Disney-comics digest #514.

[DAVID.A.GERSTEIN]

      JAMES:  Interesting about Marvel-Disneys beating out 
Gladstones.  At my local shops in Santa Barbara, they don't do as 
well as Gladstones.  But I suspected that they sold better overall, 
even though I had no proof of that until now.  Marvel ADVERTISES 
their Disneys like all get out.  There's the difference.
      Particularly telling is how it's Marvel's WORST title that 
sells equal with Gladstone in your neck of the woods, James... 
>sigh!<  What happened to the old days when Gladstone advertised 
their comics ANYWHERE besides the back of the Comics Buyers' Guide?
      I don't know Befana the witch, but I'd like to do a story 
involving the legendary Russian witch Baba Yaga.  This crone lived in 
a hut that had big LEGS coming out of the bottom like a chicken's.  
Everyone knew they were in for trouble when her shack came WALKING 
into town.  The question is, how to get her into a Duck story?  James 
and I have already done conflicts between Magica and other witches, 
so that idea can't be used.

      FREDRIK:  I believe Daniel Branca was not born in Denmark.  He 
may have come out of Chile.  Anyway, he's sure among my top European 
artists -- if he'd get some more detail in his backgrounds, he'd be 
my favorite after Jippes, IMHO.

      DWIGHT:  The German albums HAD better printing than Gladstone.  
John Clark told me that he'd had a long discussion with his printers. 
It worked, because starting with DD 288, the Gladstone comics are 
well-printed again (there have been five since then, counting that 
issue), with jet-black black ink, bouncy colors, and 99% perfect color 
alignment.  Van Horn's "Deck Us All!" would have looked just rotten 
with poor printing, but boy, it came out GOOD.  No problems with 
Gladstone's printing, now.  If this miracle doesn't hold over to US 
290 (which should be available NOW), I'll blow a fuse.  Hopefully, 
the first well-printed LO$ chapter since #3.  And I hope the backup 
is a Danish story, not one by Tony Strobl...

       EVERYONE:  Here's a new idea.  What do you think are the most 
INFLUENTIAL Barks stories?  I don't mean the most famous ones or the 
ones you consider best.  I mean the ones that had the greatest effect 
on post-Barks writers.  A few such tales:
      A)  "Masters of Melody,"  WDC 85.  For the first time, Donald 
reads a book and gets a wild idea from it which he's determined to 
carry out at all costs.  Van Horn and Daan Jippes have mined this 
idea with fine results in such stories as "A Tuft Luck Tale" and 
"High Flying Picnic."
      B)  "Donald Tames His Temper,"  WDC 64.  Daisy is determined to 
reform Donald or get him to alter himself somehow.  This idea has 
been used extensively by Egmont ("Fit for Strife") and Oberon 
("Well-Educated Duck"), among others.
      C)  "Delivery Dilemma,"  WDC 2xx.  The Beagle Boys use a 
disguise and a hoax to TRICK U$ out of his money, not just steal it, 
and furthermore, it's all in a gag 10-pager.  How many stories do you 
know that have followed this idea since then?
      D)  "Ten-Cent Valentine,"  WDC 2xx.  Magica's first appearance 
in a gag story, repeated only once by Barks, but firmly setting the 
form for nearly every Egmont Magica story.  How many other LONG 
Magica stories can you count besides those of Barks himself?  This is 
the format that stuck.
      Anyone have some others?

      David Gerstein
      <9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>
      "No matter which way you plunk der strings, it still goes 
'bloonk!'"