"Somewhere in Nowhere"

JALustig@aol.com JALustig at aol.com
Thu Jul 13 08:04:05 CEST 2000


To Armando, Rodney, Elena & Everyone Else:

Hi! It's been a long time since I posted anything on this mailing list. In 
regard to the questions and comments about "Somewhere in Nowhere"...well, 
yes, the story is going to be published at long last. Disney Italia will be 
distributing it in a hardback book in early November. (I believe the 
publisher is hoping to have some copies to show around at the Frankfurt Book 
Fair prior to that.) If it's going to be in both English and Italian then my 
guess is that its the same format that was used when Disney Italia published 
Barks' "Horsing Around With History." I don't have a copy of that book, but 
if I remember correctly that book printed each page of "Horsing" in color in 
Italian and then on the opposite page the same part of the story was printed 
in English in black and white.

(If I'm wrong about this format then someone please correct me.)

Sometime later (possibly March of next year), "Somewhere" will be reprinted 
in the "Zio Paperone" magazine with some extra background material.

I really don't know much more about it than that.

It's been over two years since I first learned that Disney Italia had 
purchased "Somewhere." In the past, Disney Italia had asked me not to say 
anything about this to fans. Why? Well, I was told that Disney Italia didn't 
know when it was going to be publishing the story. Fearing that fans would 
overwhelm Disney Italia with questions, the editor wanted to keep things 
quiet.

I agreed not to talk about it as a courtesy to Disney Italia. I have to 
admit, though, that I had no idea it would take this long to be published. 
When questions about the story surface on this mailing list, I e-mailed the 
editor. I curious myself as to what was going on. The editor promised to get 
back to me shortly. Several months passed. Recently a  different person at 
Disney contacted me and I learned that project is going ahead.

This thing has been hush hush for so long that I'm not really sure what I can 
or want to say about it. I'd feel a lot more comfortable talking about this 
if Disney Italia had made a formal announcement about the publication.

I also have very mixed feelings about this story. I know there are a lot of 
rumors about "Somewhere." I'm not going to go into detail here. I've already 
given Disney Italia a great deal of information about the story's creation 
and some of that will appear when the story is printed.

I do, however, want to chip away at a couple of rumors. Carl Barks' 
involvement in the story was somewhat less than was announced by the managers 
of his former studio. At the same time I must point out that rumors that Carl 
wasn't involved in the story at all are equally untrue. The original idea for 
the story came from Carl. During the time that the story was fleshed out more 
fully Carl made a number of suggestions. Later on, he also contributed some 
additional gags.

I think it's probably best if I don't go into detail about any of this until 
after "Somewhere" is published. I think people should be less concerned with 
the politics of the story's creation and more interested in the story itself.

On another subject, I'm really busy right now getting ready for Comic Con 
Internation in San Diego next week. I'm going to be sharing a table in 
Artist's Alley with fellow Disney creator Michael T. Gilbert (space F-4.) I 
may also be at the Comics Buyer's Guide table some of the time. I don't know 
how much I'll be at either table. (There's so much to see and do at that con 
that it'll be hard to sit still.) Anyway, those of you who are going to the 
con, please drop by and say "Hi!"

--John Lustig




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