inducks issue dates

[H.W.Fluks@telecom.tno.nl]

Ola wrote, some time ago:

> I've been comparing the issue dates in inducks versus the issue dates in 
> Gerbers photo journal books for the Dell Giants. Some of these issues 
> have different issue dates in these two sources.
> 
> The ones that differ are
> 
> title			Gerber	Inducks
> Vacation Parade  1	6-50	7-50
> Vacation Parade  2	6-51	7-51
> Vacation Parade  3	6-52	7-52
> Vacation Parade  4	6-53	7-53
> Vacation Parade  5	6-54	7-54
> Picnic Party   	 6	6-55	7-55
> Silly Symphonies 6	8-55	8-56
> Christmas Parade 8	11-56	12-56
> Picnic Party   	 8	6-57	7-57
> Christmas Parade 9	11-57	12-58
> 
> Does anyone know what is the correct issue dates for these issues ?

I asked this to one of our experts on American comics, Martin Olsen.
This is his reply:

> Inducks is right (but also wrong).
> Inducks has defined the issue date in these cases as the date 
> which can be derived from the code on the first page of the 
> comic book. So e.g. Vacation Parade #1 is dated 7-50, because 
> the code is W.D.V.P.#1-507.
> This does *not* mean that this issue was published in July, 
> 1950. June 1950 is a likely date of issue for Vacation Parade 
> #1 (but May is equally likely in my opinion), but we have 
> chosen to list the printed date, which is July 1950. There is 
> no reason to list a date which cannot be derived from 
> information in the issue itself or in reliable information 
> given elsewhere.
> This means that Inducks is right, as it reports the printed 
> date, but Gerber may or may not be right as he reports an 
> alleged month of issue. 
> 
> Two exceptions, where Gerber is definitely wrong, are Silly 
> Symphonies #6 and Christmas Parade #9, where he has the year 
> wrong. Silly Symphonies #6 has a printed year 1956 in the 
> indicia (not 1955), and Christmas Parade #9 (1958) must have 
> fooled Gerber because #8 was published in 1956. Apparently 
> Gerber has overlooked the fact that the 1957 issue was not 
> titled Christmas Parade but Christmas in Disneyland, so the 
> Christmas Parade run jumps over one year.
> 
> My conclusion is that Gerber has jumped to conclusions!
> 
> Martin.

--Harry.