Die-Cutting and Debtors in Duckburg

David A Gerstein David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu
Sun Sep 12 19:07:03 CEST 1993


	Dear Folks,

	I noticed the comment about doing glow-in-the-dark, die-cut,
etc. etc. covers on Gladstone comics.  The frightening part is that
this kind of thing actually seems to make the slop Marvel and DC ladle
out *more* successful.

	Gladstone almost had a die-cut cover for D&M 20 (presumably
those gunshot holes on the cover would have been cut out), but John
Clark told me that at the last minute they found out it would have
been too expensive.

	I'm not sure who said that Gladstone, rather than Donald,
would be a better replacement for Scrooge.  I guess WDC&S 124
("Billions to Sneeze At") is a good example of why Donald wouldn't
manage our favorite tightwad's moolah all that well!  And Don Rosa's
"Nobody's Business" backs that up.  Scrooge:  "Competing with the
Gladstone luck in business is the only thing that could *ruin* me!"
(US 220, 1987).

	We had a big discussion last spring as to how many Mickey
stories had "emotional" moments in them like the Duck stories and how
many lacked same.  At the San Diego Comic Con I got WDC&S #9 and a
rare Italian book in English that provided two important examples.

	"MM in the Foreign Legion" (in #9) has Pete -- now Sergeant 
Beau Chest of the Legion -- send Mickey on a 200-mile hike in the 
desert.  When he makes the mistake of bragging about this to his 
superior, he's told that unless he rescues Mickey, the penalty is
death, so he rides out to find him.  "It's yer old pal, Pegleg Pete!" 
he says, as he tries to revive the unconscious Mickey.  "I fergive yuh
fer all thuh things yuh done tuh *me*..."  (Note:  Pete has always 
viewed Mickey as being the aggressor!)  Mickey indeed revives and gets
onto Pete's horse, then tells Pete, "Since you're th' one who... had
me walk out here, let's see how you like *walkin' back!*  So long,
Pete!"  After riding some distance away, Mickey breaks down.  "Aw,
he'd never make it... I can't let *anybody* go through what *I* went
through!"  So to Pete's disbelief, he rides back and picks him up.
"I'm sure glad I hate yuh," grouses Pete on the ride back.  "'Cause if
I didn't hate yuh I'd have t' like yuh, and I don't *wanna* like yuh,
cause I *hate* yuh too much!"  By now, they're merely ten miles from
the Legion encampment, and Mickey suddenly turns around and -- with a
big grin -- shoves Pete off the horse.  "[This distance] is just far
enough for you t' see what y' made *me* do!"  So both Mickey and Pete
have had their emotional difficulties, but in the end, things are
resolved back into the usual scheme of things!

	The other example is from "Mickey Mouse Sails for Treasure
Island" which is in an Italian book from the early '70s, which prints
it and the earlier "Great Orphanage Robbery" in English (seems to be a
project that the publisher couldn't get permission to do in this
country, so just did it in Europe).  Unfortunately, the story is hurt
badly by unfortunately stereotypical cannibals, something that Barks
too didn't avoid, but it has some genuinely meaningful moments.  I
think I've already mentioned the pain Mickey goes through when he
believes Minnie has died at sea, and there's also a gripping sequence
in which Mickey and Captain Churchmouse race against time to sail
home, as his wife -- under the belief that she will always be a widow
-- is gravely ill, with no inner strength to live.  Who says that
Mickey stories have no meaningful moments?

	I'd be interested to know how you European Gottfredson fans
found either of these sequences in your native languages.  Did they
come across as well in translation?

	(Note:  "The Foreign Legion" as printed by Abbeville Press is
pretty close to the original, but has a few minor textual changes;  I
have used the original version.  Gladstone had planned to use the
original version way back in MM #240, but Disney stopped the
publication, because some of the Arab characters in the story had
large noses, and they didn't want Gladstone to *redraw* the noses
because it was disrespectful to Gottfredson!  Yes, that's the truth!)

	That's all for now, folks.

	David Gerstein (David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu)



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