Disney-comics digest #755.

Lutz Koch 73247.1103 at compuserve.com
Mon Aug 21 16:45:59 CEST 1995


---------- Forwarded Message ----------

Date: Sat, 19 Aug 1995 20:54:42 +0200
To: Lutz Koch <73247.1103 at compuserve.com>
From: Knut Hunstad <Knut.Hunstad at veg.sintef.no>
Subject: Re: Disney-comics digest #755.

Hi,


Lutz quoted:

>"Many readers would be disappointed if they could take a look at the American
>original: Carl Barks without the verbal wit of Dr. Erika Fuchs - unthinkable!"

I can understand the statement. My first Disney comics were german (I lived
in Munich from 70-73) and after that norwegian (after 1973). I always
thought the german stories were "better" somehow. In retrospective I realize
it's the translation. Beeing used to the correct language of the german and
norwegian translations, I got quite a shock first time I read an original DD
story! I really didn't like it! I still haven't read much of DD in original
language, but knowadays I am more able to appreciate the style of Barks' use
of the language. So I would say the first part of the quoted statement above
is true, but the second part is rather neglecting Barks' qualities as a writer!

>This is a mean and tasteless statement.

I wouldn't say mean, just not very well formulated.

> But what can you expect from a company
>that fills its most popular publication, the MM weekly, with editorial trash of
>the worst kind (like encouraging kids to play filthy tricks on their classmates
>etc.).

That is a problem in Norway, too! The weekly DD&Co. has published so many
pranks which I never would have _dreamt_ of doing when I was a kid (and I
wasn't _that_ nice a kid)! Only
thing that keeps wondering me, is why there hasn't been a giant uproar about
this from parents and teachers (as many of these pranks are to be done to
parents/teachers)?

>Subject: Frank Stajano's Introduc(k)tion

Welcome, Frank!

>"the special stories". Among the most prized comics I had at the time
>were also some Gottfredson reprints (that was the "Il Topolino d'oro"
>("The Golden Mickey Mouse") series), including the Dr. Einmug "Island in
>the Sky" one and "Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot". In all fairness

I always loved that first Phantom Blot story! Just yesterday I spent over 1
hour looking for a comic book I bought some years ago in the USA with that
story, very differently edited than the version I have in my "I, Goofy"-book
(yeah, I know, seems strange, but after all, Goofy is _very_ typical in
those few panels he appears in in that story...). And I didn't find it (but
I'm not giving up, it's _got_ to be somewhere)! The USA version had even
more of those devilish plans to kill MM and had quite big changes in the
order in which those plans appeared. Of course, I realize the USA version is
probably the more original. When I find that book again, I'll be back with
some more specific questions...

>subscription to Topolino. A couple of years later this was stopped, on
>the grounds that I was a grown-up and I was not supposed to have that
>childish passion for comics, and all that sort of rubbish (sounds
>familiar to you? I hope not...). But the worst was yet to come: when, a

Tell me about it! When I was around 13 or so, the only recurring thing on my
wish list for xmas and birthdays was the giant Disney-books ("I, Goofy", "I,
Scrooge" etc.). But my mother refused to buy them because I was getting "too
grown up for those stories". Ahh, the ignorance of the "Cultural elite"! I
don't think she ever has realized what kind of value my bookshelf
represents, and I don't think I'll ever tell her...

BTW, I know now that those giant books really are of very poor quality
regarding coloring, reformatting and general respect for the material. But
the _selection_ of stories was excellent!

Knut Hunstad
Trondheim, Norway





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