Disney-comics digest #305.

David A Gerstein David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu
Wed Apr 20 02:04:55 CEST 1994


	Dear Folks,

	Lessee... (mumble, mumble)

	Ducktales Magazine
	==================
	Per:  "Harry also wrote that he corrected the info on the [Don
Rosa] story for DuckTales Magazine .... Was that code and issue of DTM
wrong?"
	Harry: "The code was of a long 2-part story in the regular 
comic 'Ducktales' from Disney Comics.  That comic has full credits, 
and does not mention Don Rosa.  The 4-page story that WAS written by 
Don has been published somewhere else, in a Ducktales MAGAZINE. It 
must be a coincidence that the story titles are (almost) the same."
	And it is.  DUCKTALES MAGAZINE was a kids' activity magazine,
with a 4-page comic strip in every issue, that was offered at magazine
racks in the United States from 1987-1989.  The magazine's features
were very like the middle section of the Italian TOPOLINO.  Features
included "Magica De Spell's Magic Tricks," "Recipes by Mrs. Beakley,"
"Inventions from Gyro's Brainstorming Barn" and "Beagle Boys Belly
Laughs."
	I believe I may have even SEEN the issue with "Back in Time
for a Dime!" but did not buy it.  Since the magazine went off sale I
have never seen any back issues anywhere.
	Apparently they made a few extra 4-page comics that didn't get
used when the magazine folded, because those ended up in Disney Comics
issues of UNCLE SCROOGE (i. e. "The Puzzle of the Lost Pyramid" in US
266, and "The Hidden Treasure of Quackistan" somewhere else).  The
dead giveaway for spotting these stories is the lettering, which is
very wide -- looks like Daan Jippes' and probably is, given that he
was in the Disney Studio art dept. when those strips were prepared.

	Gilbert on German stories
	=========================
	"[The German 2000th issue's] special story was about a 
treasure hunt in which the first German Micky Maus issue was found. 
So I think the story was especially written and drawn for this 
anniversary.  Maybe you know the "Aus Onkel Dagoberts Schatztruhe" 
comics of the mid '80s...  [list deleted]  As long as I know these 
are German Disney stories and their ID-numbers started with G."
	Right you are!  Those Schatztruhe stories, written (and
drawn??) by Adolf Kabatek, are pretty darn good, too -- their major
weakness, I think, is their length.  They move too slowly.
	Perhaps Kabatek also drew this new story.  Kabatek has drawn
many puzzle pages for the German weekly in which Ducks and Mice appear
together, so it shouldn't be all _that_ hard to identify his Mickey.
	Do the Ducks appear with Mickey in this special story?  (Shut
your eyes, Don)
	I MUST HAVE THIS GERMAN 2000TH ISSUE!  Can someone help me get
it?  I will trade Gladstones for it through the mail...  Just write to
me, David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu

	Panchito
	========
	Harry:  "Panchito is a Mexican bird..."
	Not just a random bird in fact.  He's a charro rooster, "by
trade" as he occasionally reminds us in the film.
	(We at disney-comics at Minsk.DoCS.UU.SE have trouble
distinguishing chickens from generic birds... ;-)
	Panchito later reappeared in "Blame it on the Samba," a short
cartoon first included in the compilation _Melody Time_, then released
on its own as part of the Donald series.

	James Williams on the Xmas newspaper strip
	==========================================
	"I'm surprised these never showed up in the Christmas specials
printed by Gladstone and Disney."
	But... but... Disney printed one of them in the Christmas
special WDC&S 580!!!  Gottfredson's only attempt at the Three Pigs and
Li'l Bad Wolf... thank goodness.
	(No, you DIDN'T hear me criticize a GOTTFREDSON story.  Go
back to your ducks.)

	Silly Symphonies
	================
	Harry mentioned the characters who'd been in this strip.  I
think that I can list the characters/stories:

	1. Bucky Bug (1932-34)
	2. Benny Bird (1934) in "Birds of a Feather"
	[for 1 week there were two MM half-pages, the bonus one 
reprinted last year in WDC&S 581]
	3. DD and Peter Pig (1934) in "The Wise Little Hen"
	4. Max Hare and Toby Tortoise in "The Boarding School Mystery,
or Who Swiped the Croquet Funds?" (1934)
	5. Peter and Polly Penguin in "Penguin Isle" (1934)
	6. Ambrose the Robber Kitten (1934-35)
	7. "Cookieland, a Romance of the Cake and Candy World!" (1935)
	8. Elmer Elephant (1935)
	9. Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
	10. Three Little Pigs (1936) "Further Advs. Of..."
	11. Donald Duck (1936-37)
	12. Practical Pig (1937-38)
	13. Timid Elmer (1938)
	13. Mother Pluto (1938)
	14. Pluto (1938-39)
	15. The Ugly Duckling (1939)
	16. Hiawatha (1939-42)
	17. Jose Carioca (1942-44)
	18. Panchito (1944-46)

	I'm not sure if these are all in quite the right order, but I
think this is all of them.
	The title "Silly Symphonies" on the first panel ended with
Hiawatha.  The "Pinocchio" strip of '39-40 has a Silly Symphony title
on the original version (Disney Comics removed it when using the
story), but was not, I believe, actually part of this strip.
	The earlier stories all appeared in early issues of WDC&S,
with the sole exception of "The Wise Little Hen" (which was printed
last year, anyway).  "The Boarding School Mystery" is a real
classic... it's a REAL shame it has not been reprinted since 1941.
	Many of the 1935-1939 stories appeared in Abbeville's
collection of Silly Symphony and Classic Tales Sundays, which came out
in 1980.  This book was their own, original companion to their
translated Mondadori books, but unlike those, it used uncensored
original strips as source material.
	It seems clear that Bucky Bug was originally intended as
continuing star of the strip, appearing in several different serials
one after the other like Mickey.  Only one of those serials appears in
the Abbeville book.

	David Gerstein
	<David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>



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