Gladstone's articles

[Luca Boschi]

Hi, Don and all! 

>>>>> Not giving credit where credit is due will very likely continue
> People who does it on regular schedule is/are LOUSY and BAD people not
> deserving respect (nt mine, indeed). I'd like that someone can change this
> bad trend and these thieves' behaviour.
>
> I must be scanning these Digests too fast because I'm not sure what this is
> about.

Yes. It's a mail I sent some days ago, but that was delayed for some
reasons.

> But I'm guessing it refers to something like a Disney publisher
> somewhere taking articles that appeared in a Gladstone or ZP issue and
> using them without giving credit?

Right!

> I agree with what you say in principal, but just to make sure this is not
> thought of as being as heinous as you suggest... these publishers ARE
> giving credit to the author of the article -- Walt Disney. Anything, and I
> mean *anything* that appears inside a licensed Disney comic is the sole
> property of the Di$ney Company and Disney "shall be deemed its author". I
> wrote a whole series of articles about my "Lo$" for Gladstone for free just
> as a favor to them and to please myself... but I later saw those articles
> translated into other languages

You're right! And... in Italian, too! With some minor changes...

> Yes, I agree that a publisher
> *should* give credit and hire people who either recognize that moral
> obligation or who can write new articles themselves, but to do so is
> behavior above and beyond Disney's interpretation of the copyright law as
> they have described it to their licensees. Using an article out of a Disney
> comic without giving the original writer credit is bad, but not one iota as
> bad as using the full story of a writer and artist who worked much longer
> and harder and still get no credit for all that labor, and that also still
> happens, though it's happening less and less often in an increasingly
> "enlightened" Disney-licensee world.

OK. But this is a  different matter. Alberto, Leonardo, myself and Andrea
Sani made the articles published by Gladstone for free, only because we like
that some informations about comics (and about Disney comics in this case)
have a wide circulation. We didn't want any money and we never asked
anything for their reprints. But if a magazine, like "Komix", translates 'em
in another language, and translates things NOT published in Disney comic
books (like our "Blue Book", published by Alessandro Distribuzioni in
Bologna) or takes things from Internet newssgroups (with their authors well
indicated)... Well, what can you say about such guys?

> Anyway, when a Disney licensed publisher in Poland or Brutopia or somewhere
> gives us writers and artists credit for our work, that should be considered
> a really nice gesture, good for them. But when they don't, they can't be
> cursed too much for simply following the letter of the rules that we who do
> work for Disney publications are apparently accepting when we supply our
> creations, however indirectly, to that corporation.

Well, in this case we are not talkin' about Disney. We are talking about a
different publisher which uses articles just published in other books NOT
published by any Disney as well...

> (This sort of discussion always reminds me of the time back in 1986-87 when
> the Gladstone folks were writing an article about me to appear with "The
> Son of the Sun" story -- they had planned to print some panels from my
> "Captain Kentucky" and "Pertwillaby Papers" strips, but realized they
> couldn't because Disney said that they owned *anything* that appeared
> inside a Disney licensed comic.

Well, fortunately, this law doesn't work in Italy, where the Civil Code
introduces a sort of "citation right" (diritto di citazione). For this
reason, the same Disney publications can carry pictures from other sources.
For this reson, for example, in ZP's articles there are Woody Woodpecker's
or Porky Pig's panels, with their own copyrights.

One more thing... I'd like to READ your articles about non-Disney books...
And maybe to translate 'em in Italian, if you agree, for some Italian
publisher who can pay royalties to you for 'em...

Ciao!

L.