Keskustelujen arkisto

> The idea about restoring comics on dvds sounds pretty good.

Disney sees the medium, not the content, as the determining factor in
allowing a licensee to extend into another product area. Though a DVD's
principle content may be comic book pages, to Disney that does not make
it a comic book, nor even printed matter (the product area in which our
license has the most scope). A case would have to be made that Gemstone
would be the logical choice to put Disney comic book material onto
DVDs, as of course it is, but this would need to address where it might
possibly infringe on another licensee, or even a license Disney has yet
to issue to anyone.

Gemstone's capacity to design, produce, distribute and market DVDs
would also have to be addressed. But these issues had to be addressed
for Gemstone to do the Disney comics - it's all a matter of determining
what needs to be done and what - and who - it will take to do it.

That another US licensee would want to undertake projects like this
seems unlikely, so I would imagine that if Gemstone expressed an
interest, Disney would listen. With both parties motivated, the rest
would be dealing with the details - and the devils that lurk within
them.

Gary

Hi all!

Thanks to how Gemstone comics were shipped in the month of November, we've
got some real action on the sales front this month.

Top 300 Comics:

205. Uncle Scrooge #335 5,306
208. Uncle Scrooge #336 5,184
212. Donald Duck and Friends #322 5,012
218. Mickey Mouse and Friends #271 4,617
221. Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #650 4,432
224. Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #651 4,349

I notice WDC is consistently behind in sales of all the other titles. Maybe a
few Bucky Bug stories would perk up circulation. ;)

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/6161.html

Top 100 Graphic Novels:

5. Walt Disney's Twice Upon A Christmas 4,904
8. Walt Disney's Christmas Parade #2 4,719

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/6162.html

Comics sales in November in the industry wasn't so great, flat to declining.
Looks like Gemstone at least managed to stay steady, even a small increase in
sales.

Derek Smith

From: Mari Reilin <marire at luukku.com>
Subject: A new version The Life and Times of $crooge McDuck
>>>>>I'm not sure if this is told before, but I read in Finnish Aku
Ankka(Donald duck)-paper that there will be published a new version of The
life and Times of $crooge McDuck. It containes old stories and ones Don Rosa
has done after the first book was published. The article didn't told will it
be published in whole world or only in Finland, but I'm quite sure if it
comes out only in Finland, it will soon spread everywhere. They didn't tell
the precis year, but in Finlad, Rosas book has come out after two
years(-99,-01,-03, so I wait it in 2007. I'm really happy, if someone can
give me better information

That the first I've heard of any such "Lo$" book from Finland, so at this
point it's not something I have anything to do with. But it would not
"spread from" Finland; such "extended Lo$" books have appeared across South
America and Europe, and supposedly soon here in America, so Finland would be
slow in doing such a book, not first.
But I'm curious... if you know that the Finns do a Rosa book every two
years, why are you expecting the next one in 2007? What about 2005?

From: "Thad Komorowski" <thad at goldenagecartoons.com>
Subject: Re:DCML Digest 13: Matilda McDuck
>>>>>There's something I'm curious about though... In the INDUCKS listing
for "Letter from Home", every other McDuck character besides Scrooge and
Matilda are said to appear in flashback form... Does this mean Matilda is
'still' alive?

I planned to have both Matilda *and* Hortense in that story until the
editors told me that they were both "officially dead". (The characters, not
the editors.) But I argued successfully for at least using Matilda.

>>>>>One more question for Mr. Rosa, I recall how almost all of the Duck
characters appeared on your wonderful family tree in WDCS 600... This may
seem silly, but where does Ludwig Von Drake (it can't be too silly if this
is the same family tree that gave Fethry Duck his only American appearance
in the 1990s...) fall on that? I've been told that he's the spouse of
Matilda...

To repeat this for newcomers: My original version of the Family Tree
included Ludwig Von Drake in the only possible position he could occupy to
be Donald's uncle, which was as Matilda McDuck's husband. And that seemed
logical for this Austrian (?) Duck to have married a McDuck girl who had
moved home to Europe. But once again, the editors decreed that LvD was
"officially dead" and I could not include him (even though Barks once used
him in a 1-page gag)(which he probably didn't write), but that the
publishers wanted me to add this Fethry Duck, a character not known to me as
an American. So even though I already had my Ducks all in a row, I shifted
them around, removed LvD and added Fethry. But in the Duck Family Tree in my
mind, LvD is still married to Matilda and there is no Fethry.
So... is LvD in this "Letter from Home" story with Matilda? No, I didn't
even try to get into the subject with the editors as to whether he was alive
again or not. There is *so much* going on in this story (too much, really!)
that I just couldn't consider *also* having LvD complicating the situation
with his sudden presence. So even though Matilda seems to be unmarried in
the story, it is not actually stated what her marital status is, and I
figure that LvD is merely away on a lecture tour somewhere. Maybe if I ever
use Matilda again, I'll see if they'll allow me to bring LvD into the story.
Or maybe I'll just have to decide he ran off with Hortense, never to be seen
again.

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:12:47 -0500, Don Rosa <donrosa at iglou.com> wrote:
> the editors told me that they were both "officially dead". (The characters, not
> the editors.)
From the sound of it, those editors are deadly official, which frankly
is little less better than officially dead...

--
Schw?che zeigen hei?t verlieren;
h?rte hei?t regieren.
- "Glas und Tr?nen", Megaherz

Ehapa/Germany will release a new edition of the Barks Library in ten
sets of three HC books each. So it will have the format of the original
american b/w Carls Barks Library but will be in color and with the
German translation by Dr. Erika Fuchs. This new edition will also
feature comments by Geoffery Blum and a complete index of all Barks
stories.

The edition will be limited to 3.333 copies. Each set will cost EUR
149.- The first volume is scheduled for August 2005.

You can find more info (in German) on the Carl Barks Collection here:
http://www.barks.de

According to Ehapa this is a joined effort of several countries. In
which other countries will similar projects be released?

Will it feature a completely new coloring? Or the coloring of the Barks
Library in Color?

Which versions of the Fuchs-translation will be used? The first ones
(like in the German Carl Barks Library in Color) or later ones?

Will there be an English edition anyehere?

Cord

Hi Guys!

Huray! Christmas is coming, and Santa Clouse is coming (to town) as well.

Sow, I wish you all a very Goofy... I mean Merry Christmas, as Happy as
it's posible New Yer!!! :-)))))))))
Let's hope this Yer 2005 will bring us all some greait New sotrys to read
and talk obaut here ;-)

Ow and I don't cnow what Religion are pepole are on this list but... Happy
Channukach!!!!! :-)))))))

Yours
Maciek

From: "Mickey" <mickey at iol.it>
Subject: Re: DCML Digest Issue 16
> To repeat this for newcomers
>>>>>I think it could be useful to write a FAQ about these aspects,
especially about the family tree and its characters. To save your energies!

It would be nice if I could write up a list of FAQs so that I could save
time in answering them again, but I already don't have enough time to save
time.
Maybe somebody will do it for me...?
Actually, many years ago (gad, nearly 10?) somebody or several bodies wrote
up a list of my responses to numerous questions and it was part of the DCML
website, but it hasn't been updated since then (and may have even
evaporated, I'm not sure). But those nice people probably no longer have the
time to help me save the time I don't have time to save.
Huh?

From: ZeldasTriforce at aol.com
Subject: Dead Characters
>>>>>How/why are certain characters declared dead/offlimits? Is there some
creative/artistic reason for doing so, or is it some corporate decision?

Wish I had a FAQ on this'n, too.
The editors decided that LvD and Fethry Duck were "officially dead"
because... I dunno... they simply personally didn't like those characters.
And as the presiding editors, that's their job, to decide what these stories
are supposed to be like.
As for characters like HD&L's parents and $crooge's sister/Donald's mother
Hortense, the decision was made because there is no possible reasonable
explanation as to where these characters have been for all these decades. If
they were alive, they would have been present or at least occasionally
visiting. If they were lost or missing, somebody would have mentioned them.
And no, (since somebody always suggests this) it can't be said that they
were in Duckburg all along and present at all times, but they just didn't
happen to be featured in a story... that would be cheating!
So, even though fans have asked me for nearly 20 years to tell a tale of
HD&L's search for their parents or the return of Donald's mother, I have
never figured out how to do it, and the editors' decree of "official
dead-dom" gives me the coward's way out.

From: "Cord Wiljes" <cord at wiljes.de>
Subject: Carl Barks Collection
>>>>>Ehapa/Germany will release a new edition of the Barks Library in ten
sets of three HC books each.
According to Ehapa this is a joined effort of several countries. In
which other countries will similar projects be released?

This is actually a book set put together by the Egmont branch in Norway, and
made available to other Egmont branches like Ehapa. Ehapa has the ability to
make tweaks on the lay-out and design, and perhaps the texts, but it's
pretty much a Norway project, not a "joint effort". I was a "special guest
star" at the press conference of the official launch of the Norwegian set
(to make it "officially alive") in Oslo back in June.

>>>>>Will it feature a completely new coloring? Or the coloring of the Barks
Library in Color? Which versions of the Fuchs-translation will be used? The
first ones
(like in the German Carl Barks Library in Color) or later ones?

The texts and coloring is all handled (has already been done) back in Oslo,
all fresh and new, but the decision as whether to use Fuchs' famous old
translations/rewrites or to stick more closely to Barks' original texts
would be the sort of tweaking done at Ehapa.
As if it was any of my business (which it's not), when they publish a
collection of facsimile reprints of the old MICKY MAUS issues, they should
retain Fuchs' original texts. But if this is a *BARKS* Library, obviously
they should start from scratch and retranslate the books to match Barks'
original intentions. Then you could have both versions for fans -- the
beloved Fuchs version in the original comic book issue facsimiles, and
Barks' true and equally beloved original dialogue in the Barks Library
editions.