Disney-comics digest #593.

[9475609@arran.sms.edinburgh.ac.uk]

     Re: "Good Canoes and Bad Canoes" in DD 290:
>HDL&L have a squirrel that is named "Sidney" but whenever the "Sidney"  
>name appears, it is in a different handwriting than the rest of the  
>lettering and has a lot of white space around it - an obvious 
>alteration.
      That's Mark Semich at work.  Don't worry, the story isn't altered 
-- from its original publication, that is.  On the other hand, that 
original publication WAS certainly altered, and not by Barks.  Why?
      In WDC&S 168 (published a short time before this story made its 
first appearance) the story "Cheltenham's Choice" (also reprinted 
recently by Gladstone) appeared.  The supporting player is a chipmunk 
called Cheltenham.  In "Good Canoes and Bad Canoes" Barks seems to have 
used Cheltenham again, but accidentally made him a squirrel rather than 
a chipmunk.  Dell's editors noticed the mistake, and changed it as best 
they could by giving the animal a new name.  The BIG space around the 
name "Sidney" wherever it appears fits "Cheltenham" exactly.
      The original editor at Dell is also responsible for the other 
changes, for what they're worth, although I have no possible 
explanations for why they were made.

      I don't have DD 290 yet (it was delayed a week at my local shop), 
so I can only wonder:
      A)  The cover (which I saw in PREVIEWS) is from the poster to the 
cartoon "Donald's Penguin", in which DD is sent a penguin parcel-post by 
the obscure Admiral Byrd, which causes chaos around his house.
      B)  The earlier AT strips in this comic are the story "Polar 
Trapper" -- adapted from a different cartoon, "Polar Trappers" (which 
also included Goofy, absent here).
      So do some of the later AT strips in DD 290 adapt "Donald's 
Penguin" -- or is the poster to that cartoon being used to illustrate 
the adaptation of a different one?

      The two strips taken out, were left in when "Polar Trapper" (the 
comic strip) was reprinted earlier, in a summer-1988 issue (I don't have 
the number handy) of DD.  I don't have DD 290, but it would seem that 
the censored strips would be the ones where DD chases a penguin with an 
axe (and succeeds in catching nothing).  The explanation for dropping 
the strips is IMPLIED violence of a completely unrealistic kind (no one 
is actually injured).  This is perhaps the least-warranted cut of ANY 
Disney has made.  HOW the hell can a kid imitate this? 
      This is basically the weakest reason Disney has given for 
censoring anything, "War of the Wendigo" included.  Even animal-rights 
protesters would enjoy this sequence, because DD not only fails in his 
penguin-axing attempt, but in the end all the animals gang up on trapper 
DD and chase him home.
      The strips I thought might be deleted were simply some that I 
THOUGHT might be part of an adaptation of "Donald's Penguin."  In that 
cartoon, DD threatens the penguin with a gun, a scene that has been 
scissored from the Disney Channel's version of the film.  Does DD 290 
have anything to do with the cartoon "Donald's Penguin", aside from 
using its poster on the cover?

      Diamond's PREVIEWS for May's issues:
 
      DDA 33 contains Barks' "The Golden Helmet" with a new Van Horn 
cover.  It's 64-page issue.  There's also a new Egmont/Vicar Junior 
Woodchuck story written by John Lustig, but I can't imagine that's ALL 
-- they've probably got one of the European stories I rewrote in 1992 in 
the back somewhere.
      The CBLWDC having printed a given ten-pager clearly doesn't stop 
that same ten-pager from being reprinted in DD or DM.  If a fan buys DD 
290, he might still want the album that includes "Good Canoes and Bad 
Canoes" because it contains four additional stories which he may not 
have.  But since many CBLDD albums include only one or two stories, 
Gladstone clearly feels that a given story appearing in CBLDD will make 
a comic book reprint impossible to sell in future.  Hence "The Golden 
Helmet" showing up in DDA 33, about four months (I think) before it will 
appear again in CBLDD.

      WDC&S 598 contains a Van Horn story (PREVIEWS doesn't give any 
information as to its title or content), part six of "Monarch of 
Medioka," and a "brand-new feature revealing the true origin and first 
appearance of Mickey and Minnie Mouse."  Sounds like that disputed 
first-drawing-ever of MM IS going to accompany "Plane Crazy"'s 
storyboards, if you ask me.  I'm not missing this.  Oh, and a new Van 
Horn cover.

      US 293 contains LO$ 9 plus Barks/Jippes JW story, "Gold of the 
49ers" (you hear that, Harry? ;-)  Please note that LO$ is indeed by DON 
ROSA.  Why do I note this here?  It's simple, really...

      DON:  Gladstone solicited LO$ part 9 as being by Van Horn (!!!), 
who is mentioned several times as being reponsible for the story in the 
summary of the issue!  The fact that the name appears more than once 
suggests that PREVIEWS didn't make this mistake themselves).  What an 
infuriating boner.  Is it this way in ADVANCE COMICS as well?  (And 
might ADVANCE COMICS name the Van Horn offering in WDC&S -- or supply a 
third story in DDA 33?)

      That's about all for now, folks.

      David Gerstein
      "Sturm und Drang will be my CREDO from now on, duck!"
      <9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>