Sigvald Awakes a "Sleeping Giant" (Ha! Ha!): Silly American Responds

[Matthew Williams]

Sigvald,

You know, previously I had been feeling a little sorry for you on the
account of the hard time people on the list have been giving you lately.  I
don't feel quite as sympathetic after your latest round of comments.
Whether you meant to offend or not, I feel at least a little hurt.  Why is
it "important" to note that Mr. Gray and I are Americans?  I don't assume
that you and all of your fellow countrymen are cut from the same cloth.  One
thing I like best about this list is the international diversity here.  I
think this list could quickly become uncomfortable and unpleasant, though,
if we start attributing each other's tastes and opinions to our limited
perceptions of what people from other countries are like.  Because I am
American and not "representative for the whole of DCML," are my opinions to
be dismissed?

At any rate, I am somewhat familiar with other cartoonists and styles, but I
am most familiar with the separated panel style Disney uses.  I'm not sure
that we can attribute this style to Disney, though.  All of the funny animal
comics I read as a child followed this style.  Is the overlapping style
something that started with Marvel?  I've recently been checking out other
comic styles, and I know Marvel was using borders between its panels in the
sixties.  The first twenty issues of Spiderman don't use this overlapping
style, anyway.

I digress from the main point that I want to make, though.  I've read some
Marvel comics and found them quite good.  Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko have my
total respect.  I LOVE the work of Charles Schultz and think that he is one
of the greatest cartoonists who has ever lived.  I recently read "The Dark
Knight Returns," and I liked it.  A friend of mine recently introduced me to
Jason Lutes's BERLIN.  I thought quite highly of it.  But despite all of
this, you know what?  I still like Carl Barks and the Disney comics I've
grown up with best.  I'll swear my oath of allegiance to Uncle Scrooge!
Just because I also admire non-Disney, NON-ROSA, work doesn't diminish my
Disney fandom one bit.  Frankly, as much as I love Disney comics, though, I
think folks familiar with only one style are a little poorer.

Furthermore, you say, "copying Marwells (sic) style may be original in the
world od Disney comics, but it is not what I will call specially
experimenting or inventive."  I disagree with that statement, and I think
you do too.  First of all, if Fecchi wasn't doing something out of the
ordinary, you wouldn't have bothered to take note of it.  Second of all, the
thing that makes Fecchi's work so exciting to me is that it changes the
storytelling.  Pace and flow are greatly affected by the style.  Just the
way my eyes move on the page is dramatically changed.While the Walt Disney
Company Comics era did seem somewhat focused on changing Disney comics into
something else, I think that threat is long since past.  As long as people
like Rosa, the Blocks, and the Van Horns are still creating excellent
(ORIGINAL) work in the traditional style, I don't think we can assume an
overlapping panel style is going to become the norm.

In response to your latest e-mail about "correctness," I see where you're
coming from to some extent.  I joined this list to actually discuss Disney
comics (and possibly even criticize from time to time).  Still, the way you
have chosen your comments in reference to Mr. Fecchi is rude and just plain
not very nice.  Even if his style was "bad," he'd win my support by just
trying something that wasn't common in Disney comics.  Consider: if you were
critiquing a friend's work would you use the same phrasing and approach?  It
's okay not to like Mr. Fecchi's work, but to INSULT someone else's work is
mean.

I apologize for the long, rambling e-mail, but I would appreciate a little
more respectful treatment in the future.

Matt