Various and Sundry

[Gary Leach]

Whoo! Lotsa things to handle, here at the outset. I'm trying at the moment to 
answer a few things as best I can remember at the moment, so this ain't 
gospel...

"Plumber's Helper" was deemed, during the original Gladstone run, as rather 
long, with not much of a story, as such, more like a series of amusing 
vignettes. We simply proceeded then to other things more suitable for comic 
books.

"Foreign Legion" was about to be published, with brand new covers by Daan 
Jippes (future associate, if not boss, of Bob Foster), when Disney pulled our 
plug on that one. Time may have changed perceptions a bit at Disney since, but
my impression so far is that "Foreign Legion" would be even less acceptable 
now (considering the "Aladdin" video fiasco). Ah, well...

IN relation to that, and not brought up in this venue yet, is our recent 
publications of a series of Al Taliaferro strips that originally included the 
first-ever appearance of Huey, Dewey and Louie in the comic strip. Many have 
written to us concerning this heinous omission, and our answer is...Yes, 
folks, that strip is on the Disney Index! It was deemed too violent in its 
reference to the nephews blowing up their father. No one will be seeing that 
strip in an American Disney comic until a true seachange in social attitudes 
occurs.

MATTIAS:
Your request for some of Don's material is something we'd be glad to do. The 
problem is, you'll have to have an incredible amount of patience. We're in a 
constant state of scrambling to just get done what has to be done in a day, 
and simply can't get to such things on anything other than an infrequent and 
haphazard basis. Drop us a line in the regular paper/envelope/stamp mail, 
addressed to either myself or John, and we'll do our best.

ANDREW:
Sorry you're hacked off about our repeating Gottfredson. That material lost us
the most money of any when we originally published it, so we're trying to 
lessen the economic blow by giving them a fresh presentation in our new line. 
WE also feel that much of this material deserves a second chance with the 
vastly improved production values we can now give it, especially with 
coloring.

Frankly, guys, Mickey is comic book poison in America. The only reason we're 
trying to keep him in there is because we don't want him to be forgotten. As 
far as the American comic book market at large seems to feel about it (since 
the early '80s, anyway), no tears would be shed if he was. The very small but 
very loyal Mickey comic book following out there is suffering greatly right 
now, and I'm very much afraid that is not going to change in the near future. 
I envy Marv Wolfman and the recent new Mickey material he's been able to 
publish in Disney Adventures; seems as though every time Gladstone tries to 
get a new Mickey idea going, Disney blows its nose on it...

If anyone out there can shed any light on why Disney so likes to beat up on 
American Disney comic books-even those their own comic book division tried to 
produce-please do!

Well, before I go spinning off on any other tirades, I shall close.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent...
GARY