Disney-comics digest #739.

[Larry Gerstein]

[Send unsubscription requests to <disney-comics-request at minsk.docs.uu.se>.]

Contents of digest #739:

        Striker261 at aol.com      Re: No Subject
        Wes Andersen            Dragon's Den
        Daniel van Eijmeren           Unsubscribing

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Date: Sat, 29 Jul 1995 20:14:01 -0400
From: Striker261 at aol.com
Subject: Re: No Subject

How in the world do I unsubcribe my self I'm going to go crazy on this idiot
mailing list!
Striker261



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Date: Sun, 30 Jul 1995 14:47:28 -0400
From: Cdoberman at aol.com
Subject: Dragon's Den

I did not like Pat Block's and Ron Fernandez's "The Secret of the Dragon's
Den" in DDA #34.  I was not disappointed because I believe their work is held
back consistently by the same problems.  While I do not care personally for
Block's art because of cluttered layouts, poor perspective and his heavy
outlines, the real flaws were in Fernandez's story.  Some examples:

The splash panel sets up a lemon motif that runs throughout the story, but it
isn't clear that HDL develop a distaste for lemons due to the work.  They
seem upset at the work, not the lemons, so later when they are disgusted at
the thought of drinking lemonade (7 entire pages later) I did not understand
what the problem was.  The lemon motif itself is odd as lemons tend to show
up from nowhere and have nothing in common with the arctic-sea themes of the
rest of the story. 

Often, there are odd jumps in time between panels which make it hard for me
to follow events:  p. 5, panels 4 & 5; p. 13, panel 4;  p. 20, panel 7
("Faster with those buckets your lordship);  p. 23, panel 2;

Ron has a TENDENCY to OVERUSE bold LETTERING in his STORY!  And EXCLAMATION
marks!!

The story is full of illogical events: 

 Why has the museum kept its artifacts frozen in ice?  Why has Donald put on
a suit of armour to fight the fire (p. 3, final panel)?  

I won't even discuss the  frozen in ice = suspended animation premise
(although it's ridiculous, it is imaginative).  

The Colonel is scheming something on p. 6, but his logic is beyond me.  

The thought of Donald with any savings at all (p. 7) is inconsistent with his
established character.  

 Cap'n Andy's remark about an admiral on board (p. 8) is surprising -- the
reader is left to assume that because Donald is wearing a hat, he now
considers himself an Admiral;  while everyone sarcastically refers to him as
an Admiral, nowhere does Donald display the characteristics of an admiral
with delusions of grandeur.  

While Cap'n Andy has mentioned that the ship is full of his "supplies"
(whatever they might be) nowhere do the ducks notice that the boat is loaded
with ingredients for lemonade until the ship has sunk "in LEMONADE no less!"
(??)

On p. 10 someone says, "Maybe we should follow Rupert," which I assume is the
Colonel's plan for finding the riches hidden on the island, which I assume he
already knew about.  

If the knights were frozen during the earthquake (p. 16), why do they all
look like they're having a nice time when the ducks find them?  Cobblepot
shows up (p. 17), but how in the world did he get to them?  Did he follow
them?  We are to assume he steals all the money on the island.  

The gag on the first 4 panels of page 21 is very vague, and I still don't get
it.  

Is the knight in panel 8 of pg. 21 Sir Kerwick?  later we learn no, but when
I first saw him, I wondered.  

Pg. 21, last panel -- the "earlier ride" line is again vague.  

Pg. 22, 1st panel: "This sure seems familiar." -- are we to assume that it's
the same island as before and, if so, how does all of Duckburg (previous
page) get there from the Duckburg harbor?  

Page 23, the whole thing about water running uphill and such is never
satisfactorily explained.  

On p. 26, the coins at the bottom of the well look gold (colorist's choice),
so I didn't realize they were probably dimes.  Why didn't Sykes just say
dimes? 

 Pg. 26:  "Our world has been found."  What does that mean? Are they going to
take over the island park?  Then why do they catch a train to nowhere on p.
27?  And why was there fortune so small now?  

And why does Mr. Hooty Owl have lipstick on his cheek in the final frame??

Stuff I liked:  Huey's reference that the compass is pointing straight up (p.
9);  The name of the owl:  Mr. Hooty Owl (the biggest laugh of the story for
me);  "There's an awful lot of ocean on the lower deck!" (p. 10);  "She's not
very good at hiding," p. 25;  The MM movies downtown.

I know, the easiest thing in the world is to be a critic, but when I pay for
a comic, and when other writers are producing such quality, I don't expect to
have so many questions -- and these are just a few of my hang ups with
Dragon's Den.  Some folks may have answers to my questions , and with a
little creativity I can answer some of them too.  My problem is that I had to
ask in the first place.  I have wanted to run this same sort of analysis on
Bock's and Fernandez's earlier stories (especially Mystery at Widow's Gap" --
the worste I've read), but didn't feel it worth the time;  but I hear so many
praises for this team that I want to voice my opinion that I think they have
a long way to go before I enjoy their work -- although, I hope that with a
little more care, their stories will become fluid, sensible and enjoyable.

Not usually so cynical,
Wes Andersen

cc.  Gladstone Comics



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Date:          Sat, 29 Jul 1995 18:00:33 
From: Daniel van Eijmeren <daniel at maisie.ow.nl>
To: Striker261 at aol.com
Cc: disney-comics at minsk.docs.uu.se
Subject:       Unsubscribing

BILLY, alias Striker261: 

> How in the world do I unsubcribe my self I'm going to go crazy on 
> this idiot mailing list!
> Striker261

Just send your question to "disney-comics-request at minsk.docs.uu.se". 
That's the adress for unsubscription, subscription, adress-changes, 
etc. etc.

Greetings,

--- "Idiot" Daniel


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(End of digest.)


gerstein at math.ucsb.edu