Papernika! not another super hero!

[Francesco Spreafico]

Rich wrote:

> Sure, the "point" of the story was her feminist views, I'm not
> denying or arguing that.  But physically, from the standpoint of WHAT
> she is as Paperinika, she (like Donald's "Paperinik" character)
> harken back to Batman and a female version of him.  The plain truth
> is, there is NOTHING really NEW in comics, all a creator can do is
> work with whatever influences/allusions they can to create some good
> storytelling and artwork.

Of course, I didn't mean that! I just think that Guido Martina (the 
creator) was hardly thinking about any Marvel/DC superheroin when he 
created her... I actually doubt he'd even heard of them.
But I was not implying there was anything good (or bad) in this.
He was certainly influenced, like everyone is, but hardly by that!
(When he'd created Paperinik, 4 years before, he had been influenced by 
an Italian comic anti-hero called Diabolik, and by a tv spoof of it).

> early 1960s, though).  There were many cultural issues occuring
> during the time of Paperinika's creation... Feminist and Black heros
> were definitely on the rise in the comicbook industry.

Yes, but in the US, not in Italy, that's why I doubt Martina cared about 
those.
(Of course I may be wrong and Martina was actually a big fan of Marvel 
and DC, but I never heard of this!)

> Well, from what I DID see of it, and could read (my Italian isn't
> that great), the art was very nice and the story seemed decent
> enough.  Of course, with my having no input on what does and doesn't
> get translated, I'll probably never really know if I would have liked
> it simply because I don't get to make the decisions, and those, like
> you (due to your available input provided to those who do get to make
> the decisions), have far more influence than I.

I wish I had any influence at all, but I don't. But I think you have to 
trust the majority of Italians (in this case) about the quality of the 
stories that need be translated first. WoM is not among those. Some of 
its art is good, but art isn't everything as we all know! There are 
thousands of *very good* Italian (Mouse) stories better than that. And 
I'm not talking only about old stuff, there are many current Mouse 
stories that are extremely good and deserve translations. All of Tito 
Faraci's and Casty's stories, for example.

> material, and some sparse Mouse offerings. Thankfully David just
> happens to be a Mouse fan and probably has some influence (as it
> seems he does).

I'm a Mouse fan too, that why I loathe WoM! And that's why I took the 
liberty of telling you what you should want. Sorry about that, but trust 
me, it's true!

Francesco