Disney-comics digest #136.

[David A Gerstein]

	Dear Folks,

	I just read the most recent digest.  Here is my own
commentary:


	Scrooge cursing his kilt(s)
	======= ======= === =======

	I actually think this is a fine thing for Scrooge to say.  I
look at it as a Scottish alternative to "I'll be damned!"  When
someone raised in this country says the latter, he is expressing shock
by condemning himself to horrible tortures in hell -- at least, that's
the true meaning of that phrase via the Puritan minds in which it
originated.  It's a *self-deprecating expression*, and for a Scot
"curse my kilts" seems like another phrase in that very tradition.  Of
course no Scot would *really* condemn his kilt and the tartan within,
a major source of Scottish identity.  But no Christian (or Jew for
that matter... I am one) would *really* condemn himself to postmortem
suffering.


	Gladstone's awareness of foreign releases
	=========== ========= == ======= ========

	Mark expressed concern about this, and Don gave some info I
didn't know... but Don was replying to a letter I sent to him *only*
so, for Mark and everybody else, I reproduce some of that letter:

>        "John Clark told me he had been UNINFORMED by ANYONE about
>"Guardians" until LAST WEEK, when Byron Erickson told him about the
>story, which he ordered.  He didn't know if this was a Donald story or
>a Scrooge story, or what it was about....

>        Every month (or week... I'm not sure) Egmont sends Gladstone a
>"dummy" (loose pages) of all its Danish publications for the next
>month (or week).  Gladstone looks over the stories and decides what it
>wants.  Gladstone's earliest chance to order the stories is usually
>right before their publication in Denmark.  The stories take about a
>month to arrive at Gladstone in proof form.  Gladstone puts together
>their comics *5-6 MONTHS* in advance of publication because of all the
>time it takes to solicit them to advance comic catalogs and to have
>their contents cleared by Disney in Burbank.

>        Since "Lost Library" was only printed in Norway, it didn't
>come to Gladstone as part of the monthly Egmont bundle.  They knew
>nothing about it until Byron told them, or so John told me....

>        So how do they publish Van Horn stories right after their
>publication in Denmark?  Simple, if they're doing things the way David
>Seidman did in 1991.  Van Horn sends them codes and synopses and page
>counts of the stories LONG before that dummy arrives from Egmont.  So
>they order the story earlier than they otherwise would, and schedule
>it earlier, too (so that it comes out pretty close to Egmont's
>printing).  My guess is that they probably have proofs on Van
>Horn's stories in Prescott even before Egmont sends a dummy...."

	To this Don Rosa said:

>	"John Clark was aware of the "Lost Library" story while I was 
>DOING it, and he received copies of it immediately upon its completion
>about a year ago.  What you may have misunderstood him explaining is 
>that he didn't know it was used in Norway last month..."

	This must be it!  Don:  It is clear now that Byron probably
ONLY gave John a code number for the story, saying virtually nothing
about it except "You know, John, we just had a Don Rosa story
published only in Holland, code of D-----, are you going to order it?"
(Or some such comments)  It sounded to me as if John may not know that
the story Byron told him of is the same one that you already sent him 
copies of.  If you get in touch with John Clark right away and see 
what his misunderstanding is, you'll satisfy yourself and all of us by
getting that story in print much sooner!  (Six months from now is 
April, not August!)

	I believe that John is *still* waiting for "that story Don
sent me a copy of a year ago to be published so I can order it".  On
the other hand, I don't know what the quality was like of the copies
you sent John;  perhaps he feels they aren't of the quality to print
from (and I haven't seen them, remember...) and he must order new ones
from Denmark -- and by the time they come he'll be planning August's
issues.  On the other hand, perhaps he's compelled to order from
Egmont anything he plans to use of theirs, simply so that they get
their commission for making the story available.  But in that case,
why can't he order it now, but go to press with your version which he
already has?

	It suddenly occurs to me that perhaps when John said August he
meant the issue with the cover date of August, which appears in April.
That would explain a lotta things... but it sounded to *me* like he
meant the issue *published* in August.  I'm really confused.  Don --
maybe you should talk to John Clark.  My mind is spinning!

	And I hope my information about the timing and production of
that DD birthday story was coherent enough for you, Don.  You didn't
mention it, so I didn't know.  (I mean in the letter I sent
specifically to you)


	Mark also referred to
	==== ==== ======== ==

	"...reading the Al Taliaferro strips currently running in 
WDC&S (where Donald is referred to by the adult Mickey and Clarabelle 
as a "bad boy")..."

	Mark, don't you mean in DD, not WDC&S?  Also:  I have seen
Taliaferro "Silly Symphony" DD strips with Clarabelle and Mickey's
nephews in Donald Duck Large Feature Comic #?? from 1941, which I once
borrowed in xerox form from a collector I knew.  Has Gladstone got
into reprinting those now?  I haven't seen DD 282 yet.

	If these are the ones they're now printing, you'll note that
Clarabelle begins urging Donald to "reform," and over a period of
about eight weeks Donald actually changes from prankster into the
"classic" Taliaferro Donald.  The substitution of Donald's own nephews
for Mickey's (which happened a little later) completed this change.

	I'm only a little worried that some of this won't be evident
because Gladstone told me that Disney was unable to supply them with 4
of the strips (not banned ones, but those to which negatives no longer
exist).  I hope these aren't part of the "Donald-reforms" sequence,
because partly gutted this transformation would be confusing indeed.

	It's not noted in DD 281's article, but the transformation
also parallels the difference between Donald as he existed in the
Mickey cartoon series from 1934-1936 and his behavior in later MM
shorts (and then his own series).  In the earliest appearances he
causes it all by playing obnoxious tricks (and even sings, "Hi-Lee,
Hi-Lo!" in 1935's ON ICE), but he is much more the victim from the
outset in post-1936 cartoons.
	
	And Mark... do I take it that *MICKEY* appears in some of
those Taliaferro DD strips, presumably in DD 282?  I'm excited to see
DD strips in which Mickey appears!  This is what was implied by your
comments.


	* * * * *

	That's all for now, folks.  Tomorrow I will be talking to John
Clark (or at least trying to) -- I have worked with Fabio and found
the answers to many questions about Italian stories that John wanted
to know (which will result in some very early, very good stories
appearing perhaps not long from now).

	Your friend,

	David Gerstein

	"Ya know, I wonder if it really pays!"
	<David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>