DISNEYANA CONVENTION

Mark Semich mas at cs.bu.edu
Wed Sep 22 04:55:20 CEST 1993


>From: sback at astro.ge.com (Steve Back Tel X 1783)
>Don's episodic descriptions of an encounter with one fan, who was a
>duck fan but never read the comics, is hardly the norm. Sometime while
>reading his posts I wonder if Don likes any group other than his own
>set of fans. (There seems to be a running theme of disdain in many of
>Don's letters about many groups, Disney, Americans, Carl Barks fans...)

I've been to enough comic book conventions to realize just how many
ignorant bozo fan-boys, similar to the one that Don describes, show up
at these things.  Yes, a comic book convention is not the same thing
as a Disneyana convention, but I suspect that the same money-grubbing,
"most have HOT items!" attitude can be just as prevelent.

Due to over exposure to the used-car salesman attitude and the
prevelance of ignorant "fans" (who are truly *not* fans of quality,
but merely sheep being led to the slaughter) that I've seen at cons,
I've become somewhat disillusioned with the entire scene myself.

I can easily see that if *I* were the one sitting at a convention
table and I were apprached by 1357 fools and a mere 1 or 2 reasonably
intelligent people who appreciated my work and understood its
background, I, too, would probably come to believe that most people at
these conventions were of the fool breed.  Do you think that I would be
wrong?

I've seen countless good comic-books, movies, and music albums die
a quick death in the U.S.A from corporate greed, only to be replaced
by vacuous garbage of absolutely no redeeming quality whatsoever.

I suspect that I haven't abandoned as much hope as Don Rosa may have,
but I can certainly understand just how one could.

I saw Don Rosa on a humor panel at the Chicago comic book convention
and tried to ask a question about why Gladstone and other companies
didn't advertise or do *something* to expand their readership.
Unfortunately, I was so tongue-tied and in awe of directly addressing
the great Don Rosa that my question wasn't exactly clear, but I
believe that most people on the panel did their best at answering it.
Most of the people on the panel, not just Mr. Rosa, seemed to have
given up hope of any people, besides a select few, appreciating
quality work.  After two days at the con, I came to the same
conclusion myself.

Interestingly enough, that panel, along with every other panel that I
attended that weekend, quickly turned into a "just how the current
state of the comic book industry in the U.S.A sucks" panel.

(BTW, *many* thank-you's, Don, for autographing my copy of Uncle Scrooge
Adventures #5, which contains "Last Sled to Dawson," the best Uncle
Scrooge story I've ever read.  I drove from Boston to Chicago on the
chance that I might actually meet you at the con and get a chance to
see some pages from your "Life of Scrooge" epic.  I anxiously await
it!)

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