Keskustelujen arkisto

Since there was a request for others of us to respond..here's my
long-delayed two cents on some of the questions brought up in November
relative to Gemstone's choices about content (Rosa and Barks re-reprints,
etc.). I am, on the whole, happy as a clam with regard to Gemstone's
choices. On Barks reprints: personally, I own the complete set of Gladstone
U$ albums but only about a third of the Gladstone WDC and Donald albums.
Therefore, I'm pleased to get prestige-quality versions of Barks stories I
don't have. More to the point, I provide Gemstone comics to two young boys,
a neighbor and my godson, and I want them to get Barks stories.

On Rosa reprints: yes, I have copies of most of Rosa's stories already, but
I've been pleased with Gemstone's reprints. Sometimes that's just because of
the additional material (Rosa's essay, or his Picsou pin-up), sometimes
that's because I want a copy in the prestige format (better paper/color, and
I can put it on a bookshelf). I'll be happy to have U$ 362's reprint of
"Return to Plain Awful," so I can shelve it next to the album of "Lost in
the Andes." And on that note, I'm also happy about the planned volume with
Barks' Peeweegahs and Rosa's sequel. I have long wanted Gladstone/Gemstone
to publish such volumes, pairing the Barks original with the Rosa sequel.
Even when I have both stories in album or prestige form (as is true with the
Peeweegah stories), I would still purchase such joint books. There's
something satisfying about the idea of having the two stories together under
one cover. I'm hoping that the Peeweegahs book sells well and Gemstone does
more such books. My vote for the next one would be for the Golden Helmet and
the Lost Charts, since the latter story has not been reprinted in the USA in
prestige or album or TPB form. I am also very pleased that U$ 368 will
reprint "Guardians of the Lost Library," since that also exists in the USA
only in old-style comic-book form. That story gave me the single moment of
greatest pleasure I've ever gotten from a comic book (when I figured out
where the story was heading), and I want it in prestige form, out of the
mylar and on the shelf. (By the way, I do trust that Gemstone will not put
any spoiler on the cover or in the editorial intro [if Rosa does so in an
essay, he'll label it a spoiler], as some nitwit publisher in Europe did on
their cover. I was so shocked when I saw that--if Gladstone had done
something like that, it would have deprived me of my Moment of Greatest Joy
from Comics!) The reprint of "Crocodile Collector" in VP 4 will be my third
copy, but it's a great story and I won't complain (I'm just curious to see
whether the name "African Queen" will reappear on the boat!). I was happy to
have the "Incredible Shrinking Tightwad" complete (with deleted bits
restored) and in one volume, and I would likewise be happy to have
all-in-one-book reprints of the other Rosa stories that appeared serially in
Gladstone's WDC (esp. "Treasury of Croesus"). There's yet one more Rosa
reprint that I'm very eager for: "Fir-Tree Fracas," which exists in the USA
only in an early Gladstone. For some reason it remains one of my top-ten
favorite Rosa stories (I know, there's no accounting for taste), and I keep
hoping it will turn up in a Christmas Parade or a December issue. Maybe for
Christmas 2007?

On the idea of a third monthly title such as "Donald and Mickey": I would
subscribe to it if it were at least half Donald. I subscribed to DDF but not
to MMF. I am one of those people (a couple have so identified themselves in
letters to Gladstone/Gemstone over the years) who buy duck comics to read
stories about ducks. And maybe chipmunks. And I want Bucky Bug stories to
read to the preschooler, who finds them enthralling. But on the whole I am
unconvinced of the reality of Mickey as a character, and positively annoyed
when he shows up in a story along with Donald. There are only two Mickey
stories that I have set aside to keep for life: the Markstein/Noel Van Horn
"Surefoot Jones" Sherlock take-off, and the Rawson/Ferioli "Vacation Brake."
(That number will doubtless increase by 50% when Markstein's Mickey sequel
to his "King of the Bungaloos" is published, since I *love* that story,
despite its being duck-free.)

And while I'm talking about content: one author I'd like to see more of is
Evert Geradts. His "Ringtail van Dukke" pirate story is my favorite duck
long-adventure story by someone other than Barks and Rosa (second favorite:
Wm Van Horn's "Black Moon"), and I've also found the humor in several other
of his stories particularly smart and engaging (e.g. Nature Park Ranger, and
Much Ado about Telepathy).

Elaine

Rich wrote:

> DC's Huntress (the "Helena Wayne/Batman & Catwoman's daughter"
> version), herself, was an assertive character, though I forget
> her actual creation date (I beleive it was in the early 1960s,
> though).

Actually, this version of the Huntress was created in 1977.

> Daisy's nieces, April, May & June are the daughters of Daisy's
> never officially seen sister.

What's your source for this?

> AM&J and HD&L are supposedly cousins, which means Daisy
> & Donald are also cousins, as are Daisy & Gladstone.

What's your source for this?

And everybody: please post your messages in plain text.

Lars

Lars-

Hmmm. Lars, there's a saying for what I see your reasoning being "picking at nits". In
the AM&J "Flippism" story, THAT was their introduction the the Duck Universe, and we are
told numerous times thereafter that they ARE Daisy's nieces, so I don't see where it's a
stretch to imagine the REASON they were in Daisy's sister's apartment was because they
WERE/ARE Daisy's sister's daughters. It's not an extreme leap in logic or even
philosphical dilemma. It appears to be the intention of the story and I can easily
imagine most people would accept the inferrence. Not EVERY little detail needs to be
spelled out when some things should be apparent or obvious. Of course, I could imagine,
also, that some creator could pick up on this thread and intentionally create a story
that re-creates that scene or worse yet, ignores it altogether, in favor of a new version
that CLEARLY shows Daisy's sister is NOT the mother of AM&J... which seems silly, but if
it gives them the clarity of opinion and final say, then that will be the reason to do it.

As for the DUCK FAMILY TREES, I think the real reason none of the LATER versions
specifically designated Daisy & AM&J's placement is because there are too many gaps in
our basic understanding of how she relates. I see no reason why the one presented
in "Dell Giant: Uncle Donald and His Nephews, Family Fun" #38 (1960) should be discarded
just because it has it's share of vagueness. I can't imagine why the writer/artist would
have created a Family Tree that lies about such a minor detail when the lie was not
important to the story. And we are still left with the fact that Daisy and AM&J have
consistently been treated as part of the DUCK FAMILY and not just apparent "guests"
or "tag-a-longs" as if they were Donald's Date or something. I don't think it's a
stretch of the imagination that it is intentional that Daisy and the girls are treated as
actual members of the Family. I think consistency should be a good guage as well as
any "tree" that has yet to tackle the finer details.

As for Ludwig not being on the tree, I believe he was created around that same time
period, and I'm sure it wasn't a regular part of the "Duck Lore" yet." I agree he should
be there, and I'm perfectly fine with Rosa's explanation as well. The whole "Continuity
Game" is really a more recent phenomenon, mostly created by us fans demanding some
clearer details on such issues. I agree that Ludwig belongs on the Family Tree, but I
also believe that Daisy & the girls fairly obvious treatment by creators has earned their
place time and again. It's not an assumption by some fans as much as it is an obvious
conclusion.

Wouldn't you agree? Or have I been reading these comics wrong all these years? ;-)

Granted, there's still the issue of Gyro on the Tree... That doesn't make sense to me,
and other than the few trees I've seen sporting his name and the fact that he does
ocassionally show up at a Family Reunion, that I know of that make him a Duck. You could
argue that there have been other "guests" at Duck Family gathering, including Mickey,
Minnie and Goofy, as well. Does that mean they are Ducks too? No, there's been no story
logic that demonstrates or infers anywhere, that they are considered Ducks. Daisy and
the Girls are "treated" by most creators over the past half century (or so) as Duck
Family members, Mickey, Goofy and others are not. And we don't need to discuss the "term
of endearment" that has HD&L calling Mickey "Unca Mickey" as we know that doesn't count,
and is never meant to have counted. We've covered THAT topic in previous discussions on
this group. There is a tree that shows Magica, Gyro and Glomgold on the tree (Van
Horn's), but I don't believe that has ever been handled as anything more than a work of
art. That said, we are told that Rockerduck and Scrooge are related through their shared
Aunt Eider (different from the "male" Eider Duck that is related to Fethry &
Whitewater)... though that does remind me, that there are LOTS of relatives, even re-
occurring ones, not listed on trees but are considered legitimate relations (Douglas,
Rumpus, Gideon and Scrooge's look-alike "beggar" cousin) are not typically listed, but
SHOULD be.

Basically, the only reason I know that Daisy is not listed is because we don't know what
branch she belongs to. Sure the surname "Duck" should help, but no creator has yet
tackled her placement, or ret-conned her out of the Family. ;-)

Thanks,

Rich
(Email removed)

From: "Lars Jensen" (Email removed)>
>Rich wrote:
>>>> Daisy's nieces, April, May & June are the daughters of Daisy's
>>>> never officially seen sister.
>>>
>>> What's your source for this?
>>
>> Lars you have me doubting myself now, but I could have sworn
>> that Daisy makes a passing mention of her "sister" in the
>> Neice's introduction story
>
>Yeah, in that story Donald arrives at an apartment where he finds
>Daisy who is visiting her sister. April, May and June are also
>present in the apartment. We don't actually learn whether Daisy's
>sister is AMJ's mom, though.
>
>>>> AM&J and HD&L are supposedly cousins, which means Daisy
>>>> & Donald are also cousins, as are Daisy & Gladstone.
>>>
>>> What's your source for this?
>>
>> In this, I am using the word "SUPPOSEDLY" as there is only
>> subtle sourcing for this conclusion, such as "Dell Giant: Uncle
>> Donald and His Nephews, Family Fun" #38 (1960) where they are
>> all clearly listed on the Duck Family Tree, as well as being in
>> attendance at Grandma Duck's ranch house for a "Family Reunion."
>> So they ARE related, just how closely is not yet designated.
>> I'm fine with them being "distant" cousins all, but the FAMILY
>> TREES seem to indicate a much closer relationship. I beleive
>> there are other Family Trees depicting the relationships also
>> (Gilles Maurice has a pretty good list of the PUBLISHED Trees on
>> his site, though I know he also has some unofficial sources,
>> too:
>> http://goofy313g.free.fr/calisota_online/trees/index.html).
>
>OK, I've now visited Gilles' site. And it's a great informative
>site, but... If I only look at Duck family trees that have been
>published by a Disney licensee and ignore the ones I don't know
>how to interpret, I'm left with 3 trees, as far as I can tell.
>Those trees (which are very similar to each other) all have the
>same problem: according to them, Ludwig Von Drake isn't Donald's
>uncle. Since we know he is (Walt told us so), those trees cannot
>be relied on for correct information. Which means that as far as I
>can tell there really is no proof that Daisy, Donald, Gladstone
>and AMJ all dream of being involved with a first cousin.
>
>Lars

---- Msg sent via CWNet - http://www.cwnet.com/

Rich wrote:

>>> Daisy's nieces, April, May & June are the daughters of Daisy's
>>> never officially seen sister.
>>
>> What's your source for this?
>
> Lars you have me doubting myself now, but I could have sworn
> that Daisy makes a passing mention of her "sister" in the
> Neice's introduction story

Yeah, in that story Donald arrives at an apartment where he finds
Daisy who is visiting her sister. April, May and June are also
present in the apartment. We don't actually learn whether Daisy's
sister is AMJ's mom, though.

>>> AM&J and HD&L are supposedly cousins, which means Daisy
>>> & Donald are also cousins, as are Daisy & Gladstone.
>>
>> What's your source for this?
>
> In this, I am using the word "SUPPOSEDLY" as there is only
> subtle sourcing for this conclusion, such as "Dell Giant: Uncle
> Donald and His Nephews, Family Fun" #38 (1960) where they are
> all clearly listed on the Duck Family Tree, as well as being in
> attendance at Grandma Duck's ranch house for a "Family Reunion."
> So they ARE related, just how closely is not yet designated.
> I'm fine with them being "distant" cousins all, but the FAMILY
> TREES seem to indicate a much closer relationship. I beleive
> there are other Family Trees depicting the relationships also
> (Gilles Maurice has a pretty good list of the PUBLISHED Trees on
> his site, though I know he also has some unofficial sources,
> too:
> http://goofy313g.free.fr/calisota_online/trees/index.html).

OK, I've now visited Gilles' site. And it's a great informative
site, but... If I only look at Duck family trees that have been
published by a Disney licensee and ignore the ones I don't know
how to interpret, I'm left with 3 trees, as far as I can tell.
Those trees (which are very similar to each other) all have the
same problem: according to them, Ludwig Von Drake isn't Donald's
uncle. Since we know he is (Walt told us so), those trees cannot
be relied on for correct information. Which means that as far as I
can tell there really is no proof that Daisy, Donald, Gladstone
and AMJ all dream of being involved with a first cousin.

Lars

Thanks Gary for clarifying what the B/W title Gemstone is considering would be like. I must admit I am a bit saddened that it will not be distributed to newsstands and instead only go to the direct market. I just love the idea of a several hundred page Disney comics title next to "Shonen Jump" on the newsstands. At the same time though, I imagine that just is not at all realistic. Gemstone could not get its two newsstand titles to Borders and Barnes and Noble bookstores, so I doubt a B/W title would have met with much more success. For good or bad it looks like the near future of Disney comics in North America is with adults who are already Disney comics fans.

Gary, perhaps I am just silly, but I am taking the fact that you have not commented more on a 3rd monthly prestige title as a good thing. Of course, the reason you might not be writing about is it is that Gemstone has zero interest or plans for a 3rd prestige title. I am hoping the reason for not commenting on it is that it *is* something Gemstone is giving serious thought to and/or is already being planned. So all things being equal, I will take your no comment as an optimistic thing! :)

Elaine, thanks *very* much for sharing your thoughts on reprints, what you like to see Gemstone print, etc. I hope many other people on the ML will take a bit of time and share their ideas too

Elaine, you very much like the reprints Gemstone publishes. That got me to better think how to express my views. I am in *no* way against Gemstone re-re-reprinting Barks, Rosa, Van Horn, Gottfredson, etc. stories. My main point though is that these re-re-reprints should be published *separately* from the current monthly titles.

It was one thing for reprints when we got 5 titles each month. Sadly, we are now down to only 2. When there is *so* much material that has never been printed in North America before, it seems such a shame that so much is re-re-printed in the two monthly titles. What is sad about it is that it does not have to be the case! Elaine, you said you would support a 3rd monthly prestige title as long as it was at least half Duck stories. Well, I have another question for you and for others who want to see lots of reprints: would you support a monthly title of some sort devoted *solely* to reprints of classic Disney stories? To me this would be the best of both worlds. There would be a dedicated title devoted to reprints, while the monthly titles could be devoted to new stories.

Elaine, I really like a lot of your reprint ideas. I too want all the Rosa stories that were published in three parts in WDC&S published in one piece. I also think the idea of pairing Barks stories with Rosa sequels is a great idea as well. Once again though, I think these should be in *addition* to the monthly titles, not taking up room in the current monthly titles.

Also Elaine, we certainly seem to have the same taste for which Rosa stories we like best. "Guardians of the Lost Library" is my very favorite Rosa story as well. I also got that same moment of great pleasure when I figured out where the story was going as well! And while "Fir-Tree Fracas is one of Don's shortest stories, I also really love it as well. It is amazing what a funny story he was able to tell using only 4 pages!

So, Elaine, I'd love to hear what you think about having a lot of reprints in *addition* to the new stories, not at the expense of them. Does that make sense to you, or if the regular monthly titles had *no* reprints, would you not buy them then because there were *no* reprints in them?

One quick last question for Gary. Has Gemstone made any more plans for what TPBs it will publish after the two this summer? Will Gemstone publish TPBs on a regular basis, and if so, how often? I hope after the all-reprint "Duck Tales" one and the mostly reprint Scrooge anniversary one, that the next TPB will be an all or mostly *new* story TPB.

Dean Rekich

I'm afraid I couldn't agree more.

I am another of the mind that DD needs to make a splashy return to print soonest.

BJ

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Today's Topics:

1. Re: Gary's and Elaine's comments (deanmary)
2. Random Gemstone Concerns (Anthvvuono at aol.com)
From: "deanmary" <deanmary at zoominternet.net>
To: <dcml at nafsk.se>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2007 01:19:08 -0500
Subject: Re: Gary's and Elaine's comments

Thanks Gary for clarifying what the B/W title Gemstone is considering would be like. I must admit I am a bit saddened that it will not be distributed to newsstands and instead only go to the direct market. I just love the idea of a several hundred page Disney comics title next to "Shonen Jump" on the newsstands. At the same time though, I imagine that just is not at all realistic. Gemstone could not get its two newsstand titles to Borders and Barnes and Noble bookstores, so I doubt a B/W title would have met with much more success. For good or bad it looks like the near future of Disney comics in North America is with adults who are already Disney comics fans.

Gary, perhaps I am just silly, but I am taking the fact that you have not commented more on a 3rd monthly prestige title as a good thing. Of course, the reason you might not be writing about is it is that Gemstone has zero interest or plans for a 3rd prestige title. I am hoping the reason for not commenting on it is that it *is* something Gemstone is giving serious thought to and/or is already being planned. So all things being equal, I will take your no comment as an optimistic thing! :)

Elaine, thanks *very* much for sharing your thoughts on reprints, what you like to see Gemstone print, etc. I hope many other people on the ML will take a bit of time and share their ideas too

Elaine, you very much like the reprints Gemstone publishes. That got me to better think how to express my views. I am in *no* way against Gemstone re-re-reprinting Barks, Rosa, Van Horn, Gottfredson, etc. stories. My main point though is that these re-re-reprints should be published *separately* from the current monthly titles.

It was one thing for reprints when we got 5 titles each month. Sadly, we are now down to only 2. When there is *so* much material that has never been printed in North America before, it seems such a shame that so much is re-re-printed in the two monthly titles. What is sad about it is that it does not have to be the case! Elaine, you said you would support a 3rd monthly prestige title as long as it was at least half Duck stories. Well, I have another question for you and for others who want to see lots of reprints: would you support a monthly title of some sort devoted *solely* to reprints of classic Disney stories? To me this would be the best of both worlds. There would be a dedicated title devoted to reprints, while the monthly titles could be devoted to new stories.

Elaine, I really like a lot of your reprint ideas. I too want all the Rosa stories that were published in three parts in WDC&S published in one piece. I also think the idea of pairing Barks stories with Rosa sequels is a great idea as well. Once again though, I think these should be in *addition* to the monthly titles, not taking up room in the current monthly titles.

Also Elaine, we certainly seem to have the same taste for which Rosa stories we like best. "Guardians of the Lost Library" is my very favorite Rosa story as well. I also got that same moment of great pleasure when I figured out where the story was going as well! And while "Fir-Tree Fracas is one of Don's shortest stories, I also really love it as well. It is amazing what a funny story he was able to tell using only 4 pages!

So, Elaine, I'd love to hear what you think about having a lot of reprints in *addition* to the new stories, not at the expense of them. Does that make sense to you, or if the regular monthly titles had *no* reprints, would you not buy them then because there were *no* reprints in them?

One quick last question for Gary. Has Gemstone made any more plans for what TPBs it will publish after the two this summer? Will Gemstone publish TPBs on a regular basis, and if so, how often? I hope after the all-reprint "Duck Tales" one and the mostly reprint Scrooge anniversary one, that the next TPB will be an all or mostly *new* story TPB.

Dean Rekich
From: Anthvvuono at aol.com
To: dcml at nafsk.se
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 19:39:15 EST
Subject: Random Gemstone Concerns

Dear Mr. Gary Leach,
My first question is pretty random, but I thought of it as I was organizing my prestige comics collection from the Gladstone and Gemstone years. Any chance that Gemstone might develop or sell some sort of special collectable storage case(s) for these books? If I remember correctly, I think such a product was talked about during the Gladstone years. However, it has not been mentioned since then. I would really like something extra nice to put them in rather than simply protective covers and an ordinary box, especially if such a product is directly affiliated with either "Uncle Scrooge" or "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories."
Secondly, is Gemstone doing anything specifically pertaining to Scrooge McDuck's 60th Anniversary? On a similar note, are there any special books in the pipeline this year or next that you could list and briefly detail? I am still waiting for and highly looking forward to a hardback collectible version of Don Rosa's "Life of Scrooge" stories. Any progress or news on that front?
Please count me as an avid supporter of Rosa reprints, because I enjoy the commentaries and improved coloring techniques as well as reading these classics again from my childhood. I just hope Rosa does some new classic stories in the foreseeable future (as he knows from my emails to him)! Also, I would like to add my two cents in to the discussion on this list and say that I wholeheartedly endorse a third prestige comic book title. I believe that it should be called "Donald Duck," since that is the third title that has lasted the longest in publication. I was disappointed to see that "Donald Duck" was continued as merely a "regular" comic book when Gemstone took over from Gladstone. Maybe now is the appropriate time for an upgrade if it is financially feasible. I have no objection to "Donald Duck" including Mickey-related adventures and storylines for a more diverse contents.
Thanks for your time, and I love receiving "Uncle Scrooge" and "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories" every month. I hope your books last for quite a while and earn a more bigger reading audience eventually, because they certainly deserve it.
Sincerely,
Anthony
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