Pork-barrel politics

David A Gerstein David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu
Sun Sep 26 02:17:45 CET 1993


	Dear Folks,

	Forgot to reply to one or two items.  The credits for "Porky
Pig of the Mounties" are:  Story/script by Chase Craig.  Art by Carl
Barks.  Some reinking by Carl Beuttner.

	Beuttner didn't redo more than a minority of the Porky/Petunia
heads.  It's easy to tell his pig, because the eyes almost come to a
teardrop point on top (the picture of Porky on the cover of the Barks
Bear Book is actually one of his).  By contrast, Barks' Porky has more
accurate, rounded eyes.  Also a fatter snout.  The most obvious
contrast between them is in the page where Porky meets the baby bear.
The first two panels on the page are both close-ups, one by Barks, one
by Beuttner.  Other characteristic Beuttner "reinks" are in the last
panel of the story.

	As for Bugs, yes, nearly all of the Bugs heads were redrawn.
But you can tell Barks' right off the bat;  Barks gives Bugs a black
nose, while Beuttner doesn't ink in the nose.  On the page reproduced
in the Barrier book, the scene of Bugs tugging at the wafer with his
teeth -- eyes closed -- is perhaps the best example of Barks' Bugs.

	(I came to these conclusions by comparing contemporary work by
Beuttner -- who drew most Porky stories at the time -- with "Porky of
the Mounties.")

	That Porky story had its roots in the 1936 Pig cartoon "Porky
in the Northwoods," in which Porky is a Mountie rescuing animals from
an evil trapper.  That was only the inspiration for the comic, though,
which had a much more detailed plot (and explained how Porky became a
Mountie;  to be precise, he *wasn't* really one), as well as adding
Bugs and Petunia (neither of whom existed in 1936).

	Can anyone recommend a few particularly good Danish or Dutch
stories published by Egmont since July 1992 (when I had to stop
getting the weekly German Egmont edition)?  I want to do some really
recent stories, but have little access to them.

	Well, gotta go.

	Your friend,


	David Gerstein

	"Can I help it if this barrel wasn't big enough fer *both* of
us to hide in?"
	<David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>






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