Keskustelujen arkisto

JEFF BINGHAM:
<<I remember watching the Duck Tales series on TV and seeing some episodes
that were most definitely Barks' story. Did he ever get a mention or
credit for those episodes?>>

Barks received "story" credit for the following DUCKTALES episodes: "Robot
Robbers" (adaptation of "The Giant Robot Robbers"), "Lost Crown of Genghis
Khan", "Earth Quack" ("Land Beneath the Ground"), "Microducks from Outer
Space", "Back to the Klondike", "The Golden Fleecing", "The Status Seekers"
("The Status Seeker"), "The Land of Trala La" (the Tralla La story),
"The Unbreakable Bin" ("The Unsafe Safe"). He SHOULD have received credit,
but did not, for "Scrooge's Pet" ("The Lemming with the Locket") and
"Down and Out in Duckburg" (the horseradish story). In addition, there
were a few sequences in other episodes that were clearly adapted from
Barks stories, such as the use of the money-dam scenario and the "movable
money bin" from "Only a Poor Old Man" and the backup story in U$ 15 in
the first part of the "Gizmoduck" serial.

ON THE HELPER'S NAME:
Helper, Little Helper... don't forget the DUCKTALES name, "Little Bulb".

RICH BELLACERA:
<<I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that such titles as "Mickey Mouse
Outwits the Phantom Blot"
and "Mickey's Nephews" were assigned only AFTER the newspaper strips
were reformatted for comic books (correct?)>>

To the best of my knowledge, this is correct. Indeed, "The Phantom Blot"
was never called by that name in the original story; he was always "The
Blot". But the choice of the title stuck him with the adjective "Phantom"
for all eternity.

DANIEL VAN EIJMEREN:
> Yes, but as Soeren commented the "evil twin" plot idea has been
> used so often it's a cliche. Turning it upside-down with a "good
> twin" for the villain is at least slightly more innovative.
<<In the Mad magzazine was/is a very funny gag-series called "Spy vs. Spy",
about two cartoon-looking spies attacking each other in the most bizarre
ways.>>

They're not exactly "evil twins" of each other -- they're basically the
same character with a wardrobe change (black/white).

-- Christopher E. Barat
(Email removed)

OWEN JAMES HEITMANN --
I don't know about TRACKER, but Van Horn did at
least one funny animal series for Blackthorne -- NERVOUS
REX, which ran 10 or 12 issues and got rave reviews. (I
remember liking it at the time, but don't recall enough
about it to say anything specific.) He also did an
occasional story for Fantagraphics' funny animal
anthology, CRITTERS.

ETA BETA --
>> "I was chatting about authors with a friend, a coupla
>> days ago, and he pointed out that he didn't consider
>> Gottfredson a "proper" comics author, since his medium
>> (the daily strips) required a different graphic
>> attitude and, especially, because the contents of his
>> stories had a much more adult content than the comics
>> stories had"
There is a certain mentality among comics fans
that newspaper strips are in some way a different medium
than "real" comics. They always have some hifalutin'
reason for thinking it, and the reasons always strike me
as vague and insubstantial -- the one cited above being a
prime example. I think the reasons basically boil down to
"But they're not what **I** am a fan of!" I thought that
attitude was confined to American fans, but perhaps I'm
wrong.

RICH BELLACERA --
>> "it almost sounds as if your offended by anyone using
>> the term "Little Helper" rather than just "Helper"."
Well, it's kind of hard to imagine getting
worked-up enough over so trivial a thing to be
"offended", but I do prefer the latter term -- not just
because it's more true to his Barksian origins, but also
because the term "Little Helper", used as a character's
actual name, strikes me as a little on the dorky side,
in an overly-cute sort of way.
Anyway, you say you're following the "current
American tradition", but I don't see it that way. Maybe
I'm just not noticing, but my impression is that
Gladstone, which is the current upholder of the American
tradition, goes with the Barks version. It was in Egmont
guidelines that I first saw him referred to as "Little
Helper", and the only actual stories in which he's called
that do seem to come from Egmont.
It's odd, I think, that the name would be used so
prevalently among English-speaking people, since Egmont
doesn't even publish its stories in English. Unless
there's still a British series, or some publisher in an
obscure part of the world that I can't think of just now,
only Gladstone currently publishes stories with that
character in English. And as I said, I believe (tho I
could be wrong) the prevailing attitude at Gladstone is
that his name is simply "Helper".
Anyway, my question about the character wasn't so
much a heartfelt plea that his name be restored, as a
simple question -- WHEN and HOW did the adjective become
a part of his name?

JOAKIM GUNNARSON --
Thanks for mentioning my story in the current
issue. It's a theme I've used before -- that in certain
traditional stories, the good guy isn't so good and the
bad guy isn't so bad -- but I think I managed to write a
reasonably decent story about The Mouse around that
premise. And Ferioli's art certainly makes it look good!

ANDERS CHRISTIAN --
There was a half-page splash panel in the very
first Superman story, which appeared in ACTION COMICS #1,
June, 1938. I'm sure the technique is older than that,
but that story happens to have been easily reachable
from where I'm sitting right now.

>> "How many money does $crooge Mc Duck own according to
>> the american comics made by Barks or Rosa?"
Three cubic acres. But surely, you knew that!

DANIEL VAN EIJMEREN --
>> "If I would have a file and I would copy it for someone
>> on this list, who copies the copy for someone else, who
>> also copies that copy, etc. If this would happen a
>> thousand or even a million times, would the final copy
>> still be the same as the original? Does someone know
>> here?
If you're careful, and check your work as you go,
then yes, the file will be precisely the same after a
million copies as it was originally. This is because
digital storage is fundamentally different from analog.
A good analogy would be a recipe that called for
a pinch of salt, a dash of pepper, a dollop of cream,
and a splash of rum. If you were to make this analog-
style recipe a hundred times, you'd never do it the same
way twice. A digital-style version of that recipe would
replace the inexact amounts with precise quantities,
measured in liters and grams; so it would come out the
same every time.
(Oh, and never mind what it would taste like -- I
forgot to mention, this recipe also calls for a whole big
pile of Tabasco Sauce [digital version measured in
megaliters], so you'd never taste anything else.)
When an image is digitized, it is broken up into
precisely-located pixels, each of which is assigned an
integer uniquely identified with a particular shade of
color. Copy the numbers, check to make sure each was
copied right, and the copy will be exactly the same as
the original -- no matter how many times you do it. There
isn't any question of rendering a sort-of-reddish-orange
as a kind-of-orangish-red, and having a slight drift
accumulate from one generation to the next -- the numbers
are what they are, and the image can be reconstructed
from them exactly the same, generation after generation,
for as long as you want.
Which is why I say -- Digital Is Forever.

DIRK DJUGA --
I think it will be at least 25 years before it
becomes hard to buy a device for reading CD-ROMs. This is
because there are so many millions in existence right
now, that even if they stopped making them tomorrow (and
five years from now, many people will still be making CDs
at home), there would still be a demand for readers. It's
at least 15 years since music was recorded on vinyl, but
every consumer electronics store still has turntables.
Furthermore, even after the medium becomes
completely obsolete for home use, with no significant
market even among old-timers who still like playing their
antique copies of DOOM, museums, universities, and
collectors will maintain an ability to read them. It's
practically a century since music was recorded on wax
cylinders, but you can still hunt up devices for playing
them -- despite the fact that wax cylinders were never
as widely disseminated, throughout the world, as CD-ROMs.
What's more, LONG before it becomes impossible to
read a CD -- and the youngest person on this list will be
lucky to live that long -- it will become apparent that
the medium is on the way out, and any data that anyone
wants to preserve will be copied onto more modern media.
And I'm not worried about the demise of graphic
formats, either, because it's very easy to convert one to
another. Software to convert a given format tends to
remain available long after the format itself goes out of
general use.
And I'm SERIOUSLY not worried about the demise of
two-dimensional images. People have been predicting for
years that paper would become obsolete, but we're using
more of it than ever.

ARILD SAETHER --
Was it October, 1947, that the big hurricane
dumped fish in Marksville, Louisiana? I thought it was
September. I was six months old (or maybe seven?) when
the "Great Hurricane of 1947" (they didn't have names
then) struck and, since I grew up in New Orleans, I heard
about it over and over during my childhood.

JEFF BINGHAM --
I'm afraid we're still some distance away from
home DVD recording -- and farther yet from having it
become affordable (I watched CD recorder prices for at
least five years before they got into my price range).
For the time being, we're just stuck with plain ol'
CD-ROM -- despite the fact that it would take 30 of them
to equal one of those 19-gig DVDs.

Quack, Don
=

Hello, everybody!

My name is Arthur Faria Jr. I'm a Brazilian fan of Disney
Comics (of course), and I was a Disney writer for Brazilian
publisher Editora Abril from 1982 to 1997, when then Abril
sadly decided to stop its local production.

This is the first time that I'm writing for this great mailing list,
though I was in "lurking mode" for almost one year... the
reason is that my English is very bad!!! So, I really hope I'm not
bothering you all with so many English errors. <:-)

I like "very much* the work of old artists like Barks, Murry, Strobl,
Gottfredson, Bradbury (yes, I really like him!), Hubbard, Moore, etc.
Among the new artists I only like William Van Horn and Don Rosa
(though it's a pity there are so few Rosa's stories published here in
Brazil - apparently, Rosa's "insane details" don't fit well in Editora
Abril's "little format", as somebody said to me).

I have a question about The Phantom Blot (one of my preferred
Disney villains, since I saw him in Murry's "The Return of the Phantom
Blot" when I was a kid in the 60s - this story really impressed me!).
I know that his first appearance was in "Mickey Mouse Outwits the
Phantom Blot" and there is another version drawn by Dick Moore, and
then the above mentioned Murry's story in middle 60s. But I read
two stories where The Blot appeared, also in middle 60s, and one
thing always intrigued me: despite the fact that they were published
here _after_ Murry's "Return...", the Brazilian editors didn't call
him by the correct name.

*SPOILERS*
- In the first story, "O Pagagaio do Cientista" ("The Scientist's Parro=
t")
Goofy and Mickey try to solve the mystery of a parrot which The Blot is
interested in. Here, the Brazilian editors named him "Borrao Vermelho"
(Red Blot - don't ask me why!). In the end, The Blot is unmasked and
has the same face as in Gottfredson's story. When this story was reprin=
ted
in the 70s, they called him with the right name, but... filled his
silhouette with black ink in the panels which he appeared unmasked. I
think this story is "Il pappagallo matematico" (I 347-B), by Romano Sca=
rpa
and Abramo Barosso. Am I correct?

- The second one is "O Mestre Faixa-Preta" (something like "Goofy the
Black Belt Master"). The plot is about Goofy been deceived by a crook
commanded by Black Pete. He convinced Goofy that he is a "Hopping-Judo"
master, a supposed kind of martial art. But it's just an evil plan in o=
rder
to use Goofy to carry secret plans to Pete's boss, The Blot (here with
no mask all the time, wearing an elegant black tie! But it's undoubtedl=
y
The Blot). I think it's an Italian story, too. Here again the Brazilian
editors changed his name: now he is "Doutor Sombra" (Doctor Shadow),
and I think they changed it because they thought the readers wouldn't
accept The Blot without his classical mantle (it's valid for the other
story, I guess). This story was never reprinted, as far as I know.

* end of spoilers *

I'd like to know the artists and story code, if someone knows; also
if these two stories were published _before or after_ Murry's "Return..=
.",
and if there are another Blot's stories made by these or other artists
in that period of time (middle 60s).

That's all for a while!

Arthur Faria Jr.

"A dime? Shake! You win the iron oscar for the most outrageous alibi ev=
er
offered by a foreign agent!" =96 Martian Boss

My apologies for posting this to the whole list, but a guy called David with
email address containing @mpx.com.au contacted me regarding my Disney comics
for sale. His email message was in a non-standard format, though, so my
reply to him bounced. So David: my reply to you is as below. Again, to the
rest of the list, my apologies.

David King.

At 06:38 PM 18/08/98 +1000, you wrote:
>Hello David,
>
>Saw your message about spare Aust Disney's...and I thought it was time to
>say G'Day to you. I have over 100 spares myself with access to many more.
>And I understand your making a database of them too.
>
>Anyway I am chasing certain issues...and if you have them ...great.
>If you have a list made up of your spares I would be interested in knowing
>what they are. Also if you want a list of my spares...let me know.
>
>Hope to hear from you soon....David.
>
>

Hi David,

Thanks for your email. I've been acquiring quite a few Australian Disneys
lately, and the following are my duplicates:

"G" series:

G 646 (slightly creased spine)
G 668 (small tear on front cover)
G 674 (I have two spares of this one)

"M" series:

M 152
M 191 (spine slightly worn)
M 220
M 228
M 236
M 256

Walt Disney's Comics "No." series:

No. 193 (spine slightly creased)
No. 218
No. 228 (back page missing)
No. 231 (incomplete, middle pages missing)
No. 354

"D" series:

D 247 (I have two copies of this)

I'd be interested in either selling these or trading for them, so please
send me your duplicates list. I'd be selling them for $3.00 each, with the
exception of No. 218 which I'd sell for $10, and No. 193 which I'd sell for
$5.00.

ANDERS CHR.:

>HARRY
>Sorry to write this here, give me your mail-address will you?
>I found this in the ftp archieve under Denmark aa60-69 [...]

Though information for the database should usually go through
Harry, I'm officially designated maintainer of the Danish part.
(Which probably means you could also hold me responsible!)
So if (no, make that *when*) you find more errors just mail them
to me, and I'll put them in the file Harry uses to make the ftp files,
so that it'll be corrected when the whole database is updated next
time.

I don't have very many issues between 1955 and 1965, and based
that part of the index on another, which unfortunately doesn't always
use the same numbering of the stories, causing some confusion.

But I'm working on it! Thanks for the information.

Ole "RoC" Reichstein Nielsen <(Email removed)>

Claudio> I wanted to look up the story in the database, but wenn I
Claudio> enter the code and press the "search" button, my Netscape
Claudio> Browser wants to dowload a File "findstory.pl". Can you help?

Harry> My guess is that Per Starback is currently updating the Database
Harry> software on his site. That's all his work, so probably he can answer
Harry> this better.

Actually I hadn't changed anything. It was because a new version of
Perl (which those programs are written in) was installed on that
computer. I've fixed the problem.

Anders:
>In t[w]o of Barks' stories he mentioned the
>country Brutopia: In the first of the
>stories (Cold bargain, US 17), it is
>mentioned that the country owns 5 Bath Tubs

Bath tubs? In the Dutch translation (from 1983) the country has 5 colour
TVs. What does the original English say?

--Harry.
Harry Fluks, Leidschendam, The Netherlands
http://home.wxs.nl/~fluks4
http://members.xoom.com/bolderbast