A period of debate?

David A Gerstein David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu
Wed Dec 1 01:55:18 CET 1993


	Dear Folks,

	Don Rosa said:

	"Are you telling me that it is permitted to use PERIODS in a
Disney comic??? When did that start? Lordy, two panels never go by that
I wish I was allowed to use a period instead of an exclamation! But
all-exclamations are the tradition."

	Use of periods started shortly after Disney Comics (TM) took
over in 1990.  The letterer who most frequently uses periods now, and
furthermore changes many of my _exclamation points_ to periods is our
own John Clark.  If you want periods in your stories, tell him...
they're apparently just fine in duck stories these days!  (I'm going 
to tell him to soft-pedal them in mine...)

        "Please take it easy on this "count down" to U$ #285! The
first chapter of Lo$ is only 15 pages and it's been said it's kinduva
slow start-off. You'll work yourself up into expecting WAR AND PEACE
and you'll be very disappointed in me!"

	I'm not, Don.  I read Chapter 1 in German and loved it.
(Before you think that I have regular access to the German comics
again, let me just mention that I managed to acquire a few over the
summer and have seen none since then.)

        "And do you think an ape would NOT eat a flea if he found one?"

	How many apes have you asked?  ;-)  What I sorely missed, in
the story (WDC&S 589's "Bugged by Humbuggery") was the line from HD&L,
"Lancelot, here, will lick your lice loose!"  The alliteration of this
comment was supposed to be the nephews' silly exaggeration of the 
exterminator's alliterative sales pitches earlier in the story.  But
by turning the lice into fleas, John Clark obliterated this.

	He also changed the dialog on the second to last panel.  This
was:  "Greetings and salutations, Mr. Duck!  Are you troubled by
household pests?"  The first line is my college admissions office's
standard greeting in their correspondence.  Anyway, that too was
removed.

	On the other hand, the other change John made was a real hit
with me.  You'll find this brilliant pun on page 3 of the story... and
European readers will probably spot it first.

	The rest of the story was unchanged from my original (although
there are a few places I *wish* John had thought to fix up...).  Let's
see who knows why the ape got his name of Lancelot!

	Your friend,

	David Gerstein

	"The only way to get ahead of Mickey Mouse is to *run* in
*front* of him!"
	<David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>



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