From RoC

Lasse Reichstein Nielsen lrn at daimi.aau.dk
Tue Nov 16 10:00:50 CET 1993


Lucky me! I answered an ad on 79 jumbo books; 20,000 pages of Italian
stories. The 'victim' wanted 200 Danish kr. (30 $) but I drive a hard
bargain and gave him 300! If $crooge gets an alergy again, call me :)


SORRY, DON (Huey, Dewey and June)

An apology is in place: I scorned (scorched?) Don for drawing April,
May and June with pointed beaks, like chickens, or kind of like Freddy
Milton's woodpecker kids. My excuse is that I don't have the actual
poster, just pictures of *two* nieces. And I simply didn't recognize
them or their Norwegian names at first; I first assumed they were some
obscure pair of twins, unknown to me, or maybe invented for Lo$. Later I
caught on, but I still couldn't figure out why they looked so *weird*.

That they should be so rare in Barks' production surprises me. I also
thought of the 'Flipism' story, but assumed that they had popped up
now and then. But the DDDiary story 'A Sticky Situation' is maybe
the only time they appear for more than a panel or two. In another DDD
story by Barks (The Double Date, last panel) they look 'normal' to me.
In my Duckburg dimension, they are identical to HD&L except for the
eyelashes. They live with Daisy, but are out a lot of the time.
Maybe they are baby-sitting or do you have any lewd suggestions, Geir?

Hmm, I just leafed through 1500+ pages of the 1990 Danish edition, and
I couldn't spot a single appearance of those elusive nieces!?
*Then* I got the bright idea of checking my own index and found 1 (one)
reference to them as title characters. A quick look confirmed their
similarity to HDL. This was a D coded story.


SORRY, VICAR (Something rotten in Denmark)

I also made some derogatory remarks about Vicar and other 'Danish'
artists. Thank you, David, for hearing what I meant, not what I said.
The criticism should have been leveled at Paul Halas and the handful
of hacks who turn out those tedious plots, hallmark and mainstay of
Scandinavian issues. The art isn't really that bad.

I have also come to the point, where I had to change an ingrown opinion
that I didn't like Italian stories. The plots are usually interesting,
drawing from litterature and history to a degree unknown elsewhere.
I have come across adaptions of Mark Twain, Franz Kafka, Victor Hugo and
numerous Italian authors. Not to mention a lot of action in medieval
Italy, and a story where Mickey and Goofy meets their 30es counterparts.
BTW, Cavazzano always draws ducks standing on their toes? He *is* good.


SORRY, HARRY (Guardians of the List Library)

Oops, I could have *sworn* that I sent you that Guardians code. Anyway,
when you put this, the Lillehammer, and the Dime stories into the index,
higher numbers will change if you keep the consecutive numbering of
D codes. OK, the numbers are not *supposed* to be numberING, but...
I would have suggested a single character in the margin to separate
entries, though your method is better with regard to different versions
of a story/cover. And if we start incorporating data on publication in
more countries like Germany, the one-line-per-entry concept will have to
go anyway, even if it breaks my heart.
I'm sorry that I opposed your reforms so rudely, I can see that you have
made many necessary adjustments and additions. Here is another one:
Lo$9, D 93121, 15 pages KA93-45 (all Scandinavian issues)
Oh yes, I'm also sorry that I mailed some updates to you while you were
away. Your reply only reached me as a summary from my brother. You are
not seriously suggesting to decrypt my notes in Danish and type them?!


NEWS IN BRIEF (Film at 11)

Just got my first Finnish issue! Looks like Scandinavian can be replaced
with Nordic in our indexes, as it's contents are similar to the other
three versions I recieve. Only it's 32 pages pulp type paper, cover too.
That gives me a fair chance to figure the language out, in case anything
special should come up. Right now even the saddest scripts make me laugh
when they're in Finnish ;)


DAVID WROTE (A duck a day keeps the blues away)

>        A few other things in Geir's letter, which I didn't get to
>comment on before.
>
>        First... The Taliaferro softback book series was thrown off
>the press here because Disney refused to let some strips involving
>Indians be reprinted... sound familiar?  They still stand firm... see
>my letter in DD 282.  The cover that had been drawn for the aborted
>1938 collection was just used on DD 281.
>
>        I would be interested in forking over that ten bucks for a
>copy of the 1938 volume you mention... can you give an address?

You are confusing Geir's and my letter: I only have the three volumes
published so far here, but they are indeed complete, indians and all.
I think they are all still available and will gladly send them to you.
Of course they are in Danish, but most of them could be in Chinese and
still make you laugh! Danish isn't that different from Dutch either.


NEW RELEASES (Wish you were here)

Issue #20 of Carl Barks & Co.

A poster magazine with two Barks oils: a family portrait and a treasure
island with a pirate ship in the background.

Donald Duck Daily Strips 1941

Gold Book #10 w. uncensored Africa story from 1966. (So Far No Safari
*was* uncut when published in Scandinavia, wasn't it?)


EGMONT RULES (A dork's eye-view of Europe)

I happened to catch an interview on TV with the chief of Danish Egmont
(didn't catch his name though.) The case in question was the declared
anti-racist stance of the German Micky Maus. Apparently editorials has
spoken against discrimination of refugees and other foreigners.
When asked why Mickey has gone political, mr. Egmont explained that
surveys show that this topic interests the readers (children.)

(Surveys must have pointed to Beverly Hills 90210 and Jurassic Park as
especially hot in Denmark... wanna buy some posters in mint condition?)

The interviewer asked: "[...] Who decides what goes in the various
Donald Duck magazines around the world... you?"
Mr. Egmont:"[short pause] In the end, yes. But to a large extent the
local/national editors [...]"

The actual phrasing eludes me, but I distinctly remember *never* hearing
the word 'Disney' in a context that could refer to a company, if at all.

Americans can hardly appreciate the huge popularity of Disney in Europe.
A small country like Denmark with 5 million people publishes about 700
pages of ducks'n'mice *a month*. The weekly Anders And & Co. sells maybe
a quarter of a million copies, as much as the biggest newspapers.
It's mainstream culture, and just about every kid reads a Donald story
now and then. Not to mention adults.

In the US, kids read about turbo-z-mutants and the typical Disney comics
buyer is old enough to have a university degree, and often has.
Those, who actually read their magazines, are hard-core fundamentalists
and want 'the right stuff' reprinted over and over again.
Those, who don't, want "50 of those #1's with gold staples and author's
thumbprint on a numbered certificate... oh, and give me a lead box too."
(The above characterizations are fictive and any similarity to actual
persons, living, dead, or on this list is entirely coincidental.)

The way the American market is based on the investor value of 'items',
you can probably thank Don Rosa alone that Disney has survived as comics
at all. But as his first printings no longer appear in the US, commercial
interest may wane, making Disney publishing economically unsound (again.)

With this in mind, it can hardly surprise that Egmont chooses to expand
in Eastern Europe, Russia and China instead of Farbackistan, America.
I know they were mentioned as possible successors of Disney Comics,
does anybody know why they let Gladstone have it?
I mean, if they really *had* wanted it...


Argento.


Ole Reichstein *  "I should go jump in a lake and sink."




More information about the DCML mailing list