The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is effectively BANNED

[caballero]

Via Don Rosa himself:

"I received an e-mail from one of my many publishers:

****************

As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, The Walt Disney Company is in the process of reviewing their library of stories.
As a result of this, some stories that do not align with their values will no longer be published. This applies to two of your classic stories, “The Richest Duck in the World” and “The Dream of a Lifetime”. These stories will not be part of any reprints or new collections.

*****************

I wonder what other Duck stories are now banned? Maybe only mine? Maybe not?
But obviously all 12 chapters of my Lo$ are now banned because they can't be published without the final chapter.
I won't even comment on what this will mean to the collector market."

[Mesterius]

Feb 14, 2023 17:40:12 GMT caballero said:

Via Don Rosa himself:

"I received an e-mail from one of my many publishers:

****************

As part of its ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, The Walt Disney Company is in the process of reviewing their library of stories.
As a result of this, some stories that do not align with their values will no longer be published. This applies to two of your classic stories, “The Richest Duck in the World” and “The Dream of a Lifetime”. These stories will not be part of any reprints or new collections.

*****************

I wonder what other Duck stories are now banned? Maybe only mine? Maybe not?
But obviously all 12 chapters of my Lo$ are now banned because they can't be published without the final chapter.
I won't even comment on what this will mean to the collector market."

What the... is this for real? Not an early April Fools' joke?

This is via Don 's official (private) Facebook group?

[caballero]

Feb 14, 2023 17:45:08 GMT Mesterius said:

Feb 14, 2023 17:40:12 GMT caballero said:

This is via Don 's official (private) Facebook group?

Yes. Don posted it 40 minutes ago.

[Mesterius]

Feb 14, 2023 17:47:40 GMT caballero said:

Feb 14, 2023 17:45:08 GMT Mesterius said:

This is via Don 's official (private) Facebook group?

Yes. Don posted it 40 minutes ago.

You know... Disney's whole "Stories Matter" organization was already sickening to me in its hypocrisy, and this actually manages to make it worse.

That form email Don received has of course almost exactly the same wording as the disclaimer on the main "Stories Matter" website. Except that the online disclaimer doesn't mention how The Walt Disney Company continuously keeps sweeping more and more material under the rug, pretending that it never existed.

[fredj]

I think whoever wrote that e-mail mixed up chapters 11 and 12. What could be objectional with Dream of a Lifetime?

[alquackskey]

This is bizarre - even as someone who readily acknowledges problematic elements in Rosa's work, I'd agree with the sentiment that 'Dream of a Lifetime' is a strange choice. Did they maybe mean 'Dreamtime Duck of the Never-Never'?

Also, if Rosa is affected, will Barks be also?
There are, obviously, certain stories that are definitely problematic in his work - will this affect the Fantagraphics Barks library?

[Spectrus]

This is crossing the line into destruction of the Disney comic. No getting around that. I can only hope there's going to be a real backlash (and that it hopefully doesn't get instrumentalised by the forces who indiscriminately rail against anything "woke").

[bats]

Feb 14, 2023 21:48:02 GMT Spectrus said:

This is crossing the line into destruction of the Disney comic. No getting around that. I can only hope there's going to be a real backlash (and that it hopefully doesn't get instrumentalised by the forces who indiscriminately rail against anything "woke").

Unfortunately I don't think there are enough American Disney fans that even know Disney comics exist at all for there to be enough of a backlash for Disney to actually care.

[afroduck]

Absolutely crazy. It's not even as if these are some obscure stories that haven't ever been reprinted. These are some of the most well known and reprinted duck comics ever. Did anyone even ever complain about them? I don't understand why they'd suddenly do this.

[TheMidgetMoose]

Wow. I sure hope this isn't real. I don't really like that a megacorporation like Disney is in control of every one of our Mouse and Duck comics. The fact is that these corporate, public relations folks didn't make the comics, and in all likeliness, they haven't read and enjoyed them either. Even though Scrooge McDuck may "belong" to Disney, the reprinting of Don Rosa's comics feels like something that shouldn't be any of their business, but that's just how I feel, of course. Not trying to make any sort of legal argument that Disney doesn't have the right to control this.

If this real, then will someone start a petition for Disney to reverse their decision? I hope we'll also find out what non-Rosa stories are being blacklisted so that we can advocate for them, too.

[hex]

"The Walt Disney Company is in the process of reviewing their library of stories"

When writig this inducks have 157640 stories listed. Sounds like a dream job, reading comics all day – but it's going to take a while...

[twdisneyman]

Feb 14, 2023 23:39:17 GMT hex said:

"The Walt Disney Company is in the process of reviewing their library of stories"

When writig this inducks have 157640 stories listed. Sounds like a dream job, reading comics all day – but it's going to take a while...

Oh, I seriously doubt that they are reading stories. If they were, they might understand the context behind the Empire-Builder from Calisota. I have to assume that any story with an ethnic character will be scrutinized. Such bs.

I would love to start a letter or postcard writing campaign to Disney, nicely asking them to reconsider and explain the nuances of that story. Thoughts?

[twdisneyman]

Feb 14, 2023 21:52:11 GMT bats said:

Feb 14, 2023 21:48:02 GMT Spectrus said:

This is crossing the line into destruction of the Disney comic. No getting around that. I can only hope there's going to be a real backlash (and that it hopefully doesn't get instrumentalised by the forces who indiscriminately rail against anything "woke").

Unfortunately I don't think there are enough American Disney fans that even know Disney comics exist at all for there to be enough of a backlash for Disney to actually care.

. There are plenty of fans in parts of Europe. Italy, Finland etc. I can only hope that this is a global ban and that there will be backlash. I’ve heard that when Don Rosa is in Finland it’s front page news. So crossing my fingers

[Spectrus]

Yeah - would be great to also have a show of solidarity from creators and Disney licensees. Like, "if you don't reverse this ban, we're going to stop publishing anything Disney related".

[Mesterius]

Feb 15, 2023 4:36:27 GMT twdisneyman said:

Feb 14, 2023 23:39:17 GMT hex said:

"The Walt Disney Company is in the process of reviewing their library of stories"

When writig this inducks have 157640 stories listed. Sounds like a dream job, reading comics all day – but it's going to take a while...

Oh, I seriously doubt that they are reading stories. If they were, they might understand the context behind the Empire-Builder from Calisota. I have to assume that any story with an ethnic character will be scrutinized. Such bs.

I would love to start a letter or postcard writing campaign to Disney, nicely asking them to reconsider and explain the nuances of that story. Thoughts?

Suggestion: Could the letters start with the sentence "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR WAKING MINDS?!!!!??"