DCML Digest Issue 27

Don Rosa donrosa at iglou.com
Mon Jul 26 14:23:53 CEST 2004


> From: Anthvvuono at aol.com
> Subject: Any Rosa news?
> Dear Don Rosa:
> I apologize for being so brief, but have you started a new
> story yet

No, I only sent the "Three Caballeros" story in a few days before I went to
the SD Con. My chores for the next few weeks will be writing texts and doing
extra art for the next "Don Rosa Library" edition in the HALL OF FAME
series. Then I'll start to think about what to do next...

> What did you think of this year's San Diego comic
> convention and the fact that "Uncle Scrooge" finally won an
> Eisner award?

"Finally"? Surely you knew that UNCLE $CROOGE comics won several awards in
the past, including the prominent "Best Serialized Story of the Year" in
which all the other (so-called) "adult" comics were nominated -- even
beating out "Hellboy" which is now no less than a top-box-office motion
picture. I'm afraid that I see this new "Best Publication for a YOUNG
Audience" award as a nail in the coffin of Disney comics in America. Do you
not realize that there is also an comics award titled "Best Humor Title"?
*That* would have been the award that would have been notable in the overall
industry. "Best... for a Young Audience" indicates that the nomination
committee did not consider a Disney comic in any of the other categories of
the Eisners as they had during the Gladstone days -- indeed (in case you
were not aware), there were no Disney titles or stories or creators
mentioned in *any* of the other award category nominations as they had been
mentioned repeatedly in years past. I see this as setting a precedent for
the future Eisners that no Disney comics will be considered for any other
nominations other than this single "Best for a Young Audience" award;
furthermore, any American comic reader who sees these awards will also have
his notion confirmed that he should personally NEVER consider reading a
Disney comic, knowing that an institution no less revered than the Eisner
Awards has labeled them definitively *for youngsters* as if they were "Hello
Kitty" comics or something, even though they are written on a level easily
equal to that of all those "adult" American superhero comics (if not rather
*above* that sort of stuff).
It will be nice if Gemstone can use this award for publicity/leverage into
the bookstore markets that they crave and which may insure their continued
existence... but other than that, I saw the award as bad news for the future
of American Disney comics. Perhaps a Disney title or story could have won in
another category, as in the past, if the committee had given voters the
chance to consider it. You see, it's the nomination committee which decides
what stories the voters will be allowed to vote on. Perhaps the next Eisner
award nomination committee will be more enlightened and turn the trend back
to how it was in the past. Time will tell...
But if nothing else, when Todd Klein again wins his award for "Best
Letterer" in next year's Eisners, we'll at least see "UNCLE $CROOGE"
mentioned in that Eisner Award list of Todd's work on the most prominent
comics in American comics for 2004.




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