Disney comics released this week in USA (Dec 15, 2010)

[Kriton Kyrimis]

DAVE:

> So now, they're not reprinting Barks, and there is no new Rosa.Aside from some
> classic Gottfredson, there's not much else
> in the entire Disney comic world that is actually worth reading.

This is a rather extreme view, especially if you base your conclusions on the 
limited sampling of the vast international production of Disney comics that 
has been printed in the US.

Barks' stories are, indeed, excellent, but, although I read quite a few of 
them as a child, only one or two of them left an impression on me. Most of the 
stories that I still remember reading as a child are by Italian artists, such 
as Romano Scarpa, Luciano Gatto, Pier Lorenzo de Vita, Luciano Capitanio, and 
Giovan Battista Carpi. Most of these artists are just names for most 
Americans, with the exception, perhaps of Romano Scarpa, a few of whose 
stories have seen print in the US.

Believe it or not, some people will go to the other extreme of considering 
Barks' stories to be the ones that aren't up to the standard set by the 
Italian masters! Those of you who can read Greek, or can struggle with 
google's automatic translation, have a look at 
http://blog.pouloyiannis.gr/2006/07/blog-post_14.html where the title of the 
blog post, loosely translated, is "Donald is Italian, and I won't hear 
otherwise"! Even if you don't read the post, I'm sure you can guess which 
artists are the author's favorites.

As for Don's stories, they are in a class of their own. Masterpieces, every 
single one of them, but they are addressed to an older audience, so I don't 
know if I would have kept reading Disney comics if the first story I'd read as 
a child had been one of his elaborate stories instead of Scarpa's "Topolino e 
Bip-Bip alle sorgenti mongole". (I see it's been published in the US in WDC&S 
695 & 696. Highly recommended, if you can find these issues.)

In conclusion, if you want to read more good Disney stories, then, instead of 
waiting for Barks re-re...re-prints, or for a new Don Rosa to appear, demand 
from BOOM! that they print stories by the old Italian masters.

	Kriton.
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"I'm a surgeon, not a... not a... damn, I can't think of anything."
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