Last week's digests

David A Gerstein David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu
Fri Sep 8 04:32:09 CEST 1995


	DON:
	"And if they sell British Disney comics in Australia, it may
or may not be a violation of Gladstone's license."
	I've looked into it... and both Gladstone AND Fleetway claim
Australian rights.  So Australia's in the enviable spot of having TWO
lines of Duck and Mouse comics... although about every Egmont licensee
does their duty better than England.

	LEONARDO GORI:
	"Can anyone tell me about the appreciation in US of Romano
Scarpa's classic stories printed by Gladstone?"
	Good to have you on board!
	I know lots of American Scarpa fans... his stories tend to
do just fine around here, although I know few American Disney WRITERS
who like Scarpa's stories.  I, personally, like them, although I do
think that sometimes they drag on a little too long.
	Those who I've talked to seem to prefer Scarpa's Mickey
stories to his Donald stories.  I basically agree, except... except...
my favorite Scarpa story is "Colossus of the Nile" (a Duck tale).
	I have to say that I've read a lot of Scarpa stories published
in German pocketbooks which I didn't care much for.  They were
wonderfully drawn, but I found the plots rather weak.  (Example:  "The
Legend of Donald Hood," in which DD is Robin Hood and Scrooge (!) is
the Sheriff out to have him killed...)  Or maybe Scarpa didn't write
that one?
	Still, Scarpa is my favorite Italian Disney comic artist and
deserves especial credit for his fine Mickey work, in my opinion.
It's a shame we have no outlet for that material in America now.

	KATHY:
	The Felix book will be called NINE LIVES TO LIVE: A CLASSIC
FELIX CELEBRATION BY OTTO MESSMER.  It's got five lengthy Sunday
continuities from 1926-1931 complete;  three daily continuities (from
1929 and 1931), and about a hundred additional dailies and Sundays
dating back to the very first, published only in England in 1923.  On
top of that is the most complete filmography to date, which mixes my
own research and that of my friend Cole Johnson with that of several
already-published sources.
	It's thanks to Bill Blackbeard at the San Francisco Academy of
Comic Art that I had the strips I needed for this 160-page book.
	Re: Disney, it's remarkable to see how much Walt Disney's own
writing on the MM strip (1930) feels like Felix stuff... if you have
the recent issue of DISNEY ADVENTURES with part of "Lost on a Desert
Island" in it, you'll see what I mean when you read this Felix book.

	DANIEL:
	"There was a comic called "Mickey and Donald", but that one
doesn't exist anymore (?)."
	It's now DONALD DUCK AND MICKEY MOUSE (retitled, and on issue
#2 with the new title).  It now has Jaime Diaz Mickey stories in it,
but beginning with issue #4 it will have the very best of Egmont's
new Mickey stories.  So keep your eye on it!

	JACOB:
	"I have a single issue of a "Mickey Mouse Mysteries" from
1990."
	You mean MICKEY MOUSE ADVENTURES, I think.

	CRAIG:
	"Did $crooge have a Scottish accent in the original comic
books, or is his accent something that he acquired in his cartoons?"
	In some of the earliest Scrooge stories, he had a VERY minor
accent (he used "ye" now and then, I believe), but he was usually
confined just to using colloquial words like "lads" which originate in
Scotland (or are most common there today).  Other characters, and
Barks himself, REFER to Scrooge as having an accent, but the
references are very few... outside of cartoons, of course.
	Don Rosa feels that his adult Scrooge has no Scottish accent.
Only recently did either of us find a quote from Barks confirming that
he imagined the old duck as having a burr.

	HARRY:
	I'm back on line with a vengeance, so send any private mail
you have my way!

	David Gerstein
	<96dag at williams.edu>
	"Have a chestnut, boys! ... OW!"



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