Disney-comics digest #770.

Don Rosa donrosa at iglou.com
Thu Aug 31 14:54:00 CEST 1995


ARTHUR:
        I really didn't understand the "Disney faces" question and I still
don't... that's why I didn't answer it. If somebody explains the question to
me, I will by happy to give my answer.

JON:
        Egmont wants 24-pages because their editorial boards have met and
decided on the format that will be optimumly useable in the greatest number
of their branch publishers. I don't even understand the reasons entirely,
but it has something to do with the continued story section of a weekly not
being over 8 pages or it overlaps the front section which must be 21 pages
or something. In other words, a continued story chapter can't be 9 pages.
Actually, I'm very lucky that I even get 24 pages! You might notice that
they don't allow anyone else to do continued stories that are over 14-pages
in only TWO 7-page parts. And why can't I do longer stories in the
monthlies? Because they say my stories are the most popular, so they want me
to only appear in the better-selling weeklies... which means I can never do
the sorts of stories I specialize in. There are a number of ways in the
"Disney system" that popularity does one as much harm as good.
        I also see that I goofed in my previous message in two spots. I said
that I do 24-page stories in 2 parts ..  I meant to say *3* parts. And I
said you'd never get less than 8-panel pages outta me. What I should've said
was you'll never get 3-tier pages outta me. Naturally I sometimes do
half-page panels, and sometimes I do 12+ panel pages. But ALWAYS in the
4-tier design.

ARTHUR & DANIEL:
        Thanks -- I'm glad you liked "Hearts of the Yukon". I did too, which
isn't often that I like one of my own stories.
        I think a funny story can sometimes end on a serious note. I value
comedy/drama far above comedy. I may not handle it right, but I like to try
it now and then. Stories that are nothing BUT funny, comics or movies or
whatever, strike me as rather shallow and boring.
        But there wasn't supposed to be any question that Goldie's letter to
$crooge was a LOVE letter. I must have been obscure if you couldn't figure
that out, and that would be my fault. It was the counterpart of the letter
that $crooge never delivered to Goldie in 1899 in my old "Last Sled to
Dawson" story -- that letter was a marraige proposal, if I didn't make that
any clearer than I did the contents of the "Hearts" letter. Oh, well.
        The gag page with the guy on the bear -- I thought that came off
pretty well, but I can't take credit for the gag... it's so old it has
whiskers. "The first time I heard it I laughed so hard I fell off my
dinosaur!" It's an old joke from the days of vaudeville if not earlier. The
last time I heard a version of it was about 1962 when Jackie Gleason told it
on "The American Scene Magazine" TV show.
        And if they sell British Disney comics in Australia, it may or may
not be a violation of Gladstone's license. But remember --anybody can sell
anybody's comics anywhere in a private store. It's only the national
distributor that can't handle foreign editions. For instance, you can buy
Gladstone comics in Europe, but ONLY at "direct sales" comic shops. They
CAN'T be sold at the newsstands.

NEAL:
        Subscribers to comic books get them before they are distributed to
newsstands by those same local nes distributors I was just mentioning. But
subscriptions are not intended to beat the "direct sales" stores -- that
would be impossible! Those comics go DIRECT as the name suggests. They are
rushed from the printer to the direct-sales distributor and then rushed into
those stores in less than one week, all by plane or truck. The subscription
copies must go to the publishers, be processed, bagged, labeled, etc.,
mailed, then sift through the postal system before they get to your door
which is perhaps thousands of miles away. Subscriptions are only for people
who have no other way to get their comics or like their comics delivered to
their doorstep -- subscriptions are NOT for people who want their comics FAST. 
        But there's no reason you can't add your comments about comics that
have already been discussed earlier -- we'll still listen attentively!




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