varia

[Fabio Gadducci]

Dear folks,

just some scattered remarcks on a few topics.
I'm sorry with all of you (mainly David and Don) who are still waiting for
a personal answer: I'll try to send you a personal mail asap.

And about David: some time ago he wrote

>        James said, "Instead of copying Osbourne and Gottfredson, why
>[shouldn't Egmont's creators] use some of their influences.  Imagine
>instead that Egmont chose Dashil Hammet or Raymond Chandler as their
>influence for the writing and for the artwork use some of the old film
>noir movies of the 40s and 50s."
>
>        I'm sorry to disagree with you on this, James, but let me
>explain why.  Mickey Mouse's personality, in both the best of the
>cartoons and the (generally acknowledged) best of the comics, is based
>on EXUBERANCE.  The best MM stories come when MM is like a mouse in his
>inquisitiveness, curiosity, flightiness and enthusiasm.  A "film noir"
>aspect tends to work against that feeling.  Scarpa manages it now and
>then (see "Kali's Nail", MM 254-255), but most of the time stays clear
>of it, because a grim aspect neutralizes what makes MM different from
>other adventure-oriented characters, if he stays in it for long.
>        In some of the "Italian Disney Universe" stories by those
>other than Scarpa, they've gone overboard with this.  In fact, perhaps
>the most direct statement came when Disney-Italy produced a straight
>MM version of "Casablanca" a few years back.  Beautifully drawn, but
>MM didn't feel quite right in the role.

Well, to be honest, I really like that version of "Casablanca". A great
story by Cavazzano -one of his best ever-, who also wrote -adapted- the
script.
Mickey there is really exuberant (as you say), Goofy is great, while the
grim aspects are really in the background. Anyway, since you'll never see
it (Disney banned the story... don't ask me way!!), there is no reason to
keep on talking... :-)

Gilbert wrote:

>   From: "Elon V. Brisola" <elon at VNET.IBM.COM>
>
>   DAVID: (Fethry as a superhero)
>   I don't know who Darkwing Duck is. I've seen only Rescue Rangers and some
>   Donald Duck on TV, lately. But that doesn't sound like what I was talking
>   about. Anyway, this hero Fethry thing is from the '70es.
>
>
>I remember a story in which Fethry helps Donald to prevent his secret being
>"Paperinik" as he disguises himself as "Paperinik" and shows himself along
>with Donald.
>Is it that what You meant?

The story you are referring to is Italian, even if I do not remember now
the authors (it was a stupid-but-not-so-bad-drawn story of the late
Seventies, anyway).
David was referring to Paperbat (the Italian name): a very silly character,
Brasilian I think, which is quite appreciated in South America (or so I'm
told). Even more, they have a whole group of superhero characters,
including Super-Goofy, his nephew Gilberto (Italian name), Paperinika
(SuperDaisy, more or less: a bad Italian character created by Martina and
Cavazzano, as far as I remember) and some other ones, even more silly.

Ronald wrote:

>Okay folks --- I FOUND my copies of "Dan O'Neill's Comics and Stories" Vol. 2
>Nos. 1 & 2 in my basement (I haven't the foggiest notion if there was ever a
>Vol. ONE...maybe he was referring to the two issues of "Air Pirates"), from
>1975.

I have a copy of "Dan O'Neill's Comics and Stories" Vol. 1 No. 1, dated
January 1948, even if I'm quite sure it is from 1974... :-)
Btw, can someone of you find old underground comix for me? I'm willing to
pay, honestly...

And Greg, about Eisner Awards:

>Incidentally, I'm familiar with the work of everyone on this list except
>Roberta Gregory.  Every single one of them is a good-to-excellent read.
>(My vote would go to Foglio.)  Word-of-mouth on Gregory is also excellent.

Instead, my vote would go to Roberta Gregory. Like her previous works on
Wimmen's Comix, Naughty Bits by R.G. (published by Fantagraphics) is a
really excellent read. Try it!!

Let's stop commercials here...

Fabio



PS Yes, Don: I received the magazines, but only two days ago. I'll send you
my impressions next week, after the Rome convention (I won't be there, but
I have a good secret agent...)

================================================================
Fabio Gadducci            Dip. di Informatica
Home: +39-50-541725       Universita` di Pisa
Off.: +39-50-887268       Corso Italia 40, 56100 PISA (ITALY)
FAX:  +39-50-887226       E-mail:gadducci at di.unipi.it
================================================================