Disney-comics digest #481.

[9475609@arran.sms.edinburgh.ac.uk]

      Dear Folks,

      Jorgen was talking about the vastness and confusion of the various 
Disney universes, particularly when it came to Duckburg's Black Forest 
(where damned near everybody from the features seems to reside).  An 
interesting fact comes out when he mentions Little Toot:  Disney has 
LOST all rights to this character save their own film featuring him!  So 
when Cris Palomino wanted to reprint the Little Toot story in WDC&S 
578-579, at the very last moment, she was informed by the legal 
department that this couldn't be done.  This led to dreadful confusion 
and some sudden switching of stories about by subordinates -- and the 
final, awful end result of, in WDC&S 579, Part III of Paul Murry's 
"Ridin' the Rails" appearing when no previous parts had come before it.  
Cris Palomino's chin hit her knees when she saw what had gone to 
press...

      There was a Donald story in DD 245 (last Whitman issue) in which 
Donald was at Grandma's farm when she happened to be chasing Zeke Wolf 
off same rural establishment.  And for about the only time, Li'l Bad 
Wolf stepped in to complain about his father's ill treatment, and I 
believe he got consoled by Donald!
      And that's not the only time those two have appeared in the same 
story.  WDC&S 115 has a story where Donald takes a vacation in a forest 
cottage, that turns out to be the Three Pigs' home (they have leased it, 
while they are on a vacation).  This is that issue's LW story.  Gil 
Turner draws a good Donald, too (but we've seen that, when Disney Comics 
reprinted a few of his one-page DDs near the end of their run).
      I really enjoy Gil Turner's LW stories from the late 1940s and 
early 1950s.  He had some measure of continuity in them, and the 
characterization is quite good, too.  He did some other good ones in the 
mid-'50s, too (some of which Disney reprinted).  Unfortunately, there 
were many others who handled the Wolf feature, not all of them doing so 
well at it.

      In the 11/88 issue of the Egmont monthly MM (at least its German 
incarnation) -- I mean the one released for MM's 60th birthday -- there 
was an Esteban story of a treasure hunt, or something, with Mickey, 
Donald, Goofy, and Uncle Scrooge.  That wouldn't have been a bad idea 
except that the writer also included Daisy, Minnie, and BOTH sets of 
nephews.  The story was just crammed with supporting characters for no 
good reason.  Did anyone else catch that one?  It's the only Egmont 
crossover story between Mice and Ducks that I recall.... unless they did 
the similar one that appeared in the German weekly's 2000th issue, and I 
believe that one was made by the Germans themselves.

      When it comes to that story in which CD go to the Disney film of 
Cinderella, I... can't believe it.  Floyd Gottfredson is the only writer 
who ever dealt with his character's film appearances in a consistent and 
satisfactory way (by making Mickey's job, while he wasn't away on 
adventures, be as an actor).  But then we have things like that "This Is 
Your Life, DD" story, in which everyone down to Lumpjaw appears as 
Donald's fellow ACTORS in jobs at Disney, at the end of the story.  What 
a MESS.  Are we to believe that Lumpjaw staggers out of the forest to 
report to work?  I get lumps on my own jaw just gnashing my teeth, 
trying to sort it all out.

      I had to deal with the whole "universe" thing when I wrote 
Egmont's official DD and MM Universe Guides in 1992.  I have it that 
Duckburg and Mouseton are separated by Pickleburg and the Black Forest.  
That's the only way I could reconcile (A) the DD and MM characters only 
occasionally meeting, and (B) how those characters from the forest seem 
to cross over a lot.  I also have it that Donald lived in Mouseton 
during his younger years, then moved to Duckburg.  I classify the 
earlier AT strips and all the Pedrocchi stories as taking place before 
Donald's move.  And when DD moved to Duckburg, he adopted the Nephews 
for good, I guess.

      In two weeks, we'll see DDA 30, a very good Fernandez/Block story 
that I saw at the San Diego Comic Con last summer.  This is a story 
pairing DD, HDL, and Witch Hazel with... Goofy.  Well done, too.  Disney 
coughed and sputtered at Goofy appearing with DD, but let it pass.  
However, they DID insist that Goofy be redrawn from a 1937 Goofy (as he 
was originally drawn in the story) to a 1951 Goofy (a la Murry), saying 
that the 1930s Goof wasn't compatible with the 1950s Ducks.

      I was present when Pat Block showed said story to Don Rosa.  Sorry 
to mention this here, Don, but... folks, you should have seen Don's face 
when he saw Goofy in that story.

      Best wishes,
      David Gerstein
      <9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>
      "Bah!  Why couldn't beavers do the work, while we wolves collected 
the money?"