"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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