Keskustelujen arkisto

Fellow Quackeroos:

Just picked up KOMIX #125; for anyone remotely interested it features:

1) Barks' original cover from US #50 that printed "Rug Riders in the Sky"
2) A 3-page editorial on MM's 70th anniversary titled "It all started with a
Mouse"
3) Barks' "Rug Riders in the Sky"
4) A two-page editorial on Barks' "Arabian Nights" stories
5) Barks' "Donald's Big Imagination", from WDC&S #199
6) A two-page editorial titled "Donald in the salons of fashion"
7) "Merchant to the Stars", (D8560) with art by the (old) Gutenberghus Group
(looks like Branca) on a script by G. Blum
8) Part I of a 4-part report on "Comics and Censorship", titled "The Era of
Censorship". The remaining parts in future issues will cover "The Case of
Dr. Fredrick Wertham", "Barks and Censorship", and "The Modern Era"
9) Barks' "Going Ape", from WDC&S #91
10) Barks' "Man vs. Machine", from US #47

KOMIX also advertises in this issue an album called "Carl Barks: 10*10", to
be released here in Greece just before Xmas, on December 23. The publication
of this "gold"-cover, 118-page prestige-format book, measuring 23*30 cm and
having a cover price of 2,000 drachmas (~$7), will mark the FIRST time that
such a collector's Disney-comics album will be published here in Greece. So
far (as far as I know), all Diney comic stories have appeared in regular
comic books. "10*10" will publish Barks' first 10 ten-pagers from 1943-44! A
true collector's item indeed!

Cheers,

Archontis

when I first time sent this it didn't seem to get through... however if
this post appears twice I'm sorry. ä

Well, here I go... a while ago I complained how everyone had been taking
other people's words too literally and getting stuck with single words
instead of understanding the whole meaning and now I do the same thing
myself... I'm sorry.
I just should have let mr. Rosa's latest post be but I couldn't. As he
persists of describing the good people of Gladstone as godlike I just
want to put a few thoughts forward.
I don't think they are godlike nor do I agree with calling them godlike
simply because in my opinion such exaggeration takes the focus off the
amount of work they must have put in (by the way... if they were godlike
it really wouldn't be much of a job to get a new Gladstone issue out;
snap goes the fingers and so forth... but I doubt no one meant it like
that). When one dismisses all exaggeration and keeps in mind that they
are neither black or white but just your average gray the value of their
work falls in to right perspective. In fact I'm sure there are great
many Rosa fans who would describe him as godlike with same conviction I
think I hear (or read) in mr. Rosa's post. However, I don't believe that
he would consider it as a valid description of him and of his work. I
think when one uses so extreme descriptions it makes it much harder for
others to appreciate Gladstone in 'how much work would it take from me
to do the same' kind of way.
Now I don't want anyone to think that this some kind of criticism of mr.
Rosa or Gladstone as it isn't. I am NOT in position to to criticize
either. I've never met mr. Rosa or have I ever read the Gladstone
publication. I just feel that exaggeration of their work in good or bad
would probably take their work out of context and not give valid
description of their efforts.

Great admirer of Don Rosa's art
Teme

So yesterday October 31st at 3:00 p.m. there was in Lucca the meeting of
the Disney Comics Data Base.
A lot of people showed interest in the work that indexers (directed by
Harry Fluks!) are currently doing on Disney Comics. I was glad to see, for
instance that Italian scripter Carlo Panaro came to tell me, after the
meeting, that some credits that appeared on "Topolino" were wrong; he asked
me to correct them in the database, thus showing his appreciation for our
work.
The great Luciano Bottaro kindly answered a few questions from me, and I
was able to make some corrections in my index that shortly will appear in a
new release.
Overall, we had a chance to contact a lot of people that hopefully will be
of great help for the development of the database project!

(And I even had great drawings from Silvia Ziche and Ulrich Schroeder!
look for them on

http://marcobar.cce.unifi.it/Fumetti/BaldoCastoro/Baldo.gif
http://marcobar.cce.unifi.it/Comics/Scans/Ulrich.jpg

Thanks, Silvia and Ulrich!!!)

Marco

http://marcobar.cce.unifi.it/DisneyIndex

--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V98 Issue #263
******************************************

> On the very same day I bought two comic books here in Germany that
also
> celebrate Mickey's anniversary. The first on is: "Micky Maus
praesentiert
> Spezial Bd. 24: 70 Jahre Micky" with 100 pages. It has a frame story
by
> David Gerstein and Ferioli (D 98048: Micky's favourite villains are
trying
> to take away his memory).

I've bought that one in Sweden. It's exactly the same as the German one.

> The second one is called, just like the one you mention, "Micky Maus
> Jubilaeumsband Nr.1" and has 256 pages. There are two stories by
> Gottfredson YM 031 T:The Seven Ghosts [date:36-08-10]
[enddate:36-11-28]
> and YM 042 T:The Bar-none Ranch [date:40-04-22] [enddate:40-08-17];
two by
> Paul Murry (WDCS 226 - 228; WDCS 370 - 372); one by Scarpa (T 1199 A);
two
> by Ferioli (D 90030 and D 90052). I don't like this book as much as
the
> first one because I've read most of the stories already.

Hmm.. I haven't seen that one YET!

BUT I have a "$crooge Mc Duck 50 year" pocket sized-album that doesn't
contain any Barks. Only a lot of anonymous (propably) italian
stories.

I can't find any credits, but I recognize most artists.
Unfortunately I'm REALLY not good at Italian artists.

Steamboat Willie

ARCHONTIS:
> 1) Barks' original cover from US #50 that printed "Rug Riders in the Sky"

Which is credited as "a composition by Komix based on the story". Barks is not
credited, and neither is the artist who replaced the stylized minarets at the
bottom left corner of the original cover with a full-blown arabian city.

> 5) Barks' "Donald's Big Imagination", from WDC&S #199

Where they failed to translate "Phonus Artichokus" into something equally
hilarious in Greek. :-( ["Omega Tope" doesn't sound remotely as funny, and
yes, I had to look "tope" up--it's a kind of fish.]

> 7) "Merchant to the Stars", (D8560) with art by the (old) Gutenberghus Group
> (looks like Branca) on a script by G. Blum

I don't have the American publication of the story handy, but I would assume
that G. Blum "merely" wrote the American script for the story.

> 8) Part I of a 4-part report on "Comics and Censorship",
******
Wink-wink, nudge-nudge, say no more! (Archontis will know what I'm talking
about--I apologize for being cryptic.)

> "10*10" will publish Barks' first 10 ten-pagers from 1943-44! A
> true collector's item indeed!

Indeed, but weren't you one of the people (along with myself) who had been
complaining about too much Barks? I know the publication is bound to be good,
but I, for, one, do not believe I'll be buying it.

On the other hand, next month they'll be publishing W.H.A.D... (you
know what I'm talking about), and that Rota story they had mentioned a
few issues ago. I *will* be buying that!

ANDERS:

> Have any of you guys got the Carl Barks Library in Black and white?

Yes.

> If yes I would like to ask you for a favour...

Ask away!

Kriton (e-mail: (Email removed))
(WWW: http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis
-----
"Won't they take `no' for an answer?"
"No!"
-----

Hi,

JAN:

>Tarjei Kidd Olsen:
>
>On the very same day I bought two comic books here in Germany that also
>celebrate Mickey's anniversary.

<snip>

>It looks as if Norwegian Egmont and German Egmont are using the same
>format, but obviously with some differences, as your page and story numbers
>indicate. Which stories are in your album?

Interestingly my album features the same frame story by David Gerstein and
Ferioli that you mentioned (The Past Imperfect). In addition it features The
Mystery At Hidden River, The Santa Claus Bandit, The Ruby Eye of Homar
Guy-Am (the "Paul Murry story" you mentioned :), Kali's Nail, The Bar-none
Ranch (which with you was in the SECOND book) and a 2-page illustrated
summary of Mickeys encounters called Picturing The Past with text by David
Gerstein and two (I think) new panels by Ferioli. So they've used the same
concept, but we got one book with an extra story, and you got TWO books with
more stories altogether.

*And here's a question: the Disney comics-line started with a very modern
approach and then returned to the classical stories that the readers asked
for. Was the decision to stop the comics-line already made at this stage or
some time later?

Jan, I'm not sure I fully understand your question but I'll answer what I
think your question is. If I got it wrong please follow-up.

Are you referring to the entire line of comics, or only to those that I
edited?

After Disney decided to do the comics themselves, I remember one day we had a
meeting to see which editors wanted which comics. I immediately put in a
claim for WDC&S, DD, US and Ducktails. The reason I grabbed them was because I
wanted to preserve the classic titles as much as possible, to assure they
continued to be the Disney Comics I grew up with and loved. And while I'm
here I want to say that I always felt badly that Gladstone lost the license,
but since the decision had been made that Disney was going to do the comics
themselves, I'm glad I was at Disney's at the time. I'm still amazed by the
coincidental events that put me there at just the right time. And I'm glad
Gladstone had set such high standards of quality.

You have no idea how tremendous it felt to be the editor of some of the
greatest and most influential comics in my life. Like millions of people
around the world, Disney Comics were a major part of my childhood, and for a
kid from New York who always identified with Donald Duck, it was the most
amazing thing to me that I would be the person to one day edit those titles.
Wow!

If your question about the "modern approach" means something along the lines
of the type of material or look you would find in "superhero" comics, that was
a decision by the marketing folks who seemed to think that Disney Comics
needed to compete with Marvel and DC for rack space. While they did need to
compete with them for rack space, I didn't think they could succeed by doing
the Disney version of Marvel/DC Superhero comics. Disney Comics didn't
acquire a worldwide reputation for being great comics by imitating non-Disney
comics.

Part of the "return to classical stories that readers asked for" may have
simply been a decision to do things cheaper. Reprinting material that readers
asked for was a lot cheaper than creating all new material. All I could do at
that point was to find the hard-to-find stuff that was buried in files,
garages and private collections. For example, the Calgary Eye-Opener material
that I ran in several issues came from a cache of Eye-Openers that I found at
a swap meet in Pasadena. I gave them to Carl Barks and, years later, when I
was editing WDC&S, I asked Carl if he would loan me the issues long enough to
select some printable pages to run. Of all the pages available, only a few
were fit for the pages of WDC&S, but historically it was a real pleasure to
present some of that stuff to fans who had never seen it. Of course I saw
WDC&S as the perfect venue for that type of collectible material.

The decision to stop the comics line was probably made by whoever was
overseeing the sinking ship after some of the rats began to abandon it. I'm
afraid I have to take the credit for being one of the biggest rats when I left
Disney Comics to go to work for Egmont. The circumstances that led to that
decision are numerous and complicated, and discussing them here and now would
probably take up too much spce, but I did forfeit a 12 year stint at Disney
when I did it. After I moved to Denmark the Disney-published comics fizzled
and returned to Gladstone (thankfully). The final decision was most likely
rooted in economics and overhead. Office space is a lot more expensive in
Burbank than it is in Prescott, Arizona.

If you have follow-ups or specific questions, send them along.

Thanks.

Bob Foster

--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V98 Issue #264
******************************************

>>Family Tree posters
Were these available in the United States? If so, how can I get one now?
B. Martin

No, they were made into fold-up-inna-funnybook posters and also
heavy-glossy-stock flat posters in most all other countries, but not
America. A fold-up insert would be too expensive for Gladstone to include
for free, as can the big Euro publishers, and they do not have the license
for producing "Disney" posters (even though hardly any of my Family Tree
characters are "Disney" characters). There are other companies producing
Disney posters for America, and, as you can guess, they would much rather do
a 137th "Little Mermaid" or 119th "Lion King" poster than a poster of
characters that virtually no one in America knows. Gladstone *did* do the
poster as a normal-paper centerfold in WDC&S #600 -- I assume you knew that?
That's your best bet. (The Rosa-Duck-Family-Tree posterframed on *my* wall
is French.)