Does somebody know who have drawn the story "Leket ys" in the norwegian
DD&Co 50/51? The code is D96096 and the art is kind of dark and somewhat
detailed, but not as detailed as Don Rosa's. It's about Donald becomming
manager for a toyshop scrooge owns which has had several mystical breaking ins.
~Christer - "There he goes - trying to get out of his share of work!"
--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V96 Issue #275
******************************************
Author
Topic: 199612
(181 messages)
Christer Hanssen
D96096
Message 76 -
1996-12-11 at 14:12:21
Rune Brodersen
Analyzing Duckburg
Message 77 -
1996-12-12 at 17:35:33
Hello everybody
David Gerstein
Helping a Duck researcher
Message 78 -
1996-12-13 at 17:18:43
The following appeared in the "rec.arts.disney.misc" newsgroup
yesterday. I figured some of us could surely help this fellow... or
perhaps he's actually lurking here?
* * * * *
From: Rune Brodersen <(Email removed)>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney.misc
Subject: Analyzing Duckburg
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 19:41:35 +0000
Hello everybody
From today until next thursday I'm writing a paper about the Duckburg
society compared to historical development the western world with a
description of the influence Carl Barks has had developing the
characters as well as entire stories.
Any comments on this would be highly appreciated.
Please e-mail me privately.
Thank you very much.
Later, Rune
* * * * *
David Gerstein
<(Email removed)>
--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V96 Issue #276
******************************************
yesterday. I figured some of us could surely help this fellow... or
perhaps he's actually lurking here?
* * * * *
From: Rune Brodersen <(Email removed)>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney.misc
Subject: Analyzing Duckburg
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 19:41:35 +0000
Hello everybody
From today until next thursday I'm writing a paper about the Duckburg
society compared to historical development the western world with a
description of the influence Carl Barks has had developing the
characters as well as entire stories.
Any comments on this would be highly appreciated.
Please e-mail me privately.
Thank you very much.
Later, Rune
* * * * *
David Gerstein
<(Email removed)>
--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V96 Issue #276
******************************************
Marco Barlotti
Zio Paperone # 87 - Duck Family Tree!!!
Message 79 -
1996-12-14 at 11:42:13
Issue #87 of "Zio Paperone" (December 1996) contains the following:
Five pages by Lidia Cannatella and Alberto Becattini on Don's Duck Family Tree.
A three-page essay by Becattini on Daniel Branca - with a special mention of
David Gerstein, here called <the American enfant prodige> - nice, uhu?
"Return to Bear Mountain" (D 9614) by Anderson and Gabner, drawn by Branca.
First time that Branca appears on "Zio Paperone"! Lots of his stories have
already appeared in Italy, but on "minor" journals, like the former
"Paperino & C." and "Mega Almanacco".
"Mistery of the Swamp", by Barks.
"From Duckburk to Lillehammer", Don's ten-pager that's already been
discussed here. And a one-page essay by Luca Boschi, who reveals to Italian
readers Don's theory about the Ducks' world being <frozen> in the 1950's.
Last but not least: a JW story by Barks redrawn by Jippes ("The day the
mountain shook", H9251).
I'll comment on some of these later (maybe). But the most exciting news is:
tightly wrapped with ZP comes a large enough coloured copy of Don's Duck
Family Tree.
Each character has under his picture his full name in Italian (weird names,
often, expecially when the character has never appeared in a story!) and his
ORIGINAL ENGLISH name! Wow! That's great! How correct! But... wait... what
am I reading? <Gyro Gearloose and Edy>? Don can't possibly have written
that! Gyro's helper is called <Edi> in Italy because the late Guido Martina
tought it was a proper name (from Thomas EDIson) for a lightbulb! But we all
know that he is just <helper> in the rest of the world... Well probably not
exactly ALL ;-)
Also: Daisy is "Daisy Duck", all right; but who says that April, May and
June are "Duck" too? I. e., that they are daughters of a BROTHER of Daisy?
Don, is that your opinion? Or shouldn't their surname be left vague as yet?
(I liked A LOT your idea for HDL's father!)
I was also surprised that HDL have "Duck" as a surname too. So Della Duck
married a Mr. Duck? As I said in an earlier posting, certainly "Duck" must
be a very common name in Duckburg; but isn't this too much?
Er... another li'l detail. Three trees are depicted, each one with a label.
Each label, as above, is in Italian AND in English. But could Don have
possibly labelled the LEFT tree as < The Clan McDuck> ? Poor as my English
is, I'll bet my copy of the tree that it should be <The McDuck Clan>...
Marco
Five pages by Lidia Cannatella and Alberto Becattini on Don's Duck Family Tree.
A three-page essay by Becattini on Daniel Branca - with a special mention of
David Gerstein, here called <the American enfant prodige> - nice, uhu?
"Return to Bear Mountain" (D 9614) by Anderson and Gabner, drawn by Branca.
First time that Branca appears on "Zio Paperone"! Lots of his stories have
already appeared in Italy, but on "minor" journals, like the former
"Paperino & C." and "Mega Almanacco".
"Mistery of the Swamp", by Barks.
"From Duckburk to Lillehammer", Don's ten-pager that's already been
discussed here. And a one-page essay by Luca Boschi, who reveals to Italian
readers Don's theory about the Ducks' world being <frozen> in the 1950's.
Last but not least: a JW story by Barks redrawn by Jippes ("The day the
mountain shook", H9251).
I'll comment on some of these later (maybe). But the most exciting news is:
tightly wrapped with ZP comes a large enough coloured copy of Don's Duck
Family Tree.
Each character has under his picture his full name in Italian (weird names,
often, expecially when the character has never appeared in a story!) and his
ORIGINAL ENGLISH name! Wow! That's great! How correct! But... wait... what
am I reading? <Gyro Gearloose and Edy>? Don can't possibly have written
that! Gyro's helper is called <Edi> in Italy because the late Guido Martina
tought it was a proper name (from Thomas EDIson) for a lightbulb! But we all
know that he is just <helper> in the rest of the world... Well probably not
exactly ALL ;-)
Also: Daisy is "Daisy Duck", all right; but who says that April, May and
June are "Duck" too? I. e., that they are daughters of a BROTHER of Daisy?
Don, is that your opinion? Or shouldn't their surname be left vague as yet?
(I liked A LOT your idea for HDL's father!)
I was also surprised that HDL have "Duck" as a surname too. So Della Duck
married a Mr. Duck? As I said in an earlier posting, certainly "Duck" must
be a very common name in Duckburg; but isn't this too much?
Er... another li'l detail. Three trees are depicted, each one with a label.
Each label, as above, is in Italian AND in English. But could Don have
possibly labelled the LEFT tree as < The Clan McDuck> ? Poor as my English
is, I'll bet my copy of the tree that it should be <The McDuck Clan>...
Marco
Daniel Van Eijmeren
Replies to recent and less recent messages
Message 80 -
1996-12-14 at 15:53:30
HARRY FLUKS, 30-11-1996:
> Have you seen the most recent Dutch DD Extra? It prints Don's "Last
> Sled to Dawson". It was very well translated (especially the Robert
> W. Service poem)! And it also got a very good colouring!
The story indeed got a beautiful reprint, I'm curious what Don will
think of it when he sees it. Compliments to everyone involved in this
reprinting!
BTW. Some of the words in this reprint look rather strange. They used the
word "nugget" (and some other English words) *untranslated*. :-)
> It seems they plan to publish this story in a Scrooge album, as part
> of the "Life of Scrooge" series.
That would be very nice, maybe it will be the beginning of more Dutch
album-reprints of Rosa-stories?
JONATHAN MARKOFF, 01-12-1996:
> "Silent Night" is a Carl Barks about Donald and neighbour Jones fighting
> at Christmastime. It would have run in WDC&S 64, but Western vetoed it
> as too violent. It has been printed in the CBL and CBLiC, though.
Barks even got the story back without getting paid for it. Years later
he gave away the first half page of the story and since then that art
is lost.
In Holland, the story has been published with the first half page filled
in by Michel Nadorp. Michel's artwork isn't very 'Barkish', but what I've
heard is that he based his half page on the information of a Swedish fan
who interviewed Barks about it.
HARRY once told me this, maybe he can give more exact information about
this (his source for example)?
MARCO BARLOTTI, 02-12-1996:
> BARKS ENCYCLOPAEDIA (Daniel, but mostly every one else) Before
> discussing how to make it, we should get a list of distributors.
> Any one out there?
So far nobody has replied. If there were not more other things I also
want/need to do, I would have begun with some more work on it myself.
Maybe I'll do that in the near future? I can't make promises now.
If anyone (at this moment or while reading this message in the archives)
is enthousiastic about the project, please let me know.
I'm glad that you're so enthousiastic about the idea, Marco. Without that,
I wouldn't even have thought of ever finishing that long-ago project. Not
that it makes much difference at this moment. ;-)
STEVE ROWE, 02-12-1996:
> I see remarks about Carl Barks' editors... Did anyone other than Chase
> Craig edit Barks?
I have no idea. When I use the plural form "editors", I mean "people at
the office". I don't know who did exactly what, though.
But... there's at least one instance of someone else than Chase Craig
being mentioned editing Barks' work, the "Trick or Treat" story to be
exactly:
[...] Barks went on to add ten pages to the plot. [...] The editors
saw nothing wrong with a page of antics involving a goat, but the ogre
was another matter. "Alice Cobb deleted the extra business and *didn't
pay me* for the unwanted pages. She was that mad", Barks reported.
(Letter to Michael Barrier, January 25, 1971.) Source: CBL 2
Are there people who know more about this, or where more information on
Barks' editors can be found?
DAVID GERSTEIN, 02-12-1996:
[Junior Woodchucks-story "Be Leery of Lake Eerie"]
>> The editors ordered Barks to rescript the last half page (which he
>> did), making "it all comes out as sweet as raindrops on rose petals".
>> (Quote from letter to Barrier, 16 August 1972)"
> Actually, the Barrier book does make clear that it wasn't Barks who
> rewrote those last panels. He quotes Barks as saying "THE OFFICE [my
> emphasis] butchered my ending" and refers to "Barks' script" as opposed
> to the published version, which presumably reflects the script of Barks'
> editors.
Both the original ending and the revised one are published as script in
the CBL. Their drawing-style look exactly the same to me, so this is what
makes me think that Barks drew both of them. There have been more cases in
which the editors decided to butcher a Barks-story while leaving the job
to do it to Barks (for example "Land Beneath the Ground" and "Trick or
Treat"). Maybe this is also the case here?
FABRIZIO CELLERINI, 02-12-1996:
Also about "Be Leery of Lake Eery":
> Did you know that the Italian artist G.B. Carpi redrew this story for
> a Walt Disney Italy's book called "Qui, Quo, Qua" (=H.,D.,L.) 3 or 4
> years ago? So, if someone else is redrawing it too, we are going to
> have three different versions of the same story. Isn't this a kind of
> record? But we will never have the Barks' version...
Is the story you mentioned listed in the database? How does the art look?
JONATHAN MARKOFF, 05-12-1996:
About Walt Disney Comics and Stories:
> Not to mention all the adverstisements (and comics like "The Truth About
> Mother Goose") thinly disguised as documentary articles like "The Year
> That Was."
Maybe this is a matter of taste? I don't know if I'm the only one, but
I like to read those articles.
> About the return of slick covers to your comics: is good paper on the
> way? To tell the truth, if we had a choice between only either slick
> covers or good paper, good paper would be my choice without hesitation.
I also have to disagree here, I don't think the recent paper-quality is
very bad. The paper that *did* bother me was the paper used in the first
Gladstones. I have for example "Son of the Sun" and the pictures look
rather muddy, while black is not black but a dark kind of gray.
The covers also don't bother me very much, but maybe I'm used to it
because the Dutch weekly also is 'cover-less' (using the same paper for
the cover as for the pages).
Of course the paper could be better, but I don't think the paper-quality
makes so many complaints nescessary. (These comments are not only a reply
to your letter, but also to all the other letters about this matter.)
DON ROSA, 05-12-1996:
> I just received the new WDC&S with part 1 of "The Once and Future
> Duck"... and in a scene where the Ducks are watching a Briton running
> off over a hill, Donald is not saying my dialogue of "He's really
> hightailin' it!" [...]
Is someone writing down information like this (a list of changes and/or
censoring in Don's stories)? I think it would be nice to make a file with
all this information compiled. Maybe it could be another thing I could do
when I have the time (first I want to finish that CBL-changes file), but
I don't want to do unnescessary double work.
JAKOB SODERBAUM, weren't you working on such Don Rosa information files
for your upcoming (?) web-page?
FRANK STAJANO, 06-12-1996:
> yes, we are writing a book on Don Rosa for the Italian market. [...]
> Unfortunately there are currently no plans for this book to appear in
> any other language than Italian and we have no contacts with any
> English-speaking publisher. I realise that this severely limits the
> interest of our work for most of the readers of this list -- our
> apologies for that. It's not that we want to exclude you all from this
> (far from it!), it's just that it was hard enough to find the right
> publisher in our country [...]
Maybe you could make the book interesting for foreign readers by including
lots of unique art and/or reproductions of old publications?
DANNY COENEN, 06-12-1996:
>> I remembered someething about you being gone for quite a while. How
>> long have you been back?
I did have some problems with my e-mail, but that was about two monts ago.
There didn't get any mail for me lost in that period, though. It only
wasn't possible for me to get them from my provider at that time. There
were some problems at his side.
> Thanks for the music-info!
No need to say that! (Although it's always nice to hear!) ;-)
DON ROSA, 06-12-1996:
> I wish I could kill off one nephew! Two is plenty -- the third one is
> deadwood.
Do you *really* mean this? I always like those pictures in which the
nephews start panicing, one nephew runs away while the two other bump
against each other. It might be good to have only two nephews in certain
panels, but no third nephew at all would be very boring IMHO.
BTW. For a long time I have this question: Why don't your nephews have
those 'pie-cut' eyes anymore?
HARRY FLUKS, 06-12-1996:
> Hello, all! I m sending this mail from Pieter van Cleef's office. [...]
> My harddisk at home is now *really* broke. I haven't been able to send
> or read mail in the past week, and it will probably take another week
> before I'm back.
I hope to see you back soon!
KARE, 09-12-1996:
> GLADSTONE: The Carl Barks Library of Donald Duck Adventures in Color
> issue 2, there was a story called "The Mummy's Ring". In earlier
> publications tree of the pages was redrawn, because they were distroid.
> But in this issue they were restored by computers.
Are you sure about those computers? Could you tell me more about this?
BTW. The b/w CBL reprints both the original and the redrawn version
(which was made in 1965).
Greetings,
--- Daniel
"Hooray! I'm cured! My mind doesn't hurt anymore!"
The Mad Musician, OG 11 --- Carl Barks
> Have you seen the most recent Dutch DD Extra? It prints Don's "Last
> Sled to Dawson". It was very well translated (especially the Robert
> W. Service poem)! And it also got a very good colouring!
The story indeed got a beautiful reprint, I'm curious what Don will
think of it when he sees it. Compliments to everyone involved in this
reprinting!
BTW. Some of the words in this reprint look rather strange. They used the
word "nugget" (and some other English words) *untranslated*. :-)
> It seems they plan to publish this story in a Scrooge album, as part
> of the "Life of Scrooge" series.
That would be very nice, maybe it will be the beginning of more Dutch
album-reprints of Rosa-stories?
JONATHAN MARKOFF, 01-12-1996:
> "Silent Night" is a Carl Barks about Donald and neighbour Jones fighting
> at Christmastime. It would have run in WDC&S 64, but Western vetoed it
> as too violent. It has been printed in the CBL and CBLiC, though.
Barks even got the story back without getting paid for it. Years later
he gave away the first half page of the story and since then that art
is lost.
In Holland, the story has been published with the first half page filled
in by Michel Nadorp. Michel's artwork isn't very 'Barkish', but what I've
heard is that he based his half page on the information of a Swedish fan
who interviewed Barks about it.
HARRY once told me this, maybe he can give more exact information about
this (his source for example)?
MARCO BARLOTTI, 02-12-1996:
> BARKS ENCYCLOPAEDIA (Daniel, but mostly every one else) Before
> discussing how to make it, we should get a list of distributors.
> Any one out there?
So far nobody has replied. If there were not more other things I also
want/need to do, I would have begun with some more work on it myself.
Maybe I'll do that in the near future? I can't make promises now.
If anyone (at this moment or while reading this message in the archives)
is enthousiastic about the project, please let me know.
I'm glad that you're so enthousiastic about the idea, Marco. Without that,
I wouldn't even have thought of ever finishing that long-ago project. Not
that it makes much difference at this moment. ;-)
STEVE ROWE, 02-12-1996:
> I see remarks about Carl Barks' editors... Did anyone other than Chase
> Craig edit Barks?
I have no idea. When I use the plural form "editors", I mean "people at
the office". I don't know who did exactly what, though.
But... there's at least one instance of someone else than Chase Craig
being mentioned editing Barks' work, the "Trick or Treat" story to be
exactly:
[...] Barks went on to add ten pages to the plot. [...] The editors
saw nothing wrong with a page of antics involving a goat, but the ogre
was another matter. "Alice Cobb deleted the extra business and *didn't
pay me* for the unwanted pages. She was that mad", Barks reported.
(Letter to Michael Barrier, January 25, 1971.) Source: CBL 2
Are there people who know more about this, or where more information on
Barks' editors can be found?
DAVID GERSTEIN, 02-12-1996:
[Junior Woodchucks-story "Be Leery of Lake Eerie"]
>> The editors ordered Barks to rescript the last half page (which he
>> did), making "it all comes out as sweet as raindrops on rose petals".
>> (Quote from letter to Barrier, 16 August 1972)"
> Actually, the Barrier book does make clear that it wasn't Barks who
> rewrote those last panels. He quotes Barks as saying "THE OFFICE [my
> emphasis] butchered my ending" and refers to "Barks' script" as opposed
> to the published version, which presumably reflects the script of Barks'
> editors.
Both the original ending and the revised one are published as script in
the CBL. Their drawing-style look exactly the same to me, so this is what
makes me think that Barks drew both of them. There have been more cases in
which the editors decided to butcher a Barks-story while leaving the job
to do it to Barks (for example "Land Beneath the Ground" and "Trick or
Treat"). Maybe this is also the case here?
FABRIZIO CELLERINI, 02-12-1996:
Also about "Be Leery of Lake Eery":
> Did you know that the Italian artist G.B. Carpi redrew this story for
> a Walt Disney Italy's book called "Qui, Quo, Qua" (=H.,D.,L.) 3 or 4
> years ago? So, if someone else is redrawing it too, we are going to
> have three different versions of the same story. Isn't this a kind of
> record? But we will never have the Barks' version...
Is the story you mentioned listed in the database? How does the art look?
JONATHAN MARKOFF, 05-12-1996:
About Walt Disney Comics and Stories:
> Not to mention all the adverstisements (and comics like "The Truth About
> Mother Goose") thinly disguised as documentary articles like "The Year
> That Was."
Maybe this is a matter of taste? I don't know if I'm the only one, but
I like to read those articles.
> About the return of slick covers to your comics: is good paper on the
> way? To tell the truth, if we had a choice between only either slick
> covers or good paper, good paper would be my choice without hesitation.
I also have to disagree here, I don't think the recent paper-quality is
very bad. The paper that *did* bother me was the paper used in the first
Gladstones. I have for example "Son of the Sun" and the pictures look
rather muddy, while black is not black but a dark kind of gray.
The covers also don't bother me very much, but maybe I'm used to it
because the Dutch weekly also is 'cover-less' (using the same paper for
the cover as for the pages).
Of course the paper could be better, but I don't think the paper-quality
makes so many complaints nescessary. (These comments are not only a reply
to your letter, but also to all the other letters about this matter.)
DON ROSA, 05-12-1996:
> I just received the new WDC&S with part 1 of "The Once and Future
> Duck"... and in a scene where the Ducks are watching a Briton running
> off over a hill, Donald is not saying my dialogue of "He's really
> hightailin' it!" [...]
Is someone writing down information like this (a list of changes and/or
censoring in Don's stories)? I think it would be nice to make a file with
all this information compiled. Maybe it could be another thing I could do
when I have the time (first I want to finish that CBL-changes file), but
I don't want to do unnescessary double work.
JAKOB SODERBAUM, weren't you working on such Don Rosa information files
for your upcoming (?) web-page?
FRANK STAJANO, 06-12-1996:
> yes, we are writing a book on Don Rosa for the Italian market. [...]
> Unfortunately there are currently no plans for this book to appear in
> any other language than Italian and we have no contacts with any
> English-speaking publisher. I realise that this severely limits the
> interest of our work for most of the readers of this list -- our
> apologies for that. It's not that we want to exclude you all from this
> (far from it!), it's just that it was hard enough to find the right
> publisher in our country [...]
Maybe you could make the book interesting for foreign readers by including
lots of unique art and/or reproductions of old publications?
DANNY COENEN, 06-12-1996:
>> I remembered someething about you being gone for quite a while. How
>> long have you been back?
I did have some problems with my e-mail, but that was about two monts ago.
There didn't get any mail for me lost in that period, though. It only
wasn't possible for me to get them from my provider at that time. There
were some problems at his side.
> Thanks for the music-info!
No need to say that! (Although it's always nice to hear!) ;-)
DON ROSA, 06-12-1996:
> I wish I could kill off one nephew! Two is plenty -- the third one is
> deadwood.
Do you *really* mean this? I always like those pictures in which the
nephews start panicing, one nephew runs away while the two other bump
against each other. It might be good to have only two nephews in certain
panels, but no third nephew at all would be very boring IMHO.
BTW. For a long time I have this question: Why don't your nephews have
those 'pie-cut' eyes anymore?
HARRY FLUKS, 06-12-1996:
> Hello, all! I m sending this mail from Pieter van Cleef's office. [...]
> My harddisk at home is now *really* broke. I haven't been able to send
> or read mail in the past week, and it will probably take another week
> before I'm back.
I hope to see you back soon!
KARE, 09-12-1996:
> GLADSTONE: The Carl Barks Library of Donald Duck Adventures in Color
> issue 2, there was a story called "The Mummy's Ring". In earlier
> publications tree of the pages was redrawn, because they were distroid.
> But in this issue they were restored by computers.
Are you sure about those computers? Could you tell me more about this?
BTW. The b/w CBL reprints both the original and the redrawn version
(which was made in 1965).
Greetings,
--- Daniel
"Hooray! I'm cured! My mind doesn't hurt anymore!"
The Mad Musician, OG 11 --- Carl Barks
Daniel Van Eijmeren
Changes in the Carl Barks Library
Message 81 -
1996-12-14 at 16:27:20
GARY LEACH, 02-12-1996:
Gary commented on the CBL-changes list:
>>CGW '47 Atom Bomb
>>
>> Redrawn. Last panel censored: a pyramid of bottles is shown instead of
>> a cash register, and combs are in the customers' hands instead of
>> money.
> One of the most painful experiences of the entire CBL project. The
> original ending just wasn't going to pass, and we soul-searched for
> months over whether to even bother printing the story at all. In the
> end, though, it just wasn't enough to say "and Barks also did a story
> called "Atom Bomb", which we can't show you." We did the necessary
> drastic surgery, and ever since we've looked at the result as seldom as
> possible.
There is a question which I have for long time and you seem to be the
person who knows the answer: Why didn't the CBL use the original art of
some of the give-away stories? Is the original art-work lost and if so,
why didn't the CBL use the original give-away prints? Or isn't it possible
to reprint a story with a comic-book as original? (What does an editor
need to be able to reprint a story?)
Can you also tell the story behind the CBL-in-Colour version of "Santa's
Stormy Visit"? Was the original art discovered or is it a perfectly
restored version?
BTW. What exactly is left of Barks' original artwork for his stories?
I've once heard that everything was put on micro-film (which turned out
to be a disaster) while the originals were destroyed. Is this true?
>> Lots of covers in CBL 10 are reproduced a very badly state [...]
> No argument that these were screwed up. This set had to be punched out
> before our CBL license expired.
Apart from these covers, CBL10 still looks very good despite the haste.
Or was there more planned to be in it, which didn't make it? (Whatever
that could be.)
Do you know the story behind the alternate cover for WDC 260 which is on
the slipcase? Why did Barks make two versions?
(Enough questions?) ;-)
Greetings,
--- Daniel
"Hooray! I'm cured! My mind doesn't hurt anymore!"
The Mad Musician, OG 11 --- Carl Barks
Gary commented on the CBL-changes list:
>>CGW '47 Atom Bomb
>>
>> Redrawn. Last panel censored: a pyramid of bottles is shown instead of
>> a cash register, and combs are in the customers' hands instead of
>> money.
> One of the most painful experiences of the entire CBL project. The
> original ending just wasn't going to pass, and we soul-searched for
> months over whether to even bother printing the story at all. In the
> end, though, it just wasn't enough to say "and Barks also did a story
> called "Atom Bomb", which we can't show you." We did the necessary
> drastic surgery, and ever since we've looked at the result as seldom as
> possible.
There is a question which I have for long time and you seem to be the
person who knows the answer: Why didn't the CBL use the original art of
some of the give-away stories? Is the original art-work lost and if so,
why didn't the CBL use the original give-away prints? Or isn't it possible
to reprint a story with a comic-book as original? (What does an editor
need to be able to reprint a story?)
Can you also tell the story behind the CBL-in-Colour version of "Santa's
Stormy Visit"? Was the original art discovered or is it a perfectly
restored version?
BTW. What exactly is left of Barks' original artwork for his stories?
I've once heard that everything was put on micro-film (which turned out
to be a disaster) while the originals were destroyed. Is this true?
>> Lots of covers in CBL 10 are reproduced a very badly state [...]
> No argument that these were screwed up. This set had to be punched out
> before our CBL license expired.
Apart from these covers, CBL10 still looks very good despite the haste.
Or was there more planned to be in it, which didn't make it? (Whatever
that could be.)
Do you know the story behind the alternate cover for WDC 260 which is on
the slipcase? Why did Barks make two versions?
(Enough questions?) ;-)
Greetings,
--- Daniel
"Hooray! I'm cured! My mind doesn't hurt anymore!"
The Mad Musician, OG 11 --- Carl Barks
Markoff
Zio Paperone #87, Digest 275
Message 82 -
1996-12-14 at 17:26:30
MARCO:
>Er... another li'l detail. Three trees are depicted, each one with a label.
>Each label, as above, is in Italian AND in English. But could Don have
>possibly labelled the LEFT tree as < The Clan McDuck> ? Poor as my English
>is, I'll bet my copy of the tree that it should be <The McDuck Clan>...
No, that's what Don wrote, and it's the standard style of writing Scottish
clan names--Clan MacGregor, Clan MacDonald, et cetera. The term "mac" means
"son," so "Clan MacDonald" means something like "family of the sons of
Donald" or "family of the descendants of Donald." My own ancestors were (in
theory) from the Clan Buchanan, whose American cousin James was US President
from 1857-1861.
PER:
What happened to Disney Comics Digest V96 #275? I've got 276, but I can't
even get 275 from the "archive retrieval" engine. I subscribe to the
individual messages as well as the digests, so I've found that there are
some messages still lying around in oblivion:
Don Rosa Re: Disney comics Digest V96 #274
David Gerstein Re: Disney comics Digest V96 #274
Shaun M. Knowler a little Lo$ Mix-up
Christer Hanssen US His life and times
Daniel van Eijmeren Original ending of "DD's Atom Bomb"
Christer Hanssen D96096
Should those messages be resent?
--Jonathan Markoff
>Er... another li'l detail. Three trees are depicted, each one with a label.
>Each label, as above, is in Italian AND in English. But could Don have
>possibly labelled the LEFT tree as < The Clan McDuck> ? Poor as my English
>is, I'll bet my copy of the tree that it should be <The McDuck Clan>...
No, that's what Don wrote, and it's the standard style of writing Scottish
clan names--Clan MacGregor, Clan MacDonald, et cetera. The term "mac" means
"son," so "Clan MacDonald" means something like "family of the sons of
Donald" or "family of the descendants of Donald." My own ancestors were (in
theory) from the Clan Buchanan, whose American cousin James was US President
from 1857-1861.
PER:
What happened to Disney Comics Digest V96 #275? I've got 276, but I can't
even get 275 from the "archive retrieval" engine. I subscribe to the
individual messages as well as the digests, so I've found that there are
some messages still lying around in oblivion:
Don Rosa Re: Disney comics Digest V96 #274
David Gerstein Re: Disney comics Digest V96 #274
Shaun M. Knowler a little Lo$ Mix-up
Christer Hanssen US His life and times
Daniel van Eijmeren Original ending of "DD's Atom Bomb"
Christer Hanssen D96096
Should those messages be resent?
--Jonathan Markoff
Daniel Van Eijmeren
Marco Polo, the original dialogue
Message 83 -
1996-12-14 at 18:11:40
JONATHAN MARKOFF:
You asked for the original dialogue of Barks' "Treasure of Marco Polo"
(U$ 64). Here are the original balloon-texts of what's changed in the CBL:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
TREASURE OF MARCO POLO - WHAT'S CHANGED IN THE CBL?
("3.1" means: page 3, panel 1.)
TEXT-CHANGES:
3.1 "Unsteadystan is reeking with civil wars! Guerillas were raiding
the chief port of Bang-sock as we were loading!"
3.7 "I'm Soy Bheen, a poor peasant boy! Whan Beeg Rhat is the rebel
brigand who is trying to be dictator of Unsteadystan!"
4.1 "I crawled in to hide from the rebels!"
4.2 "No, the rebels had stolen it before the shooting began!"
4.7 "I paid the Unsteadystan premier a million dollars in *advance*
for the jade beast! That's enough loss for one deal!"
6.6 "Somebody's always shooting at somebody in Unsteadystan,
Mr. McDuck!"
7.1 "Keep low and follow me! There's a *battle* going on between two
rival rebel bands."
9.3 "Whan Beeg Rhat, si! Duckburg, no!"
9.4 "Rebel Debbil, you're fighting in *siesta* time! It's five minutes
*after* one!"
9.5 "Shows you can't trust these watches from the workers' paradise!"
10.4 "Beeg Rhat will come out of his jungle hide-out for the right kind
of *loot*!"
[In the CBL this balloon is shortened a bit, you can see a bit of
it's original silhoutte in the black on the left.]
10.5 "No, *power*! Every thug in Unsteadystan wants to be *ruler*! None
can succeed however while a *certain person* is alive!"
10.6 "The young *Prince Char Ming*! Only he can unite the people and make
them peaceful!"
10.7 "He's *away* at school, and all these would-be rulers would erase
him on sight if he returns!"
11.2 "There are still garments in the closets! At least the in-and-out
rulers haven't sold *them* like they did the royal jade elephant!"
15.5 "Hail to Wahn Beeg Rhat, dictator of all the happy people ---
happy or not!"
20.6 "So you sneaked back to reunite Unsteadystan, *prince*? Well, the
joke is on you! Ha, ha!"
23.4 - "Who is he? We've had sixty rulers in sixty months!"
- "All phonies! The true ruler will appear in the sacred howdah!"
23.7 "Prince *Target* to me! Shoot him, Rhat brats! Don't let him spoil
my *revolution*!"
24.2 - "And keep these silly revolutions going forever?"
- "No! We suddenly think it'd be nice for Unsteadystan to have a
*king* again -- like in the *good old days*!"
ART-CHANGES:
In panel 16.2 and 21.7 the strangle-string of Soy Bheen is removed.
As already mentioned, the balloon in panel 10.4 is shortened.
Send comments to Daniel van Eijmeren ((Email removed)) and/or to
the Disney-Comics Mailing List ((Email removed)).
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I hope PER can make this a file on his web-site when my CBL-changes list
is finished.
Greetings,
--- Daniel
"Hooray! I'm cured! My mind doesn't hurt anymore!"
The Mad Musician, OG 11 --- Carl Barks
You asked for the original dialogue of Barks' "Treasure of Marco Polo"
(U$ 64). Here are the original balloon-texts of what's changed in the CBL:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
TREASURE OF MARCO POLO - WHAT'S CHANGED IN THE CBL?
("3.1" means: page 3, panel 1.)
TEXT-CHANGES:
3.1 "Unsteadystan is reeking with civil wars! Guerillas were raiding
the chief port of Bang-sock as we were loading!"
3.7 "I'm Soy Bheen, a poor peasant boy! Whan Beeg Rhat is the rebel
brigand who is trying to be dictator of Unsteadystan!"
4.1 "I crawled in to hide from the rebels!"
4.2 "No, the rebels had stolen it before the shooting began!"
4.7 "I paid the Unsteadystan premier a million dollars in *advance*
for the jade beast! That's enough loss for one deal!"
6.6 "Somebody's always shooting at somebody in Unsteadystan,
Mr. McDuck!"
7.1 "Keep low and follow me! There's a *battle* going on between two
rival rebel bands."
9.3 "Whan Beeg Rhat, si! Duckburg, no!"
9.4 "Rebel Debbil, you're fighting in *siesta* time! It's five minutes
*after* one!"
9.5 "Shows you can't trust these watches from the workers' paradise!"
10.4 "Beeg Rhat will come out of his jungle hide-out for the right kind
of *loot*!"
[In the CBL this balloon is shortened a bit, you can see a bit of
it's original silhoutte in the black on the left.]
10.5 "No, *power*! Every thug in Unsteadystan wants to be *ruler*! None
can succeed however while a *certain person* is alive!"
10.6 "The young *Prince Char Ming*! Only he can unite the people and make
them peaceful!"
10.7 "He's *away* at school, and all these would-be rulers would erase
him on sight if he returns!"
11.2 "There are still garments in the closets! At least the in-and-out
rulers haven't sold *them* like they did the royal jade elephant!"
15.5 "Hail to Wahn Beeg Rhat, dictator of all the happy people ---
happy or not!"
20.6 "So you sneaked back to reunite Unsteadystan, *prince*? Well, the
joke is on you! Ha, ha!"
23.4 - "Who is he? We've had sixty rulers in sixty months!"
- "All phonies! The true ruler will appear in the sacred howdah!"
23.7 "Prince *Target* to me! Shoot him, Rhat brats! Don't let him spoil
my *revolution*!"
24.2 - "And keep these silly revolutions going forever?"
- "No! We suddenly think it'd be nice for Unsteadystan to have a
*king* again -- like in the *good old days*!"
ART-CHANGES:
In panel 16.2 and 21.7 the strangle-string of Soy Bheen is removed.
As already mentioned, the balloon in panel 10.4 is shortened.
Send comments to Daniel van Eijmeren ((Email removed)) and/or to
the Disney-Comics Mailing List ((Email removed)).
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I hope PER can make this a file on his web-site when my CBL-changes list
is finished.
Greetings,
--- Daniel
"Hooray! I'm cured! My mind doesn't hurt anymore!"
The Mad Musician, OG 11 --- Carl Barks
Jetton Torix
Disney comics Digest V96 #276
Message 84 -
1996-12-14 at 18:19:44
please unscribe me (Email removed)
Jetton Torix
internet class sat noon
(Email removed)
(Email removed)
Jetton Torix
internet class sat noon
(Email removed)
(Email removed)
Markoff
Treasure of Marco Polo
Message 85 -
1996-12-15 at 05:47:24
DANIEL VAN EIJMEREN:
Thanks for the original dialogue to "Treasure of Marco Polo"! I've now
pencilled this into my copy of U$A 42.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Some of the changes seem pointless. Why was it necessary to delete the part
about having had "sixty rulers in sixty months?" I feel the deletion cut a
deeper dimension from the story. And some changes neither hurt nor help the
story--"premier" in 4.7 is changed to "regents," at various instances the
name "Unsteadystan" is replaced by "a war zone" or something of that nature,
"..come out of his jungle hideout.." in 10.4 is now "..come running..",
"dicator" on 15.5 is changed to "conqueror." In fact, in 10.6, "Only he
unite the people and make them peaceful!" is changed to "Only he can rally
the people and defeat Rhat's brats!" which sounds harsher than the original!
I can see why they would omit insulting dialect, like "Rebbil Debbil" and
"Si" on page 9. (Opening a whole new can o' worms now that we know the
original, why would an ASIAN guerilla speak with a SPANISH accent?) One
detail of the "new" version I liked, though, was the joke about McDuck
Enterprise watches.
Last month, deaths in Barks stories was a hot topic on the list. To me,
there looks to be a very suggestive hint that Wahn Beeg Rhat bought the farm
(seconds after the "camera" moved away from him) on the last page! And
there's that garroted soldier on page 16...
**END OF SPOILERS**
Come to think of it, this reminds me of the Phantom Blot story from PB 3
reprinted three years ago in U$A 23 (Whew! Time flies!) about the Blot and
the Beagles chasing Scrooge back in time to a medieval village. Apparently
it was altered because Gladstone figured that some of the events in it
(money growing on trees etc.) would seem too "silly" to "mature" Gladstone
readers. Can anyone send the original dialogue of that to the list?
--Jonathan Markoff
Thanks for the original dialogue to "Treasure of Marco Polo"! I've now
pencilled this into my copy of U$A 42.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Some of the changes seem pointless. Why was it necessary to delete the part
about having had "sixty rulers in sixty months?" I feel the deletion cut a
deeper dimension from the story. And some changes neither hurt nor help the
story--"premier" in 4.7 is changed to "regents," at various instances the
name "Unsteadystan" is replaced by "a war zone" or something of that nature,
"..come out of his jungle hideout.." in 10.4 is now "..come running..",
"dicator" on 15.5 is changed to "conqueror." In fact, in 10.6, "Only he
unite the people and make them peaceful!" is changed to "Only he can rally
the people and defeat Rhat's brats!" which sounds harsher than the original!
I can see why they would omit insulting dialect, like "Rebbil Debbil" and
"Si" on page 9. (Opening a whole new can o' worms now that we know the
original, why would an ASIAN guerilla speak with a SPANISH accent?) One
detail of the "new" version I liked, though, was the joke about McDuck
Enterprise watches.
Last month, deaths in Barks stories was a hot topic on the list. To me,
there looks to be a very suggestive hint that Wahn Beeg Rhat bought the farm
(seconds after the "camera" moved away from him) on the last page! And
there's that garroted soldier on page 16...
**END OF SPOILERS**
Come to think of it, this reminds me of the Phantom Blot story from PB 3
reprinted three years ago in U$A 23 (Whew! Time flies!) about the Blot and
the Beagles chasing Scrooge back in time to a medieval village. Apparently
it was altered because Gladstone figured that some of the events in it
(money growing on trees etc.) would seem too "silly" to "mature" Gladstone
readers. Can anyone send the original dialogue of that to the list?
--Jonathan Markoff
David Gerstein
Missing digests?
Message 86 -
1996-12-15 at 21:28:05
PER:
Yesterday Daniel Eijmeren asked (in a private letter) "Is there
something wrong at Per's computer, btw? The club has been rather silent the
last days (at least in my mailbox) and I didn't get digest 275."
I'm wondering what's happened, too. I do recall getting one very
brief digest (with only one of my messages in it and one other brief one),
but nothing else in days. Have we finally run out of things to say?
David Gerstein
<(Email removed)>
--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V96 Issue #277
******************************************
Yesterday Daniel Eijmeren asked (in a private letter) "Is there
something wrong at Per's computer, btw? The club has been rather silent the
last days (at least in my mailbox) and I didn't get digest 275."
I'm wondering what's happened, too. I do recall getting one very
brief digest (with only one of my messages in it and one other brief one),
but nothing else in days. Have we finally run out of things to say?
David Gerstein
<(Email removed)>
--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V96 Issue #277
******************************************
David Gerstein
Disney comics Digest V96 #277
Message 87 -
1996-12-16 at 00:18:55
MARCO:
I'm honored to be mentioned in ZIO PAPERONE! Can you get me a copy
of this? (I'll trade Gladstone or Egmont back issues to you for it).
Maybe with a translation of the article too, because not only am I curious
to learn exactly what was said about me, but I also want to learn more
about Daniel Branca, one of my favorite artists.
I *have* grown up a little since Alberto saw me last, though ;-)
The fact that "Return to Bear Mountain" bears that title and
credits Gary Gabner reveals that they're taking it from the American
version, not the original Egmont one (which was titled "Crazy Christmas on
Bear Mountain").
JONATHAN:
Regarding "Treasure of Marco Polo", I can tell why the changes you
questioned were made, even if I don't agree with them.
The concept of someone trying to take over Unsteadystan was okay
with Disney, but it seems that it couldn't explicitly be called a
REVOLUTION -- because this suggests that there are countries out there
whose rulers may deserve to be overthrown by the common people rising up.
(Which may be perfectly true, but the concept was seen as too weighty for a
Disney comic.)
Changes like (3.1), (6.6), (7.1), and others were made because they
suggested that large numbers of commoners were fighting for control of the
country. One thug trying to take power with his pals and forced laborers =
okay. But various GROUPS of COMMONERS trying to defeat the status quo,
thus implying that most of the people have a gripe with it = not okay.
(6.6) in particular was also changed, I suspect, because the mere
concept of shooting at others being a country's custom was seen as too
cynical.
(10.4): describing the hideout indicates that Whan Beeg Rhat is a
citizen working from a private lair, not an "enemy general".
(10.6) and (24.2): If you're looking for controversy, you could say
that this panel suggests that the real problem is unruly citizens and
potential anarchy, which only old-fashioned authoritarian rule ("a KING []
just like in the GOOD OLD DAYS") can suppress. I think this is a case of
reading too much into Barks' simple attempt to wrap up the story
peacefully.
(15.5): If one feels the mere concepts of civil war and anarchy, no
matter how realistic they might be, are too controversial, then using the
word dictator must be too controversial, too.
I once spoke to the fellow who'd asked Gladstone to do the
censoring of this story. The reason that "Marco Polo" was seen as having
particularly severe implications is that it's a direct, contemporary
parallel to the Vietnam War -- when, like it or no, the U. S. stepped in to
reinforce the former status quo in a country that was not merely being
attacked, but by an enemy who had a lot of popular support in the country
it was attacking, thus seeming more like a savior than a conqueror to some.
The exact moral principles at play were a little fuzzy, which is why this
war has been a subject of controversy ever since (no offense intended to
Vietnam vets).
The Vietnam parallels are also why the concept of revolution, while
not being allowed in a reprint of this particular story, was allowed to
stay in the ten-pagers "Captain Blight's Mystery Ship" and "Have Gun, Will
Dance" (the second of which Disney itself reprinted in an issue of DDA).
In those ten-pagers, it may be CALLED "revolution", but it is shown less as
a citizens' uprising than as the "one villain trying to seize power"
scenario.
Do I agree with the censorship of "Marco Polo" in the regular
comics? Well, I think that too many changes were demanded. Do I think the
story should have been censored in the CBL? No. Barks' original story is
IMHO the very best one he did in the 1960s, and even if one can make a case
that the story's topics are too mature for the youngest comic-readers, I
still feel that a product designed specifically for older fans should
feature it unedited.
David Gerstein
<(Email removed)>
I'm honored to be mentioned in ZIO PAPERONE! Can you get me a copy
of this? (I'll trade Gladstone or Egmont back issues to you for it).
Maybe with a translation of the article too, because not only am I curious
to learn exactly what was said about me, but I also want to learn more
about Daniel Branca, one of my favorite artists.
I *have* grown up a little since Alberto saw me last, though ;-)
The fact that "Return to Bear Mountain" bears that title and
credits Gary Gabner reveals that they're taking it from the American
version, not the original Egmont one (which was titled "Crazy Christmas on
Bear Mountain").
JONATHAN:
Regarding "Treasure of Marco Polo", I can tell why the changes you
questioned were made, even if I don't agree with them.
The concept of someone trying to take over Unsteadystan was okay
with Disney, but it seems that it couldn't explicitly be called a
REVOLUTION -- because this suggests that there are countries out there
whose rulers may deserve to be overthrown by the common people rising up.
(Which may be perfectly true, but the concept was seen as too weighty for a
Disney comic.)
Changes like (3.1), (6.6), (7.1), and others were made because they
suggested that large numbers of commoners were fighting for control of the
country. One thug trying to take power with his pals and forced laborers =
okay. But various GROUPS of COMMONERS trying to defeat the status quo,
thus implying that most of the people have a gripe with it = not okay.
(6.6) in particular was also changed, I suspect, because the mere
concept of shooting at others being a country's custom was seen as too
cynical.
(10.4): describing the hideout indicates that Whan Beeg Rhat is a
citizen working from a private lair, not an "enemy general".
(10.6) and (24.2): If you're looking for controversy, you could say
that this panel suggests that the real problem is unruly citizens and
potential anarchy, which only old-fashioned authoritarian rule ("a KING []
just like in the GOOD OLD DAYS") can suppress. I think this is a case of
reading too much into Barks' simple attempt to wrap up the story
peacefully.
(15.5): If one feels the mere concepts of civil war and anarchy, no
matter how realistic they might be, are too controversial, then using the
word dictator must be too controversial, too.
I once spoke to the fellow who'd asked Gladstone to do the
censoring of this story. The reason that "Marco Polo" was seen as having
particularly severe implications is that it's a direct, contemporary
parallel to the Vietnam War -- when, like it or no, the U. S. stepped in to
reinforce the former status quo in a country that was not merely being
attacked, but by an enemy who had a lot of popular support in the country
it was attacking, thus seeming more like a savior than a conqueror to some.
The exact moral principles at play were a little fuzzy, which is why this
war has been a subject of controversy ever since (no offense intended to
Vietnam vets).
The Vietnam parallels are also why the concept of revolution, while
not being allowed in a reprint of this particular story, was allowed to
stay in the ten-pagers "Captain Blight's Mystery Ship" and "Have Gun, Will
Dance" (the second of which Disney itself reprinted in an issue of DDA).
In those ten-pagers, it may be CALLED "revolution", but it is shown less as
a citizens' uprising than as the "one villain trying to seize power"
scenario.
Do I agree with the censorship of "Marco Polo" in the regular
comics? Well, I think that too many changes were demanded. Do I think the
story should have been censored in the CBL? No. Barks' original story is
IMHO the very best one he did in the 1960s, and even if one can make a case
that the story's topics are too mature for the youngest comic-readers, I
still feel that a product designed specifically for older fans should
feature it unedited.
David Gerstein
<(Email removed)>
Frank Stajano
Disney comics Digest V96 #271
Message 88 -
1996-12-16 at 02:11:59
JAN:
>>your Leonardo da Vinci comic. Penguins don't talk. You might personally
>
>Don, first I must congratulate you on your brave attempt to cover up what has
>come to be known as "The Penguin Affair". On the other hand I feel that the
>truth must be known. Although I can not reveal my sources for security
reasons,
>I hereby make the following publicly available:
>
>
>=== FILE: penguin.txt
>=== Date: 68-06-09
>=== Ref: Scarpa and Cimino, "Mickey meets Doctor Neutron"
> I-654A (entry code JB 19i)
>=== Status: classified
Well done Jan for bringing up this wonderful story and for the entertaining
way in which you presented this affair! I must say that I thought of the
same story when I read Don's comment about penguins (except that I only go
through the digests in batches, and you had already sent your reply by then).
A few factual corrections: the story appeared in Topolino Libretto 596 and
597 (1967), thus its extrapolated story code (Italian stories didn't have
codes back then) would be, if anything, I-596-A.
The story was written and drawn by Scarpa (no involvement from Cimino), and
inked by Cavazzano; in fact it was in a sense the last "classical" story
written by the Venetian master. It merges the best of both worlds: the end
of the phase where Scarpa was writing his best plots, and the beginning of
the phase where he produced his finest art. The original title is "Topolino
e l'ultraghiaccio".
On the subject of talking penguins, I agree with Don's view that ducks (and
mice) are people, *not* funny animals, and so you can't just add other
random animals to the cast and make them talk. This just wouldn't work in
this universe. Or else it would take something very special -- like for
example the genius of a comics master like Scarpa, who can make the
penguins themselves be people, as real and as credible as the pseudo-mice
and black-nosed pseudo-dogs themselves are.
So, basically:
"penguins don't talk"
"but look, Scarpa's done it!"
"yes, but he's Scarpa: don't try this at home, kids!"
:-)))
Frank (filologo disneyano) http://www.orl.co.uk/~fms/
>>your Leonardo da Vinci comic. Penguins don't talk. You might personally
>
>Don, first I must congratulate you on your brave attempt to cover up what has
>come to be known as "The Penguin Affair". On the other hand I feel that the
>truth must be known. Although I can not reveal my sources for security
reasons,
>I hereby make the following publicly available:
>
>
>=== FILE: penguin.txt
>=== Date: 68-06-09
>=== Ref: Scarpa and Cimino, "Mickey meets Doctor Neutron"
> I-654A (entry code JB 19i)
>=== Status: classified
Well done Jan for bringing up this wonderful story and for the entertaining
way in which you presented this affair! I must say that I thought of the
same story when I read Don's comment about penguins (except that I only go
through the digests in batches, and you had already sent your reply by then).
A few factual corrections: the story appeared in Topolino Libretto 596 and
597 (1967), thus its extrapolated story code (Italian stories didn't have
codes back then) would be, if anything, I-596-A.
The story was written and drawn by Scarpa (no involvement from Cimino), and
inked by Cavazzano; in fact it was in a sense the last "classical" story
written by the Venetian master. It merges the best of both worlds: the end
of the phase where Scarpa was writing his best plots, and the beginning of
the phase where he produced his finest art. The original title is "Topolino
e l'ultraghiaccio".
On the subject of talking penguins, I agree with Don's view that ducks (and
mice) are people, *not* funny animals, and so you can't just add other
random animals to the cast and make them talk. This just wouldn't work in
this universe. Or else it would take something very special -- like for
example the genius of a comics master like Scarpa, who can make the
penguins themselves be people, as real and as credible as the pseudo-mice
and black-nosed pseudo-dogs themselves are.
So, basically:
"penguins don't talk"
"but look, Scarpa's done it!"
"yes, but he's Scarpa: don't try this at home, kids!"
:-)))
Frank (filologo disneyano) http://www.orl.co.uk/~fms/
Don Rosa
Disney comics Digest V96 #277
Message 89 -
1996-12-16 at 07:22:30
MARCO:
I look forward to seeing what a nice (as always) presentation ZIO PAPERONE
did of my Duck Family Tree. That's in #87? The last issue I have is #84
(thanks to you having sent me #81-84).
No, I certainly would never give Gyro's helper a name! "Edy"?!
And what Luca is writing about Daisy Duck having a brother who is the father
to April, May and June... did that also say that my Tree says that Daisy is
the sister of whoever it was that married Della? (Della being HD&L's mother,
Donald's sister.) These are things that I had in my notes but which I never
decided to make an "official" part of a Tree, not even my own private
version of the Tree (the way Ludwig Von Drake is married to Matilda McDuck
in my own version of the Tree, but that being a detail rejected by the
editors). But that shows you how thorough they are in their research.
And I don't think it would be too outlandish that the last name of "Duck"
being very common in Duckburg... like Smith or Jones. However, it still
might be a better idea to avoid that notion unless it's absolutely
unavoidable, just to avoid confusion. That comes from someone who knows -- I
have/had a great aunt back in Italy (so my father tells me) who was born a
Rosa, given the name first name of Rosa (Rosa Rosa) and eventually married a
Rosa from a different family (Rosa Rosa Rosa).
DANIEL v.E.:
When I said I'd like to "kill off a nephew", I of course didn't mean I'd
like to actually do that in the existing "universe". I just wish they
(whoever it was) hadn't originally chosen the idea of three nephews instead
of just two. Y'need a second nephew to give the first one someone to speak
his thoughts aloud to, as well as a partner / helper / etc. ... but that
third nephew really contributes nothing more than extra art chores. However,
he's been there for a mere 59 3/4 years, so I wouldn't want to change things
at this rawthuh late date.
On the other hand... you say you don't think it would be funny to have a
scene where there are two nephews running about in confusion and colliding
with each other... but it IS funny to have two nephews colliding with each
other if there's a third nephew running away? Hm. The subtlety escapes me.
As for the "pie-cut eyes", that's an old technique that I am gradually
weening myself from simply by preference. I personally think the nephews'
eyes are too small to fit those odd pie-cuts into, so I opt for the round
gleam instead. I also eliminated the pie-cuts in DD's and U$'s eyes at any
time except when they are looking directly right or left... and that may
also change as well as time goes on.
I look forward to seeing what a nice (as always) presentation ZIO PAPERONE
did of my Duck Family Tree. That's in #87? The last issue I have is #84
(thanks to you having sent me #81-84).
No, I certainly would never give Gyro's helper a name! "Edy"?!
And what Luca is writing about Daisy Duck having a brother who is the father
to April, May and June... did that also say that my Tree says that Daisy is
the sister of whoever it was that married Della? (Della being HD&L's mother,
Donald's sister.) These are things that I had in my notes but which I never
decided to make an "official" part of a Tree, not even my own private
version of the Tree (the way Ludwig Von Drake is married to Matilda McDuck
in my own version of the Tree, but that being a detail rejected by the
editors). But that shows you how thorough they are in their research.
And I don't think it would be too outlandish that the last name of "Duck"
being very common in Duckburg... like Smith or Jones. However, it still
might be a better idea to avoid that notion unless it's absolutely
unavoidable, just to avoid confusion. That comes from someone who knows -- I
have/had a great aunt back in Italy (so my father tells me) who was born a
Rosa, given the name first name of Rosa (Rosa Rosa) and eventually married a
Rosa from a different family (Rosa Rosa Rosa).
DANIEL v.E.:
When I said I'd like to "kill off a nephew", I of course didn't mean I'd
like to actually do that in the existing "universe". I just wish they
(whoever it was) hadn't originally chosen the idea of three nephews instead
of just two. Y'need a second nephew to give the first one someone to speak
his thoughts aloud to, as well as a partner / helper / etc. ... but that
third nephew really contributes nothing more than extra art chores. However,
he's been there for a mere 59 3/4 years, so I wouldn't want to change things
at this rawthuh late date.
On the other hand... you say you don't think it would be funny to have a
scene where there are two nephews running about in confusion and colliding
with each other... but it IS funny to have two nephews colliding with each
other if there's a third nephew running away? Hm. The subtlety escapes me.
As for the "pie-cut eyes", that's an old technique that I am gradually
weening myself from simply by preference. I personally think the nephews'
eyes are too small to fit those odd pie-cuts into, so I opt for the round
gleam instead. I also eliminated the pie-cuts in DD's and U$'s eyes at any
time except when they are looking directly right or left... and that may
also change as well as time goes on.
RMorris306
Disney comics Digest V96 #277
Message 90 -
1996-12-16 at 07:56:52
Hi! I've been away for Thanksgiving, and spent the next couple of weeks just
catching up...but maybe now I'll have time to post here once more.
Marco Barlotti wrote:
<<Daisy is "Daisy Duck", all right; but who says that April, May and June
are "Duck" too? I. e., that they are daughters of a BROTHER of Daisy? Don, is
that your opinion? Or shouldn't their surname be left vague as yet?>>
No, their surname almost certainly isn't "Duck," since they're the
daughters of Daisy's married sister. (No, they don't live with Daisy. They
just visit sometimes.) This was established in their first appearance in
Barks' classic story about Flipism. (I wonder if Flipism and its prophet,
Professor Batty, were in any way inspired by the coin-flipping fetish of the
Batman villain, Two-Face?)
<<I was also surprised that HDL have "Duck" as a surname too. So Della Duck
married a Mr. Duck? As I said in an earlier posting, certainly "Duck" must be
a very common name in Duckburg; but isn't this too much?>>
IF she was ever married to their father. I seem to recall our own Don
Rosa's comments on the Barks family tree, long ago, "You'll notice there's
only ONE line going from Thelma to Huey, Dewey and Louie...so you can guess
what that makes THEM!"
At least we know Mickey's nephews aren't named "Mouse." They were
established in their first appearance as being Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse,
sons of Mickey's sister (?).
<<The term "mac" means "son," so "Clan MacDonald" means something like
"family of the sons of Donald" or "family of the descendants of Donald." My
own ancestors were (in theory) from the Clan Buchanan, whose American cousin
James was US President from 1857-1861.>>
Another (related?) Buchanan, Patrick, ran for President this year in the
Republican primaries. He didn't even get nominated, as it turned out, which
as far as I'm concerned (given his far- right politics) was just as well.
Daniel van Eijmeren wrote:
<<[Junior Woodchucks-story "Be Leery of Lake Eerie"]
The editors ordered Barks to rescript the last half page (which he did),
making "it all comes out as sweet as raindrops on rose petals".>>
At the risk of belaboring the obvious (at least to Americans), this
story was inspired by the real-life Lake Erie (one of the five "Great Lakes"
between Canada and the American Midwest), which at the time the story first
appeared had recently made the news for its excessive pollution. Barks wasn't
exactly a liberal in most ways, but he did care about the environment, a
concern that made itself felt in several of his Junior Woodchucks stories of
the period.
Jonathan Markoff wrote:
<<Come to think of it, this reminds me of the Phantom Blot story from PB 3
reprinted three years ago in U$A 23 (Whew! Time flies!) about the Blot and
the Beagles chasing Scrooge back in time to a medieval village. Apparently it
was altered because Gladstone figured that some of the events in it
(money growing on trees etc.) would seem too "silly" to "mature" Gladstone
readers. >>
I doubt "silliness" had anything to do with it. Most likely, the tree was
changed (to one with oil-rich leaves) because money engineered to grow on
trees wouldn't be minted by a legitimate government, and therefore would be
(at best) illegal tender or (at worst) counterfeiting. Not something either
Gladstone or Disney would want $crooge involved with.
On a final note, Don Rosa's story in WDC&S #608 was excellent as always,
but the most delightful surprise was Michael Gilbert's "Plastic Mickey." The
story was a delight from start to finish, and I especially liked the use of
Minnie Mouse as Mickey's sidekick rather than the overused Goofy, however
appropriately the latter might have fit into the Woozy Winks role.
Gilbert did a better Plastic Man pastiche than DC has ever managed with
the original character, acquired by them from Quality Comics and featured in
no less than *four* unsuccessful revivals (despite such stellar talents as
Gil Kane, Ramona Fradon, Joe Staton, and Phil Foglio being involved with most
of them). It may have been stepping a bit too hard on DC's corporate toes,
since they have the rights not only to Plastic Man but to this story's name
of "Plastic Sam" (used in the Harvey Kurtzman/Russ Heath parody in MAD
magazine, ALSO since acquired by DC). Which may explain the Red Bat, said to
have clashed with Mickey before but I certainly don't recall seeing him
before...at least under that name. He's probably the Bat Bandit of Inferno
Gulch, with the color of his costume changed so DC won't think he's
infringing on Batman!
Time to go!
Rich Morrissey
catching up...but maybe now I'll have time to post here once more.
Marco Barlotti wrote:
<<Daisy is "Daisy Duck", all right; but who says that April, May and June
are "Duck" too? I. e., that they are daughters of a BROTHER of Daisy? Don, is
that your opinion? Or shouldn't their surname be left vague as yet?>>
No, their surname almost certainly isn't "Duck," since they're the
daughters of Daisy's married sister. (No, they don't live with Daisy. They
just visit sometimes.) This was established in their first appearance in
Barks' classic story about Flipism. (I wonder if Flipism and its prophet,
Professor Batty, were in any way inspired by the coin-flipping fetish of the
Batman villain, Two-Face?)
<<I was also surprised that HDL have "Duck" as a surname too. So Della Duck
married a Mr. Duck? As I said in an earlier posting, certainly "Duck" must be
a very common name in Duckburg; but isn't this too much?>>
IF she was ever married to their father. I seem to recall our own Don
Rosa's comments on the Barks family tree, long ago, "You'll notice there's
only ONE line going from Thelma to Huey, Dewey and Louie...so you can guess
what that makes THEM!"
At least we know Mickey's nephews aren't named "Mouse." They were
established in their first appearance as being Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse,
sons of Mickey's sister (?).
<<The term "mac" means "son," so "Clan MacDonald" means something like
"family of the sons of Donald" or "family of the descendants of Donald." My
own ancestors were (in theory) from the Clan Buchanan, whose American cousin
James was US President from 1857-1861.>>
Another (related?) Buchanan, Patrick, ran for President this year in the
Republican primaries. He didn't even get nominated, as it turned out, which
as far as I'm concerned (given his far- right politics) was just as well.
Daniel van Eijmeren wrote:
<<[Junior Woodchucks-story "Be Leery of Lake Eerie"]
The editors ordered Barks to rescript the last half page (which he did),
making "it all comes out as sweet as raindrops on rose petals".>>
At the risk of belaboring the obvious (at least to Americans), this
story was inspired by the real-life Lake Erie (one of the five "Great Lakes"
between Canada and the American Midwest), which at the time the story first
appeared had recently made the news for its excessive pollution. Barks wasn't
exactly a liberal in most ways, but he did care about the environment, a
concern that made itself felt in several of his Junior Woodchucks stories of
the period.
Jonathan Markoff wrote:
<<Come to think of it, this reminds me of the Phantom Blot story from PB 3
reprinted three years ago in U$A 23 (Whew! Time flies!) about the Blot and
the Beagles chasing Scrooge back in time to a medieval village. Apparently it
was altered because Gladstone figured that some of the events in it
(money growing on trees etc.) would seem too "silly" to "mature" Gladstone
readers. >>
I doubt "silliness" had anything to do with it. Most likely, the tree was
changed (to one with oil-rich leaves) because money engineered to grow on
trees wouldn't be minted by a legitimate government, and therefore would be
(at best) illegal tender or (at worst) counterfeiting. Not something either
Gladstone or Disney would want $crooge involved with.
On a final note, Don Rosa's story in WDC&S #608 was excellent as always,
but the most delightful surprise was Michael Gilbert's "Plastic Mickey." The
story was a delight from start to finish, and I especially liked the use of
Minnie Mouse as Mickey's sidekick rather than the overused Goofy, however
appropriately the latter might have fit into the Woozy Winks role.
Gilbert did a better Plastic Man pastiche than DC has ever managed with
the original character, acquired by them from Quality Comics and featured in
no less than *four* unsuccessful revivals (despite such stellar talents as
Gil Kane, Ramona Fradon, Joe Staton, and Phil Foglio being involved with most
of them). It may have been stepping a bit too hard on DC's corporate toes,
since they have the rights not only to Plastic Man but to this story's name
of "Plastic Sam" (used in the Harvey Kurtzman/Russ Heath parody in MAD
magazine, ALSO since acquired by DC). Which may explain the Red Bat, said to
have clashed with Mickey before but I certainly don't recall seeing him
before...at least under that name. He's probably the Bat Bandit of Inferno
Gulch, with the color of his costume changed so DC won't think he's
infringing on Batman!
Time to go!
Rich Morrissey