Ramblings

[Mark Semich]

Errata:
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I recently got the impression that many of the people on this list who
buy Gladstones get them a little later than the comic-shops.  So
this may be old news to some (for which I apologize), but I thought
this might be interesting - The letter column in Uncle Scrooge 283
contains an errata blurb:

"Last year Disney Comics published Uncle Scrooge #267 which contained
the story 'Scepter of Doom.'  This was credited to Carl Barks, and
still generates letters from confused readers.  In fact, the story is
a foreign tale written by Lars Enocksen and Unn Print-Pahlson, and
drawn by Vicar.  More recently, in our debut issue of Uncle Scrooge
(#281), we credited the art of 'A Matter of Security' to Branca.  The
art was actually by Vicar, as several readers wrote to point out."

The more things change...
-------------------------
Recently, I purchased my first non Gladstone/Disney-Comics Disney,
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #57 (from 1945), published by "K. K.
Publications."  Aside from the rampant racism and jingoism, I found it
to be much like a contemporary WDC&S.  It had a Barks Donald
ten-pager, a Mickey feature, a Bucky Bug story, a Lil Bad Wolf,
and what looked remarkably like a couple of Al Taliaferro Donald
strips.  (Plus a few other one-pagers featuring Mickey & Goofy)

I enjoyed it immensely, but I'd have to agree with Don Rosa that there
are some stories that just shouldn't be reprinted for today's kids.
This was published during the war, and there's a lot of pro-war racist
sentiment. (Which I won't bother to give examples of unless someone
really wants me to.)

I also noticed that Donald's car was yellow rather than red in all of
its appearances, and Daisy's clothing was purple instead of pink.
Again, I apologize if this is an old topic, but when did these colors
change to their more familiar states?

Donald vs. Mickey
-----------------
I'm in the midst of reading Marc Eliot's "Walt Disney: Hollywood's
Dark Prince" which provides an interesting point of view on Mickey's
popularity as opposed to Donald's.

Walt himself is credited as stating in 1935:

"Donald Duck came into being in 1934 to fit a voice which had
interested me a couple of years before....  He was a character we
simply couldn't keep down....  His towering rages, his impotence in
the face of obstacles, his protests in the face of injustice, as he
sees it....

"Mickey is limited today because public idealization has turned him
into a boy scout.  Every time we put him into a trick, a temper, a
joke, thousands of people would belabour us with nasty letters.
That's what made Donald Duck so easy.  He was our outlet.  We could
use all the ideas for him we couldn't use on our Mickey."

Eliot then goes on to theorize (p. 182-3):

'Mickey and Donald were his (Disney's) most important progeny: Mickey
as superego - humble, chaste, cerebral, always in control, universally
adored; Donald as id - darker, volatile, emotional, sexual, always out
of control, not quite as popular and angry because of it.'

Of course, I feel that if this applies at all (which I think it does),
it would apply more to the pre-HD&L Donald, or at least to the
pre-Uncle Scrooge Donald.  And I think that it makes Donald more
interesting to read (at least for me) than Mickey.

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     "I am Scrooge McDuck of the clan McDuck.  There can be only one!"
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mark a. semich                                               mas at csa.bu.edu
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