To: dcomics@strindberg.ling.uu.se Subject: Re: Disney comics Digest V96 #93 Date: Fri, 03 May 1996 11:56:26 -0400 From: David A Gerstein [...] ARTHUR: Another rip-off of the Disney characters is "Air Pirates Funnies," an early-1970s Gottfredson parody by Dan O'Neill that has Mickey, Minnie, Pegleg Pete, Sylvester Shyster and others doing various illegal things. This may have been intended as an homage of sorts, but brought only a lawsuit... and IMHO it was so tasteless (even for a satire) that I can see why Disney took offense. And while it may have been intended as an homage to Gottfredson, I can only wonder what he thought of it. This was reprinted in Germany as recently as 1989, with the original two American issues compiled in one comic album. I believe that Disney's lawsuit in the 1970s ended with them acquiring all rights to O'Neill's actual parody in the U. S., so I guess foreign editions are all that can come out now. In German it was called LUFTPIRATEN... I prefer real Gottfredson, myself, and didn't buy that German version when I saw it on a trip there. Another parody is "Yuck Tales" in CRACKED magazine from 1988. The art is largely traced from Don Rosa's earliest stories, although Launchpad was added, of course (and eliminated early on, as a plane explosion leaves him as a roast duck on a platter), given the subject in question. Renaming Scrooge "Screwge McDork" made the satire so juvenile that it was hard to slog through, even if its creators had some obvious affection for the Ducks. The end of the story involves Daffy Duck (!) and Mickey Mouse both wondering why Scrooge got a series before them, and marching in to take over "Yuck Tales" before more episodes can be produced. Disney comics satires can be fun, but since the writers usually seem to have some affection for the subject, why don't they try writing REAL Disney comics? David Gerstein <96dag@williams.edu> ====================================================================== Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 08:42:19 -0400 From: SRoweCanoe@aol.com To: dcomics@strindberg.ling.uu.se Subject: from Steven Rowe [...] David A Gerstein: >Another rip-off of the Disney characters is "Air Pirates Funnies," an early-1970s Gottfredson parody by Dan O'Neill that has Mickey, Minnie, Pegleg Pete, Sylvester Shyster and others doing various illegal things. This may have been intended as an homage of sorts, but brought only a lawsuit... and IMHO it was so tasteless (even for a satire) that I can see why Disney took offense. And while it may have been intended as an homage to Gottfredson, I can only wonder what he thought of it.< Don Markstein can probably explain the Air Pirates to you better than I. But at the time it came out, it was intended as a real Disney comic! Not a parody, not a satire, but the real thing. I can see if later, I can find their statements (published in Graphic Story World?). But trust me, the logic on this is in the best "If you can remember the 1960s , you weren't there" tradition. There was another issue, retitled Tortioise and the Hare, with Mickey gone, but Bucky Bug still around. Also some mini-comics from the early 1980s , and a tabloid. I don't have the mini-comics, but brought the rest at the time. Actually, the Air Priates were pretty clean for the time period (we're talking underground comics), I take it you haven't seen S.Clay Wison's drawing of Mickey Mouse? Steven Rowe Senior Editor, Who's Who of American Comic Books Mental Health Counselor chairman, Pee Dee Group, Sierra Club scholarship commitee, Hartsville Civitain Club and a guy with no free time on his hands.