DCML digest, Vol 1 #551 - 11 msgs

[Sue and Gary Leach]

Rob:

> I tend to agree more with W.L. Lilly, that lines such as "It's Spooky, it's
> Kooky" sound much more like Western's editors than Carl Barks.

It was the pop culture styling of the time, in all media. Barks attempted to
emulate it, self-consciously, his stories of the period, as Bob Haney
attempted to convey at DC in Teen Titans, as Marvel wallowed in with abandon
across their entire line. A lot of television themes and promotions of this
period had that flavor of phrasing, too. Just think The Addams Family, the
theme of which burned such phrases as "mysterious and spooky" and "they're
altogether ooky" into the brains of millions of impressionable viewers'
brains.

> A few of these did seem "Barksish" enough to have been written by
> him.  But, knowing the way Western operated, I rather doubt that some of
> them were provided by Barks, and some not.  I can picture them asking him
> to draw an additional small drawing for the cover, but not bothering him
> for "advert lines" to entice readers to purchase the book.

Unless mebbe Barks simply jotted down what he thought might be likely blurbs
and sent them along, asked for or not, with his cover art. Unlikely, but not
inconceivable.

> I believe the
> editorial staff would have saved THAT function for themselves (one of the
> small, fun riskless ways they could help justify their existence).

Yes, those editorial staffs sure had to find ways to justify their
existences. After all, they only had to answer to their bosses, the
publishers, who simply expected those editorial staffs to get those comics
done with minimum cost, maximum efficiency, and absolutely ON TIME. Oh yeah,
and to make sure those comics would sell. Hey, no pressure there, right?

Gary Leach