Disney-comics digest #644.

[Don Rosa]

>HARRY:
        What's this message from Fabio? He can't send it to the list himself?
        I do hope he sends me that newspaper article about me. And I hope
he'll set aside copies of the new Italian comics that reprint my stories.
But ask him if he recently sent me a big registered package of stuff -- I
received a big pack of Italian "fanzines" with articles about me (such as a
cover-feature in something called "IF - Imaginary Fumetti" that he wrote) as
well as the other Italian Disney artists. But there was no letter or return
address included, so I don't know where it came from.

DAVID:
        There's really a "Ranger List" for fans of that TV series? 
        And they REALLY threw you off for having vaguely non-Disney-Zombie
leanings? I was wondering if I'd been wrong in my ideas about those other
Disney BBSs, but they seem to be showing me I'm not. They really can't
tolerate anything but 100% gleeful agreement with everything Disney is and
does, eh? Totalitarianism lives.
        These are the VERY people who need to see some extra little truths
told. I think it's obvious that such people are not Disney fans if they can
only be so by ignoring everything they don't want to know and pretending it
doesn't exist. We here on this list are Disney fans even though we
acknowledge Disney's flaws and failures. Who, then, are the more
intelligent, discerning and truest devotees? It's rather obvious.
        One of my ideas is that it's BECAUSE of Disney-Zombies that Disney's
unfair policies can continue. They help Disney keep it quiet, they help keep
it out of the public eye. Disney will naturally soon change some of these
ancient policies... it's a system too backward to last much longer; but the
Zombies help push that day a little further off each time they boot somebody
like you off their boards. And we on here all know what an arrogant little
snot you are -- always pushing everybody around and condemning Disney to
Hades (Of course, you are not that way at all -- it's astounding they
couldn't tolerate a few truths spoken by such a polite fellow as yourself.
Really, really sad!)
        Anyway, about DUCK DAZE, as I told you I was asked my Jymn Magon to
help come up with the guidelines for that series, but I declined. I knew
they would be treating Donald again as an ACTOR and not a CHARACTER, again
ignoring everything that makes Donald still Disney's most popular character
(everywhere in the world but HERE)... which is to say, ignoring BARKS'
version of Donald. And while DUCK DAZE might be as good as DUCK TALES, it
will doubtlessly be as far from accuracy as DUCK TALES and will come and
eventually go away without doing any lasting harm to Donald, just as DUCK
TALES did with $crooge. DUCK TALES never bothered me since I knew that
Disney's $crooge is a different character than the comic-book (TRUE)
$crooge. And Disney's Donald in DUCK DAZE won't be our Donald, so we can
ignore it as well.
        But you know, they lose about 99% of my potential interest right off
the bat with that insulting title! DUCK TALES would have seemed infinitely
better to me if they had simply used a respectable title like "The
Adventures of $crooge McDuck". Now, Donald's show is "DUCK DAZE". Ecch. But
I guess that makes it possible to license it separately from the old Donald?
TWO licen$e$?! And that name looks nicer on lunch boxes and T-shirts? I
s'pose so...