Disney-comics digest #179.

[David A Gerstein]

	Hi, Folks!

	Two topics today.


	Don Rosa on German Ducks (Ich Bin Ein Entenhausener!)
	=== ==== == ====== ===== ==== === === ===============

	"in Germany, $crooge has always been said to be Grandma's
sister also... in fact, I think they planned to reword the balloons 
to say that Hortense turns out to be Grandma Duck (this will get 
tricky in part 10 when Hortense meets Grandma Duck!). Another German 
problem is that they've always written that $crooge is Austrian, 
rather than a Scot."

	In Germany, Grandma Duck's first name is often used, and there
it's not Elvira but Dorette (pronounced Doretta).  If you see Hortense
being renamed Dorette in the German version, there's a clue that
they're definitely going with that plan.  I'm wondering what they're
going to do to part ten though!  Cut it up to remove the
Hortense/Grandma encounter?
	As for Scrooge's nationality, never ONCE do I find a reference
to Scrooge as being Austrian in the German comics.  Anyway, he's
definitely Scottish now that the Lo$ appears here.  Whether the
Germans place Duckburg in America is unknown to me.  In the early
1950s translations, it was located in Germany (references to Brooklyn
being changed to Frankfurt, and so forth).
	In 1985 the series "Geschichte aus Onkel Dagoberts
Schatztruhe" was published.  This original German series, in issue #5,
showed Scrooge travelling around the U. S.  -- and while he was
outside of Duckburg, his name went from Dagobert Duck to Dagobert 
MCDUCK!!  I can't think of a story with a more convoluted angle
on things.  I'm not gonna *try* to explain it.  Anyone else see this?
Anyone else want to try to explain it?


	RoC discusses "Duck a la Gerstein"
	=== ========= ===== = == =========

	"Could you, David, please tell us all a little about how you
go about doing scripts for Disney? Or is it Egmont's payroll you are 
on? Have you been briefed about - or even better, recieved a written 
law of "do-s and don't-s" like the infamous Gutenberghus Code of the 
70s?  You do the plots as well as the scripts? Do you have any contact
with the artists - or a choice of them?"

	I have two jobs.

	A)  For GLADSTONE Comics I take foreign stories and rewrite
them in English.  These include Egmont, Oberon, and Italian stories.

	   1.  Egmont's stories are all available in English.
	      a.  If I want to rewrite a story right when I first see
	          it in a foreign comic, I find a German edition and 
	          translate my own English from that.  Then I send my
	          version to Gladstone, and they order the proofs from
	          Egmont so they can print the story.
	      b.  If I want Gladstone to see the foreign story before
	          I make my version, I have them order it from Egmont
	          BEFORE I do any work on it.  A script also comes, 
	          a script which is prepared in English by Egmont.
	          Unfortunately, Egmont's English scripts are usually 
	          quite flat, as English is not the first language for
	          most of their writers.  So I rewrite the story from 
	          their English into my English.
	      c.  I prefer to work from German because the Egmont
	          English scripts are flat, while the German ones have
	          been made juicer over in Deutschland, giving me
	          ideas to work with.
	
	   2.  Oberon's stories are only available in Dutch.
	      a.  Sometimes I will choose a Dutch story to translate
	          on my own (as I recently did when Harry sent me one 
	          I liked).  I'll translate it from either Dutch or 
	          German, then send my translation to Gladstone, and 
	          they'll use the code number on it to order the proofs.
	      b.  Sometimes Gladstone will choose a Dutch story for me
	          to do.  They'll already have the proofs ordered, and
	          just send me copies of them to use in making my 
	          version.  Then when I send it back to them, they're
	          all ready to print it.

	   3.  Italian stories are only available in Italian.
	      a.  My method here is just like Dutch method (a) above,
	          except that I have a translator translate it into
	          rough English (I know no Italian), then I rewrite
	          that as I would rewrite an English Egmont script.
	      b.  If Gladstone chooses an Italian story for me to do,
	          it's just like method (a) except that the process
	          starts with them sending me the story, not my
	          finding it in an Italian comic.
	      c.  Once in a while I will find an Italian story I want
	          to do in a German edition... like method (a) only I 
	          don't have to have someone else do the rough 
	          translation, I do it all.

	B)  For EGMONT Publishing, with whom I have a separate
contract, I do two different things.

	   1.  I make original comic stories in script form.  That is,
	       I first write a summary... if it's approved, then a
	       plot synopsis, breaking the story's plot down into
	       pages.  Then, finally, a script, which reads like this:

		_Pic 1_		 Scrooge leans into Donald's face, 
				 bellowing loudly.  Donald cringes 
				 back in shock.

		Scrooge:	 When I want your opinion, I'll *ask*
				 for it, nephew!

		Sound (Scrooge): *SNORT!*

	   2.  I am also an archivist for Egmont.  For example:  Last
	       summer I was told, "We are hiring new Mickey Mouse 
	       writers and we want you to make a guidebook for them,
	       describing all the locales -- western settings, African
	       settings, and such -- that Mickey's Gottfredson stories
	       took place in;  heroes and villains local to those
	       places; important cities and sites in those places; and
	       a list of the stories in which all of these are relevant."
	       Hence a thing like this:

	       AFRICAN LOCALES.
	       PLACES:  Aita Klah Kurfu ("Mickey Mouse Joins the
	       Foreign Legion"), Jujubwa Jungle ("In Search of Jungle
	       Treasure"), Tom-Tom Island ("An Education for
	       Thursday").
	       SITES:  Cannibal Village (in Jujubwa Jungle, "In Search
	       of Jungle Treasure"), Foreign Legion Outpost (in Aita 
	       Klah Kurfu, "Foreign Legion").
	       NATIVE HEROES:  Abdomah ("In Search of Jungle
	       Treasure"), M'Jumjo (elephant, "An Education for 
	       Thursday"), Piekh Abou ("Foreign Legion"), Thursday 
	       ("An Education for Thursday").
	       NATIVE VILLAINS:  Cannibals ("In Search of Jungle
	       Treasure"), Yussuf Aiper ("Foreign Legion").
	       IMPORTANT FACTS:  Pegleg Pete was once a sergeant at
	       the Foreign Legion outpost of Aita Klah Kurfu.
	       IMPORTANT STORIES:  "An Education for Thursday," "In
	       Search of Jungle Treasure," "Mickey Mouse Joins the
	       Foreign Legion."

	       I did this for all the Gottfredson and Walsh stories
	       (being more detailed with pre-Walsh ones, BTW)
	       with about 20 different locales.  Now, when a new
	       writer does, say, a story set in Africa, they can 
	       easily make it a sequel to a Gottfredson story by 
	       looking up the characters who Mickey knows in the 
	       region, then including them in the new story.  In 
	       other words, my list is used to make "canonical"
	       Mouse stories like Scarpa does.

	       I did another such list for Donald and Scrooge, using
	       Barks and Rosa as my sources, at about the same time.


	*GAAAAAASP!*  There's what I do for Gladstone and Egmont.
Things may change of course... for example, there's a distinct
possibility that I will be writing an original long Duck adventure for
Gladstone in the next year.  If so, it will be made in the Egmont
script format.

	Egmont has guidelines on use of Disney characters, but they
are rather few.  Hardly any are given to a new writer.  The writer
usually finds them out the hard way.

	A)  Avoid having guns actually fired whenever possible.
Showing them is fine, though.  (This IS a written guideline.)
	B)  Try not to use Mickey's nephews, as MM becomes a dull
figure of authority when they're around.
	C)  Try not to have Mickey constantly lecturing Goofy... he
should not be the straight man to Goofy.
	D)  Mickey is not to be motivated by a quest for money.
	E)  Goofy is not aware that he is dumb.

	I ran afoul of rule (D) in my very first Egmont MM story, in
which Mickey planned to get rich quick.  I was told:  "Though Mickey
would have done this in pre-1935 stories, we don't want Mickey to seem
greedy.  The Mickey we use is that of 1936... in personality."

	Egmont is *VERY* serious about changing MM in their comics
now.  They are trying to get away from the older Danish stories and
into Gottfredson-like ones.  Right now they're slowly easing Mickey
from his long pants back to short ones -- they MAY have to stop if
their publishers in many countries object.  My story will be the
second where he has the shorts...  If they can get him into his
shorts, the next goal is to get rid of his shirt...

	That's all for now, folks.  Quack!  Squeak! says

	David Gerstein

	"The only way to get ahead of Mickey Mouse is to *run* in
*front* of him!"
	<David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>