Disney-comics digest #314.

Don Rosa 72260.2635 at CompuServe.COM
Sat Apr 30 05:02:01 CEST 1994


HARRY:
	My Lo$ stories are now the BACK-UP stories in DONALD DUCK
EXTRA???  Well, howcum? You think they weren't so popular? Or... maybe
they preferred having a Donald Duck cover than a character who was not
recognizeable as either Donald or $crooge. What's been the lead
features?

FABIO:
	Did you receive the package of magazines I sent?

MM MEETS THE AIR PIRATES FUNNIES:
	I recently learned an interesting detail in the story of Disney
suing Dan O'Neil over this underground MM parody. Regardless of the
content, I think we can agree that Disney had every right to sue...
whether it had been obscene or not. We've discussed (haven't we?) that
Disney has little choice than to persue such copyright infringements,
otherwise they are liable for lawsuits from their paid licensees and for
establishing the basis for someone to negate the Disney copywrite to
their own characters due to their allowing others to use them (you can't
retain a copywrite if you are shown as not having defended it).
	Anyway, someone who was part of the underground industry at the
time of the AIR PIRATES FUNNIES told me that Disney was absolutely
powerless to stop or even object to the publication of issue one of MM
MEETS THE AP. This falls under free use as a parody, protected under the
first ammendment and all that. But once there was an issue #2 -- ho,
ho... that mdid the trick! At that moment it was clear that the idea was
not as a parody but as a continuing infringement of copywrite! And
Disney was very "big" in settling for simply the ownership of the books
(which law already gave them) rather than punitive damages to which they
were entitled. This is why you've never seen MAD publish a series of
parodies, rather than just one-shot parodies.

	Somebody was mentioning those awful Whitman Disneys. Yeah, they
sucked, but, y'know, it gets irritating for me to have a full set of
every (American) Disney comic book ever published... EXCEPT some Whitman
issues. Have I ever posted a list of the Whitmans I need to see if
anyone here can help me fill in the holes? I'll do so now. I would be
very grateful to get any of these -- maybe even do someone a Duck
drawing (in addition to paying) if they can supply me with any of these,
ESPECIALLY the UNCLE $CROOGE issue I lack. Here's my wantlist:
	UNCLE $CROOGE #179
	DONALD DUCK #222 243
	WDC&S #480
	MICKEY MOUSE #208 210 216
	HUEY DEWEY & LOUIE #61 65 66 72 73 75 76 79 80
	DAISY & DONALD #39(GK) 45 47 49 53 54 55 56
	SUPER GOOF #61 62 64 67 68 70 72 74
	CHIP & DALE #68 69 70 75 76 77 78 79 80
	WINNIE THE POOH #21 22 24 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
And while we're at it, here are some Gold Keys that I need:
	ARISTOKITTENS #3
	MOBY DUCK #29
	O'MALLEY & THE ALLEY CATS #9
	SCAMP #15 17 18
And these movie adaptations or wotever:
	CINDERELLA (GK)
	JUNGLE BOOK (Whitman)
	LADY & THE TRAMP (GK,25 cents)
	
	Of course, I collect nearly ALL old comics, but these are only
the Disney issues I need.

DON ROSA ARTICLE:
	I waited until someone posted this article as promised before
making a few comments. Naturally, the local reporter, an old friend and
whose job it was to make me sound important, DID exaggerate how popular
I am in Norway (but not by much!). There were also tiny inaccuracies
that crop up in such interviews when the reporter doesn't know much
about what he's writing -- you all spotted those. I didn't realize that
the guy had the impression that I ONLY do Uncle $crooge comics, and NOT
also Donald Duck stories! But I thought it was especially amusing that
the newspaper typesetters seemed to have no idea that anyone would have
an autograph session to sign mere COMIC BOOKS... and always wrote the
current issues that I was signing as "UNCLE SCROOGE No. 285" and "UNCLE
SCROOGE No. 286" -- I honestly believe that they thought these were
NOVELS that I'd written!




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