Keskustelujen arkisto

>Turku (15 km from Naantali, the no. 2 city of
>Finland!!!).

Anna-Maija, I know that this is silly but Turku is not the no. 2 city
of Finland. Tampere is bigger city and I think that Tampere is no. 2
city of Finland. Turku could be maybe no. 15 city of Finland.
Kauniainen is no. 3 city of Finland. Because it s the richest city in
Finland.

-Antti-

Gary/bhc at Gladstone gracefully and usefully answered my queries about the
hard cover Rosa book:
<< Nils:
>Questions:
>1. What and who are these catalogue customers?
Customers who get our printed catalog.

>2. Where are the 556 retailers? In USA, Canada _and Europe_? If so, in which
> countries?
The term is "retail distributors," companies who distribute *to* retailers.
And, yes, that's mainly Diamond, so no books going to comics shops outside
the US and Canada.

>3. I surmise there must come a separate, pedestrian edition, with no frills
> and no nonsense, with "just the book, please". When will this be available,
> and for what cost?
There are and will be no editions of the hardbound book other than the
one's listed. If you really want no frills, the four album volumes are
pretty nice, and are still available. >>

Thanks for the trouble, Gary. But the answers trigger a couple of further
comments and questions (with apologies):

#1B. The answer to #1 is merely a tautology. _How_ can one get on this list of
catalogue custromers? I would like to enroll...

#2B. This policy shift towards "no distribution outside USA and Canada" is sad
and potentially dramatic; I join others in lamenting the state of affairs and
hoping for improvements, that is, for the system to get back on its previous
tracks.

#3B. Point taken -- and "current state of reality accepted", I guess. And of
course I have no choice but to trust and accept whatever arguments and
calculations Gladstone have been using to reach their decisions here, and I
have no difficulty in respecting the tools and the strategies of the publishing
company trade.

But on this occasion I admit difficulties in _liking_ the result. The decision
is to produce 1,000 and only 1,000 de Lux Grand Ambassadeur Collectable
Coffeetable Copies of the Rosa book, and sell them at Price X, ranging from
USD 80 (signed book) to USD 300 (two drawings and so on). There _is_ a
potential market out there, for selling further thousands of no-frills no-signed
copies to more ordinary-type bookstore customers at a lower price Y.

Perhaps all the forein language editions will be of this non-de Lux type.
Sub-questions:
(a) Will the foreign language Rosa hardcover books have the same colouring,
and the same interspersed Rosa articles and preface and so on, as the
Gladstone hardcover book?
(b) I know there are foreign language editions of the CB Library in Color
series; Germany, Slovenia, Iceland, at least? But I do not know whether
the four DR albums, those containing Scrooge chapters 1-12, have been
published as such in these other countries. (This question is relevant for
market analysis of the potential for the DR hardcover book.)

Nils Lid Hjort

Are there other Super Snopper stories than the Barks original and Rosa
sequel/remake ?

Eirik Krogh Visted
-- intellektuell r?ne
-- kommunistisk liberalist

"Wow, we just don't care, do we ?"

--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V97 Issue #251
******************************************

Gaute:
>I've just discovered a new website devoted to Don.
>What impressed me most there was the scanned images of what had been
>cencored from his stories. Someone ought to do the same with Carl
>Barks'.

I guess you are talking about the D.U.C.K.hunt page:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/8024/
which has a section about alterations, by Alexander Gruenke.

>I know the Disney Comic Pages has a page discussing this, but it seems a
>bit incomplete and unfortunately text only.

I guess you mean the page
http://www.update.uu.se/~starback/disney-comics/cbl.html
which only discusses the changes in the Carl Barks Library (but as far
as
I know it's complete w.r.t. the CBL).

>Greger Nassen shows some examples on how Gladstone has tampered with the
>legacy in Bild & Bubbla 120, stuff that some good soul with a scanner
>should make available on the net.
>What about it Par and Harry?

I don't have a scanner myself (but I'm thinking of buying one...). Marco
Barlotti has
a web page prepared for things like this, but on that page he writes:

<<I plan to show panels that have never been reprinted because
considered "crude"
or in any way not "politically correct"; these however will come later
when my
friend Tiziano manages to fix his scanner. >>

BTW: the original (uncensored) version of the "Atom Bomb" story can
still be found
on:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/5038/

>--Harry.

Here follow further comments pertaining to the policy shift regarding Gladstone
comics not being available anymore outside USA and Canada (I trust this topic
hasn't died off on this list).

* Why does this happen?
I never understood well _the reasons_ for the changes; what and who triggered it
all in the first place? Who or whose interests could have felt hurt or
threatened by the previously existing system? Reports on this list from last
month might seem to indicate that the paradigm shift originated in Germany; is
this the case? Is Ehapa Germany the instrument behind the intended changes?

* If it is a German matter only [see Gladstone's public statement, relayed to
this list 24 October, via Gary/bhc], why should it affect other European
countries? (And Norway isn't even a member of the E.U.!)

* How important is the "outside USA and Canada", in other words: Europe!, to
the Gladstone company? Well, this could be internal information not to be
disclosed, but perhaps the company's general outlook on this is or has been in
the public domain?

* Are there ways of "beating the system"?
For example, an Oslo store could make 50 subscriptions with Gladstone directly,
I suppose, by-passing Diamond?

* Local Oslo scenario under the New Regime: Pretty Bleak.
Quite a few people in the Oslo area have, regularly and over the last few years,
either bought their Gladstone magazines directly or subscribed to these via two
well-known bookstores here:
* Tronsmo (where you still can feel the whiff of the reminiscences of the
previous decade's influence of the particular Norwegian brans of) Marxism,
Leninism, Trostkyism, Maoism, progressive feminism, communism and anarchism
["anarchy is not the best form of government, but it is better than no form
of government at all"]), and
* Avalon at Tanum (where such feelings have never been present or understood,
and where such would have been banned).
Now I understand this is no longer possible; too bad for the Disney customers,
and too bad for the bookstores. And too bad for the "recruitment" to American
Disney; many a modern-day Duckist or Rosaist have had his or her initial spurs
of fascination in these locales. And there must be parallel situations in
Trondheim and hopefully Bergen, and in other major cities in civilised Europe.

A colleague told me that when asked about the sudden absence of new Gladstones
magazines, the bookstore person could only look in a catalogue where it now said
something like "retail distribution via Diamond -- not longer available".

The continued absence of visible high-quality Disney magazines (be it Gladstone
or other firms behind them) in these natural hot spots will quickly sectify
serious Duck fandom. And while these were local Oslo impressions the phenomenon
would be general.

Nils Lid Hjort

CHRIS / DWIGHT:
About Magica's mischief:

<< Hmm, you'd think that Scrooge would make darn sure to INFORM them about
the value of this dime. Sentimental value aside, an 1875 dime's net worth
is probably considerably more than 10 cents, so it's not just any old dime
that Magica is attempting to steal, it's a collectible! >>

That's right. And I would imagine it would be perferrable if he would
inform them when Magica is not currently threatening the dime, otherwise
he'd be look like a bubbling idoit ranting and panicing to some traffic
cop about some woman who stole his dime...they'd likely throw him in a
loony bin!

<< Not to mention the damage Magica causes trying to steal it (foof bombs,
various nasty magic tricks, etc.). Even if the actual value of the object
being stolen is small, she's committing all kinds of other crimes getting
it, like breaking and entering, assault with a deadly weapon (the foof
bombs), and like that there. Duckburg's Finest are probably simply
overwhelmed; common criminals they can handle, but Magica has the
firepower of a small nuclear-equipped army and air force. >>

Indeed! But perhaps another reason the law doesn't seem to step in would
be the incidents of "The Unsafe Safe". All through the story $crooge
continued to tell that one cop not to interfere with her actions, so maybe
because of that, the police will no longer take Magica's presence
seriously?

-Shaun

"NOBODY steps on a church in my town!"
Dr. Peter Venkman -- "Ghostbusters"

I might have hard time keeping up my reputation as a "Finnish Trekkie" if
I didn't hit the reply button every time when there's a Digest about
science fiction and Finland...

VIDAR:
> This makes me curious. I've see other members of the ML stating
> interst in SF and B5. How many are there of us?

I'm one! I like all good science fiction and fantasy including
Babylon 5, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Dragonlance, Pratchett... And of
course, Star Trek. All Star Trek. Even Voyager, although DS9 is my
favourite.

(An easy way to make this discussion on-topic):
Making this discussion on-topic again I must say that what saddens
me with especially Italian Disney comics (and some Egmont, too) is the way
they handle science fiction and fantasy. Most of the "scifi" stories have
forgotten that it's supposed to be fiction based on science and not just
Eega Beewa coming to take Mickey have a picnic in the seventeenth
dimension or Scrooge digging (!) his way to the center of the Earth where
some sort of a Guardian of Time is living... It's so obvious that the
writers don't have a clue, but keep on writing because other people (who
had a clue) have written stories with similar ideas.

And those fantasy stories... I admit modern fantasy isn't
a-little-girl-going-into-fairyland kinda fantasy, but rather the
halfelves-and-dragons-and-mages-as-everyday-stuff sorta crap which is
often pretty lame. But in Disney comics they've made it alot worse! I
remember having ever read but four good fantasy stories in Italian Disney
comics, and they were all of the same trilogy (plus a Christmas special).

CEBARAT:
> Perhaps the Disney comics are SO popular in Finland that no one feels a need
> to have an organized fandom?

For some reason I don't think this is the real reason :) There
even seems to be a need for an organized fandom. Nowadays the editors of
Aku Ankka and some Finnish Duck artists are the only ones who get a good
seat at cons, who write articles on Aku Ankka and Disney hardcover
books... At least a web page, and maybe a fanzine would be useful, I
think.

ANTTI:
> Anna-Maija, I know that this is silly but Turku is not the no. 2 city
> of Finland. Tampere is bigger city and I think that Tampere is no. 2
> city of Finland. Turku could be maybe no. 15 city of Finland.
> Kauniainen is no. 3 city of Finland. Because it=B4s the richest city in
> Finland.

Tampere is the #2 city in Finland population-wice. But Turku is
"Finland's gate to Europe" so to say. Like Tampere it's one of Finland's
three cities with a university, but it also has more culture and business
in it than Tampere. I think it's fair to say, that Turku is the no. 2 city
in Finland. But then again, I live in Turku...

HARRY:
> Where is Naantali on the list? And about how many inhabitans are we
> talking here? 500,000? 100,000?

Naantali has the population of 12'000. It's not a very big town at
all. Yet, at least me, Anna-Maija and Jyrki Vainio (well, Jyrki only went
to school there) are from there. That's probably almost a third of the
Finns on this list!

Mike - The Finnish Trekkie