Disney Comics Japan & Mounties

William call me BillClark hibill at twics.com
Sun Aug 6 08:27:58 CEST 1995


Hello all.  In response to a question Don posed some time ago (sorry for
the delay, but I wanted to be sure) about whether we have Disney comics
here in Japan.
        No.  No sir.  Scarce as hen's teeth. Nowhere to be seen.  Not a one.

        As Don said, comics are very popular in Japan.  Huge numbers are
printed every week in books thicker than the phone book of the town in
which I live (320 000 people).  These cost about $4~5 US.  But, I haven't
been able to find _one_ Disney comic.  I was very surprised.  Disney
mechandise is everywhere and Tokyo Disneyland (trivia: it's not in Tokyo,
but in the neighbouring prefecture of Chiba) is still popular.

        I can honestly say that the only Disney comics  I have seen in
Japan were the ones that my girlfriend brought from the USA.

Furthermore from Cdoberman at aol.com

=I posted a letter about how
= WDG#1 came out the same week that NPR broadcast a story that the Canadian
= Mounties had sold Disney the liscensing rights to their "image."  I thought
= it was great that your story portrayed the Mounties exactly as they were
= hoping you wouldn't -- well-intentioned goody-goodies.  I wondered if Disney
= was embarrassed by this little stroke of Great Timing.  Not one person
= commented on my letter.  I guess they had SOMETHING ELSE ON THEIR MINDS,
= while I can't imagine what.

Well, I must confess I didn't see the comic or hear the story on NPR
(naturally), but as a Canadian I have an opinion, but I thought nobody
would be interested in hearing it on a comics list, but since you felt
snubbed...=-)

 The ignorance exhibited by Americans about Canada is astounding.  And
after hearing it 50 or more times from the Americans I work with here that
"Canada is the 51st state" (thank God it isn't;  I'd rather be dead ;-))
I've given up on teaching the ignorant about it.  Now don't get me wrong,
my girlfriend is from the US and is cool as are some other friends here.

 Anyway...the RCMP image has been used by every conceivable manufacturer to
produce numerous cheap and trashy souveniers which are passed off as
legitimate symbols of Canada.  Even worse is that it is _all_ that some
foreigners know about Canada.  I assume the RCMP thought that if they must
represent our nation abroad (particulary to the South) they didn't want to
look like idiots.

A secondary consideration might be that Disney has a reputation for being
really tight-assed with their characters and keeping everything squeaky
clean with their properties.  Considering some of the scandals that the
RCMP have been mixed up in, maybe they want to see that such things don't
leak out again ;-)

Having said all that, I think the story may have been funny.  I like Dudley
Do-Right too.  It's one thing for a work of fiction that is obviously a
spoof to poke fun at people, but quite another when it's in real life.

Sorry to go on so much, especially on a tangent, but you asked for it...

Bill





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