Disney-comics digest #764.

[Don Rosa]

HARRY:
        I never told Germany about the extra pages being done for chapter 12
for Gladstone. First, I don't think they would have been ready in time -- I
just finished them last week and surely that sixth album was ready to go by
then. Besides, the German editions use computerized pages already laid-out
and colored, so these add-in panels would have meant new coloring, perhaps
new lay-out and coloring on ALL of each page involved, and that would have
put the budget for the German edition in a tizzy. I don't think they'd have
been interested. Part of the attraction for those Disney albums for Ehapa is
that the coloring and production work has already been done by Gladstone
(for the CBL reprints) or by the Egmont home office (for my stories), and
you can't blame them for that.
        Also, I was told that it might anger some Egmont publisher to know
that I was doing "improved" versions that they were not offered. Of course,
I would gladly have done them this version if I'd been offered the space, so
my "hands were tied" until Gladstone's edition. I now do ALL my stories with
an eye to where the story needs added panels or pages when Gladstone prints
it. Anyway, I don't wanna make trouble, so I didn't tell any individual
Egmont publishers.
        Lastly, knowing that I was doing this voluntarilly, and was
accepting Gladstone's unavoidably low pay rates, I was not anxious to let
giant, wealthy Egmont know that there was this material that I did for
peanuts that was now available to them for unlimited use for free. I don't
begrudge them this... it's part of the unfair system that I willingly allow
myself to be part of... but it just didn't inspire me to shout the news of
the added panels to them. They can find out about it soon enough on their
own if they're paying attention. But surely, when they start publishing the
collected volumes of the "Lo$", I'll be sure they know about the new pages
then. That edition, by the way, will probably not be in '95. It would've
been in '96... but I think the BEST idea, obviously, is to wait until 1997
-- that's $crooge's 50th anniversary, and the 100th anniversary since he hit
gold in the Yukon.
        Yes, "Hearts of the Yukon" was a joint Egmont/Gladstone project, so
it has a D-code. And yes, that means there already is a 3-part version.
Splash panels take the place of the gag where a steam jet blasts Ins. Scarth
and where Col.Steele is telling the burning buildings to "carry on" and
$crooge tells him he doesn't have time to thrash him.
        And I think you've listed all the stories of mine that have yet to
be published. It's been a SLOW year with all the trips to Europe and
conventions and special projects like doing drawings for the Finnish
collectors' edition and all these other things. Plus, I'm very SLOW to start
with! It's a strange system, as I've said. where the more popular my stories
seem to be, the less time I have to work on them owing to these publicity
tours, etc., so the less money I make instead of more. Somehow I suspect
it's not supposed to work this way. Am I wrong?
        Right now I'm trying to write a story where $crooge hunts for a lost
city in the Punjab, hidden by the Gupta rulers of India of 100-400 AD, and
protected by the hindu gods. Lotsa research, as always. Looks like I'll be
needing to draw a typical hindu temple with 3,000,000 statues carved into
its walls. Just what I love?

ARTHUR:
        If you're going to continue searching for how many editions of
Disney comics there are worldwide, you will find great confusion in South
America. I think there is only ONE edition published (in Columbia, I
believe) that is sold throughout South America, Central America and in
Mexico. I would suspect there's a Portuguese language edition in Brazil, but
that may be the same as the edition that somebody said was done in Portugal
(first I'd heard of that). You'll be having this same trouble between MANY
of the countries on your list. You may never be able to figure out how many
different editions are circulated among those different countries. And it
would be hard to accept any reports of such editions until you actually have
a copy in your hands for proof.

Also:
        PLEASE UNSUBSCRIBE ME TO THE LIST OF PEOPLE TELLING US THEY WANT TO
BE UNSUBSCRIBED TO THIS LIST DESPITE THE PLEA AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS LIST
ASKING THEM *NOT* TO SEND THOSE MESSAGES TO THE LIST! DOO-DAH!