Post by Ramapith on Feb 4, 2019 6:55:00 GMT
there's an argument that recoloring to fit the now-established color schemes is not particularly better than the bowdlerizing of Voodoo Hoodoo or other such changes made to Barks stories in reprints to make them better fit modern sensibilities.
The character colors that were standard on the US Duck comics from 1993-2018 (i. e. Scrooge with a red coat and gray trim, Beagles with orange sweaters, etc.) originated with a 1989 Gladstone Publishing color guide that was approved, and partly designed, by Carl Barks himself. For Gladstone's Comic Album Specials and Carl Barks Library in Color, Barks also directly encouraged the use of modern-style coloring techniques such as gradients, often stating directly—including once to me!—that he had been unhappy with the limitations of Western Publishing's color, over which he had very little control most of the time. He preferred a more animation-style look and felt modern computer color provided it.
The Fantagraphics Barks books are done (largely) as imitations of the Western Publishing color because the late Kim Thompson, involved with the Fanta project at the start, consulted with a handful of collectors in the European Donaldist community. They felt the gradient style in the CBL in Color and Egmont's Carl Barks Collection was unacceptably modern, and promoted the idea that both fans and Barks himself would have preferred a Western Publishing color imitation. Kim compared the options, as he told me at the time, and decided he liked the Western colors too.
As a private citizen—not representing Fantagraphics here!—I'm admittedly fine with both color approaches. While I personally prefer gradients, I find that the Western color choices look fine to me when printed brightly and neatly in the new hardbacks, with some of Western's errors corrected.
It's not my place to comment on other editorial choices, though; thanks for understanding.