages in
European issues of the Gladstones do NOT have misaligned coloring? The
coloring is slightly off-register on other pages, but those two are the
worst.
If issues over there do NOT have such misprints, maybe you can
GET me one?
No off register coloring in your issue of U$ #289? Check the
page where the two Whiskervilles first enter with Hortense's broom
busted across their heads, and also the page where those same two see
$crooge in the castle gate just up from the moat. Those pages in
European issues of the Gladstones do NOT have misaligned coloring? The
coloring is slightly off-register on other pages, but those two are the
worst.
If issues over there do NOT have such misprints, maybe you can
GET me one?
Per Starback
World Wide Web
Message 112 -
1994-10-21 at 07:07:16
I've started on a World Wide Web page on Disney comics as an
alternative to the ftp archive. It's *very* preliminary, so
I don't recommend adding links to it all over the place, but please
check it out if you're into WWW. The URL is
http://www.update.uu.se/~starback/disney-comics.html
(For those who don't know what World Wide Web is: it's a
hypertext-based web of network-accessible information. Hmm, that
wasn't a particularly good explanation -- I really recommend checking
it out, if you can. You need to have Internet access to do so. Look
for programs like mosaic or lynx, or ask some computer guru at your
site about WWW.)
Most of the information on the Disney comics page as it is now is just
links into the ftp archive, but I plan on making more and more of the
information "native" WWW info (in HTML mode), and to make it possible
to search the various indexes from the page.
-- "
Per Starback, Uppsala, Sweden. email: starback at minsk.docs.uu.se
"Life is but a gamble! Let flipism chart your ramble!"
alternative to the ftp archive. It's *very* preliminary, so
I don't recommend adding links to it all over the place, but please
check it out if you're into WWW. The URL is
http://www.update.uu.se/~starback/disney-comics.html
(For those who don't know what World Wide Web is: it's a
hypertext-based web of network-accessible information. Hmm, that
wasn't a particularly good explanation -- I really recommend checking
it out, if you can. You need to have Internet access to do so. Look
for programs like mosaic or lynx, or ask some computer guru at your
site about WWW.)
Most of the information on the Disney comics page as it is now is just
links into the ftp archive, but I plan on making more and more of the
information "native" WWW info (in HTML mode), and to make it possible
to search the various indexes from the page.
-- "
Per Starback, Uppsala, Sweden. email: starback at minsk.docs.uu.se
"Life is but a gamble! Let flipism chart your ramble!"
H.W. Fluks
Foorball, and Database
Message 113 -
1994-10-21 at 11:21:30
Anders about the Database discussion:
> Count me in...
Of course. How could I forget our famous Swedish contributor to the Database?
All Swedish titles are his. Jag taler inte Svensk. Or so.
----
Sigurdur:
> Where are the baseball stories? Football stories?
I remember two stories off-hand, both without Donald though:
A 4-page story from "Mickey Mouse Almanac 1" ("September Scrimmage"?) by Barks,
where Scrooge and the Nephews play football and try to cheat.
A 12-page story from "Back To School 1", drawn by Strobl. Gladstone is the
coach of HDL.
----
(still more database stuff..)
Fredrik: I think we agree on several points without knowing it. I'll give
an example in 'pseudo-code' (I hope that's not too unreadable for anyone):
When determining a title in an issue file:
IF the story has a title in that issue
THEN use that title without any tags (case A)
[in a lot of cases this could mean: get the title from the stories files,
and remove the tag]
ELSE use whatever data is in the stories file, with the appropriate tag
(cases 1 to 6 below)
When determining a title in a story file:
IF the story has an English title in the first USA publication
THEN use T:that title (case 1)
ELSE IF the story has a title in one or more of the USA reprints
THEN use R:one of the titles (case 2)
ELSE IF the story has a description in the book "MM in Color" or
in one of Gladstone's "CBL in Color" albums
THEN use D:that description (case 3)
ELSE IF the story has a description in the credits of a Gladstone
comic
THEN use D:that decription (case 4)
ELSE IF someone ever gave an English description of the story
THEN use O:that description (case 5)
ELSE use a foreign title or description, with a tag
like H:Dutch, A:Danish, Sw:Swedish, No:Norwegian
(case 6)
Some remarks:
I don't care for "original titles" for European stories: I still want the
_stories files_ as English as possible. But the "foreign" _issues files_
could be as foreign as possible.
I'm thinking of making distinct tags for case 3 and case 4. And maybe
case 3 should go before case 2?
It would be nice to know, at least in ENGLISH publications, that a story's
title is not the original title (Example: "The Sinister Sorcerer"). In that
case the database program should list both titles
> I (perhaps foolishly) have undertaken the
> mission of converting these files for the Grand Comics Database
Do you think the readers of that database, being super-hero comics fans,
are interested in a Disney index?
> example D88215. Suppose John Anderson called it "Day of the
> Triplets". Then Stefan Dios translates it to Swedish and calls it
> "Knattarnas stora dag". Finally, Anders Engwall indexes the Swedish
> publication of the story and retranslates the title as "The big day for
> Hewey, Dewey and Louie".
In this case, we would have in the stories file: "O:The big day for HDL",
unless we _know_ the original title (as we sometimes do with Don Rosa's
stories), then it would be "T:Day of the Triplets". The Swedish issues file
would have "Knattarnas store dag" (without tag as you propose).
> I think it's confusing enough having to keep track of Sw, D and N.
With my new proposal (the pseudo-code above), these tags will occur as little
as possible in the stories files, and (almost) not at all in the issues files.
I quoted you:
> > ALL NON-ENGLISH issues should have ALL TITLES included in the issue files.
This is an example of me trying to make the quotes as short as possible.
Apparently, relevant information is lost. But I think I know what you meant
now: if a Swedish story has a title, that title should be in the issues
file. Always.
--Harry.
> Count me in...
Of course. How could I forget our famous Swedish contributor to the Database?
All Swedish titles are his. Jag taler inte Svensk. Or so.
----
Sigurdur:
> Where are the baseball stories? Football stories?
I remember two stories off-hand, both without Donald though:
A 4-page story from "Mickey Mouse Almanac 1" ("September Scrimmage"?) by Barks,
where Scrooge and the Nephews play football and try to cheat.
A 12-page story from "Back To School 1", drawn by Strobl. Gladstone is the
coach of HDL.
----
(still more database stuff..)
Fredrik: I think we agree on several points without knowing it. I'll give
an example in 'pseudo-code' (I hope that's not too unreadable for anyone):
When determining a title in an issue file:
IF the story has a title in that issue
THEN use that title without any tags (case A)
[in a lot of cases this could mean: get the title from the stories files,
and remove the tag]
ELSE use whatever data is in the stories file, with the appropriate tag
(cases 1 to 6 below)
When determining a title in a story file:
IF the story has an English title in the first USA publication
THEN use T:that title (case 1)
ELSE IF the story has a title in one or more of the USA reprints
THEN use R:one of the titles (case 2)
ELSE IF the story has a description in the book "MM in Color" or
in one of Gladstone's "CBL in Color" albums
THEN use D:that description (case 3)
ELSE IF the story has a description in the credits of a Gladstone
comic
THEN use D:that decription (case 4)
ELSE IF someone ever gave an English description of the story
THEN use O:that description (case 5)
ELSE use a foreign title or description, with a tag
like H:Dutch, A:Danish, Sw:Swedish, No:Norwegian
(case 6)
Some remarks:
I don't care for "original titles" for European stories: I still want the
_stories files_ as English as possible. But the "foreign" _issues files_
could be as foreign as possible.
I'm thinking of making distinct tags for case 3 and case 4. And maybe
case 3 should go before case 2?
It would be nice to know, at least in ENGLISH publications, that a story's
title is not the original title (Example: "The Sinister Sorcerer"). In that
case the database program should list both titles
> I (perhaps foolishly) have undertaken the
> mission of converting these files for the Grand Comics Database
Do you think the readers of that database, being super-hero comics fans,
are interested in a Disney index?
> example D88215. Suppose John Anderson called it "Day of the
> Triplets". Then Stefan Dios translates it to Swedish and calls it
> "Knattarnas stora dag". Finally, Anders Engwall indexes the Swedish
> publication of the story and retranslates the title as "The big day for
> Hewey, Dewey and Louie".
In this case, we would have in the stories file: "O:The big day for HDL",
unless we _know_ the original title (as we sometimes do with Don Rosa's
stories), then it would be "T:Day of the Triplets". The Swedish issues file
would have "Knattarnas store dag" (without tag as you propose).
> I think it's confusing enough having to keep track of Sw, D and N.
With my new proposal (the pseudo-code above), these tags will occur as little
as possible in the stories files, and (almost) not at all in the issues files.
I quoted you:
> > ALL NON-ENGLISH issues should have ALL TITLES included in the issue files.
This is an example of me trying to make the quotes as short as possible.
Apparently, relevant information is lost. But I think I know what you meant
now: if a Swedish story has a title, that title should be in the issues
file. Always.
--Harry.
James Williams
Various
Message 114 -
1994-10-21 at 15:57:51
Jorgen,
>What's the difference between Barks DD and Disney DD?
Disney's Donald Duck is an actor who play whatever role they
want him to. Other than a few stereo types (his voice and
temper) nothing remains the same. Carl Bark claim to fame
is that he turned this two dimensional character into a
real person.
>>In the frame of this page, there is also written "color: white
>>coat".
>I've seen this in other stories too, but not often.
Lets see if I can explain this in less than 500 words. There are five
separate tasks involved in producing a color comic book story -
writing, pencils, inks, letters, and colors. The writer writes a
script. This script describes the panel to the artist and lists the
dialog underneath it. The penciler takes this script and draws it.
The inker inks the pencils. Then the artwork and the script go to the
letterer. The letterer puts the word balloons in. Lastly, the artwork
is given to the colorist. They color it.
If I'm writing a story about Scrooge, I don't have to tell the penciler
what Scrooge looks like. All I have to do is describe his actions and
emitions. Why? Because the penciler know what Scrooge looks like.
Likewise, no one has to tell the colorist how to color Scrooge. Again,
the colorist knows how to color Scrooge. But, what if my story hinges
on the fact that Scrooge is wearing a white coat. Then, the writer
notes this in the script. After the panel description and dialog,
there would be a color note.
Still with me? Look back at the original process listed and you'll
notice one little problem. The color notes are in the script, but the
colorist never sees the script. So, the penciler writes the color
notes on the actually artwork or in the margins. This stuff isn't
suppose to be printed, but ocassionally people mess up and the color
notes show up in the comic.
>What surprises me a bit is that I thought Disney Comics were publishing
>these titles, and now Marvel is presenting them as totally new comics.
These are all new comics produced by Marvel. Just like Gladstone,
Marvel licenses these characters from Disney.
>Also I think I remember having read that Gladstones magazines are
>somehow distributed by Marvel.
The comic market in the US is divided into two types - direct sales and
the newstand. Direct sales are easier because the products are usually
sold on a non-returnable basis (i.e. if it doesn't sell, the store is
stuck with the comic). Newstand sales are returnable. Therefore,
newstand distribution takes a lot more work. Instead of Gladstone
building their own newstand distribution system, Gladstone's comics are
distributed to the newstand by Marvel Comics.
James Williams
>What's the difference between Barks DD and Disney DD?
Disney's Donald Duck is an actor who play whatever role they
want him to. Other than a few stereo types (his voice and
temper) nothing remains the same. Carl Bark claim to fame
is that he turned this two dimensional character into a
real person.
>>In the frame of this page, there is also written "color: white
>>coat".
>I've seen this in other stories too, but not often.
Lets see if I can explain this in less than 500 words. There are five
separate tasks involved in producing a color comic book story -
writing, pencils, inks, letters, and colors. The writer writes a
script. This script describes the panel to the artist and lists the
dialog underneath it. The penciler takes this script and draws it.
The inker inks the pencils. Then the artwork and the script go to the
letterer. The letterer puts the word balloons in. Lastly, the artwork
is given to the colorist. They color it.
If I'm writing a story about Scrooge, I don't have to tell the penciler
what Scrooge looks like. All I have to do is describe his actions and
emitions. Why? Because the penciler know what Scrooge looks like.
Likewise, no one has to tell the colorist how to color Scrooge. Again,
the colorist knows how to color Scrooge. But, what if my story hinges
on the fact that Scrooge is wearing a white coat. Then, the writer
notes this in the script. After the panel description and dialog,
there would be a color note.
Still with me? Look back at the original process listed and you'll
notice one little problem. The color notes are in the script, but the
colorist never sees the script. So, the penciler writes the color
notes on the actually artwork or in the margins. This stuff isn't
suppose to be printed, but ocassionally people mess up and the color
notes show up in the comic.
>What surprises me a bit is that I thought Disney Comics were publishing
>these titles, and now Marvel is presenting them as totally new comics.
These are all new comics produced by Marvel. Just like Gladstone,
Marvel licenses these characters from Disney.
>Also I think I remember having read that Gladstones magazines are
>somehow distributed by Marvel.
The comic market in the US is divided into two types - direct sales and
the newstand. Direct sales are easier because the products are usually
sold on a non-returnable basis (i.e. if it doesn't sell, the store is
stuck with the comic). Newstand sales are returnable. Therefore,
newstand distribution takes a lot more work. Instead of Gladstone
building their own newstand distribution system, Gladstone's comics are
distributed to the newstand by Marvel Comics.
James Williams
Mark Semich
Various
Message 115 -
1994-10-21 at 17:12:52
James Williams writes:
> Instead of Gladstone building their own newstand distribution system,
> Gladstone's comics are distributed to the newstand by Marvel Comics.
A more accurate statement might be that Gladstone's comics are
*supposed* to be distributed to the newstand by Marvel Comics. I've yet
to actually see any at a newstand.. :-)
> Instead of Gladstone building their own newstand distribution system,
> Gladstone's comics are distributed to the newstand by Marvel Comics.
A more accurate statement might be that Gladstone's comics are
*supposed* to be distributed to the newstand by Marvel Comics. I've yet
to actually see any at a newstand.. :-)
James Williams
Does Marvel distribute Gladstone?
Message 116 -
1994-10-21 at 21:39:51
Mark,
You, Don, and a bunch of other people have commented on the fact that
Marvel doesn't seem to distribute Gladstone's comics to the newstand.
I'm not sure how accurate that is. First, if you visited the local
comic shops around here, you'd think Diamond didn't distribute
Gladstone comics either. Second, The only place I've found that
carries an ample supply of each and every Gladstone comic is a newstand
about one mile from my house. I only wish I'd discovered this place
before things like LO$ Chapter 1 was printed. Third, Gladstone should
be able to tell by their return rates how well their comics are being
distributed and how well they are selling.
I do have one question though, the last time Gladstone printed their
circulation figures. They listed returns as zero. How?
James Williams
You, Don, and a bunch of other people have commented on the fact that
Marvel doesn't seem to distribute Gladstone's comics to the newstand.
I'm not sure how accurate that is. First, if you visited the local
comic shops around here, you'd think Diamond didn't distribute
Gladstone comics either. Second, The only place I've found that
carries an ample supply of each and every Gladstone comic is a newstand
about one mile from my house. I only wish I'd discovered this place
before things like LO$ Chapter 1 was printed. Third, Gladstone should
be able to tell by their return rates how well their comics are being
distributed and how well they are selling.
I do have one question though, the last time Gladstone printed their
circulation figures. They listed returns as zero. How?
James Williams
Don Rosa
Disney-comics digest #469.
Message 117 -
1994-10-22 at 05:48:01
JAMES:
There seem to be THREE different types of comic distribution,
not two. First is the old fashioned newsstand distribution by the local
news dealers. This includes only non-"independant" comics like Marvel,
DC, Archie, Harvey, and maybe some specials that slip in. Marvel buys a
set amount of Gladstone comics and distributes them to the news dealers
for this system. These are returnable. And each and every comic rack in
this system carries the same comics -- the owner of the store has no
choice, and does not pay for unsold copies... he returns them for full
refund and they are destroyed, completing the cycle of the pointless
destruction of billions of trees (as if using trees for comics wasn't
bad enough even when they aren't destroyed). This is the type newsstand
which you see the abundance of Marvel-Gladstones, few of which are
probably bought. (Those Marvel-Disney TV and movie titles sell better
since they're aimed at the simple-minded readers... as well as the young
ones).
Then there are special comic racks in places like airports and
record stores. These are the racks that don't seem to carry any
Marvel-Gladstones, and perhaps no Marvel-Disneys. But definitely no
Marvel-Gladstones. I'm sure these issues are returnable, otherwise the
stores would not bite. I doubt that many copies are sold in these
locations. These are just tree graveyards.
Then there are the direct-sales stores, the places that are
responsible for the very existance of comic books post 1975 in North
America. These issues are nonreturnable, therefore the stores order only
as many as they can sell. This means no Gladstones more than the 5 for
those odd-ball 40-year-olds who don't buy anything else so screw them.
This is probably why these stores NEVER increase their orders even when
they sell out every month because they really aren't interested in
selling more Gladstones to people who don't buy $50 per week of Marvels
and Images.
But this is why Gladstone has NO RETURNS. They sell all their
comics to the direct sales distributors or to Marvel, neither of which
can return any copies. I've never thought to ask them about this system
in the frequent times I talk to them at Gladstone, but this must be some
sweet deal!
You knew all this for the most part... I'm just clarifying it.
Something else you might not been completely clear on is the
process of comic production. Only scripters of these Disney comics do
their scripts as panel lay-outs with the dialogue below. All other
comics (i.e.: super-hero comics in America) are sorta the opposite --
the dialogue is first with a brief description of the action. In fact,
though we who do old-fashioned comics find it incredible to believe,
most American comics are done by having the writer describe the general
plot (or lack thereof) to the artist, the artist(s) then drawing the
comic, and the writer then creating matching dialogue for the finished
panels. Yes, this is a screwy way to do it, but it creates plotless,
action-filled stories, which is what the American MTV kids understand
best.
I was about to tell you that the letterer doesn't add the word
balloons, only puts the words in 'em; but I think that in those
super-hero comics the artists indicate what area of the panel he figures
the balloon will be, and the letterer does add the cut-out word
balloons, overlapping the art. Now, with ME, I estimate how much space
my dialogue will require in each of my panels, and I put the word
balloons in first thing, then fit the art around those balloons.
Therefore, when I turn in a story, it seems to be about endless shouting
matches between laryngitis victims.
Now that everyone is completely asleep, I will silently slip
among you and steal your wallets.
I think Barks' "Horsing Around with History", which I've yet to
see, should have been published in Norway and Denmark and perhaps
elsewhere by now... yet there's been very little comment on it here. I
think one fellow on here said he'd seen it but didn't WANT to comment.
What do people think of this story. Speak up!
EVERYONE IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN:
Have I made it clear that I'll be there for 2 weeks starting
next Wednesday? I mention this again because one of the highlights of my
last visit to Oslo was a meeting with a large group of Duck fans at the
Universtiy of Oslo which, I was told, came about after someone read on
this Digest that I was visiting. If there's anyone in Oslo or Stockholm
or Gotenborg who wants to see me or have me visit some group, you need
to contact the Egmont offices in Oslo or Malmo. The addresses are in the
respective funnybooks somewhere, I s'pose.
There seem to be THREE different types of comic distribution,
not two. First is the old fashioned newsstand distribution by the local
news dealers. This includes only non-"independant" comics like Marvel,
DC, Archie, Harvey, and maybe some specials that slip in. Marvel buys a
set amount of Gladstone comics and distributes them to the news dealers
for this system. These are returnable. And each and every comic rack in
this system carries the same comics -- the owner of the store has no
choice, and does not pay for unsold copies... he returns them for full
refund and they are destroyed, completing the cycle of the pointless
destruction of billions of trees (as if using trees for comics wasn't
bad enough even when they aren't destroyed). This is the type newsstand
which you see the abundance of Marvel-Gladstones, few of which are
probably bought. (Those Marvel-Disney TV and movie titles sell better
since they're aimed at the simple-minded readers... as well as the young
ones).
Then there are special comic racks in places like airports and
record stores. These are the racks that don't seem to carry any
Marvel-Gladstones, and perhaps no Marvel-Disneys. But definitely no
Marvel-Gladstones. I'm sure these issues are returnable, otherwise the
stores would not bite. I doubt that many copies are sold in these
locations. These are just tree graveyards.
Then there are the direct-sales stores, the places that are
responsible for the very existance of comic books post 1975 in North
America. These issues are nonreturnable, therefore the stores order only
as many as they can sell. This means no Gladstones more than the 5 for
those odd-ball 40-year-olds who don't buy anything else so screw them.
This is probably why these stores NEVER increase their orders even when
they sell out every month because they really aren't interested in
selling more Gladstones to people who don't buy $50 per week of Marvels
and Images.
But this is why Gladstone has NO RETURNS. They sell all their
comics to the direct sales distributors or to Marvel, neither of which
can return any copies. I've never thought to ask them about this system
in the frequent times I talk to them at Gladstone, but this must be some
sweet deal!
You knew all this for the most part... I'm just clarifying it.
Something else you might not been completely clear on is the
process of comic production. Only scripters of these Disney comics do
their scripts as panel lay-outs with the dialogue below. All other
comics (i.e.: super-hero comics in America) are sorta the opposite --
the dialogue is first with a brief description of the action. In fact,
though we who do old-fashioned comics find it incredible to believe,
most American comics are done by having the writer describe the general
plot (or lack thereof) to the artist, the artist(s) then drawing the
comic, and the writer then creating matching dialogue for the finished
panels. Yes, this is a screwy way to do it, but it creates plotless,
action-filled stories, which is what the American MTV kids understand
best.
I was about to tell you that the letterer doesn't add the word
balloons, only puts the words in 'em; but I think that in those
super-hero comics the artists indicate what area of the panel he figures
the balloon will be, and the letterer does add the cut-out word
balloons, overlapping the art. Now, with ME, I estimate how much space
my dialogue will require in each of my panels, and I put the word
balloons in first thing, then fit the art around those balloons.
Therefore, when I turn in a story, it seems to be about endless shouting
matches between laryngitis victims.
Now that everyone is completely asleep, I will silently slip
among you and steal your wallets.
I think Barks' "Horsing Around with History", which I've yet to
see, should have been published in Norway and Denmark and perhaps
elsewhere by now... yet there's been very little comment on it here. I
think one fellow on here said he'd seen it but didn't WANT to comment.
What do people think of this story. Speak up!
EVERYONE IN NORWAY AND SWEDEN:
Have I made it clear that I'll be there for 2 weeks starting
next Wednesday? I mention this again because one of the highlights of my
last visit to Oslo was a meeting with a large group of Duck fans at the
Universtiy of Oslo which, I was told, came about after someone read on
this Digest that I was visiting. If there's anyone in Oslo or Stockholm
or Gotenborg who wants to see me or have me visit some group, you need
to contact the Egmont offices in Oslo or Malmo. The addresses are in the
respective funnybooks somewhere, I s'pose.
DAVID.A.GERSTEIN
Disney-comics digest #469.
Message 118 -
1994-10-22 at 16:33:24
Dear Folks,
Let's see -- plenty to talk about, so I'll use the old method
of headlines.
*** Gladstone-Marvel distribution ***
James Williams wondered why Gladstone's sales data listed
returns as zero. This is because of the nature of the deal Marvel
has with Gladstone. You see, Marvel doesn't really just distribute
the comics; Marvel BUYS whatever amount Gladstone has had printed for
newsstands FROM Gladstone. Then it's Marvel's job entirely to get rid
of them.
And it's theoretically Marvel who have themselves to blame if
they themselves do a poor job of distributing the comics they've
bought. Given how poorly Marvel seems to distribute the
Gladstones, I'm guessing they must have piles of copies they've
bought which have never been sent to any newsstand. So what happens
to them? Marvel has solicited "Disney comic jumbo packs" to COMIC
SHOPS, containing surplus copies of their NEWSTAND Marvel-Gladstones.
The first such packs (as far as I know) are solicited for next month.
I have no idea what comics are in the packs, but there are
"Donald-packs" (DD and DDA comics, I guess), "Mickey-packs" (WDC&S
and D&M) and "Scrooge-packs" (the others), as well as "Disney mixed
packs." So now we see what they do with their surplus. My local
comic shop here in Edinburgh wanted some more Gladstone back issues
but weren't sure how to get them, so I advised that we order a single
one of the packs and see what was in it. I'll update all of you.
I have seen some Marvel sections of newsstands with Gladstones
in them. But Marvel only seems to put Gladstones in one of their
newsstand displays if the display has twelve or more slots for
different titles in it. If it's an eight-title rack, I've never seen
a Gladstone there. On the other hand, Marvel ALWAYS puts Barbie (and
sometimes Ren and Stimpy or Beavis and Butthead) in an eight-title
rack. Worse, they seem more likely to put their own Disney comics
(the feature film and TV characters) into racks than Gladstones.
This includes twelve-title racks...
In any event, John Clark told me at the Comic-Con that he
couldn't do anything about Marvel's poor distribution. But he has
told me in private that Gladstone is quite glad they have the deal
with Marvel. Only one thing bothers ME -- it seems just like Marvel
for them to decide that Disney comics aren't selling well, so they'll
cancel their deal with Gladstone. Really, it's Marvel who's
responsible if Marvel-Gladstones don't sell well. (They do at
least moderately well at the newsstands I've seen that have them, so
if there is a sales problem it lies in the distribution, not the
popularity -- at least far as I can tell.)
*** Gladstone Albums seeking a home ***
Speaking of popularity, the Gladstone Albums really sell poorly
here. One comic shop used to get them, but failed to sell them so
now has them at a big discount. They have copies of #6, then nos.
11-12 and 14-16 all at stlg1.95 which is like $3.25 or so. Do some of you
want these copies, or are you all up to your necks in Gladstone
Albums? Oh, and they have a few Gyro albums as well (I don't
remember the numbers). At the same price. I'm glad to help find a
good home for some of them, and if some of you are interested, I can
buy them and send them to you for the shop's price (converted) plus
shipping costs.
*** British Mickey and Friends this week ***
is a typical offering, with the cover of Danish #16/94 (Donald
and Daisy encountering ghost in tunnel of love), followed by a VERY
badly-written follow-the-numbers Mickey-catches-crooks tale (D93353),
a Vicar 12-page adventure story "The Gourmet Club" (D93463), and a
very funny four-page Gyro about remote-controlled cars (D93238). On
the back page is a MM one-pager ("Turning the Worm," D93027) drawn by
the same artist as the recent hypnotism story. The Vicar story
wasn't bad, but not excellent either. Maybe some good dialogue would
punch it up, but Disney would never allow this one anyway -- DD is in
an Arab country, and when some mounted nomads see him on the desert,
their first move is to jam huge Uzis into his face! After which they
discover he's friendly and treat him more kindly. But I can't say I
don't find that first bit a little offensive myself...
In light of all this It may interest you that I plan to write a
Br'er Rabbit story for Egmont next year. The characters will speak
in dialect, but just a "soft" dialect a la Walt Kelly's later Pogo, not the
very thick dialect of the earliest 1940s BR stories. I'm hoping that this
way Disney will approve it for use here with minimal changes. BR
just doesn't sound right speaking the King's English. Of course,
neither does Mickey.
Another thing about the gourmet story -- at one point, U$ (who
has bought a gourmet restaurant chain) threatens to make a gourmet
dinner out of Donald. Furthermore, when he's laid up in bed at one
point in the tale, Scrooge wears the same thicker overcoat that he
wore in "Christmas on Bear Mountain." No reason given.
*** WDC&S 594 ***
is now in my collection -- thank you, Mark! Why did you send
me two copies of it, though? Given postage costs here I can only
really send one British Mickey... but I can send you a good German
Disney at some point, to make up the difference, next Spring when I'm
at home.
#594 is quite good -- Van Horn's concept this time is
excellent. But I felt that the story never reached its climax.
Donald and the boys had gone from rivalry to the very edge of battle
-- and right then Daisy came in to defuse everything! There should
have been a wild splash panel! Someone in this issue mentioned they
thought that Van Horn was very good in structuring his ten-pagers,
but I can't say I agree all the time. He did some fine ones during
the Disney Comics period, but I'd say that Jippes has a better track
record in general ten-pager composition.
And you all know what I think of "Monarch of Medioka." Ah, how
I love that moment when Mickey and King Michael just lay into each
other! I like seeing Mickey with a hot temper... and the scene of
the two making up, later, with those huge steaks tied to their faces
is just priceless. And the general atmosphere of the story is so
damn good! My only problem with this tale is that it moves too
slowly, in my opinion, to be broken into such small parts and
fragmented out over such a long publication time. But what to do?
There's no Mickey comic any more!
Your friend,
David Gerstein
"And vat would be ze result if we were discovered, pray?"
<9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>
Let's see -- plenty to talk about, so I'll use the old method
of headlines.
*** Gladstone-Marvel distribution ***
James Williams wondered why Gladstone's sales data listed
returns as zero. This is because of the nature of the deal Marvel
has with Gladstone. You see, Marvel doesn't really just distribute
the comics; Marvel BUYS whatever amount Gladstone has had printed for
newsstands FROM Gladstone. Then it's Marvel's job entirely to get rid
of them.
And it's theoretically Marvel who have themselves to blame if
they themselves do a poor job of distributing the comics they've
bought. Given how poorly Marvel seems to distribute the
Gladstones, I'm guessing they must have piles of copies they've
bought which have never been sent to any newsstand. So what happens
to them? Marvel has solicited "Disney comic jumbo packs" to COMIC
SHOPS, containing surplus copies of their NEWSTAND Marvel-Gladstones.
The first such packs (as far as I know) are solicited for next month.
I have no idea what comics are in the packs, but there are
"Donald-packs" (DD and DDA comics, I guess), "Mickey-packs" (WDC&S
and D&M) and "Scrooge-packs" (the others), as well as "Disney mixed
packs." So now we see what they do with their surplus. My local
comic shop here in Edinburgh wanted some more Gladstone back issues
but weren't sure how to get them, so I advised that we order a single
one of the packs and see what was in it. I'll update all of you.
I have seen some Marvel sections of newsstands with Gladstones
in them. But Marvel only seems to put Gladstones in one of their
newsstand displays if the display has twelve or more slots for
different titles in it. If it's an eight-title rack, I've never seen
a Gladstone there. On the other hand, Marvel ALWAYS puts Barbie (and
sometimes Ren and Stimpy or Beavis and Butthead) in an eight-title
rack. Worse, they seem more likely to put their own Disney comics
(the feature film and TV characters) into racks than Gladstones.
This includes twelve-title racks...
In any event, John Clark told me at the Comic-Con that he
couldn't do anything about Marvel's poor distribution. But he has
told me in private that Gladstone is quite glad they have the deal
with Marvel. Only one thing bothers ME -- it seems just like Marvel
for them to decide that Disney comics aren't selling well, so they'll
cancel their deal with Gladstone. Really, it's Marvel who's
responsible if Marvel-Gladstones don't sell well. (They do at
least moderately well at the newsstands I've seen that have them, so
if there is a sales problem it lies in the distribution, not the
popularity -- at least far as I can tell.)
*** Gladstone Albums seeking a home ***
Speaking of popularity, the Gladstone Albums really sell poorly
here. One comic shop used to get them, but failed to sell them so
now has them at a big discount. They have copies of #6, then nos.
11-12 and 14-16 all at stlg1.95 which is like $3.25 or so. Do some of you
want these copies, or are you all up to your necks in Gladstone
Albums? Oh, and they have a few Gyro albums as well (I don't
remember the numbers). At the same price. I'm glad to help find a
good home for some of them, and if some of you are interested, I can
buy them and send them to you for the shop's price (converted) plus
shipping costs.
*** British Mickey and Friends this week ***
is a typical offering, with the cover of Danish #16/94 (Donald
and Daisy encountering ghost in tunnel of love), followed by a VERY
badly-written follow-the-numbers Mickey-catches-crooks tale (D93353),
a Vicar 12-page adventure story "The Gourmet Club" (D93463), and a
very funny four-page Gyro about remote-controlled cars (D93238). On
the back page is a MM one-pager ("Turning the Worm," D93027) drawn by
the same artist as the recent hypnotism story. The Vicar story
wasn't bad, but not excellent either. Maybe some good dialogue would
punch it up, but Disney would never allow this one anyway -- DD is in
an Arab country, and when some mounted nomads see him on the desert,
their first move is to jam huge Uzis into his face! After which they
discover he's friendly and treat him more kindly. But I can't say I
don't find that first bit a little offensive myself...
In light of all this It may interest you that I plan to write a
Br'er Rabbit story for Egmont next year. The characters will speak
in dialect, but just a "soft" dialect a la Walt Kelly's later Pogo, not the
very thick dialect of the earliest 1940s BR stories. I'm hoping that this
way Disney will approve it for use here with minimal changes. BR
just doesn't sound right speaking the King's English. Of course,
neither does Mickey.
Another thing about the gourmet story -- at one point, U$ (who
has bought a gourmet restaurant chain) threatens to make a gourmet
dinner out of Donald. Furthermore, when he's laid up in bed at one
point in the tale, Scrooge wears the same thicker overcoat that he
wore in "Christmas on Bear Mountain." No reason given.
*** WDC&S 594 ***
is now in my collection -- thank you, Mark! Why did you send
me two copies of it, though? Given postage costs here I can only
really send one British Mickey... but I can send you a good German
Disney at some point, to make up the difference, next Spring when I'm
at home.
#594 is quite good -- Van Horn's concept this time is
excellent. But I felt that the story never reached its climax.
Donald and the boys had gone from rivalry to the very edge of battle
-- and right then Daisy came in to defuse everything! There should
have been a wild splash panel! Someone in this issue mentioned they
thought that Van Horn was very good in structuring his ten-pagers,
but I can't say I agree all the time. He did some fine ones during
the Disney Comics period, but I'd say that Jippes has a better track
record in general ten-pager composition.
And you all know what I think of "Monarch of Medioka." Ah, how
I love that moment when Mickey and King Michael just lay into each
other! I like seeing Mickey with a hot temper... and the scene of
the two making up, later, with those huge steaks tied to their faces
is just priceless. And the general atmosphere of the story is so
damn good! My only problem with this tale is that it moves too
slowly, in my opinion, to be broken into such small parts and
fragmented out over such a long publication time. But what to do?
There's no Mickey comic any more!
Your friend,
David Gerstein
"And vat would be ze result if we were discovered, pray?"
<9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>
DAVID.A.GERSTEIN
Disney-comics digest #469.
Message 119 -
1994-10-22 at 16:34:52
P. S. Did Gladstone really shorten Hortense's bill in LO$ part
5, by the way? I've never seen it before Gladstone published it, but
her bill looked as long as anyone else's. (And I like it that way,
but is that how you wanted it, Don?)
5, by the way? I've never seen it before Gladstone published it, but
her bill looked as long as anyone else's. (And I like it that way,
but is that how you wanted it, Don?)
Mark Semich
Disney-comics digest #469.
Message 120 -
1994-10-22 at 19:59:29
I already sent private mail to David about our WDC&S swap, but the
subject got me wondering: Prior to David's original message about the
Britsh "Mickey and Friends," I had always thought that the Gladstones
were the only English-language disney comics. But now I find out that
there *are* British disney comics. Are there other English language
disney-comics, say in Australia, Canada, South Africa, New-Zealand, or
are these all covered by Gladstone and "Mickey and Friends"?
(BTW, David, no need to send me the German disney, unless it's in
English, which I doubt :-) - and I hope I get to see your Br'er rabbit
story some day!)
subject got me wondering: Prior to David's original message about the
Britsh "Mickey and Friends," I had always thought that the Gladstones
were the only English-language disney comics. But now I find out that
there *are* British disney comics. Are there other English language
disney-comics, say in Australia, Canada, South Africa, New-Zealand, or
are these all covered by Gladstone and "Mickey and Friends"?
(BTW, David, no need to send me the German disney, unless it's in
English, which I doubt :-) - and I hope I get to see your Br'er rabbit
story some day!)