Keskustelujen arkisto

From: "Janne Heino"
>>>I have a question about the story "Back in Time for a Dime", written by
Don Rosa.
Where has this story been published??
Don: Could you tell some backgrounds? For example why didn't you draw the
story yourself ??

This came about when I had just been forced to quit working for Gladstone
due to Disney's order to them that they no longer return my artwork. So,
having already liquidated my construction company, I was effectively
unemployed. (This was about a year before I found out that Egmont wanted to
hire me, something I never even suspected was a possibility.)
I was contacted by the publisher of the "Ducktales" kiddie magazine, a
magazine for very young children with puzzles and games and stuff, which
had one short comic story in each issue. I didn't want to do a Ducktales
story, but their fee for writing the thing was too tempting to pass up and
I needed work. I would not have drawn it myself under their Disney-imposed
policies, but they already had the Diaz Studio doing their art, so they
never asked.
Anyway, I wrote the story and it appeared in an issue of that magazine...
the "INDUCKS" surely lists the issue. When it was printed there was a
bonehead change in my dialogue, something about where my line was "There's
a tremor running through the house", "No, that's only a mouse" -- changed
inexplicably to "There's a tremor in the house", "Is a mouse shaking it?"
This is what makes writers' hair fall out. Then I had a beastly time
getting the publisher to pay me. I did not want another job with them, and
they never asked me, apparently not wanting to deal with someone who wanted
to be paid for work.

Fluks, H.W:

As some people probably know, in the USA all doors in
public buildings must open to the outside. The USA
had a law about that after many people died in a
burning hotel, because they couldn't leave through
the door. This was somewhere in the 1920s, I think.

I believe that this may have been the Coconut Grove
nightclub fire in Boston in the early '40's. One
victim was the famous cowboy star, Buck Jones, the
star of many movies (and comic books!).

Joe Farrell

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In a message dated 12/7/00 2:32:52 AM Eastern Standard Time, kyrimis at cti.gr
writes:

> > > I take it that you've never had someone threw a pie in your face... it
> > > may be clean, but it's not wholesome and I've never seen anyone (but
> > > actors) laugh it off.
> >
> > The above seems to suggest that this has happened to you at least once,
> > and that you've seen it done to people who are not actors more than

I don't see how reading the above would suggest that it has happened to me at least one.
But yes, I have seen it done to people who were not actors more than once - it was a fad in the states a few years ago to "pie" people in public places.

Steven Rowe

{ This message was delayed because of technical problems. Sorry! /Per }

Dear Archontis, FRANCESCO and all...

>
> But let's be fair and realistic here: in order to write original articles
> you need to hire people that know both the comics and the authors

That's what a publisher shoul do. Isn't it?

> Not giving credit where credit is due will very likely continue

People who does it on regular schedule is/are LOUSY and BAD people not
deserving respect (nt mine, indeed). All of us 'd even be flattered to see
our articles translated thru the world without askin' a penny (or a drakma)
- and this is bad, indeed. But for the Disney comics' LOVE this is not the
main isuue.
Indeed, in Italy also there are guys who are used to copy our informations
without a line of credit.

Nothing more to add.
I'd like that someone can change this bad trend and these thieves'
behaviour.

Luca

> From: "Dr. Archontis Pantsios"
> Lately, however, this has been
> changing and it's mirrored in the growing number of "fans" and in the
> appearance in these past 2-3 years of a number of what "seem to be"
original
> articles in KOMIX--I'm heartened to see that lately they do publish
> interesting original analyses which means that they must have good people
on
> board.

That good people is a very devoted Duckfan who I now correspond with
regularly and whom is quite interested in helping to improve the content of
KOMIX for both Disney comics fans and comics fans in general. In fact, he
and I might soon be collaborating on a series of articles for KOMIX about
old American (non-Disney) comic book history if we can find the time. His
name is Dn?ntpns Dn?akonoulos... aka Dimitri Dimakopoulos.
(I'm supposed to write a similar series for PICSOU, which would be fun, but
I just don't know where the time will come from.)

> From: Kriton Kyrimis
> Now, can we address the point that I was trying to make, which is that
> the gags that were excised from "Tightwad" were *not* Don's best, and
> that they might even be considered to be in poor taste?
> From: Frank Stajano
> I'll even say that I much prefer jokes about farts
> (grossly funny) than ones about spittoons (disgusting). Different tastes
I
> suppose.

I thought we'd been through all this already? Yes, different tastes in
humor -- let me spell out my attitude...
Well, I can't even address this idea that it's too disgusting to have
characters with sticky prune goo on them... that seems innocent in the
extreme, unless the reader decides that there are all sorts of bacteria and
germs involved, which is rather adding too much of his own imagination to
the mix (on the other hand, as it turned out in my story, the ugly germs
inherent in a Beagle Boy's dirty pants pocket was exactly what I had in
mind in the following sequence... and even Barks had such a scene when
Donald was once chased by gigantic chicken pox germs).
But as to whether FART humor is more disgusting than SPITOON or SNOT humor
(are we really having this silly discussion?).... I have shown people
getting a spittoon plopped over their heads, I have shown the Ducks in
"Tightwad" with something on them after a misadventure in a handkerchief. I
even once had someone throwing a bedpot with yellow liquid in it out a
window at $crooge in the "Lo$". But in these cases, if there's anything
disgusting about these things, the reader is supplying it. The brass pot is
not labeled "SPITOON", maybe it's a pot for cigar butts, maybe it's a
dirty flowerpot. I let the reader decide what it is and how disgusting it
may or may not be (though it's obviously not supposed to be interpreted as
a favor). I let the reader decide that wasn't the prune goo alluded to in
the text on the pocketed-Duck... if he wants to assume instead that it's
snot, he's free to do so. And I doubt if anyone even knows what a bedpot is
anymore, but that thing did not have "BEDPOT" written on it... it might be
a pot of lemonade. I honestly *don't* decide *exactly* what is going on in
any of these cases, and the humor in the situation (and I'm not saying
there's much in any case) for me is not what is actually happening but it's
the very fact that I'm not making it clear what's happening. I'm *tricking*
the reader to see something that I've never said is true. To me, *that's*
funny.
Now, as to what *I* think is in poor taste, it is that which is unsubtle
and obvious. If I had one of the Beagle Boys emit a loud, rude noise from
his rear and the other Beagle Boys hold their noses and push him away and
chant "176-617 faaarted! 176-617 faaarted!", that's crude and obvious and
puerile (to me), even though I'm sure lots of younger readers would hoot
with laughter. Even if Disney had loads of fart-humor in "Lion King", I'll
have none of it in my comics. And in "Guardians of the Lost Library", I had
a nephew refer to the offscreen JW Hound as being sick, and Disney's
censors changed that to having the nephew say the dog "BARFED"... again, to
me that is crude and obvious and puerile and unfunny (and also embarrassing
to me for having to take credit for their change in my dialogue).
I would never have the Duck in the pocket sit there and say "Yeeeccchh! I'm
all covered with SNOT!" nor would I have the guy who had the spittoon hit
him on the head say "Ugh! I have germ-infested SPIT all over me!", and a
voice from the window would never have said "Why you...! I'm throwing this
piss-filled bedpot at you!" ... that, to me, would be bad taste. I leave
those details to the reader to imagine if they are so inclined.
I am not saying exactly *what* bad taste is... that would be impossible to
determine and we should stop wasting time on the subject... I'm just
explaining how I see what I do as compared to what *I* think is bad taste.
I mean, I recall how Gladstone once got a letter from an irate reader to
objected to the "@#%&$*!" in Donald's dialogue as being in extreme bad
taste. We know, as comic readers, this is supposed to represent such foul
language that it cannot be printed out, so we are supposed to use our own
imagination as to what is actually being said. But this irate reader was
mentally filling in the "blank" with all the most obscene and profane
language she could think of, and was blaming Gladstone for actually
printing something "in such bad taste". Who here would agree with that
attitude? Yet, to her, it was extreme bad taste. So...... all this proves
exactly... nothing.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kriton Kyrimis" <kyrimis at cti.gr>
To: <dcml at stp.ling.uu.se>
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2000 7:20 AM
Subject: Re: Censorship and the incredible shrinking tightwad

> Now, can we address the point that I was trying to make, which is that
> the gags that were excised from "Tightwad" were *not* Don's best, and
> that they might even be considered to be in poor taste?
>
>

Taste is a matter of, well..., TASTE! I have little problem with food
having fermented in someone's pocket. I do have trouble with bodily
functions as a source of humor, though I know I am now in an ever increasing
minority on that one. Thanks to THE LION KING's introduction of gas-passing
as acceptable, and the encroachment of gags like REN AND STIMPY's booger
collection into kid's animation programs, there is little that is even
considered "gross" anymore.

I'm about the same age as you, and seem to share your distaste for some
things that the rest of the world finds humorous. But to my way of
thinking, slipping around in prune juice isn't one of them.

Dan Shane
(danshane at bellsouth.net)

ROB KLEIN, 07-12-2000:

> Daniel van Eijmeren's comments on crowd panic causing doors to be shut
> by their own force; followed by Harry Fluks' comment that doors in USA
> open out because of a hotel fire in the 1920s!!! Deja Vu??? It seems
> this is an exact repeat of a conversation by those same members about
> a year ago.

Repetition is a great help for remembering old discussions. :-)

I also remember another discussion between you, Harry and me during one
of these visits. It was about the Screaming Cowboy story (WDC 137).

I don't remember who said what (except that I myself only acted as
listener), but summarizing it was about a 1940s record called
"The Crying Cowboy" which only (or mostly) contained crying and
moaning.

This record would have been a possible inspiration for Carl Barks in
making Donald the writer of the "The Screaming Cowboy" song.

Do I remember this right? And if so, can you or someone else give me
more details on that Crying Cowboy song?

Best wishes,

--- Daniel

PS. Once answered, I promise and swear I won't ask you this question
again. I'm now making *notes*, which is a bigger help for my memory
than being repetitive. :-)