This week's Egmont and Gladstone comics

[DAVID.A.GERSTEIN]

      Hi, folks.

      Just back from two comic shops, where I first picked up the 
British weekly, then US 290.

      This week's MM story from Egmont wasn't quite as bad as some 
I've seen, but dang, why'd this story use Pete as the villain when it 
was a role for such a small-time crook?  On the other hand, Horace 
had his first major role in what must be eons, and whoever wrote it 
had him right in character.  Dwight told me a long time ago about this 
story -- he translated it to English for Egmont.  That means that the 
writer is from a non-English-speaking country, where he presumably 
had the chance to read "The Great Orphanage Robbery."  The scenes of 
Horace's hammy acting are directly influenced by that.  Unfortunately, 
Esteban's art is just so off-putting sometimes... he forces himself 
to draw a la Murry, when five years ago he drew like Albert Uderzo.  
There is no SUBTLETY to Murry's versions of the characters, which 
means that a story cannot gain any depth through its art.  In fact, 
the art inhibits any depth.  Anyway:  D93313 = "A Drama in One Act."
      Marco Rota's DD story, "Fotobogo" (D93576) has some very fine 
moments.  There are scenes in this story which, in layout and 
development, are clearly based on Don Rosa's style, and as cream on 
the cake, Rota adds Rosa-style gleams in the pupils in those scenes!  
You ought to see this, Don.  The story in and of itself has some 
excellent moments.  BUT -- it is also very unsettling, because at the 
end of the story the crooked police chief is LEFT in power, and the 
rebels opposed to him have made NO gains whatsoever!  All that's been 
accomplished is Donald's rescue of the chief's greatest enemies.  I 
would have liked to see Donald and the boys, having safely rescued 
them, do what he could to expose the villain's corruption and reform 
the place a little.  I guess the story as it stands may be more like 
real life, but it was still jarring, because the story didn't seem to 
have reached a satisfying resolution, at least for me.  There are 
many reasons why I would like to have this story see print in the 
United States, but although parts of it rank with Rota's best work, 
it is a very flawed stone.  Anyone have some ideas how it could be 
reworked somewhat?
      A Pluto Sunday page (actually from the Mickey strip, ZM 
46/9/15) finishes off this issue.
      This British comic (MM 49/94) will be the one that FABIO and 
HARRY will have as their sample of our local product.  I'll be 
bringing copies for you with me.
      Next week's British comic is a 48-page Christmas special.  
Yawn.  For Christmas, as a BONUS, we get what a NORMAL-sized Egmont 
comic.  (Sorry I can't bring this one with me, but it'll come out 
once I've already left Britain for the holidays.)

      Don, I really enjoyed LO$ 6!  You've mentioned it's your least 
favorite, but hey -- it's not half bad!  Not bad at all!  Helped 100% 
by magnificent color, lettering, and PERFECT PRINTING!  And the story 
-- wow!  I liked this one in German, and I like it even more this 
way.  The tarring and feathering was particularly funny, and the way 
Scrooge pointed out how he'd LEARNED something from GLOMGOLD was 
particularly well done.
      You got the last laugh on Disney.  From looking at your 
original script (of which two panels were reproduced in the comic), I 
notice that "warriors" on Page 9, Panel 7, was originally "Zulu 
warriors."  On the other hand, did Disney also change the line "you 
made me sour" to "you made me mean"?  I like to think that's a change 
you would have made, because I like it better that way.
      Disney DID delete the Mickey Mouse on the elephant's foot.
      The cover illustrating this story was very good except for two 
very minor problems.  I found the linework on Scrooge to be too 
bold;  it darkened him so that his head almost blended in with the 
background at its edges.  Also, Scrooge's bill looked too narrow 
on the left side (I don't think so many teeth should have been 
visible there).  But I'm being nitpicky now.  TOO much so!
      The other story in US 290 is a reprint of Tony Strobl's lead 
story in US 76, "Bye-Bye, Money Bin."  With a title like that you 
think it couldn't get worse, but it was actually not so bad.  Still, 
I prefer a Danish story any day -- if the plot's no better, the 
drawing, and added touches from a modern American dialoguer, 
certainly are.  These Strobl stories are just too CHILDISH for me.  
They are written by people who believed that the entire audience was 
under ten, and even when the plots are good, they are marred by that 
approach.  They are Disney comics made according to many people's 
false perceptions of Disney comics.

      So long, folks.  I'll be back!

      David Gerstein
      <9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>
      "A 'cowboy'?  What's that?  Some kind of apprentice MILKMAN?"