The story codes

[Harry Fluks]

In reply to Per's comments:

> > USA - King Features Syndicate
>
> Or just `KF'.  The date is given as MM-DD-YY (perhaps obvious?)

In the USA, there were only month+day on the newspaper strips, MM-DD, and
a copyright note with the year: (c) King Features Syndicate, in very small
characters.
When reprinted in Europe, the publisher added the date. In Holland they use
sometimes the (ridiculous 8-) American format MM-DD-YY, and sometimes the
European format DD-MM-YY. So if, for example, 7-12-52 and 12-7-52 were both on
a sunday, one can't make out which date the strip is from.

> > USA - Disney Studio's
> >
> > There was no letter in the code. Example: #6178. This is the 178th story
> > the studios made in 1966.
>
> Are these #-codes the same as the codes that begin with a little
> square followed by a number?

I know nothing of a 'little square'. For me, # looks a bit like a square.
Maybe is looks different on your Scandinavian display?
(The shift-digits on my IBM-PC keyboard are: !@#$%^&*() )

> What about the X-coded stories?  They are also from the Studio, right?
> (I think X stands for eXtra.)

I never saw an X-code in Holland, but I did see some in a German comic
(Donald Duck Sonderheft), on the same stories that were un-lettered in Holland.
Sometimes, they were even coded 'XTRA'. So you must be 100% right.

> > Italy - Mondadori
>
> I've also seen codes like I-1425-A, whatever that means.

I = Italy (I think 8-)
1425 = issue 1425 of the 'Albi d'Oro' series. All comics in Italy seam to
       have an Ad'O number, including the Topolino comics etc.
       I'm not 100% sure about this. (Let's persuade some Italian to join
       the list 8-).
A = indication that it's the first story of the comic. The 2nd would be coded
    I-1425-B, etc.

> Mondadori doesn't publish Disney stories any longer btw, because
> Disney started to publish their own stories in Italy some years ago
> (before they took the same step in the USA I think).

Do they still *produce* comics in Italy? If not, which stories are they
publishing?
I hope there are no more stories produced in Italy, because most of the time
they are rubbish. (Exceptions: Rota, early Scarpa, some very Gottfredson-like
Mouse stories)

Harry.