Woops! I started writing my own post about this over an hour ago, then went back-and-forth on it between doing other things, and didn't check if someone else had mentioned it in the meantime. Ah well.
No worries, let's all spread the word!
Something else that's annoying: since the first printing is a little thicker, it does not fit well in the box, and now the two volumes have different logos on the spine which is kinda ugly.
Well that sucks. Is the second printing just in the new box set or is it also available on it's own now? Gonna make tracking down a copy hard if you can't guarantee which version you're gonna get.
Fortunately, I had planned on keeping both printings, although “The Flying Farmhand” is hardly a major Barks story…Vic Lockman wrote it and Barks only drew it. It’s nice to have the Grandma stories, but they’re hardly essential reading. This particular story is really weird, as it features Dumbo and Bre’r Fox. Both this one and the one with the Big Bad Wolf just don’t feel right to me for a Barks story, much like the Daisy Duck’s Diary stories with Clara Cluck, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. Having all of these characters with no precedent in previous Barks stories pulls it out of the Barks “canon” in my mind.
Fortunately, I had planned on keeping both printings, although “The Flying Farmhand” is hardly a major Barks story…Vic Lockman wrote it and Barks only drew it. Things like Grandma Duck’s Farm Friends and Daisy Duck’s Diary are really only footnotes in Bark’s’ bibliography in my opinion…it’s nice to have them, but they’re hardly essential reading.
Even if I haven't read the story yet, I don't doubt that it's unessential compared with stories written by Barks himself. But I have to admit, at this point I'm almost considering getting the first printing of "Christmas in Duckburg" JUST to get "The Flying Farm Hand". It's only been printed four times in the United States, with the 2019 Fantagraphics edition being the first color reprint in decent quality. Plus, I really hate Disney's treatment of the Brer Rabbit characters these days.
Ultimately, deleting a whole story is worse than replacing a word, so I think that I’ll stick with the old version of “Christmas in Duckburg”. (Sadly, the reduced page count prevents the older edition from fitting into the new box…). Nothing has been removed from “Under the Polar Ice” (that I’ve noticed), so if you can get the new printing by itself, I would recommend that instead of wasting your money on this new boxed set.
Guys, don't buy the second printing of Christmas in Duckburg, because yeah, they reinstalled the word Holocaust, but now apparently the story The Flying Farm Hand got blacklisted and is now deleted for this edition. Thanks Disney! The world is a much safer place now
My gosh, but Disney is a dysfunctional organization; it seems like which stories make it under the radar and which stories get flagged really depends on whoever happens to hanging around the censors' office on any given day. Admittedly, if I had to choose between a volume which has dialogue altered in stories which Barks wrote and drew, and a volume that omits a very weak story which Barks didn't write, I'd pick the latter, but it's still extremely frustrating. Has anyone got any further word on "Under the Polar Ice"? That one had much heavier censorship than "Christmas in Duckburg" did.
No one has mentioned anything on Facebook about the second printing of "Under the Polar Ice" missing anything. So hopefully, the material is all intact. (The second printing of that volume is actually labeled a "Second edition" in the indicia, clearly because so many alterations were made to Barks' text in the first printing.)
The Brer Rabbit characters have been an especially touchy subject for Disney over the past couple of years, actually more so now than in 2019. In mid-2020, Disney announced that they were getting rid of the Splash Mountain attraction based on Song of the South in their theme parks. And on June 4, 2021, Disney artist Massimo Fecchi wrote on Instagram that he was in the process of drawing his last Li'l Bad Wolf comics story which could guest star Brer Bear, because Disney had suddenly decided to ban all the Song of the South characters from new comics stories. Things have changed very quickly. We can only hope Disney reverts their stance somewhat with time, so that older stories can at least be reprinted in books aimed at collectors.
Mesterius : Thank you for clearing that up, the following rant is against Disney, absolutely not against you.
I'm European: I've got no idea whatsoever what 'Song Of The South' is and I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much, Disney. I don't give a rats WAK 'bout some American snooty stand: Disney! I take it that it's a song from the southern part of the USA with racist imagery or sung by racists. Do the Americans really think the whole earth turns around the USA? What a load of BS, Disney.
If there's one thing I can't stand it's bleeding hearts censorship and thought control. Don't get me wrong: obvious racism and obsolete imaging of people/races are not of this day and age, are bad and must be corrected. Yep: that's censorship too but to a reasonable degree. But this is zeolite-like behaviour by Disney: there's nothing wrong or racist with said story.
The "Complete" Barks library is not only about his writing but also a feast of his artwork so any story drawn by Barks deserves in the books just as much as a story that he (only) wrote. And the Grandma Duck stories are wonderfully drawn. Barks was at the top of his drawing skills at the time of some of 'm.
Everybody: again thanks for the warning. What a SNaFU.
Last Edit: Nov 13, 2022 10:41:22 GMT by meneerjansen
I'm European: I've got no idea whatsoever what 'Song Of The South' is and I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much, Disney.
You should not keep it that way. Song Of The South is a very good movie.
Don't get me wrong: obvious racism and obsolete imaging of people/races are not of this day and age, are bad and must be corrected.
You are dead wrong. Any change done to any piece of art decades after its creation and by people who did not create that art is NOT correction. It's vandalism. Imagine if for example "The Birth of a Nation" were completely unavailable because its offensive! No, the way to go is not censorship, but to release the piece of art unchanged, with appropriate context and commentary.
I'm European: I've got no idea whatsoever what 'Song Of The South' is and I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much, Disney.
You should not keep it that way. Song Of The South is a very good movie.
Don't get me wrong: obvious racism and obsolete imaging of people/races are not of this day and age, are bad and must be corrected.
You are dead wrong. Any change done to any piece of art decades after its creation and by people who did not create that art is NOT correction. It's vandalism. Imagine if for example "The Birth of a Nation" were completely unavailable because its offensive! No, the way to go is not censorship, but to release the piece of art unchanged, with appropriate context and commentary.
I totally understand what you mean. In my opinion Adolf Hitlers rant (some call it a "book"; I wouln't go that far) called "Mein Kampf" (Eng.: "My Struggle") should be obligatory reading material in school (in Europe). Publicly read it in the class room so the teacher can "explain" things. I got as obligatory reading material in class "Animal Farm" and I totally get why that was obligatory. Brilliant book to learn from. You can learn a lot from "Mein Kampf" too. Why? Because in the book he predicted what he was going to do, together with his completely insane, schitzofrenic, reasoning to start a war that killed millions without reason. Also a brilliant book to learn from.
However, what I meant was imagery and stories - without explanatory context - for (little) children. Stuff like comics, songs and (certain) classic movies. The little ones wouldn't get the complicated explanation behind it, nor the historical context. What I mean is certain language and things like "Black Pete" in Holland (where I live). It's a very sensitive topic, I know. And one might argue that the Barks Library is for grown ups who darn well know how to behave and think. We grown ups will not be influenced in a negative way whatsoever by outdated imagery or words.
Thanks for your reply.
Last Edit: Nov 14, 2022 10:29:47 GMT by meneerjansen
So the big question now is if more stories will be omitted in future volumes. Did he use the Song of the South characters in other stories?
It is the only time and it'sj ust the Bre Fox. One of rare unique time Barks drawn non-Duckuniverse characters in a Disney story. He also did used Big Bad Wolf twice.
Last Edit: Nov 13, 2022 12:28:48 GMT by Pan Maciej
Know as Maciej Kur, Mr. M., Maik, Maiki, Pan, Pan Miluś and many other names.
I see it like this: One historian once mentioned that movies like "Birtht of Nation" and "Triumph of the will" are important and SHOULD be available, because "they try to argue for evil" and people need to know them to understand better why these ideologies are wrong, dangerous and to know what they are fighthing agianst. These things where made by people who where plain wrong but trully belive in this and it's illustrate their point of view better then any outside interpretation. I agree with this (Plus they are still influencial and historicaly significant pieses of art etc.)
NOW at the same time, while I think these movies ashould be be available, do I think the whoever is responsible for the distribution should... well, be responsible, and make sure DVD's of these movies have proper context, some type of WARNING, documentary explaining it and some Whoopie Golberg style introduction? Heck yes!
There is this book "Tintin in Congo" which is super-racist - not only it's full of racist stereotypes but it's has a strong pro-colonisation message and flat out propaganda, where the main hero Tintin from Belgium goes to Congo and becomes the white savior, who the localcs - depicted as cowardly, lazy and childish - see as an almost demi-god.
The book was one of last Tintin volumes I got to read and it open my eyes, why this type of material is important to be out there. I can open a history book and read a paragraph that there use to be racist depiction of the natives used in pro-colonisation propaganda and imagine how it looked like, but I can read the darn thing and have a clear picture. Much like "Tintin in Land of soviets "it's a fascinating lecture, giving me a clear picture of mentality of the time... I laugh while reading it, but not for the reasons creator wanted (in other words I laugh at him, not with him)
As Whoopie Golberg and Leonard Maltin use to say in their introduction for cartoons: These images are wrong there as the where wrong now, but pretending these things never happen is just as bad, as it pretending that prejudist never existed.
You need these things for people to be aware why they are talking about...
Which Is I hate when some people I know, who honestly belive these things should be just burn down to the ground. Well, how can we learn from history if we won't know it, and only present the sanitized version?
And agian, do I think the mentioned above Tintin book should have some introduction, so the kids didn't got a wrong idea? YES! Heck, it can be a great leason in history and why should images are harmful!
FRANKLY I think Disney would make a heck lot of money if one day they would release some "Song of the South" bluray (packfull of introductions, commenatries and retropsective doucmentaries) The more they make a big deal of it being forbidden and try to hide it, the more people will want to see it and frankly, at this point the movie is more significant for being the movie Disney hides for use. Heck, some type of "We learn from our mistake" feature, would be a cool PR movie - Yes, we admit we made this problematic movie, but look - We made "The Princess and the Frog", we made "Soul", we made "The Proud Family", we made "Black Panther" for Pete sake! (sort of)
But I'm just a dumb white guy, so I maybe missing here something.
Know as Maciej Kur, Mr. M., Maik, Maiki, Pan, Pan Miluś and many other names.
Ultimately, deleting a whole story is worse than replacing a word, so I think that I’ll stick with the old version of “Christmas in Duckburg”. (Sadly, the reduced page count prevents the older edition from fitting into the new box…). Nothing has been removed from “Under the Polar Ice” (that I’ve noticed), so if you can get the new printing by itself, I would recommend that instead of wasting your money on this new boxed set.
But of course, many collectors will stick with both printings. (And wasn't that what you planned to do yourself?) Think about the collectors' value down the road!
Disney don't want to be seen making any money, no matter how indirectly, from Song of the South. So you can say goodbye to any possible release of that movie itself. As for the 'collateral'... well. We can only hope they change with time.
The irony for me is that Disney is careful to preserve their image while they're extremely distrusted by the public at large. I have a Canadian friend who doesn't even want to read the comic that I gave to her, because there's something 'off' about Disney -- so much for a potential fan. And she's not alone in that respect.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out whether the edited reprint needs an INDUCKS entry of its own, now that there are two distinct printings of the book...
Ultimately, deleting a whole story is worse than replacing a word, so I think that I’ll stick with the old version of “Christmas in Duckburg”. (Sadly, the reduced page count prevents the older edition from fitting into the new box…). Nothing has been removed from “Under the Polar Ice” (that I’ve noticed), so if you can get the new printing by itself, I would recommend that instead of wasting your money on this new boxed set.
But of course, many collectors will stick with both printings. (And wasn't that what you planned to do yourself?) Think about the collectors' value down the road!
I plan on keeping both books, but ultimately the one with the Dumbo story will likely be the reading/display copy.
No one has mentioned anything on Facebook about the second printing of "Under the Polar Ice" missing anything. So hopefully, the material is all intact. (The second printing of that volume is actually labeled a "Second edition" in the indicia, clearly because so many alterations were made to Barks' text in the first printing.)
The Brer Rabbit characters have been an especially touchy subject for Disney over the past couple of years, actually more so now than in 2019. In mid-2020, Disney announced that they were getting rid of the Splash Mountain attraction based on Song of the South in their theme parks. And on June 4, 2021, Disney artist Massimo Fecchi wrote on Instagram that he was in the process of drawing his last Li'l Bad Wolf comics story which could guest star Brer Bear, because Disney had suddenly decided to ban all the Song of the South characters from new comics stories. Things have changed very quickly. We can only hope Disney reverts their stance somewhat with time, so that older stories can at least be reprinted in books aimed at collectors.
Mesterius : Thank you for clearing that up, the following rant is against Disney, absolutely not against you.
I'm European: I've got no idea whatsoever what 'Song Of The South' is and I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much, Disney. I don't give a rats WAK 'bout some American snooty stand: Disney! I take it that it's a song from the southern part of the USA with racist imagery or sung by racists. Do the Americans really think the whole earth turns around the USA? What a load of BS, Disney.
If there's one thing I can't stand it's bleeding hearts censorship and thought control. Don't get me wrong: obvious racism and obsolete imaging of people/races are not of this day and age, are bad and must be corrected. Yep: that's censorship too but to a reasonable degree. But this is zeolite-like behaviour by Disney: there's nothing wrong or racist with said story.
The "Complete" Barks library is not only about his writing but also a feast of his artwork so any story drawn by Barks deserves in the books just as much as a story that he (only) wrote. And the Grandma Duck stories are wonderfully drawn. Barks was at the top of his drawing skills at the time of some of 'm.
Everybody: again thanks for the warning. What a SNaFU.
I think you'd do well to find out a little bit about what Song of the South is, because your assumption that it's a song shows you have no knowledge about the background. It's a feature-length FILM done by Walt Disney Productions in 1946, a mix of live-action and animation (think The Three Caballeros) which introduced the characters of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear to the Disney universe. The film and the characters were based on the classic American Uncle Remus folklore tales, which were compiled and adapted into bookform by Joel Chandler Harris in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Uncle Remus, the title character and narrator of the Brer Rabbit tales, is in both the original stories and the Disney film a former slave who lives and works on a plantation. I may be simplifying things, but as far as I understand it, this setting and the open acknowledgement of slavery is why the film has become so problematic for the Walt Disney Company over the years.
That being said, I'd like to add this paragraph from Wikipedia about the film's setting:
The film is set on a plantation in Georgia, part of the Southern United States; specifically in a location some distance from Atlanta. Although sometimes misinterpreted as taking place before the American Civil War while slavery was still legal in the region, the film takes place during the Reconstruction Era after slavery was abolished.[5][6] Harris's original Uncle Remus stories were all set after the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Born in 1848, Harris himself was a racial reconciliation activist writer and journalist of the Reconstruction Era. The film makes several indirect references to the Reconstruction Era: clothing is in the newer late-Victorian style; Uncle Remus is free to leave the plantation at will; black field hands are sharecroppers, etc.[7]
Like caballeros, I can recommend watching the film yourself rather than trusting various internet rumors about how "horrifying" etc. it is. I don't think it's a masterpiece, but it is actually a pretty charming movie, where Uncle Remus himself quickly emerges as a sympathetic and endearing character. In fact, he's the hero of the film's main narrative, helping a little white boy who has come to live on the plantation temporarily through various problems. African-American actor James Baskett got an Academy Honorary Award for his performance as Uncle Remus in 1948, something Walt Disney personally pushed for.
In addition to the 'feature' story, you also get some very nice-looking scenes mixing live-action with animation (the Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah song sequence is a particular highpoint, and a wonderful song to boot), and not least, the all-animated stories featuring the rabbit, fox and bear. These are great cartoon shorts in their own right, with terrific animation by Milt Kahl etc. Very much worth watching.
When it comes to the comics, i.e. the main topic of this thread: Uncle Remus' tales of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear were spun off almost immediately after the Disney film in their own comics for newspapers and comic books, as well as becoming semi-regular guest stars in the Li'l Bad Wolf stories. The newspaper Sunday strip stories could be great -- some of the Sunday sequences drawn by Dick Moores in the late 40s were reprinted in the Norwegian Hall of Fame volume for that artist, and they were one of the highlights of the book.
Until a few years ago, comics featuring Brer Rabbit etc., but without any reference to the Uncle Remus character, could be printed in regular American Disney comic books. Several popped up in IDW's Walt Disney's Comics and Stories issues in 2015-2018. New comics stories featuring the characters were also being produced for some markets, mostly the Netherlands; and there were generally no problems with reprinting older material in Europe. However, in the course of only the past two years or so, Disney has struck down much harder than before on ANY material featuring the Song of the South characters. Hence, the 2021 decision to end production of new comics stories with them worldwide. And the decision to omit "The Flying Farm Hand" from the second printing of a Carl Barks Library volume, even though the first printing in 2019 was allowed to use the story.