Various

James Williams James_Williams at ESS.NIAID.pc.niaid.nih.gov
Fri Oct 21 14:57:51 CET 1994


Jorgen,

>What's the difference between Barks DD and Disney DD? 

Disney's Donald Duck is an actor who play whatever role they 
want him to.  Other than a few stereo types (his voice and
temper) nothing remains the same.  Carl Bark claim to fame
is that he turned this two dimensional character into a
real person.

>>In the frame of this page, there is also written "color: white
>>coat".

>I've seen this in other stories too, but not often. 

Lets see if I can explain this in less than 500 words.  There are five
separate tasks involved in producing a color comic book story -
writing, pencils, inks, letters, and colors.  The writer writes a
script.  This script describes the panel to the artist and lists the
dialog underneath it.  The penciler takes this script and draws it. 
The inker inks the pencils.  Then the artwork and the script go to the
letterer.  The letterer puts the word balloons in.  Lastly, the artwork
is given to the colorist.  They color it.

If I'm writing a story about Scrooge, I don't have to tell the penciler
what Scrooge looks like.  All I have to do is describe his actions and
emitions.  Why? Because the penciler know what Scrooge looks like. 
Likewise, no one has to tell the colorist how to color Scrooge.  Again,
the colorist knows how to color Scrooge.  But, what if my story hinges
on the fact that Scrooge is wearing a white coat.  Then, the writer
notes this in the script.  After the panel description and dialog,
there would be a color note.

Still with me? Look back at the original process listed and you'll
notice one little problem.  The color notes are in the script, but the
colorist never sees the script.  So, the penciler writes the color
notes on the actually artwork or in the margins.  This stuff isn't
suppose to be printed, but ocassionally people mess up and the color
notes show up in the comic.

>What surprises me a bit is that I thought Disney Comics were publishing 
>these titles, and now Marvel is presenting them as totally new comics.

These are all new comics produced by Marvel.  Just like Gladstone,
Marvel licenses these characters from Disney.  

>Also I think I remember having read that Gladstones magazines are
>somehow distributed by Marvel. 

The comic market in the US is divided into two types - direct sales and
the newstand.  Direct sales are easier because the products are usually
sold on a non-returnable basis (i.e.  if it doesn't sell, the store is
stuck with the comic).  Newstand sales are returnable.  Therefore,
newstand distribution takes a lot more work.  Instead of Gladstone
building their own newstand distribution system, Gladstone's comics are
distributed to the newstand by Marvel Comics.  

James Williams




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