Disney's Comic Proof Vault

[David A Gerstein]

	Dear Folks,

	Yes, Disney DOES have a comic archive and I know because -- as
a certain nutshell-dweller near Foola Zoola's village once said --
"I'VE BEEN THERE!"

	Bob Foster invited me to the Disney Comics studio two years
ago.  When I was there, we went over to an enormous trailer on the
regular Studio lot.  Inside were huge filing cabinets loaded with
proofs to hundreds of old comics.  Their WDC&S archive began with #31
and, although it was missing a few around #63, essentially went on
from there.  Some issues they don't have the stats for all the STORIES
to; others only the COVERS!  (such as MM OS 16).  A lot of the
material is cheap Western debris such as their 1970s Daisy and Donald
title, and other such schlock.

	They also have Dell's ORIGINAL proofs to at least some
stories.  "The Hard Loser" in WDC&S 551 was reprinted directly from
badly yellowed 1943 proofs much larger than the original published
size.  I saw 'em.  They were not in great condition.

	As to whether they have the long-lost proofs to MOC 20 and 41,
I don't know, and quite frankly I don't know who to even ask now,
since Disney Comics no longer exists.  Disney used the reinked
versions from the CBL for their comics simply because those had
already been altered to meet their censors' demands.  Actually NOTHING
seems to have been done to "South Seas."  (Catch me if I'm wrong...)
Maybe they have ORIGINAL PROOFS (!!!) to that story in their vault.
Wouldn't surprise me, because they reprinted the cover to that book on
WDC 562 and it was a very clean version, NOT the seemingly retouched
Xerox that appeared in the CBL.  ("Nephew bathing in piano," I mean)

	I heard that Gladstone was planning to do the MOC stories all
in one album at some point in the near future.  Perhaps it would pay
for them to visit Disney's 'nonexistent' archive...

	Your friend,


	David Gerstein