To Harry: I wrote it! To Janet: Hello!

[DucksEtc.@eworld.com]

HARRY FLUKS:
           Yes, I did write the Mickey Mouse/Goofy gag "Something Fishy." I
have no idea how David Gerstein figured out I was the author based on the way
Mickey and Goofy talked. I like to think that my writing is distinct, but
this was just a one-page gag. If it went over well then I'm extremely
pleased. Frankly it was the first time I'd ever used Mickey or Goofy in a
story. (Well, it's the first one that I've completed and sold anyway. I've
got several Mickey stories plotted out and partially scripted that I was
going to do for Disney Comics before it went down the tubes.)

I did two other short Mickey/Goofy pieces for Egmont--"Hocus Pocus Hypnosis"
and "Peek-a-boo Bunny."  Noel Van Horn illustrated each of them. I don't know
how interesting this is to everyone, but these three stories have a rather
unusual genesis. The scripts were originally intended for Gladstone, but were
nixed when they were sent on to Disney for approval. Each was turned down for
a different reason. The fishing gag was turned down because Disney apparently
won't allow anyone to refer to Mickey as a mouse. "Peek-a-boo Bunny" was
rejected because it had "a little too much 'Rocky and Bullwinkle' zaniness in
it for Disney." (Do you folks in Europe know who Rocky and Bullwinkle are? If
not, trust me. It's one of the funniest cartoon series of all time--although
I'm not sure how well the deliberately corny puns and various in-jokes will
translate.)

Hocus Pocus Hypnosis was originally a three-page gag which involved Mickey
hypnotising Goofy into thinking he was a bird. In the original draft Goofy
actually starts flapping his arms and flies off. Mickey then has to get Goofy
down and unhypnotise him. I was told by Disney that I couldn't do this
because "Mickey and Goofy obey the same natural laws the rest of us do. That
includes the law of gravity. The only time Goofy flies is when he's Super
Goof. The rest of the time he's earthbound."

Disney's right, of course--up to a point, but I sort of think that Goofy is
the one character in the Disney universe who might be able to do something
that's clearly impossible--but only as long as Goofy doesn't know it's
impossible. It's sort of like the Coyote chasing the Road Runner off a cliff.
The Coyote keeps on running and doing just fine--until he notices he's
running on thin-air. Then he drops like a rock.

I did these three stories because I'd been wanting to do something with
Mickey for a long time. I also wanted something of mine appearing in America.
The checks from Egmont are great. But it's nice to see some of my stuff
printed in my own country.

I submitted the three rejected Mickey stories to Egmont and was astonished to
have all three accepted. I was astonished, because I didn't think that
"Something Fishy"would translate at all. The English version depends entirely
on the fact that in America we call a certain type of fish a "catfish" and
another type a "dogfish."

Harry, I'd be really like to know how the German translation got around this.
You don't have to give me the full translation, but I would like to know how
it was handled. Do you even have "catfish" and "dogfish" in Germany? If not
how did this joke make any sense?

Actually, selling that gag was rather liberating for me. It wasn't the
greatest joke in the world, but it helped me to stop worrying about whether a
bit of verbal nonsense would translate or not. I figured if I could get away
with that gag I could get away with any kind of wordplay I wanted.

(By the way, Egmont agreed with Disney that Goofy couldn't really fly. This
turned out OK I think. Based on a suggestion by my Editor Byron Erickson I
expanded the story and changed it so that Goofy didn't actually fly. He just
thought he could. (Personally, I still think Goofy could've flown--if Mickey
just hadn't stopped him.)

Harry, sorry to ramble on like this. All you did was ask me one little
question about a one-page gag. Imagine what would've happened if you asked me
about a whole ten-page story!

JANET GILBERT:
         Welcome to the mailing list. It sounds like you had a fun time at
the Carl Barks ceremony in Oregon recently. I wish I could have gone too.

Janet, although you're apparently to modest to draw attention to yourself,
the folks out there should know that you and your husband (Michael T.
Gilbert) are also scripters for Egmont. Michael's worked on an incredible
number of projects through the years, but he's probably best known as the
creator, artist and writer of MR. MONSTER--a decidedly non-Disney, but very
funny comic book series here in the United States. Michael also wrote some
Mickey Mouse stories during the start of Disney Comics' brief run. Let's see,
what else? You've both done stories for the DISNEY ADVENTURES digest. (This
digest put out by Disney has a comics section that usually features
characters from the Disney Afternoon TV shows such as Goof Troop, Aladdin,
Darkwing Duck, etc. I've been saying for years that I'd like to write
something for this publication and I've never gotten around to submitting
anything--which is too bad because it sells far more issues than any other
Disney comics in the U.S. For many kids it'll be their first and perhaps only
exposure to Disney comics.)

Anyway, I just wanted to welcome Janet (and Michael.) Geez! We must have at
least half the U.S. contingent of Disney comics people on this mailing list!

PER:
      I sent a message recently to the list responding to people who welcomed
me. The message got bounced back, but I think it finally went through. If it
did go through then you don't need to do anything. If it didn't go through
then let me know.