Disney-comics digest #210.

[Don Rosa]

GARY:
	Don't panic! These Digests are rarely as long as #210!!! Also,
shall we try out the system of you passing comments to John for me? I
realize you're at home and you have other things to think about when you
get to work rather than what I feel like John "needs" to know... but
here's what I'd like to tell him today: I just sent Byron a "Donald's
60th Birthday" album cover for use in Germany, in case Gladstone is
interested, if only as a "pin-up page"; it features the expected scene
of all the Duckburg characters saluting DD. Also, I asked Byron to go
ahead and send John the stats on the Duck Family Tree, as we'd
discussed.

MATTIAS / STEFAN:

	Tell Stefan that there really isn't much to send him on the
"Library" story that would be of use to his publisher. As I explained,
most of the art and dialogue changes would pertain to the addition of
the JWW emblem plot-twist. All there is of possible use to him and
Sweden would be one panel of new art which fits into the San Slanti
Abbey scene along with dialogue changes and LOTS of directions on how
to shift the original panels and pages around. What I did was omit two
panels about Polo in Constantinople, scrap the one where U$ is doing a
flip, moved the one where the kids are looking in the Guidebook forward
to the San Slanti page, then do the one new panel of $crooge reacting
to that panel's Polo news; he had to be reacting as STUNNED with
happiness rather than ecstatic, as the next panel is the one where the
monk is going through a door and U$ looks very calm. I had all the
changes packed up to ship to Gladstone when I got Stefan's comment
pointing out the Polo screw-up, so I tore the pack open, did the new
panel and made more changes in the script then hurredly rewrapped it
and sent it on. I didn't even keep a copy of the new art, so right NOW
I don't have any record of the art or script changes -- it's all in
Gladstone's hands by now. When would he need it? If he simply wants to
see the new stuff for himself, he should just wait for Gladstone's use
of it at which time it will all be put together and in living color
rather than as a some loose panels of art and notations in a script.

HARRY:
	I don't know of any use the Germans plan to make of the "Lost
Library" story -- do they use the JWW emblem in Germany? Even if they
did, they have no knowledge of any alternate version of the story or
corrections in the errors, so Oberon wouldn't be getting anything new
from them. However, Gladstone is now preparing the "definitive" version
of that story and I think they should be very happy to send the changes
to Oberon, art and script, since I sent it all to them on my own time
(for selfish reasons of improving [?] my own story). So, tell them that.
However, I THINK what they want most is Germany's COLORING, so they
won't give a sky-blue hoot WHAT Gladstone is doing with the story. But
DO please pass all this on to your editor-friend; it would be just the
sort of twisted situation common in Disneydom to have someone willing to
do free work to improve a story and have a publisher NOT want to take
advantage of it. That sort of thing would really sadden me, though I
should be getting used to it by now.