DCML digest #842

[Don Rosa]

Okay, I had to write *another* message since I made myself wonder about the
printing of how I drew Foola Zoola, so I hadta go check and review my art
from nearly 10 years ago.
Hah! I *did* have a discussion with Byron about how I should draw Foola to
try to please Disney if the story were ever printed in America. If I had not
done so, I figured I was risking Disney banning the entire story so that
America would only get 11 of 12 chapters of that series, missing that
pivotal 11th episode! So, I drew the sharp teeth the same, I drew the mouth
the same but I left off the lines of the lip edges. But I'd forgotten that I
did draw one aspect smaller... his big *nose*. And therefore, Gladstone was
able to print the story just as I drew it, sharp teeth and all. However,
what they were forced to remove was a face mask hanging on a hut wall in the
background. There was nothing about it that looked offensive, no bulbous
lips, nothing... this is what I mean about inscrutable censors! Trying to
figure them out, that way lies madness.
Also, when I say that Foola's lips were drawn "normal sized for a black
native" in the 1949 original, I don't mean that they were draw absolutely
realistically anymore than any of the features of any "human" characters are
in these comics. But Foola's lips and face were not drawn in the manner
similar to black comic-strip characters of the early 1900's comics as were
all the other natives in that story.