Post by That Duckfan on Jul 17, 2016 20:13:14 GMT
I've long had the feeling that one way or another, the European pocket books don't get the attention they deserve. I suppose you could narrow it down to the Italian stories in general, to which we tend to refer in a vague and generalizing way. But since I'm not Italian myself, and my experience with Italian stories has primarily come through these pocket books, I decided to focus on those. They form an interesting and altogether not unimportant part of Disney comics culture, having been around in countries like Germany and Denmark for almost 50 years. Yet, there remain very few authors that I can name, compared to say Danish or American artists.
I feel this needs to change. I want to know the pocket stories and their authors better. So I've made this topic: a general discussion of all things pocket books. To our American members: it's hard to understate the sheer volume of these things! I cringe whenever I see American publishers try to publish another 90-page Scarpa extravaganza and it ends up filling the magazine for three months straight: you'll never get around to reading them that way! In terms of pages, Italian output is absolutely massive: 100 pages of comics per week, and that's in Topolino magazine alone! Passing by almost unnoticed.
So, to dive into these comics properly, I've devised a thing: once in a while, when I have time, I'm going to do a random review of a pocket book that I own. Short reviews of the stories in it (not all of which are Italian), picking out interesting elements, so we can discuss them here. If you want to discuss a story/comic that you own: great! More discussion! I don't mean to 'own' this thread in any sense of the word.
It might seem like an extensive idea for the small forum that we have, but I expect we'll grow as time goes on. The important thing for me is to find forgotten gems and put them in the spotlight; and maybe also to finally lay my finger on what makes the pocket style so different from 'regular' Disney comics.
These random reviews of mine, how do they work? Well, I wanted to include an element of play and surprise (fear and surprise, fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency, etc.), and I want to do away with any bias I might have beforehand (besides, where am I going to start?), so I've made a little system. I've put all the pockets published in the Netherlands (I also own some foreign ones but for I want comics that I can understand fully) in a list, based on their date of publication, and numbered them accordingly. So the earliest comic, Donald and the Zebra Mussel from 1970 is number 1, and the latest ones, published in July 2016, are 473 and 474.
I use this website to draw a completely random number between 1 and 474 (which obviously grows as time goes on), check if it corresponds with a pocket that I own (I own about 1/4th of all Dutch pocket books), and then I'll review that one. Seems like a lot of unnecessary work? I like to surprise myself.
The first random number that was generated was 67, which corresponds with The Sweet Invasion from 1992, which I own. Review coming up soon!
I feel this needs to change. I want to know the pocket stories and their authors better. So I've made this topic: a general discussion of all things pocket books. To our American members: it's hard to understate the sheer volume of these things! I cringe whenever I see American publishers try to publish another 90-page Scarpa extravaganza and it ends up filling the magazine for three months straight: you'll never get around to reading them that way! In terms of pages, Italian output is absolutely massive: 100 pages of comics per week, and that's in Topolino magazine alone! Passing by almost unnoticed.
So, to dive into these comics properly, I've devised a thing: once in a while, when I have time, I'm going to do a random review of a pocket book that I own. Short reviews of the stories in it (not all of which are Italian), picking out interesting elements, so we can discuss them here. If you want to discuss a story/comic that you own: great! More discussion! I don't mean to 'own' this thread in any sense of the word.
It might seem like an extensive idea for the small forum that we have, but I expect we'll grow as time goes on. The important thing for me is to find forgotten gems and put them in the spotlight; and maybe also to finally lay my finger on what makes the pocket style so different from 'regular' Disney comics.
These random reviews of mine, how do they work? Well, I wanted to include an element of play and surprise (fear and surprise, fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency, etc.), and I want to do away with any bias I might have beforehand (besides, where am I going to start?), so I've made a little system. I've put all the pockets published in the Netherlands (I also own some foreign ones but for I want comics that I can understand fully) in a list, based on their date of publication, and numbered them accordingly. So the earliest comic, Donald and the Zebra Mussel from 1970 is number 1, and the latest ones, published in July 2016, are 473 and 474.
I use this website to draw a completely random number between 1 and 474 (which obviously grows as time goes on), check if it corresponds with a pocket that I own (I own about 1/4th of all Dutch pocket books), and then I'll review that one. Seems like a lot of unnecessary work? I like to surprise myself.
The first random number that was generated was 67, which corresponds with The Sweet Invasion from 1992, which I own. Review coming up soon!