Disney-comics digest #297.

[David A Gerstein]

	Dear Folks,

	Lessee here:


	The McSwine debate
	==================

	"I know of no instance where the pig-villains that Barks
used numerous times have ever had the same name, or even the same last
name, twice. Am I wrong? Even when Barks used the last name of McViper
a few times, though I believe it was only by chance and not design, I
worked "the McViper Clan" into the Lo$ just to please anyone who would
pop up and say "what about his first meeting with the McVipers?". So
they appear in parts 3 and 11. But I don't know anything about a pig
named Argus McSwine having appeared twice -- which issues were these?"

	1.  Barks' pig villain looks, acts, and dresses identically in
several stories, including "Micro-Ducks from Outer Space," "Crown of
the Mayas," and "The Status Seeker."  (I have not read "The Great Wig
Mystery," but the villain may be the same there, too.)  In each story 
he gets a different name.  In "Donald the Milkman" he is McSwine, and
I believe that he may also have that name in "Northeaster on Cape
Quack."

	2.  In any event, Egmont needed to name him consistently, and
they picked McSwine (at least, when they were using the character very
frequently around the mid-1980s).  Gladstone and Disney have both gone
along with this.  I find nothing wrong with that.  I like this pig
villain.  Clearly Barks liked the idea of him having various aliases,
but I frankly find THAT... yes, a weakness.  When a character who is
plainly the same (as opposed to the DIFFERENT pig villains in some
stories like "Swamp of No Return" and "Have Gun, Will Dance") is never
consistently called the same thing, it gets irritating.

	In any event, McSwine HAS been McSwine twice in Barks, I 
believe.  His first name of Argus appeared on one of the aliases, and 
when a first name was needed in two Egmont stories, Byron Erickson, I 
believe, added it to McSwine.  The pig villain is now Argus McSwine to
Gladstone, and, I believe, at least McSwine alone, to Egmont.

	(In one Disney Comics issue (US 244) an Egmont story was
printed in which the (different) pig villain was named ANGUS McSwine
and referred during the story to "my cousin Argus", but I don't view
THAT as gospel.  My guess is that the original story had none of
that... no sir, I don't like it.)

	But I do like Argus McSwine, a name which IS rooted in Barks,
and since the character now has a continuing name -- as opposed to an
alias -- I certainly prefer this one to Scalpnick, John the Con,
Porkman de Lardo, and Foulcrook.  (Well, "Porkman de Lardo" isn't so
bad, but is "Porkman" supposed to mean something?  Sounds like a
superhero parody...)

	BTW, the character is the villain in my second Egmont story
(sold last year), and when I referred to Argus McSwine they knew
immediately who I was talking about.
	

	Characters Gladstone can use
	============================

	Gladstone can use the following characters, I believe:

	A)  Vintage characters from the MM, DD, GO, and Silly Symphony
cartoons.  (That lets in Bucky Bug, Li'l Bad Wolf, etc.  Note that
there was a Li'l Wolf story in Gladstone's WDC&S 586.)

	B)  Characters from older animated features, EXCEPT for direct
adaptations of those features.  Gladstone can print a Li'l Wolf story
with Pinocchio in it, or the Pinocchio story from WDC&S 63, but not an
adaptation of the Pinocchio film, I believe.  Furthermore, I think
Gladstone would probably not be able to use Pinocchio AT ALL around
the time that the feature is next released (1999, I guess).
	(I think "older" animated features means those before Eisner's
team took over, but I'm not sure.)

	C)  Gladstone can use characters from Disney TV shows on a
case-by-case basis as long as those characters DON'T have their names
above the titles in a story.  Hence some upcoming Gyro stories with
Launchpad in them by Van Horn (which apparently haven't been printed
by Egmont yet, hence their non-use here).  These were "Launchpad"
stories in Europe, but here they have to be "Gyro" stories.


	Hiawatha
	========

	As for Hiawatha, Whitman was reprinting them as late as WDC&S
507 (1984).  My guess is that Gladstone could reprint them... IF they
rewrote all the dialogue, and IF they shied away from the sizable
number which revolve around pointing out Hiawatha's tribe as backward
compared to the "modern" world (i. e. stories in which Hiawatha visits
the city and attacks fire hydrants with his tomahawk, and such -- a
lot of those done around 1953).

	But there's an easier way to use the character.  From
1939-1941 the Silly Symphony strip featured solely Hiawatha gags.
They were almost all in PANTOMIME -- no stereotypical talk-um
whatsoever.  My guess is that Gladstone could use some of those...
although again, Disney is impossible to predict.

	There was a recent pocket-sized (2" by 2") book of three Silly
Symphony adaptations published by Disney Press.  One of the three
stories inside was Hiawatha, illustrated by scenes from the original
film.  The "Disney Road to Reading" series of 20 books, sold through
supermarkets, includes "Hiawatha's Kind Heart."

	The character is not wholly banned.


	Bucky Bug
	=========

	Someone (Tryg Helseth) said that here in the U. S., kids might
not be very thrilled by these stories.  But... but... both Gladstone
and Disney printed them, to gleeful reader response, in the past.
Only one letter-writer -- Kevin Kuffa, who started writing during the
Disney period -- has complained.
	Right before they stopped (in WDC&S 579) Disney announced
plans to print Bucky Silly Symphony strips from 1932.  (One panel was
even reproduced!!!)  According to David Seidman this was to have begun
around WDC&S 586 with the classic "war with the flies" story of
'32-33.
	It's frustrating... I love Gladstone's new WDC&S issues very
much, but simply feel that the comic's format is not being used to its
best potential, good as the current stories are.

	*** HAVE THE EARLY BUCKY SUNDAY STRIPS BEEN REPRINTED BY
OBERON... AND IF SO, WHERE AND WHEN? ***