I'm back!

[DAVID.A.GERSTEIN]

      Hi, folks!

      It's been a while, but finally I'm set up here at the 
University of Edinburgh in the home country of a certain well-known 
miser.  It's about time.  Went through some chaos getting the system 
started, but all should now be working!

      I also have a new mail address.  It differs somewhat from that 
which I've sent to a few of you before.  It is:

      David Gerstein
      Room 133, Masson House, Pollock Halls
      18 Holyrood Park Rd.
      Edinburgh EH16 5AY
      Scotland

      (Geir Hasnes may have already sent a package to the address I 
gave earlier;  it should reach me anyway.  Please, Geir, if you can, 
I'd like to hear from you soon about the status of the Gottfredson 
stuff we've spoken of.)

      Ah, the Disney situation here?  Fleetway's version of the 
Egmont weekly is titled MICKEY AND FRIENDS.  It has only 32 pages 
plus covers.  Since Mickey is taken as the most popular Disney 
character here, if there is a Mickey story in the issue, it is first 
inside.  There are a LOT of "fun and games" pages, manufactured very 
clumsily from Egmont clip art by Fleetway (only the scenery is drawn 
fresh for these pages, and it's done very badly).  Most of the covers 
are Mau Heymans Dutch covers, for some reason;  they certainly look 
good.  And a little large;  the comic is as big as the volumes of the 
hardback Carl Barks Library as published by Another Rainbow, so 
copies can simply not be found in mint condition.

      Undoubtedly the most exciting thing I found in my first British 
weekly (number 39/1994) was -- drumroll, please -- my first Egmont 
story!  Yep, I'm excited to announce that "Two in One" (D93138) is my 
own creation, and I couldn't be happier with how Daniel Branca drew 
it.  I'd like to know what issues this story has appeared in in other 
European countries.  More important, I'd also be tickled to know how 
the title -- and Magica's incantation at the bottom of page two -- 
translates in other languages.

      The British also did a bit of translating on my story.  The 
longest balloons were condensed now and then.  All references to Old  
Number One as a "dime" were removed, it is now merely a "coin".  I 
wonder how they deal with references to that dime when "DuckTales" is 
broadcast here!

       Last, the British weekly isn't exactly what I'd call popular.  
I have only found one newsagent from about twenty that stock it in 
town here.  Some don't seem to know it exists.  Fleetway also 
publishes a Bugs Bunny monthly, which is more obvious around here.

      And WHY aren't Disney comics more popular here?  Simple -- from 
the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s none were even published here.  Just 
as Whitman's non-distribution from the late '60s to the 1980s wrecked 
so much of the market here, the same was the case in Britain!  (Not 
for Bugs Bunny though -- you get the idea.)

      * * * * *

      When I was in Germany, by contrast, the world seemed inundated with 
Disney, Barks, Gottfredson, and Rosa materials.  For Donald's 60th, 
Ehapa published a special album (unique to it).  They ladled on the 
hoopla about how, as with their Rosa LO$ albums and their Gladstone 
CBL-album translations, they have handlettered the dialogue rather 
than typing it.  They also, for the first time anywhere (?) 
obliterated ALL references to Disney anywhere and put an artist 
credit in the first panel of each story in the album.  So we have 
"Donald Duck in A Day Like No Other [The Duck Who Never Was] by Don 
Rosa."  Not bad.  Same goes for Barks' Milkman story (presented there 
for the first time in Germany), some Vicar story (also published 
earlier in the year for the 60th) and Volker Reiche's "Sorry, Sorry 
Knight."  These same artists are headlined across the top of the 
cover like credits on a movie poster.  On the other hand, there is a 
grievous error amid all of this.  The cover also credits William Van 
Horn (actually named for the first time ever in Germany, I think),
 and two short gag stories inside credit him on the first panels.  But 
-- but -- these are H-coded MAU HEYMANS stories!  What a disaster.  
Since this is the first time Van Horn's name has ever appeared in 
Germany, he and Heymans are destined to be confused forever there, I 
think.  What a mess.

      Also in Germany I found a comic fanzine which discussed Barks' 
visit to Germany.  A long interview was transcribed.  Barks was asked 
about his feelings on Rosa, and he said (translated):  "Don Rosa is a 
master of details.  I think he had a great upbringing from people who 
have an eye for detailed work -- and shadowed work.  He doesn't 
exactly draw in the traditional Disney style;  he has his own style.  
There will be (sic) a great following of people who admire these Don 
Rosa ducks."  Barks really praises Rosa, and that was where that 
louse (better word than weasel) Grandey cut into the discussion (for 
the only time!) to say that Rosa had "more of an 'underground' 
style."  That effectively changed the subject.  My opinion can easily 
be guessed, although it's not exactly printable.  What do you think 
of this, Don?  I, myself, think that it may not have been Barks' 
decision at all to avoid you in Atlanta.  Just my opinion.

      My new E-Mail address should be at the top of this letter.  
Please, Per, begin sending Digests to this address, and you can stop 
sending them to the old address.  Maybe you can also send ME a copy 
of my new address -- this darned program I'm using gives me no 
indication what the address IS, just mentions that it will be 
appended to my letters.

    Glad to be back!

    David Gerstein