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Quote from user: OlivierAn extension of the discussion on Disney comics' limited readership.

Should there be more story-related covers, especially covers clearly telling potential readers the comic contains adventure and action?
Do the gentle gag covers turn off potential readers?
Yes, yes, yes!!! I have always felt that this is true. Even as a kid I was much more attracted to a cover with an adventure theme. To me, it's a no-brainer. Adults AND kids LIKE ADVENTURE STORIES.

Quote from user: Olivier2/ Covers

Disney comics probably are still considered "kiddie" comics by too many.
Should there be more story-related covers, especially covers clearly telling potential readers the comic contains adventure and action?
Do the gentle gag covers turn off potential readers?

I have absolutely nothing agaisnt those covers, mind you; I love them, whether by Barks, Branca, Jippes, Buettner, and others.
I am just wondering if this might help increase readership-- and I suppose Gemstone must often ponder the question (maybe not for each cover choice, but surely once every few covers).
Growing up, I always wanted to like comic books, but I could never find anything that really appealed to me, except a few titles like "Groo." My real love was the comic strips: "Calvin and Hobbes," "Bloom County," and others. I always went to the comic book store, but I could never find any titles that I really liked. I saw "Uncle Scrooge" and "Donald Duck" and the other Disney titles, but I never considered them because I thought they were too "kiddie." Years later in college, I saw copies of Rainbow publishing's "Carl Barks Library" at the university library. Not wanting to study at 11:30 on a Friday night, I picked it up on a lark. I turned to an essay about how Barks used black and white shadows in landscapes and foregrounds. I was fascinated by that little 4 page essay. The art reminded me of "Pogo" and the other strips that I love, so I was hooked. I read a couple of stories that night and realized that, yes, they had childlike innocence, but also a very sophisticated artistic format and story-telling that was better than most other comic books.

So, all of this is a long way of saying that I was not attracted to the covers of the Disney comics. It wasn't until I saw that great essay that I started to enjoy Carl Barks and the other Disney comics.

A very interesting account of your personal experience, mvblair, thanks.
This introduces another factor I had not mentionned: hardcover editions and how appealing they may be by making it look "more serious"; the essays certainly help a lot, since they are truly literary analyses (thanks to the quality of the stories themselves).
Having such anthologies on display in public and university libraries may thus help make more people aware that, in the right hands, Disney comics are not merely cute funny animal slapstick gags.

A silly question, Robb: was this drawing meant for a cover (not much room for the title, though), a story, or is just something you did for the fun of it?

Quote from user: OlivierA silly question, Robb: was this drawing meant for a cover (not much room for the title, though), a story, or is just something you did for the fun of it?
Not a silly question, Olivier. I drew it originally, during a period of hashing out cover ideas. After drawing the blue pencils, I realised that it was too long, vertically (related to its horizontal length), for a cover. But, more importantly, the gag was too weak (not really a gag), but a disaster scene. Actually, this would have gone better as an action scene from a story. So, I never submitted it. Maybe, in future, I'll write a Jr. Woodchucks story about HDL studying The Canadian Moose, and re-orient the cover scene to the proper dimensions, and submit it together with the story.

Thanks for the "new" drawings, Robb!

The first two are definitely in the vein of Barks' gag covers-- down to Donald's pose, especially in the first one; I just don't like the expression of the nephew who is handling the record player, it's not quite right.
Come to think of it, the nephews did do exactly that in a ten-pager, didn't they?

The third one is good, too.

The last one is very funny, but I think at least one of the other nephews should be holding his glass eagerly (and maybe both).
This staging suggests H's antics are quite normal to L&D, who are casually dressing the table, and thus focuses on Donald's reaction and H's way of filling up the glasses.
Making one nephew, or both, hold his glass gleefully would make the nephew(s) more active-- or rather (since DL [i]are[§i] active, dressing the table), different from the third nephew. Similarly, maybe at least one nephew in the second drawing should be waving his arms, so as not to have three times (almost) the same thing.

:)

Here's one I drew in 2001:
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1405/beagle2jm9.jpg
And one I drew in the early 1980s, before I could draw very well:
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4214/ghoulby7.jpg
And one from the late 1990s:
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5637/raceed9.jpg
And one from the early 2000s:
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/8286/egaclausec2.jpg

I did "get" what kind of expression you had done, but, if I may be so bold as to say so, it did not quite turn out as pretty as the rest of the drawing.

More covers! :)
I particularly love the first one. I remember a story in which Scrooge had a miniature canon on top of his ha, but I can't recall the story.
The second one of this batch would be great for Halloween.