Disney-comics digest #109.

David A Gerstein David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu
Sun Sep 26 02:05:24 CET 1993


	Dear Folks:

	The "D. U. C. K." on Disney Comics' "DONALD AND SCROOGE" is
very hard to find, but it can be found nonetheless.  Turn the comic 90
degrees.  Now look at the treasure chest (or one of the wooden objects
on the cover, I'm not sure)...

	But wherever the "D. U. C. K" is on US 281 completely eludes
me!!!  I'm stuck!

	Harry... *boy*, I envy you, having as good as all of the
Gottfredson stories!  As of this summer I have every existing reprint
in English, but as any fan who does a little research will find out,
that's only about 1/3 of the stories.  I have some others in 1940s
Dell printings, but they're in serial form and thus missing chapters
here and there.  (I *do* have "Goofy and Agnes" complete... and in the
single week that Bob Karp wrote, Mickey suddenly gets Donald's
temper!!!)
	I was so bothered that I didn't have Dell's complete printing
of "The 'Lectro Box" (this was about Feb. 1991) that I began to pester
Bob Foster to see it printed.  That's essentially how I *really* got
to know him (only brief conversations took place before that).  Soon
he indeed printed "The 'Lectro Box" for me!  (That being WDC&S 568).

	Who's Jim Fletcher?  As far as I'm concerned, the worst Disney
artist of all time is Stan Walsh who drew MM and "The Robot Army"
which somehow, Bob Foster got several requests for and ran in WDC&S
574-77.  This story contains the ugliest version of Mickey and Goofy
that I've ever seen... well, the ugliest Goofy, anyway (Mickey looks
pretty bad in some Dick Moores stories, too).

	I have tracked down "The Swamp of No Return" (I'm not sure who
was discussing that story), and the quote is "...that old duck sure
had a *SCOTTISH* accent like Uncle Scrooge's!"  That's the clincher;
like I've always figured, Scrooge talks with a slight accent, but it's
not strong enough to be "heard" via dialect in the balloons.

	Len Wein, by the way, laid down the law in 1990 that in new
stories, Scrooge should have his DuckTales dialect written into the
balloons!  Hence stories like "Coffee, Louie or Me" in US 257, wherein
Scrooge refers to "m' money bin!"  Phooey!  (Van Horn didn't obey that
regulation;  *only* Jaime Diaz stories adopted it.)

	I met Jaime Diaz in a Disney Publishing elevator on a trip
there to meet Cris Palomino, in 1992.  I had quite a talk with him,
during which it was revealed that he *dislikes* Barks' work which is
why he makes sure *none* of his artists imitates Barks.  So if they're
not going to respect Barks (by respect I don't mean copy him
slavishly, but "respect" like Egmont and Oberon do), then *why* use
Barks characters (i. e. Scrooge) and situations (i. e. bin raids) to
begin with?  The end result is stories no better than Whitman's stuff.
When it comes to the Ducks, anyway.

	As for the Diaz Mouse work,  D&M was going to feature that
in perpetuity.  Now John Clark tells me that the last one will be #24.
That suggests that it has not been well received.  I like Diaz Goofy
stuff a bit (i. e. the long "historical" stories), but even those are
awkwardly paced... very slow, in the case of "Goofy Midas."  I sure
would have rather seen Gottfredson's "Mickey Mouse, Boxing Champion"
in place of that Midas story, with its references to "moo cows" and
other juvenile stuff.
	So beginning with D&M #25, Italian Mouse stories will appear
there.  I say... great!

	Thanks for the credits for those Dutch stories.  I can
*really* use that information!  My warmest wishes to all who offered
such information!

	Your friend,


	David Gerstein






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