Keskustelujen arkisto

ALL:

Where has Don's "Attack of the Hideous Space Varmints" been published so
far? Would anyone be able to help me get a copy? The WDC&S edition
beginning next month will be far too expensive for me.

-Shaun

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End of Disney comics Digest V97 Issue #111
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SHAUN:
The European translators are only right now working on "The Attack of the
Hideous Space Varmints", so it will be a few more months before it appears.
If Gladstone is planning on using it "next month", they have jumped the gun!
That is not their right to do until after Egmont has used it. I seem to be
out of the loop in their plans.
But, having heard from several translators, I see that only Gladstone will
have an accurate version of my dialogue or of the story's intent. The story
involves a family of "space hillbillies" speaking (through translating
devices) in hillbilly English... and much of the plot involves the fact that
they are very "rural" type folks. But I don't know how the European editions
will get this idea across, or if they will simply ignore that point and
sacrifice the idea behind the story. I already see that the translators are
working on the story as "Attack of the Hideous Space MONSTERS", losing the
humor of my title (such as it is) immediately.

I'm getting a bit concerned by Gladstone's increasingly frequent habit of
releasing all, or virtually all, of its monthly products on the same day.
This past week, the following were released: UNCLE SCROOGE 305, DONALD DUCK
ADVENTURES 49, UNCLE SCROOGE ADVENTURES 45, CARL BARKS LIBRARY OF UNCLE
SCROOGE ADVENTURES IN COLOR Album 24 (reprint of "The 24-Carat Moon"), UNCLE
SCROOGE ADVENTURES IN COLOR BY DON ROSA Album 2 (reprints of "Last Sled to
Dawson" and "Nobody's Business"), WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES PENNY
PINCHER 4. My standard "fix" of Disney comics material felt more like a
headlong "head-rush".

If anything, such mass releases may discourage prospective "newbie" customers
from buying the Gladstone titles, since it makes it very difficult to choose
one or two specific titles to try. Unlike the mass releases of the Whitman
Comics years, EVERYTHING in this "mini-glut" consists of Duck material. Such
a heavy load may cause the Duck fan to overload on joy, but it might
short-circuit the decision-making processes of those who would simply like to
TRY the Ducks on for size.

I think that Gladstone would probably be wiser (and have a better chance of
hooking readers who have little previous experience with the Ducks) by
returning to the basic one-product-per-week release schedule.

-- Christopher E. Barat
(Email removed)
Homepage http://members.aol.com/cebarat/home.htm
"I'LL GET THERE LICKETY-TOOT!" -- Launchpad McQuack, "DuckTales" episode "Too
Much of a Gold Thing"

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End of Disney comics Digest V97 Issue #112
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ALEXANDER:

I'll be returning from Uni back to France in July. For details
about Picsou, you could e-mail me at my home address
((Email removed)) in the 2nd week of July.

Christopher wrote:

> In his "eulogy" (sic) of Don Rosa, Ole Neilsen wrote:

Is there a misunderstanding or typo in my use of the word "eulogy"?
There is one in my name - it's spelled "Nielsen", but since my e-address
left out the 'e' altogether, I won't blame you. :-)

> <<To state the obvious yet again, in different words:
> [.........................]
> - whereas, say, William Van Horn is mostly
> reducing it to the lowest common denominator.>>
>
> Sorry, but I can't agree with this assessment of Van Horn's work. Here are
> the reasons why:
>
> (1) As Ole says, every artist and writer who has followed in Carl's
> footsteps has in some sense "built" on Barks' foundation. However, it is
> possible to do so in very different -- and equally valid -- ways. Don appears
> to be most inspired by the classic adventure stories in the early DONALD DUCK
> comics and the first 70-odd issues of UNCLE SCROOGE. Van Horn appears to
> draw his inspiration from the 10-pagers in WALT DISNEY'S COMICS. I firmly
> believe that BOTH of these sources are equally valid as "foundations". Van
> Horn's choice to concentrate on the short, humorous duck story (the type of
> story, let's remember, that made WDC&S the best-selling American comic book
> of all time) does NOT automatically represent a reduction to the "lowest
> common denominator," but rather, a free choice to specialize in a somewhat
> different type of story than the "far-ranging adventure".
>
> (2) Van Horn has done his part to "expand" the parameters of the particular
> genre in which he works. He took Barks' occasional "wacky" humor (such as
> funny names for incidental characters) and pushed it out to new boundaries.
> Recall the running gag about Bulgaria that he used in a number of his early
> stories -- "Scrooge's bubble-gum factory in Bulgaria" and the like. He also
> has peopled his stories with huge numbers of weird characters -- "Van Horn
> looneys" I like to call them. This definitely represents an "expansion" of
> our understanding of what sorts of humor can work in a short, humorous Duck
> story. (I don't know -- perhaps this humor loses something in translation.)
>
>
> Perhaps Ole can amplify what he meant by "reduction to the lowest common
> denominator." That is often interpreted as meaning "cheapening to fit the
> tastes of a mass audience," and I don't believe it has ever been Van Horn's
> intention to do that.

Amplify (sic)?? :-)

I've cut my own longwinded praise, but kept Chris' message in toto,
since I can, by and large, agree with it. I realize it wasn't too
polite to name anyone in specific as opposed to Don's genious, but
since Van Horn is Barks' proclaimed 'heir to the empire' and, as
you've pointed out, follows firmly in the footsteps of the master,
a comparison is interesting - and valid IMHO.

Sure enough, the 10 pager is a time-honored format, and one
may even consider it _the_ prime example of The Disney Story(tm).
However, this was where Barks began his evolution into the story
teller of the 20.th century, and it took him almost a decade to
adapt his skills as a cartoon gag man to the printed media.
The early ten pagers had more in common with the cartoons from
the movie theatre than 'densely illustrated prose' as comics
were once described. The plot was simple and usually based on
a gimmick, a McGuffin, that avalanched into a series of gags.
Only later when Barks, almost as therapy, worked his own personal
problems into the plots and let the ducks live out his own fears
and dreams did the stories acquire the depth and significance
that makes these stories impossible to forget once read. Like
classic Greek drama these stories deal with common human emotions
that we all can relate to. These are the stories which made Barks
the modern Shakespeare or Sophocles, where Van Horn is at most a
Euripides - an imitation in form, but without the urgency of the
artist to express himself and his emotions. To put his heart into
it, so to speak.

Would we remember Barks now, if he had quit comics before classics
like "The Golden Helmet" or "Only a Poor Old Man"? Or a personal
favorite of mine, the dark ten-pager about a golf match with
Gladstone which Donald wins(!) - only to come out losing after all?
I think not - if it had not been for those bleak years in the early
50'es, Barks would just be another guy doing funny pages.

Van Horn's stories are just like that: strings of gags, funny
word play and puns, which don't always translate too well. And
after a decade he still doesn't draw ducks very well (IMVHO),
limiting the facial expressions to a few basic ones, usually
making us spectators to Donald's antics, rather than sympathetic
to him. But maybe that was never the idea of the 10 pager, and
Barks just happened to get away with it for a short while.

Regarding Van Horn's addition of new supporting characters you
are absolutely right: very few writers have had success with or
even tried making up their own creations, apparently being
satisfied with the ones Unca Carl introduced. Van Horn is maybe
the first to have the chance since Barks left as responsible for
the regular lead story, at least with respect to the American
publications. Various Italians, Romano Scarpa in particular,
have populated the Disney universe with several characters, a
few of which have appeared in the U.S.

But I wonder why "Bulgaria" is so much funnier than "Iowa"?

I'll try to elaborate on what I mean with "the lowest common
denominator": it simply means "the most basic format" of the
duck story: Donald, HD&L and a plot-device. I realize that the
10 pager doesn't allow much more, but I also think Van Horn is
a bit too functional in that respect - a little more interaction
with the other Duckburgians would be appreciated.

Finally, let me stress that I _do_ like Van Horns stories!
Especially for the witty dialogue, and also (even if I sound
like I'm contradicting myself) because they are so obvious
follow-ups to the very first Barks stories. It's just that
so preciously few of them stick in you mind forever once you've
read them like the best works of Barks, Rosa and Scarpa.
But, as I said, it's not really fair to compare a quite good
artist/writer to the truly great ones. My mistake.

oLe R nielsen <(Email removed)>
U

>Uncle Scrooge 219 (first Don Rosa story, "Son of the Sun" + 2 page text=20

Even though I'm in principle against this whole
"first-editions-for-10000$"-thing, I just curious about this issue: is it
likely that this is one of those comic books that will be worth obscene
amounts of money in 40 years ?

Eirik Krogh Visted =20
-- intellektuell r=E5ne =20

(Email removed) =20
http://home.sn.no/~evisted
=09

Hello from Grand Forks,ND, the place where the biggest flood disaster in the
U.S.
occurred April 19,1997.
I have had some inquiry from Germany ,San Fran and others around the world.
Here is the short story version:

Christopher:

A one-product-per-week schedule would require at least a seven-week month.
But anyway...

Our "habit" is this: albums ship out the week before the newsstand titles.
WDC&S ships the week following the newsstand titles. That's how it's been
for over a year. Any recent changes of "habit" are occurring solely in the
distributor/retailer arena.

Gary

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"You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you
think it means."
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