DWIGHT:
Well, you're right. The last time they sent me one of those
German "Don Rosa Library" albums, they included a note saying "I hope
you're as pleased with this as we are". Normally, I stay completely OUT
of how they handle my stories at the various European publishers. I go
to great length to help the translators who care enough to contact me
with questions, but as to how the stories are translated by others or
colored, I keep in mind that I have no right whatsoever to dictate to
anyone anything about how my work is treated (since it becomes 100%
Disney's property foreverafter the moment I send it off) and I also
don't wish to ever come across as a prima donna or anything. But once
they ASKED my opinion, I told them.
I brought up the way they carelessly left that sign off of album
#2, and how ALL the background lettering is awful (no matter what the
sound effect or sign is, all the lettering is the same as that in the
balloons, only perhaps bigger). And I especially told them that the
coloring is totally uninspired and lacking in any thought, even though
Egmont's coloring system is capable of vitually anything.
I'm surprised that you'd say the German albums' printing makes
the art look better; perhaps the black-ink printing is sharper (if you
say so) but Gladstone's coloring (and lettering) is such light-years
ahead of Europe, that my art always looks 500% better in the Gladstone
editions. Take that latest German album for example, and look at the
opening pages of "New Laird of Castle McDuck": in Gladstone's version
the photos in the McDuck album are sepia-tone, and the thunderstorm on
the moor is dark and foreboding. In Europe the photos are full color
and the thunderstorm looks like broad daylight. And the scene where
$crooge is drowning at the bottom of a peaty moat -- in Gladstone's
edition, he looks like he's at the bottom of a peaty moat. In Europe he
looks like he's on dry land at high noon. There's no excuse for this,
except that in Europe the stuff is colored at top speed by computer
technicians, while at Gladstone it's colored by artists who are trying
to enhance the art and story.
Of course, it will probably not change in Europe. All the
Egmont coloring is done ONE time in Copenhagan. The individual
publishers use that coloring, good or bad.... they can't change a bit
of it. And the German albums, even though I should hope they realize
the coloring is completely blah, aren't going to recolor the stuff when
it's already colored. I think I convinced them to contact Gladstone for
their color film on future (post Lo$) stories, but I'm not sure how
that will work, especially since Gladstone's coloring film is based on
reshaped balloons and sound effects and other lettering -- if they
can't use the film exactly as is (and they can't) they can't use it at
all.
But now... you must tell me what they did to that "Mythological
Menagerie" story. You can't stop there. (I also persuaded them to start
putting dates on those back-up stories, so readers would know why that 7
year old work looks so much worse than the Lo$ stories.)
Author
Topic: 199412
(199 messages)
Don Rosa
Disney-comics digest #514.
Message 31 -
1994-12-07 at 06:43:36
Geir.Hasnes
This and that.
Message 32 -
1994-12-07 at 11:05:17
ALL:
Yes, I lurk around although I do not get much time for writing. You are
observed. Even Jorgen with his praises of that dreadful Norwegian Donald
Duck weekly.
THE EUROPE TOUR:
A new issue of Carl Barks & Co. is out from Freddy Milton in Denmark. It is
entirely in English and entirely about Carl Barks trip to Europe. With lots
of funny illustrations, including Branca and Vicar, it is a must.
Contributions range from devoted fans without respect for the Disney people
(me, for instance) via devoted fans who worship both Barks and the managers
and editions, to fans already on the payroll of the national editions, and
in between some people not so biased as me and not so devoted as the most
religious ones. A good overview, lots of nice pics, I wonder if Barks gets
a shock if he reads it, at least his managers will probably sue me for what
I wrote - let us hope they just browse through it.
DON:
What a wonderful piece you drew for Rolf. My wife and me have watched it,
nay, revered it, framed on the wall. And the library drawing you made, wow!
But, what the heck, you use too much time on travelling and drawing for
other people and I open the weekly comic book in vain each week: WAK! No
Don Rosa this week either? And my children complain and my wife beats me
and my friends call from all over the country via phone or via email or via
snail mail or they seek me up personally in my office or at home and
strangers everywhere stop me and they all ask, or plead, or yell, or cry,
the same question: WHERE IS DON ROSA?
DAVID:
Yes, I am busy still, but this week I will probably be able to do the
Mickey work. Tell Byron from me, will you?
THE CARS OF BARKS (re the discussion):
To those who do not know it: Together with a specialist on American Cars, I
wrote a little booklet called Duckmobiles 3-4 years ago. Among other
things, the cars of Donald and Grandma were discussed together with their
real counterparts. At the same time the Swedes discussed Donalds car in
NAFS(k)uriren.
TALKS:
I will in March probably give a talk with slides in Oslo for the students
about Gyro Gearloose and his development as a character and Barkses view on
science, technology, success and religion as shown through Gyro. I gave the
talk for a huge computer consultancy company last week and it was well
received and prompted yet more people to begin collecting Barks.
Geir
Yes, I lurk around although I do not get much time for writing. You are
observed. Even Jorgen with his praises of that dreadful Norwegian Donald
Duck weekly.
THE EUROPE TOUR:
A new issue of Carl Barks & Co. is out from Freddy Milton in Denmark. It is
entirely in English and entirely about Carl Barks trip to Europe. With lots
of funny illustrations, including Branca and Vicar, it is a must.
Contributions range from devoted fans without respect for the Disney people
(me, for instance) via devoted fans who worship both Barks and the managers
and editions, to fans already on the payroll of the national editions, and
in between some people not so biased as me and not so devoted as the most
religious ones. A good overview, lots of nice pics, I wonder if Barks gets
a shock if he reads it, at least his managers will probably sue me for what
I wrote - let us hope they just browse through it.
DON:
What a wonderful piece you drew for Rolf. My wife and me have watched it,
nay, revered it, framed on the wall. And the library drawing you made, wow!
But, what the heck, you use too much time on travelling and drawing for
other people and I open the weekly comic book in vain each week: WAK! No
Don Rosa this week either? And my children complain and my wife beats me
and my friends call from all over the country via phone or via email or via
snail mail or they seek me up personally in my office or at home and
strangers everywhere stop me and they all ask, or plead, or yell, or cry,
the same question: WHERE IS DON ROSA?
DAVID:
Yes, I am busy still, but this week I will probably be able to do the
Mickey work. Tell Byron from me, will you?
THE CARS OF BARKS (re the discussion):
To those who do not know it: Together with a specialist on American Cars, I
wrote a little booklet called Duckmobiles 3-4 years ago. Among other
things, the cars of Donald and Grandma were discussed together with their
real counterparts. At the same time the Swedes discussed Donalds car in
NAFS(k)uriren.
TALKS:
I will in March probably give a talk with slides in Oslo for the students
about Gyro Gearloose and his development as a character and Barkses view on
science, technology, success and religion as shown through Gyro. I gave the
talk for a huge computer consultancy company last week and it was well
received and prompted yet more people to begin collecting Barks.
Geir
DAVID.A.GERSTEIN
Disney-comics digest #514.
Message 33 -
1994-12-07 at 13:43:01
JAMES: Interesting about Marvel-Disneys beating out
Gladstones. At my local shops in Santa Barbara, they don't do as
well as Gladstones. But I suspected that they sold better overall,
even though I had no proof of that until now. Marvel ADVERTISES
their Disneys like all get out. There's the difference.
Particularly telling is how it's Marvel's WORST title that
sells equal with Gladstone in your neck of the woods, James...
>sigh!< What happened to the old days when Gladstone advertised
their comics ANYWHERE besides the back of the Comics Buyers' Guide?
I don't know Befana the witch, but I'd like to do a story
involving the legendary Russian witch Baba Yaga. This crone lived in
a hut that had big LEGS coming out of the bottom like a chicken's.
Everyone knew they were in for trouble when her shack came WALKING
into town. The question is, how to get her into a Duck story? James
and I have already done conflicts between Magica and other witches,
so that idea can't be used.
FREDRIK: I believe Daniel Branca was not born in Denmark. He
may have come out of Chile. Anyway, he's sure among my top European
artists -- if he'd get some more detail in his backgrounds, he'd be
my favorite after Jippes, IMHO.
DWIGHT: The German albums HAD better printing than Gladstone.
John Clark told me that he'd had a long discussion with his printers.
It worked, because starting with DD 288, the Gladstone comics are
well-printed again (there have been five since then, counting that
issue), with jet-black black ink, bouncy colors, and 99% perfect color
alignment. Van Horn's "Deck Us All!" would have looked just rotten
with poor printing, but boy, it came out GOOD. No problems with
Gladstone's printing, now. If this miracle doesn't hold over to US
290 (which should be available NOW), I'll blow a fuse. Hopefully,
the first well-printed LO$ chapter since #3. And I hope the backup
is a Danish story, not one by Tony Strobl...
EVERYONE: Here's a new idea. What do you think are the most
INFLUENTIAL Barks stories? I don't mean the most famous ones or the
ones you consider best. I mean the ones that had the greatest effect
on post-Barks writers. A few such tales:
A) "Masters of Melody," WDC 85. For the first time, Donald
reads a book and gets a wild idea from it which he's determined to
carry out at all costs. Van Horn and Daan Jippes have mined this
idea with fine results in such stories as "A Tuft Luck Tale" and
"High Flying Picnic."
B) "Donald Tames His Temper," WDC 64. Daisy is determined to
reform Donald or get him to alter himself somehow. This idea has
been used extensively by Egmont ("Fit for Strife") and Oberon
("Well-Educated Duck"), among others.
C) "Delivery Dilemma," WDC 2xx. The Beagle Boys use a
disguise and a hoax to TRICK U$ out of his money, not just steal it,
and furthermore, it's all in a gag 10-pager. How many stories do you
know that have followed this idea since then?
D) "Ten-Cent Valentine," WDC 2xx. Magica's first appearance
in a gag story, repeated only once by Barks, but firmly setting the
form for nearly every Egmont Magica story. How many other LONG
Magica stories can you count besides those of Barks himself? This is
the format that stuck.
Anyone have some others?
David Gerstein
<9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>
"No matter which way you plunk der strings, it still goes
'bloonk!'"
Gladstones. At my local shops in Santa Barbara, they don't do as
well as Gladstones. But I suspected that they sold better overall,
even though I had no proof of that until now. Marvel ADVERTISES
their Disneys like all get out. There's the difference.
Particularly telling is how it's Marvel's WORST title that
sells equal with Gladstone in your neck of the woods, James...
>sigh!< What happened to the old days when Gladstone advertised
their comics ANYWHERE besides the back of the Comics Buyers' Guide?
I don't know Befana the witch, but I'd like to do a story
involving the legendary Russian witch Baba Yaga. This crone lived in
a hut that had big LEGS coming out of the bottom like a chicken's.
Everyone knew they were in for trouble when her shack came WALKING
into town. The question is, how to get her into a Duck story? James
and I have already done conflicts between Magica and other witches,
so that idea can't be used.
FREDRIK: I believe Daniel Branca was not born in Denmark. He
may have come out of Chile. Anyway, he's sure among my top European
artists -- if he'd get some more detail in his backgrounds, he'd be
my favorite after Jippes, IMHO.
DWIGHT: The German albums HAD better printing than Gladstone.
John Clark told me that he'd had a long discussion with his printers.
It worked, because starting with DD 288, the Gladstone comics are
well-printed again (there have been five since then, counting that
issue), with jet-black black ink, bouncy colors, and 99% perfect color
alignment. Van Horn's "Deck Us All!" would have looked just rotten
with poor printing, but boy, it came out GOOD. No problems with
Gladstone's printing, now. If this miracle doesn't hold over to US
290 (which should be available NOW), I'll blow a fuse. Hopefully,
the first well-printed LO$ chapter since #3. And I hope the backup
is a Danish story, not one by Tony Strobl...
EVERYONE: Here's a new idea. What do you think are the most
INFLUENTIAL Barks stories? I don't mean the most famous ones or the
ones you consider best. I mean the ones that had the greatest effect
on post-Barks writers. A few such tales:
A) "Masters of Melody," WDC 85. For the first time, Donald
reads a book and gets a wild idea from it which he's determined to
carry out at all costs. Van Horn and Daan Jippes have mined this
idea with fine results in such stories as "A Tuft Luck Tale" and
"High Flying Picnic."
B) "Donald Tames His Temper," WDC 64. Daisy is determined to
reform Donald or get him to alter himself somehow. This idea has
been used extensively by Egmont ("Fit for Strife") and Oberon
("Well-Educated Duck"), among others.
C) "Delivery Dilemma," WDC 2xx. The Beagle Boys use a
disguise and a hoax to TRICK U$ out of his money, not just steal it,
and furthermore, it's all in a gag 10-pager. How many stories do you
know that have followed this idea since then?
D) "Ten-Cent Valentine," WDC 2xx. Magica's first appearance
in a gag story, repeated only once by Barks, but firmly setting the
form for nearly every Egmont Magica story. How many other LONG
Magica stories can you count besides those of Barks himself? This is
the format that stuck.
Anyone have some others?
David Gerstein
<9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>
"No matter which way you plunk der strings, it still goes
'bloonk!'"
Mark Mayerson
Upcoming Rosa Interview
Message 34 -
1994-12-07 at 16:10:36
I just got a new catalog from Fantagraphics Books. In it, there was a
subscription ad for The Comics Journal which mentions an upcoming interview
with Don Rosa.
Don, do you know when this will appear? Any comments on the content of the
interview (i.e. mostly on the Life of Scrooge or your whole career)?
___________________________________________________________________
Mark Mayerson Side Effects Software Inc.,
Internet: mayerson at sidefx.com Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Note the new phone number-------------->(416) 504-9876
subscription ad for The Comics Journal which mentions an upcoming interview
with Don Rosa.
Don, do you know when this will appear? Any comments on the content of the
interview (i.e. mostly on the Life of Scrooge or your whole career)?
___________________________________________________________________
Mark Mayerson Side Effects Software Inc.,
Internet: mayerson at sidefx.com Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Note the new phone number-------------->(416) 504-9876
Dwight Decker
Grandma's Car and other anachronisms
Message 35 -
1994-12-07 at 19:03:32
I was just reading Gladstone's recent album reprint of the
Christmas stories "Letter to Santa" and "You Can't Guess,"
and made the mistake of reading the accompanying text piece.
You know: those tendentious essays by Blum and Ault that try
to "explain" the story you just read by reading things into
it that Barks probably never intended, and tell you how "ironic"
or "disturbing" various elements were. This time, Blum referred
to Grandma's car as a "Model T." Looks like the professor has
spent his life looking for irony and disturbing literary motifs
instead of researching automotive history. The Model T was not
a generic term for all old flivvers: it was a specific model
manufactured by the Ford Motor Company with numerous specific
identifying features. Grandma's car is not a Model T, and looks
nothing like one. For one thing, Grandma's car is sometimes shown
to have a tiller instead of a steering wheel. It may even be
electric. As I understand it, such cars were manufactured around
the turn of the century and were considered a "women's" car. They
probably weren't practical for much behind short hops around town,
since even now, 90 years later, electric cars still aren't in
general use because of battery limitations. That Grandma still
had such a car in 1950 was Barks's joke about Grandma's old-fashioned
ways. She apparently came of age about 1900 and froze there (and
other Barks stories, such as the one where her idea of entertaining
HD&L is to look at stereoscope slides, make the same point).
The only thing is...Grandma reflects the stereotype of old-
fashioned old ladies set in their ways as of 1950. If I want to
write a Grandma Duck story in 1995, she would have been born about
1920 or later and matured just before World War II. If she drives an
electromobile from 1900, it would be a family heirloom handed down to
her, not something she bought new.
Unless we assume that all Duck stories take place in the '50s,
as Mr. Rosa has been known to do? But what if I wanted to do a story
where something contemporary has an effect on Grandma's farm (say,
the Space Shuttle makes a forced landing in her back forty?)? Or do
we just assume Grandma's now improbable old-fashionedness (unless
she's 110 years old) is just one more comic parameter of the Duck
universe, to be accepted rather than thought about too seriously?
This could be ironic...or even disturbing!
--Dwight Decker
Christmas stories "Letter to Santa" and "You Can't Guess,"
and made the mistake of reading the accompanying text piece.
You know: those tendentious essays by Blum and Ault that try
to "explain" the story you just read by reading things into
it that Barks probably never intended, and tell you how "ironic"
or "disturbing" various elements were. This time, Blum referred
to Grandma's car as a "Model T." Looks like the professor has
spent his life looking for irony and disturbing literary motifs
instead of researching automotive history. The Model T was not
a generic term for all old flivvers: it was a specific model
manufactured by the Ford Motor Company with numerous specific
identifying features. Grandma's car is not a Model T, and looks
nothing like one. For one thing, Grandma's car is sometimes shown
to have a tiller instead of a steering wheel. It may even be
electric. As I understand it, such cars were manufactured around
the turn of the century and were considered a "women's" car. They
probably weren't practical for much behind short hops around town,
since even now, 90 years later, electric cars still aren't in
general use because of battery limitations. That Grandma still
had such a car in 1950 was Barks's joke about Grandma's old-fashioned
ways. She apparently came of age about 1900 and froze there (and
other Barks stories, such as the one where her idea of entertaining
HD&L is to look at stereoscope slides, make the same point).
The only thing is...Grandma reflects the stereotype of old-
fashioned old ladies set in their ways as of 1950. If I want to
write a Grandma Duck story in 1995, she would have been born about
1920 or later and matured just before World War II. If she drives an
electromobile from 1900, it would be a family heirloom handed down to
her, not something she bought new.
Unless we assume that all Duck stories take place in the '50s,
as Mr. Rosa has been known to do? But what if I wanted to do a story
where something contemporary has an effect on Grandma's farm (say,
the Space Shuttle makes a forced landing in her back forty?)? Or do
we just assume Grandma's now improbable old-fashionedness (unless
she's 110 years old) is just one more comic parameter of the Duck
universe, to be accepted rather than thought about too seriously?
This could be ironic...or even disturbing!
--Dwight Decker
Dwight Decker
Rosa Stuf'
Message 36 -
1994-12-08 at 00:04:14
Don Rosa's comments on the coloring of the European printings of his
stories were pretty devastating after I so innocently remarked on how
nice the art looked. I guess was seduced by the larger page size of
the German albums, which gave his art room to breathe (it sometimes
seems cramped in American funnybook-page size), the lighter coloring,
which let the black outlines show up better, and the better paper
stock. I've gotten so used to unintelligent coloring in European
reprints of American stories that I hardly noticed that aspect of it.
As for what the German translator did to Don's story, "Mythological
Menagerie" (AR 104), you can sorta sense something's going on when three
lines of word-balloon copy in English are reduced to two in German
translation. A lot of Don's colloquial expressions and flavoring were
simply cut out in favor of something fairly bland and straightforward.
Where the translator was backed into a corner and forced by the artwork
to come up with something to fill the word balloons (as in the byplay on
the "Booneheads" jokes), he managed a German equivalent, but only when he
absolutely had to, it looked like. Interestingly, when Don's original
spoke of "a pink lynx and a chartreuse--", the translator apparently
thought "chartreuse" was a noun at the end of a complete sentence, not
an adjective dangling at the end of an incomplete sentence with the noun
it was supposed to modify never spoken. I also get the idea that the
translator thought Don made all those mythological animals up, and some of
their countries of origin were changed to something else. I don't have the
book in front of me to cite examples, but if Don has a copy of the German
edition, he can probably see it for himself.
Getting back to coloring...one coloring error in the Life of Scrooge
had the colorist apparently unaware that a map on the wall represented a
real coastline (specifically, the American gulf coast), and arbitrarily
splashed a mass of blue deep into what should have been the interior of
Louisiana.
On the subject of using American film for European reprints...one of
the books I brought back from my recent jaunt to the Old Country was a
Dutch reprint of Marco Rota's "The Money Ocean," published as an album.
Though originally an Italian story (which I translated for Disney Comics),
it's evident that the Dutch album version used the American coloring rather
than the Italian (you can see the faint outlines of the words "Money Ocean"
in the coloring of the splash panel). Also...in the translation, I simplified
the explanation somewhat of why Scrooge's business enterprises are experiencing
difficulties as a result of the ocean-sized money bin. Somebody rewrote my
translation for the Disney Comics version, and simplified my explanation
even more. It looks like the Dutch version rewrote the published Disney Comics
version still further, and I'm not sure it makes a whole lot of sense now.
Somebody should have gone back to the original Italian, I think...
--Dwight Decker
stories were pretty devastating after I so innocently remarked on how
nice the art looked. I guess was seduced by the larger page size of
the German albums, which gave his art room to breathe (it sometimes
seems cramped in American funnybook-page size), the lighter coloring,
which let the black outlines show up better, and the better paper
stock. I've gotten so used to unintelligent coloring in European
reprints of American stories that I hardly noticed that aspect of it.
As for what the German translator did to Don's story, "Mythological
Menagerie" (AR 104), you can sorta sense something's going on when three
lines of word-balloon copy in English are reduced to two in German
translation. A lot of Don's colloquial expressions and flavoring were
simply cut out in favor of something fairly bland and straightforward.
Where the translator was backed into a corner and forced by the artwork
to come up with something to fill the word balloons (as in the byplay on
the "Booneheads" jokes), he managed a German equivalent, but only when he
absolutely had to, it looked like. Interestingly, when Don's original
spoke of "a pink lynx and a chartreuse--", the translator apparently
thought "chartreuse" was a noun at the end of a complete sentence, not
an adjective dangling at the end of an incomplete sentence with the noun
it was supposed to modify never spoken. I also get the idea that the
translator thought Don made all those mythological animals up, and some of
their countries of origin were changed to something else. I don't have the
book in front of me to cite examples, but if Don has a copy of the German
edition, he can probably see it for himself.
Getting back to coloring...one coloring error in the Life of Scrooge
had the colorist apparently unaware that a map on the wall represented a
real coastline (specifically, the American gulf coast), and arbitrarily
splashed a mass of blue deep into what should have been the interior of
Louisiana.
On the subject of using American film for European reprints...one of
the books I brought back from my recent jaunt to the Old Country was a
Dutch reprint of Marco Rota's "The Money Ocean," published as an album.
Though originally an Italian story (which I translated for Disney Comics),
it's evident that the Dutch album version used the American coloring rather
than the Italian (you can see the faint outlines of the words "Money Ocean"
in the coloring of the splash panel). Also...in the translation, I simplified
the explanation somewhat of why Scrooge's business enterprises are experiencing
difficulties as a result of the ocean-sized money bin. Somebody rewrote my
translation for the Disney Comics version, and simplified my explanation
even more. It looks like the Dutch version rewrote the published Disney Comics
version still further, and I'm not sure it makes a whole lot of sense now.
Somebody should have gone back to the original Italian, I think...
--Dwight Decker
Jørgen Andreas Bangor
DD&Co #49
Message 37 -
1994-12-08 at 01:15:28
Donald Duck & Co #49
--------------------
Well, here's another praise of that dreadful Norwegian Donald Duck
weekly...
Ahem, I don't praise all of them, but I guess I like some of them a
bit more than you do, Geir.
This one opens with a Rota story (D93576, 12 pages). Maybe I should
say SPOILER, there could be other Rota fans here.
Anyway, the art is just beautiful, and the story is good too. It's
better than the last one (D93577). It's about Donald and the nephews
going to South America (Fotobogo) to find a train loaded with coffee,
belonging to Scrooge, that has disappeared (the coffee). The local
police tells them that the train could have been taken by a crook
called Victorio Lazaro. They start the search for the train, and find
that things aren't as obvious as they first seemed to be. Donald manages
to fall in love with a beautiful young woman named Rosa.
As I said, the art is just beautiful. Rota manages very well to
draw small ducks and big people in the same panels.
There can't be many other artists who manage to put eleven panels
into one page, BTW.
Even the colouring is very good, for an Egmont publication.
Second is a "dreadful" Mickey Mouse story (D93313, 9 pages) (couldn't
they have saved that code for a Donald story?). It's about a play directed
by Minnie. Chief O'Hara is supposed to play a central role, but has to
leave to chase Black Pete, who's just robbed a bank. They try to get a
famous actor to take the role. Black Pete escapes into the theatre, and
is accidentally believed to be the famous actor. The play goes on slightly
different than planned. The art isn't too bad.
The idea isn't too bad, I think, but the story is quite boring.
The third story is a Chip'n Dale one-pager (D92323). Dale is finding an
easy way to get the walnuts into the tree.
The fourth story is a new continuation story (D94049, 8 pages (so far)).
Scrooge owns a small village in the desert. He treats the population well
in return for their mining of gnikk. Gnikk is the main ingredient in
"McDucks golfball cleaner". A man, who does not look very nice, wants to
buy the village, because he knows there is oil in the ground.
For some reason the inhabitants gets in very low mood every Christmas.
HDL discover why, and Gyro Gearloose invents a machine to solve the problem.
The man who wants to buy the village, will try to sabotage it. More next
week.
Well, not too exciting, but the art isn't too bad.
Last is a Pluto one-pager (KF 9.15.46).
Donald Duck & Co JULEPARADE
---------------------------
(Donald Duck & Co Chrismas Parade)
This is extra magazine #10 this year, and probably the last one (this year).
When I saw the first story, I thought this was a reprint of the entire
Juleparade from 1980 or 81, but when I saw the rest of the magazine, I
wasn't too sure...
The first story is Barks' Christmas Cheers (WDC268).
The second story is a Grandma Duck story (WDC 148K).
The third story is a wolf story (XMAS P.A).
The fourth story is a Minnie Mouse story (XMAS P.A).
Since these are all old stories, I haven't included a review of them. If
anyone wants to know anything more about the stories, just let me know.
Except for the wolf story, I know I've seen all of them earlier.
Jorgen
--------------------
Well, here's another praise of that dreadful Norwegian Donald Duck
weekly...
Ahem, I don't praise all of them, but I guess I like some of them a
bit more than you do, Geir.
This one opens with a Rota story (D93576, 12 pages). Maybe I should
say SPOILER, there could be other Rota fans here.
Anyway, the art is just beautiful, and the story is good too. It's
better than the last one (D93577). It's about Donald and the nephews
going to South America (Fotobogo) to find a train loaded with coffee,
belonging to Scrooge, that has disappeared (the coffee). The local
police tells them that the train could have been taken by a crook
called Victorio Lazaro. They start the search for the train, and find
that things aren't as obvious as they first seemed to be. Donald manages
to fall in love with a beautiful young woman named Rosa.
As I said, the art is just beautiful. Rota manages very well to
draw small ducks and big people in the same panels.
There can't be many other artists who manage to put eleven panels
into one page, BTW.
Even the colouring is very good, for an Egmont publication.
Second is a "dreadful" Mickey Mouse story (D93313, 9 pages) (couldn't
they have saved that code for a Donald story?). It's about a play directed
by Minnie. Chief O'Hara is supposed to play a central role, but has to
leave to chase Black Pete, who's just robbed a bank. They try to get a
famous actor to take the role. Black Pete escapes into the theatre, and
is accidentally believed to be the famous actor. The play goes on slightly
different than planned. The art isn't too bad.
The idea isn't too bad, I think, but the story is quite boring.
The third story is a Chip'n Dale one-pager (D92323). Dale is finding an
easy way to get the walnuts into the tree.
The fourth story is a new continuation story (D94049, 8 pages (so far)).
Scrooge owns a small village in the desert. He treats the population well
in return for their mining of gnikk. Gnikk is the main ingredient in
"McDucks golfball cleaner". A man, who does not look very nice, wants to
buy the village, because he knows there is oil in the ground.
For some reason the inhabitants gets in very low mood every Christmas.
HDL discover why, and Gyro Gearloose invents a machine to solve the problem.
The man who wants to buy the village, will try to sabotage it. More next
week.
Well, not too exciting, but the art isn't too bad.
Last is a Pluto one-pager (KF 9.15.46).
Donald Duck & Co JULEPARADE
---------------------------
(Donald Duck & Co Chrismas Parade)
This is extra magazine #10 this year, and probably the last one (this year).
When I saw the first story, I thought this was a reprint of the entire
Juleparade from 1980 or 81, but when I saw the rest of the magazine, I
wasn't too sure...
The first story is Barks' Christmas Cheers (WDC268).
The second story is a Grandma Duck story (WDC 148K).
The third story is a wolf story (XMAS P.A).
The fourth story is a Minnie Mouse story (XMAS P.A).
Since these are all old stories, I haven't included a review of them. If
anyone wants to know anything more about the stories, just let me know.
Except for the wolf story, I know I've seen all of them earlier.
Jorgen
Jørgen Andreas Bangor
A lot of things...
Message 38 -
1994-12-08 at 02:13:12
Pocket Books
------------
Thanks for the explanation, David, but I still wonder about these books...
I understand that they are made in Italy, both the original stories (at
least most of them), and also compilated in Italy. In the earlier series
there were made intermezzos by... relax Fredrik, I'll not mention his name :),
but later they just put recent stories together and pushed them out on the
market again.
Well... there is only one series in Norway, which started with #1 in
the late sixties, and has now reached #159 (not #160, as I said earlier).
I the beginning, and for more than twenty years, they came out very
irregularly. Then, they came more and more often, and now they're monthly,
just like in other Egmont countries. BUT, if the Germans have reached about
#200, and the Norwegians have reached #159, and these books are similar,
then there must be about forty books never published in Norway!
Stuff for Don
-------------
I'm a little handicapped, being about 200 kilometers away from my collection,
but a couple of things comes to mind.
In one story Scrooge makes Donald and HDL by a _lot_ of boxes of sereals
to find claims for some land in the desert, where he believes there is
oil in the ground. They later find out that there's only an old tractor
buried there. I don't think he woud regard those claims as valuable.
In the story King Solomo's Mines, or whatever it's called, Scrooge is
carrying the tickets around in a bag. All the tickets were lost, but if
I know Scrooge, he would have kept the bag ;-)
Bookends
--------
WILMER:
>Hey Jorgen, have you ever considered creating duck bookends, like those
>that Don invented for the 60th birthday story?
I haven't noticed that yet. I must admit that I've only read the story
twice, and that's too few times to see all the details! I have this bad
habit of bringing Disney comics home every time I get the chance, since
they do take up some space. At the moment I've got more than 5000 pages
here...
No, the Walt Disney Corporation wouldn't mind, of course...
Well, actually I have thought a little about translating the plastilin,
or whatever you call that material, into tin. If I ever succeed in that,
and anyone should be interested, I would be more interested in trading it
with Disney stuff than selling it. The evil emp... er, Walt Disney
Corporation, wouldn't mind that, would they?
Vicar
-----
MIKE:
There was a story drawn by Vicar in the Norwegian DD&Co #48. That means
last week. The story (D93413) is about Donald promoting some detergent.
Cars
----
I saw a Detroit Electric on an exhibition a couple of years ago. It has
almost exactly the same shape as Grandma's car, but it's quite big. It's
quite short, but still big... There's small "extensions" aft and fore
(have I read too many sea novels?), with a big living room in the middle.
The car is certainly built for women. The cabin, or living room, has
seats for four people. The front seats are heading backwards, and the
back seats are heading forward. The driver is sitting in the back seat.
The conversation would be more easy that way. The car doesn't have a
steering wheel, but rather some kind of handle. The speed was low, so
even if the driver was distracted by the conversation, it probably
wouldn't matter anyway.
An old aunt of mine once told about when she and her sisters learned
to drive in the early twenties. If I don't remember wrong, the car was a
Buick. She told that they sometimes had a little problem with keeping the
car on the right side of the road. Wasn't that dangerous in the traffic?,
someone asked. There weren't any other cars, she answered.
Mickey Mystery
--------------
If you have the chance, you should read the second story in Mickey Mystery
#12. It's out in Norway now. I think especially you involved in making
stories for "Disney" would find this story (D93286) interesting.
Jorgen
------------
Thanks for the explanation, David, but I still wonder about these books...
I understand that they are made in Italy, both the original stories (at
least most of them), and also compilated in Italy. In the earlier series
there were made intermezzos by... relax Fredrik, I'll not mention his name :),
but later they just put recent stories together and pushed them out on the
market again.
Well... there is only one series in Norway, which started with #1 in
the late sixties, and has now reached #159 (not #160, as I said earlier).
I the beginning, and for more than twenty years, they came out very
irregularly. Then, they came more and more often, and now they're monthly,
just like in other Egmont countries. BUT, if the Germans have reached about
#200, and the Norwegians have reached #159, and these books are similar,
then there must be about forty books never published in Norway!
Stuff for Don
-------------
I'm a little handicapped, being about 200 kilometers away from my collection,
but a couple of things comes to mind.
In one story Scrooge makes Donald and HDL by a _lot_ of boxes of sereals
to find claims for some land in the desert, where he believes there is
oil in the ground. They later find out that there's only an old tractor
buried there. I don't think he woud regard those claims as valuable.
In the story King Solomo's Mines, or whatever it's called, Scrooge is
carrying the tickets around in a bag. All the tickets were lost, but if
I know Scrooge, he would have kept the bag ;-)
Bookends
--------
WILMER:
>Hey Jorgen, have you ever considered creating duck bookends, like those
>that Don invented for the 60th birthday story?
I haven't noticed that yet. I must admit that I've only read the story
twice, and that's too few times to see all the details! I have this bad
habit of bringing Disney comics home every time I get the chance, since
they do take up some space. At the moment I've got more than 5000 pages
here...
No, the Walt Disney Corporation wouldn't mind, of course...
Well, actually I have thought a little about translating the plastilin,
or whatever you call that material, into tin. If I ever succeed in that,
and anyone should be interested, I would be more interested in trading it
with Disney stuff than selling it. The evil emp... er, Walt Disney
Corporation, wouldn't mind that, would they?
Vicar
-----
MIKE:
There was a story drawn by Vicar in the Norwegian DD&Co #48. That means
last week. The story (D93413) is about Donald promoting some detergent.
Cars
----
I saw a Detroit Electric on an exhibition a couple of years ago. It has
almost exactly the same shape as Grandma's car, but it's quite big. It's
quite short, but still big... There's small "extensions" aft and fore
(have I read too many sea novels?), with a big living room in the middle.
The car is certainly built for women. The cabin, or living room, has
seats for four people. The front seats are heading backwards, and the
back seats are heading forward. The driver is sitting in the back seat.
The conversation would be more easy that way. The car doesn't have a
steering wheel, but rather some kind of handle. The speed was low, so
even if the driver was distracted by the conversation, it probably
wouldn't matter anyway.
An old aunt of mine once told about when she and her sisters learned
to drive in the early twenties. If I don't remember wrong, the car was a
Buick. She told that they sometimes had a little problem with keeping the
car on the right side of the road. Wasn't that dangerous in the traffic?,
someone asked. There weren't any other cars, she answered.
Mickey Mystery
--------------
If you have the chance, you should read the second story in Mickey Mystery
#12. It's out in Norway now. I think especially you involved in making
stories for "Disney" would find this story (D93286) interesting.
Jorgen
Bob Wright
Disney-comics digest #515.
Message 39 -
1994-12-08 at 06:28:35
DG> I don't know Befana the witch, but I'd like to do a story
DG> involving the legendary Russian witch Baba Yaga. This crone lived in
DG> a hut that had big LEGS coming out of the bottom like a chicken's.
DG> Everyone knew they were in for trouble when her shack came WALKING
DG> into town. The question is, how to get her into a Duck story? James
DG> and I have already done conflicts between Magica and other witches,
DG> so that idea can't be used.
DAVID: How about a situation involving Scrooge in Russia for a financial
deal (I can't see him missing the business opportunities now open in the
former Eastern Bloc). The scene could be the Russian steppe, with US
making a mining deal or an eviornmental cleanup, say, oil or nuclear waste.
Baba-Yaga could be woven into the story. The locale could be switched to
Brutopia, which makes room for an appearance by a certain bald, former
ambassador.
DG> EVERYONE: Here's a new idea. What do you think are the most
DG> INFLUENTIAL Barks stories? I don't mean the most famous ones or the
DG> ones you consider best. I mean the ones that had the greatest effect
DG> on post-Barks writers.
DG> Anyone have some others?
DAVID: Four Color 386, "Only A Poor, Old Man" gets my vote. Scrooge's
character as a tough cookie, his defeat of the Beagle Boys by shrewdness
and plain grit, and his mania over the safety of his fortune are all set
forth as standards for the stories to follow. Barks is at his best on the
last page when Scrooge, somewhat taken aback at his nephews' disdain for a
pile of money, says that no man is poor if he gets to do what he really
likes now and then. Other patterns, such as relatives who work cheap,
swimming in money, money bin booby traps, and references to earlier
adventures, are brought together.
DD> For one thing, Grandma's car is sometimes shown
DD> to have a tiller instead of a steering wheel. It may even be
DD> electric. As I understand it, such cars were manufactured around
DD> the turn of the century and were considered a "women's" car.
DWIGHT: The backup Gyro 'lightning power plant' story in US 13 clearly
establishes Grandma's car as electric. BTW, is this the only Gyro tale
with an appearance by Morty & Ferdie?
Bob Wright
...burrow through it like a gopher...
DG> involving the legendary Russian witch Baba Yaga. This crone lived in
DG> a hut that had big LEGS coming out of the bottom like a chicken's.
DG> Everyone knew they were in for trouble when her shack came WALKING
DG> into town. The question is, how to get her into a Duck story? James
DG> and I have already done conflicts between Magica and other witches,
DG> so that idea can't be used.
DAVID: How about a situation involving Scrooge in Russia for a financial
deal (I can't see him missing the business opportunities now open in the
former Eastern Bloc). The scene could be the Russian steppe, with US
making a mining deal or an eviornmental cleanup, say, oil or nuclear waste.
Baba-Yaga could be woven into the story. The locale could be switched to
Brutopia, which makes room for an appearance by a certain bald, former
ambassador.
DG> EVERYONE: Here's a new idea. What do you think are the most
DG> INFLUENTIAL Barks stories? I don't mean the most famous ones or the
DG> ones you consider best. I mean the ones that had the greatest effect
DG> on post-Barks writers.
DG> Anyone have some others?
DAVID: Four Color 386, "Only A Poor, Old Man" gets my vote. Scrooge's
character as a tough cookie, his defeat of the Beagle Boys by shrewdness
and plain grit, and his mania over the safety of his fortune are all set
forth as standards for the stories to follow. Barks is at his best on the
last page when Scrooge, somewhat taken aback at his nephews' disdain for a
pile of money, says that no man is poor if he gets to do what he really
likes now and then. Other patterns, such as relatives who work cheap,
swimming in money, money bin booby traps, and references to earlier
adventures, are brought together.
DD> For one thing, Grandma's car is sometimes shown
DD> to have a tiller instead of a steering wheel. It may even be
DD> electric. As I understand it, such cars were manufactured around
DD> the turn of the century and were considered a "women's" car.
DWIGHT: The backup Gyro 'lightning power plant' story in US 13 clearly
establishes Grandma's car as electric. BTW, is this the only Gyro tale
with an appearance by Morty & Ferdie?
Bob Wright
...burrow through it like a gopher...
DAVID.A.GERSTEIN
Disney-comics digest #515.
Message 40 -
1994-12-08 at 22:09:32
Greetings, all.
ERIC: Ring them bells! So "Two in One" has appeared in
Germany now! I'll quick phone my chums in Germany and have them make
appropriate arrangements. Thanks a LOT. And from the incantation,
it sounds great already. Maybe "Mythological Menagerie" got a bad
treatment, but I generally like the flavor of the German translations
very much.
GEIR: If you'll toss a copy of that Carl Barks & Co. issue
into the box with the Gottfredson xerox copies, I'd be immensely
grateful and will add $3 to the check. Please remember to send
the lot to my new, EUROPEAN address:
David Gerstein, Room 133, Masson House, Pollock Halls, 18
Holyrood Park Rd., Edinburgh EH16 5AY, Scotland.
It's rather difficult for me to get in touch with Byron. It
would be best for me to wait until you've actually had a chance to
make the Xeroxes, because he'll want to know when you're going to
SEND them to him -- I'm sure that'll be his first question. Or do you
know an answer to that already? If so, tell me tomorrow, and I can
see what I can do right away!
MARK: The Comics Journal has an article about Disney comics?
Hooray! In what issue? When? (I want to have my comic shop order
it -- they don't get much call for that mag in Scotland)
DWIGHT: I always find the Blum and Ault articles interesting
and enjoyable. I just simply don't find the stories quite as
disturbing as they do -- but the elements are there if you want to
interpret them that way. I FILL my scripts with "dark" elements,
hoping to give something suitably grim to fans of that kind of thing.
In my "Animal Farm" parody (the Pig story) Vicar went along with it a
bit. And after I was finished with the script, I sat around trying
to analyze my subconscious from what I had written. ;-)
Many of your translations in the first period of Gladstone were
simply "intermediate" steps -- you'd translate a Dutch or Italian
story, and then someone else would do the final "dialogue" on it.
But now, you both translate and dialogue. In the case of "The Money
Ocean," which of the two systems took place? Did you do a dialogue
which was adhered to, save that one explanation of Scrooge's
business enterprises? Or was your work an intermediate step?
In Part 1 of "Lentils from Babylon," I simplified Scarpa's
explanation of something, only to have Gladstone make it MORE
complicated again. I hope they don't do that in Chapter 3, when a
very intricate plot mechanism is revealed and I tried to explain
things as clearly as possible.
Regarding use of American film: There is a German Disney
comic called DISNEY LIMIT which mixes Duck and Mickey stories with
Disney Afternoon stories, both from Disney Adventures and from the
long-gone drove of Disney Comics TV titles. They have to use
American film, and the problem is that unlike Egmont film, it has
unremovable lettering of sound effects and titles on it. I've seen a
Roger Rabbit story in one issue with word balloons relettered in
German, but they just had to stick the German title beside a
full-color American title, and all the sound effects are in English
(it's almost eyestrain reading the thousands of them, that are in a
typical Roger Rabbit story.)
JORGEN: You didn't give issue numbers for the reprinted Xmas
Parade stories -- and I wouldn't mind if you wrote something about
what they were like, since I don't have any old Xmas Parades. Why
buy a 100-page 1951 comic when you can buy a 64-page 1942 comic for
the same price? People pay very inflated prices for those giant
comics. ;-)
ERIC: Ring them bells! So "Two in One" has appeared in
Germany now! I'll quick phone my chums in Germany and have them make
appropriate arrangements. Thanks a LOT. And from the incantation,
it sounds great already. Maybe "Mythological Menagerie" got a bad
treatment, but I generally like the flavor of the German translations
very much.
GEIR: If you'll toss a copy of that Carl Barks & Co. issue
into the box with the Gottfredson xerox copies, I'd be immensely
grateful and will add $3 to the check. Please remember to send
the lot to my new, EUROPEAN address:
David Gerstein, Room 133, Masson House, Pollock Halls, 18
Holyrood Park Rd., Edinburgh EH16 5AY, Scotland.
It's rather difficult for me to get in touch with Byron. It
would be best for me to wait until you've actually had a chance to
make the Xeroxes, because he'll want to know when you're going to
SEND them to him -- I'm sure that'll be his first question. Or do you
know an answer to that already? If so, tell me tomorrow, and I can
see what I can do right away!
MARK: The Comics Journal has an article about Disney comics?
Hooray! In what issue? When? (I want to have my comic shop order
it -- they don't get much call for that mag in Scotland)
DWIGHT: I always find the Blum and Ault articles interesting
and enjoyable. I just simply don't find the stories quite as
disturbing as they do -- but the elements are there if you want to
interpret them that way. I FILL my scripts with "dark" elements,
hoping to give something suitably grim to fans of that kind of thing.
In my "Animal Farm" parody (the Pig story) Vicar went along with it a
bit. And after I was finished with the script, I sat around trying
to analyze my subconscious from what I had written. ;-)
Many of your translations in the first period of Gladstone were
simply "intermediate" steps -- you'd translate a Dutch or Italian
story, and then someone else would do the final "dialogue" on it.
But now, you both translate and dialogue. In the case of "The Money
Ocean," which of the two systems took place? Did you do a dialogue
which was adhered to, save that one explanation of Scrooge's
business enterprises? Or was your work an intermediate step?
In Part 1 of "Lentils from Babylon," I simplified Scarpa's
explanation of something, only to have Gladstone make it MORE
complicated again. I hope they don't do that in Chapter 3, when a
very intricate plot mechanism is revealed and I tried to explain
things as clearly as possible.
Regarding use of American film: There is a German Disney
comic called DISNEY LIMIT which mixes Duck and Mickey stories with
Disney Afternoon stories, both from Disney Adventures and from the
long-gone drove of Disney Comics TV titles. They have to use
American film, and the problem is that unlike Egmont film, it has
unremovable lettering of sound effects and titles on it. I've seen a
Roger Rabbit story in one issue with word balloons relettered in
German, but they just had to stick the German title beside a
full-color American title, and all the sound effects are in English
(it's almost eyestrain reading the thousands of them, that are in a
typical Roger Rabbit story.)
JORGEN: You didn't give issue numbers for the reprinted Xmas
Parade stories -- and I wouldn't mind if you wrote something about
what they were like, since I don't have any old Xmas Parades. Why
buy a 100-page 1951 comic when you can buy a 64-page 1942 comic for
the same price? People pay very inflated prices for those giant
comics. ;-)
P.M. Floore
No subject
Message 41 -
1994-12-09 at 13:56:14
UNSUBSCRIBE pmf at ivip.frw.uva.nl
Mark Mayerson
Coming Rosa Interview
Message 42 -
1994-12-09 at 15:42:56
David Gerstein:
The ad I saw for The Comics Journal just mentioned an interview with Don
Rosa for a forthcoming issue. There was no mention of issue number or date.
As I write this, I haven't read a response from Don himself, so I don't
know if Don knows any particulars.
Based on past experience reading Comics Journal ads, I'd say it's likely
that it will appear in the next 6 months. I don't think the interview will
appear until at least February. I've seen Comics Journal promos for Dec.
and Jan. and there's no mention of Rosa. Dec. has Jeff Smith and Martin
Wagner interviews, Jan. has a Frank Frazetta interview.
If Don doesn't know, I'll post info as soon as I find it out.
___________________________________________________________________
Mark Mayerson Side Effects Software Inc.,
Internet: mayerson at sidefx.com Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Note the new phone number-------------->(416) 504-9876
The ad I saw for The Comics Journal just mentioned an interview with Don
Rosa for a forthcoming issue. There was no mention of issue number or date.
As I write this, I haven't read a response from Don himself, so I don't
know if Don knows any particulars.
Based on past experience reading Comics Journal ads, I'd say it's likely
that it will appear in the next 6 months. I don't think the interview will
appear until at least February. I've seen Comics Journal promos for Dec.
and Jan. and there's no mention of Rosa. Dec. has Jeff Smith and Martin
Wagner interviews, Jan. has a Frank Frazetta interview.
If Don doesn't know, I'll post info as soon as I find it out.
___________________________________________________________________
Mark Mayerson Side Effects Software Inc.,
Internet: mayerson at sidefx.com Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Note the new phone number-------------->(416) 504-9876
Don Rosa
Disney-comics digest #515.
Message 43 -
1994-12-09 at 16:08:32
ROBERT:
I'm glad you found your way on here! Allow me to mention
something that I appreciate, as would others who pay to receive this
Digest over other computer services. Please don't repost or reprint
sections of past Digests simply to make comments on them. There's no
reason to do this -- you can just as easilly make a brief reference to
the previous comment rather than reposting the whole mess -- and some of
us won't hafta pay for the extra words. Of course, just you doing this
would be a neglible extra expense, but I think that asking everyone
together to stop this (as we do bit by bit) it saves some of us (ME
anyway) up to $20-$30 per month. Thanks!
There was no "D.U.C.K." on that "Land Beneath the Ground" cover
as it was a reprint from about 6 years ago... and believe me, it was
painful to see that cover reused without a disclaimer such as "Don Rosa
would like to apologize for the crudity of this cover as it doesn't
measure up to his current level of semi-crudity" or something. Readers
thought that was a new cover, I'm sure.
And someone already mentioned that gold coat... and I mentioned
that something as valuable as a solid gold coat made out of Jason's
golden fleece would hardly be in a junk closet. Anyway, I figure that he
unraveled the coat and put the fleece back in the bag, as I've shown the
bag of fleece several times in $crooge's trophy collection.
GEIR:
It's always a happy day when you show up on the Digest! One of
these days I'll actually SEE you when I visit Norway. I hope Rolf let
you have the glass full of special Kentucky bourbon that belonged to you
but which was somewhere inside his bottle.
Oh, pshaw, that drawing I dashed off for Rolf was done sitting
on his couch in a few minutes. I prefer to take a bit of TIME on
drawings that I know people will actually frame and hang. But does he
also have that library journal cover? That was an all-day job... MUCH
better!
Don't worry about Bark's Weasel suing you. He'll be too busy
being a sue-ee. My lawyer served papers on him about a month ago.
MARK:
I don't know about that COMICS JOURNAL interview. It was done by
Dana Gabbard in *1989*!!! It took him over 5 years to type it up and
submit it! So MUCH has happened since then... I'd say 90% of
everything!... that I can't imagine it being of much interest. But
maybe it still holds some interesting remarks. They need to contact me
to have R.C.Harvey do an update to it and for me to do a cover to go
along with it, but that hasn't happened yet, so I don't know when it
will appear. Maybe 5 more years.
DWIGHT:
Yes, I regard my stories as taking place in the early-mid 50's,
and that solves every single problem I might have with anachronisms. How
you or other writers would handle it is up to you. But I think Egmont's
"official" attitude is that the Duck Universe is stuck in a time warp.
It's not 1954 nor 1994... it's just... there. A mixture of new and old
with no explanation given. A sort of fairy-tale time. A sort of Laputa
time, eh? Being anal retentive or something, I need more solid ground
than that, and that's why I simply say my stories take place in 1954 or
thereabouts.
I'm glad you found your way on here! Allow me to mention
something that I appreciate, as would others who pay to receive this
Digest over other computer services. Please don't repost or reprint
sections of past Digests simply to make comments on them. There's no
reason to do this -- you can just as easilly make a brief reference to
the previous comment rather than reposting the whole mess -- and some of
us won't hafta pay for the extra words. Of course, just you doing this
would be a neglible extra expense, but I think that asking everyone
together to stop this (as we do bit by bit) it saves some of us (ME
anyway) up to $20-$30 per month. Thanks!
There was no "D.U.C.K." on that "Land Beneath the Ground" cover
as it was a reprint from about 6 years ago... and believe me, it was
painful to see that cover reused without a disclaimer such as "Don Rosa
would like to apologize for the crudity of this cover as it doesn't
measure up to his current level of semi-crudity" or something. Readers
thought that was a new cover, I'm sure.
And someone already mentioned that gold coat... and I mentioned
that something as valuable as a solid gold coat made out of Jason's
golden fleece would hardly be in a junk closet. Anyway, I figure that he
unraveled the coat and put the fleece back in the bag, as I've shown the
bag of fleece several times in $crooge's trophy collection.
GEIR:
It's always a happy day when you show up on the Digest! One of
these days I'll actually SEE you when I visit Norway. I hope Rolf let
you have the glass full of special Kentucky bourbon that belonged to you
but which was somewhere inside his bottle.
Oh, pshaw, that drawing I dashed off for Rolf was done sitting
on his couch in a few minutes. I prefer to take a bit of TIME on
drawings that I know people will actually frame and hang. But does he
also have that library journal cover? That was an all-day job... MUCH
better!
Don't worry about Bark's Weasel suing you. He'll be too busy
being a sue-ee. My lawyer served papers on him about a month ago.
MARK:
I don't know about that COMICS JOURNAL interview. It was done by
Dana Gabbard in *1989*!!! It took him over 5 years to type it up and
submit it! So MUCH has happened since then... I'd say 90% of
everything!... that I can't imagine it being of much interest. But
maybe it still holds some interesting remarks. They need to contact me
to have R.C.Harvey do an update to it and for me to do a cover to go
along with it, but that hasn't happened yet, so I don't know when it
will appear. Maybe 5 more years.
DWIGHT:
Yes, I regard my stories as taking place in the early-mid 50's,
and that solves every single problem I might have with anachronisms. How
you or other writers would handle it is up to you. But I think Egmont's
"official" attitude is that the Duck Universe is stuck in a time warp.
It's not 1954 nor 1994... it's just... there. A mixture of new and old
with no explanation given. A sort of fairy-tale time. A sort of Laputa
time, eh? Being anal retentive or something, I need more solid ground
than that, and that's why I simply say my stories take place in 1954 or
thereabouts.
DAVID.A.GERSTEIN
This week's Egmont and Gladstone comics
Message 44 -
1994-12-09 at 17:22:55
Hi, folks.
Just back from two comic shops, where I first picked up the
British weekly, then US 290.
This week's MM story from Egmont wasn't quite as bad as some
I've seen, but dang, why'd this story use Pete as the villain when it
was a role for such a small-time crook? On the other hand, Horace
had his first major role in what must be eons, and whoever wrote it
had him right in character. Dwight told me a long time ago about this
story -- he translated it to English for Egmont. That means that the
writer is from a non-English-speaking country, where he presumably
had the chance to read "The Great Orphanage Robbery." The scenes of
Horace's hammy acting are directly influenced by that. Unfortunately,
Esteban's art is just so off-putting sometimes... he forces himself
to draw a la Murry, when five years ago he drew like Albert Uderzo.
There is no SUBTLETY to Murry's versions of the characters, which
means that a story cannot gain any depth through its art. In fact,
the art inhibits any depth. Anyway: D93313 = "A Drama in One Act."
Marco Rota's DD story, "Fotobogo" (D93576) has some very fine
moments. There are scenes in this story which, in layout and
development, are clearly based on Don Rosa's style, and as cream on
the cake, Rota adds Rosa-style gleams in the pupils in those scenes!
You ought to see this, Don. The story in and of itself has some
excellent moments. BUT -- it is also very unsettling, because at the
end of the story the crooked police chief is LEFT in power, and the
rebels opposed to him have made NO gains whatsoever! All that's been
accomplished is Donald's rescue of the chief's greatest enemies. I
would have liked to see Donald and the boys, having safely rescued
them, do what he could to expose the villain's corruption and reform
the place a little. I guess the story as it stands may be more like
real life, but it was still jarring, because the story didn't seem to
have reached a satisfying resolution, at least for me. There are
many reasons why I would like to have this story see print in the
United States, but although parts of it rank with Rota's best work,
it is a very flawed stone. Anyone have some ideas how it could be
reworked somewhat?
A Pluto Sunday page (actually from the Mickey strip, ZM
46/9/15) finishes off this issue.
This British comic (MM 49/94) will be the one that FABIO and
HARRY will have as their sample of our local product. I'll be
bringing copies for you with me.
Next week's British comic is a 48-page Christmas special.
Yawn. For Christmas, as a BONUS, we get what a NORMAL-sized Egmont
comic. (Sorry I can't bring this one with me, but it'll come out
once I've already left Britain for the holidays.)
Don, I really enjoyed LO$ 6! You've mentioned it's your least
favorite, but hey -- it's not half bad! Not bad at all! Helped 100%
by magnificent color, lettering, and PERFECT PRINTING! And the story
-- wow! I liked this one in German, and I like it even more this
way. The tarring and feathering was particularly funny, and the way
Scrooge pointed out how he'd LEARNED something from GLOMGOLD was
particularly well done.
You got the last laugh on Disney. From looking at your
original script (of which two panels were reproduced in the comic), I
notice that "warriors" on Page 9, Panel 7, was originally "Zulu
warriors." On the other hand, did Disney also change the line "you
made me sour" to "you made me mean"? I like to think that's a change
you would have made, because I like it better that way.
Disney DID delete the Mickey Mouse on the elephant's foot.
The cover illustrating this story was very good except for two
very minor problems. I found the linework on Scrooge to be too
bold; it darkened him so that his head almost blended in with the
background at its edges. Also, Scrooge's bill looked too narrow
on the left side (I don't think so many teeth should have been
visible there). But I'm being nitpicky now. TOO much so!
The other story in US 290 is a reprint of Tony Strobl's lead
story in US 76, "Bye-Bye, Money Bin." With a title like that you
think it couldn't get worse, but it was actually not so bad. Still,
I prefer a Danish story any day -- if the plot's no better, the
drawing, and added touches from a modern American dialoguer,
certainly are. These Strobl stories are just too CHILDISH for me.
They are written by people who believed that the entire audience was
under ten, and even when the plots are good, they are marred by that
approach. They are Disney comics made according to many people's
false perceptions of Disney comics.
So long, folks. I'll be back!
David Gerstein
<9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>
"A 'cowboy'? What's that? Some kind of apprentice MILKMAN?"
Just back from two comic shops, where I first picked up the
British weekly, then US 290.
This week's MM story from Egmont wasn't quite as bad as some
I've seen, but dang, why'd this story use Pete as the villain when it
was a role for such a small-time crook? On the other hand, Horace
had his first major role in what must be eons, and whoever wrote it
had him right in character. Dwight told me a long time ago about this
story -- he translated it to English for Egmont. That means that the
writer is from a non-English-speaking country, where he presumably
had the chance to read "The Great Orphanage Robbery." The scenes of
Horace's hammy acting are directly influenced by that. Unfortunately,
Esteban's art is just so off-putting sometimes... he forces himself
to draw a la Murry, when five years ago he drew like Albert Uderzo.
There is no SUBTLETY to Murry's versions of the characters, which
means that a story cannot gain any depth through its art. In fact,
the art inhibits any depth. Anyway: D93313 = "A Drama in One Act."
Marco Rota's DD story, "Fotobogo" (D93576) has some very fine
moments. There are scenes in this story which, in layout and
development, are clearly based on Don Rosa's style, and as cream on
the cake, Rota adds Rosa-style gleams in the pupils in those scenes!
You ought to see this, Don. The story in and of itself has some
excellent moments. BUT -- it is also very unsettling, because at the
end of the story the crooked police chief is LEFT in power, and the
rebels opposed to him have made NO gains whatsoever! All that's been
accomplished is Donald's rescue of the chief's greatest enemies. I
would have liked to see Donald and the boys, having safely rescued
them, do what he could to expose the villain's corruption and reform
the place a little. I guess the story as it stands may be more like
real life, but it was still jarring, because the story didn't seem to
have reached a satisfying resolution, at least for me. There are
many reasons why I would like to have this story see print in the
United States, but although parts of it rank with Rota's best work,
it is a very flawed stone. Anyone have some ideas how it could be
reworked somewhat?
A Pluto Sunday page (actually from the Mickey strip, ZM
46/9/15) finishes off this issue.
This British comic (MM 49/94) will be the one that FABIO and
HARRY will have as their sample of our local product. I'll be
bringing copies for you with me.
Next week's British comic is a 48-page Christmas special.
Yawn. For Christmas, as a BONUS, we get what a NORMAL-sized Egmont
comic. (Sorry I can't bring this one with me, but it'll come out
once I've already left Britain for the holidays.)
Don, I really enjoyed LO$ 6! You've mentioned it's your least
favorite, but hey -- it's not half bad! Not bad at all! Helped 100%
by magnificent color, lettering, and PERFECT PRINTING! And the story
-- wow! I liked this one in German, and I like it even more this
way. The tarring and feathering was particularly funny, and the way
Scrooge pointed out how he'd LEARNED something from GLOMGOLD was
particularly well done.
You got the last laugh on Disney. From looking at your
original script (of which two panels were reproduced in the comic), I
notice that "warriors" on Page 9, Panel 7, was originally "Zulu
warriors." On the other hand, did Disney also change the line "you
made me sour" to "you made me mean"? I like to think that's a change
you would have made, because I like it better that way.
Disney DID delete the Mickey Mouse on the elephant's foot.
The cover illustrating this story was very good except for two
very minor problems. I found the linework on Scrooge to be too
bold; it darkened him so that his head almost blended in with the
background at its edges. Also, Scrooge's bill looked too narrow
on the left side (I don't think so many teeth should have been
visible there). But I'm being nitpicky now. TOO much so!
The other story in US 290 is a reprint of Tony Strobl's lead
story in US 76, "Bye-Bye, Money Bin." With a title like that you
think it couldn't get worse, but it was actually not so bad. Still,
I prefer a Danish story any day -- if the plot's no better, the
drawing, and added touches from a modern American dialoguer,
certainly are. These Strobl stories are just too CHILDISH for me.
They are written by people who believed that the entire audience was
under ten, and even when the plots are good, they are marred by that
approach. They are Disney comics made according to many people's
false perceptions of Disney comics.
So long, folks. I'll be back!
David Gerstein
<9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>
"A 'cowboy'? What's that? Some kind of apprentice MILKMAN?"
DAVID.A.GERSTEIN
Well, I'll be -- !
Message 45 -
1994-12-09 at 17:29:57
P. S. The title says it all. Gladstone's MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER
RANGERS comic (ack!) is out now, and it contains full-page
subscription ads for both Gladstone's Disney comics and Gladstone's
Disney albums. THAT'S the kind of advertising they can do! But I do
think they need a niftier subscription ad, with some action-filled
panels from the stories. Don's will do nicely.
P. P. S. This MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS comic is COMPLETELY
different than the one which was solicited and cancelled last Spring.
Artists, stories, and covers all different. Villain is different too
(the villain of the Season 2 shows as opposed to the villain of the
Season 1 shows), and that is particularly suspicious. I think Saban
may have told Gladstone what to do, then changed their minds and
forced them to eat a completed issue... >sigh<
RANGERS comic (ack!) is out now, and it contains full-page
subscription ads for both Gladstone's Disney comics and Gladstone's
Disney albums. THAT'S the kind of advertising they can do! But I do
think they need a niftier subscription ad, with some action-filled
panels from the stories. Don's will do nicely.
P. P. S. This MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS comic is COMPLETELY
different than the one which was solicited and cancelled last Spring.
Artists, stories, and covers all different. Villain is different too
(the villain of the Season 2 shows as opposed to the villain of the
Season 1 shows), and that is particularly suspicious. I think Saban
may have told Gladstone what to do, then changed their minds and
forced them to eat a completed issue... >sigh<