Disney-comics digest #288.

James Williams James_Williams at ESS.NIAID.pc.niaid.nih.gov
Mon Apr 4 17:31:20 CEST 1994


>Marvel also seems to be publishing the Disney movie adaptations, as
>seen by the recent "Three Musketeers" comicbook.

Marvel is also publishing an adaption of "The Lion King".  Gary Leach
said that Marvel will also be publishing three monthly disney comics -
Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and The Beast.  I've yet to
see anything from Marvel confirming this.

>The only reason I bought the recent issue of Donald Duck Adventures
>was because of the adaptation of "Mathmagic Land" by Tony Strobl.  I'm
>a bit partial to educational comicbooks, and I was curious to compare
>this story with the film.

I liked the film version more.  Three reasons come to mind.  First,
the ending in the comic book didn't work for me.  I couldn't believe
that Scrooge would fall for such a trick.  If nothing else, Scrooge
should have know that Donald was up to something when he proposed
such an outlandish deal.  Second, I also thought the billard scene
in the movie was better.  Lastly, the movie includes a trip inside
Donald's mind which the comic left out.

>Market Share Figures:
>(23) Gladstone       .26%    .45%     .23%     .43%     .56%     .41%     .34%

I'm a fan, not a retailer.  But, these figures worry me.  Gladstone's
measly market share has shrunk over the last three months.  Is this
just because the market is so bloated right now, or is Gladstone
really fading away?

>I remember a reference in a '50s Scrooge story where he quotes his net 
>worth as "9 Fantasticatillion, 40 Billion Jillion Centrificalion dollars
>and 16 cents."  

>Another way to determine Scrooge's wealth is may be by volumne.  The
>volume of money is referred to as being "3 cubic acres" which again is
>an unfamiliar unit of measure.

I think the reason that Carl Barks used non-existant numbers like
fantasticatillion and volumes like cubic acres was to avoid questions
like these.

>WDC&S 591 just came out and contains a new William Van Horn story,
>"Magica's Missin' Magic." 

What did other people think of this story?  I love Magica de Spell and
usually enjoy William Van Horn, but I hated this story.  I thought that
the basic plot was extremely conviluted.  I also disliked the fact that
Magica's sole reason for wanting the box's content was because it might
help her get Scrooge's Number One Dime.  Magica is a wonderful
character who has become thight cast in one role.  I'm not sure where
Magica was located in the story, but I doubt that she was anywhere near
Mount Vesuvius in Italy.  I really disliked Ratface.  I though it was a
stupid name for a raven and I really disliked that he spoke perfectly
english.  [As much as I dislike Ratface, I must admit that he is a
thousand times better than the horrible raven which appears with Magica
in DuckTales.  That raven was really her brother who had been
transformed.  One of Magica's reasons for wanting Scrooge's dime was to
fix her brothers condition.]

How did the story end when translated into other languages? **SPOILER**
In the english version the bug is singing "Brother Can You Spare A
Dime?".  It is a good joke but it relies on a song which I doubt would
be familar to most Europeans.  Likewise since the song is from the
depression era, I wonder how many children reading the story got the
joke.

>This story includes, as one of it's main characters, the whistling
>flea, Baron Itzy Bitzy.  I know that I've read a previous Van Horn
>story with this flea in it - does anyone know off hand which story
>this was?

I seem to remember that Baron Itzy Bitzy first appeared in a DuckTales
story by William Van Horn.  Baron Itzy Bitzy is one of my least
favorite characters in the Duck Universe.  Every time I see the
character, I starting thinking about the Warner Brother's cartoon 'One
Frogy Night'.  While 'One Frogy Night' is one of the best cartoon's
ever made, I don't think characters like this belong in the more
realistic duck universe.

>I don't care much for Strobl, but know he has his fans and agree he
>deserves a tribute - but why, when this is WDC&S, are they using only
>Strobl DUCK material? Didn't he draw mice.  wolves, dawgs, etc.  as
>well? Great, even with 64 pages Gladstone's WDC&S continues to be ALL
>ducks and mice..."

For all their faults, this is one place where Disney Comics were 
better than Gladstone.  Disney had some wonderful material in
WDC&S.  I really dislike WDC&S being nothing but ducks and mice.

>New cover image by William Van Horn. - FC, 64pg $2.95
>["Cover image"?  I'm starting to feel very afraid...]

One of the prevue magazines shows the cover.  It doesn't look
gimmicky in any way.  I was so happy when Gladstone's plans to
do a die-cut cover on D&M fell through.

James Williams



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