Classic Disney Comic Solicitations June 2018

[Matilda]

Mar 21, 2018 19:31:09 GMT Spectrus said:

Mar 21, 2018 19:21:27 GMT Matilda said:

Korhonen

Rota-drawn stories, written by him

Rota-drawn stories, written by the McGreals

( inducks.org/story.php?c=D+2014-052 )

Lars Jensen's Zantaf stories

Not sure I know any of these, except the TNT one (which I loved)

Janet Gilbert

Per Hedman

and the Shaws

So, now you know what I think about those names and what I associate them with

Yup, I know there are many stories by the Shaws you can't stand: the ones I especially like by them are Spook and Quackers, an *excellent* ghost story, and Pass the Parchment, one of my favorite Donald-and-Daisy stories (here, Donald, Daisy and a devil!). Tunnel of Love is a sweet ghost story, too. Personally, I loved The Hanged Man, but that's because I have very fond childhood memories of watching The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, as shown on "The Wonderful World of Disney", and The Hanged Man is a Duck homage to the Scarecrow. I wouldn't put it high on my "IDW request list" for that reason--few people remember the Scarecrow. Inducks doesn't even mention the connection.

Favorite McGreals/Rota stories: the terrific, mostly wordless Little Helper Lost, Three Minus Two Is One, and Missing the Mistletoe. Yes, there are a slew of stories by the McGreals which I actively dislike...sometimes I wonder whether I only like the stories that were mostly thought up by one member of the couple! But there are a couple more stories by the McGreals, not drawn by Rota, which I also greatly enjoy and re-read: A Gal for Gladstone and The Secret of Goblin Valley. Lars Jensen's Zantaf stories: Home to Roost (Invasion of the Giant Chickens!) and All in a Daze Work (warning: the English plot description on Inducks includes a bit of a spoiler). As is often true of Jensen, he treats the female characters well.

OK, it is a snow day here in New England, but I really should stop this now and get some work done...

[Spectrus]

Mar 21, 2018 20:00:10 GMT Matilda said:

Yup, I know there are many stories by the Shaws you can't stand: the ones I especially like by them are Spook and Quackers, an *excellent* ghost story, and Pass the Parchment, one of my favorite Donald-and-Daisy stories (here, Donald, Daisy and a devil!). Tunnel of Love is a sweet ghost story, too. Personally, I loved The Hanged Man, but that's because I have very fond childhood memories of watching The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, as shown on "The Wonderful World of Disney", and The Hanged Man is a Duck homage to the Scarecrow. I wouldn't put it high on my "IDW request list" for that reason--few people remember the Scarecrow. Inducks doesn't even mention the connection.

Favorite McGreals/Rota stories: the terrific, mostly wordless Little Helper Lost, Three Minus Two Is One, and Missing the Mistletoe. Yes, there are a slew of stories by the McGreals which I actively dislike...sometimes I wonder whether I only like the stories that were mostly thought up by one member of the couple! But there are a couple more stories by the McGreals, not drawn by Rota, which I also greatly enjoy and re-read: A Gal for Gladstone and The Secret of Goblin Valley. Lars Jensen's Zantaf stories: Home to Roost (Invasion of the Giant Chickens!) and All in a Daze Work (warning: the English plot description on Inducks includes a bit of a spoiler). As is often true of Jensen, he treats the female characters well.

OK, it is a snow day here in New England, but I really should stop this now and get some work done...

Spook and Quackers isn't so bad. Not something I'd call excellent, but certainly far better than the Shaw stories surrounding it. Pass the Parchment at least had nice art and also doesn't feature Donald cutting a man into two halves, (though the demon being ripped apart may qualify) or beheading a man, or beating the WAK out of Daisy because an evil witch has taken control of her, or being permanently mentally disabled at the end of a story... (one day I will make a definitive post about them and why I actively dislike them, but not now.) Tunnel of Love would have been better if there hadn't been so many Egmont tunnel/sewerage stories before (and if Scrooge had been allowed to act like a normal person). But I think this story makes far better use of what is basically the same concept. As I may have said before, I love Quack of the Wild, I really do, I think it's a masterpiece - I just wish they had done more in that vein...

A Gal for Gladstone is great. Definitely. And you almost can't go wrong with Pat's early stuff like "Treasure of the Island Gods". But the McGreals are so inconsistent; at times, I got the feeling they could only produce really stupid or nonsensical (like the Rota one I linked to, which is still fresh in my mind) stories - then they come around with a great one. Strange.

[Matilda]

Happily, I have not seen the stories by the Shaws which you cite. ("Ring Thrice" was published here, but in a Mickey Mouse Adventures...before IDW, I only bought Duck titles.) But...I just ordered the Duck-Wolf story in French, thanks!

Yes, I agree on the inconsistency of the McGreals. That's why I say sometimes I wonder whether I only like the work of one of them. It's rare for me to love several stories by an author and *really* dislike several others by the same author...there's not usually such a big spread. It's more likely to be "all fine," "all mediocre," "fine to mediocre" or "mediocre to poor". Of course, since I haven't read the Shaws' stories which you despise, I can't tell whether the Shaws would also fall into this same unusual category. And maybe there, too, it's actually the work of *one* of the Shaws which I enjoy....

[sirtao]

Pity Rock Sassi loses his Italian origins. I wonder how they'll play the joke about his surname if they'll ever translate that story.

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Say, I noticed IDW seems to be spelling Pete's name "Pegleg Pete", rather than "Peg-Leg Pete". Anyone know anything about that?

[deb]

Mar 21, 2018 22:24:21 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Say, I noticed IDW seems to be spelling Pete's name "Pegleg Pete", rather than "Peg-Leg Pete". Anyone know anything about that?

Probably a mistake in the ad copy.  Is there a correct spelling for Peg-Leg Pete?  I wouldn't have thought it mattered all that much.

[The KKM]

Without wanting to outright go into stories from one side being superior to others, might it not be IDW's trying to focus on Italian material because with the cartoonier, more energetic art, and increased "weirdness" and whatnot, stuff like the Duck Avenger, etc, it might appeal more and feels more modern than the Egmont stuff, which always seems intended to me to capture the classic feel of a 40s comic?

[deb]

It could be Disney's decision, or the part of Disney in charge of comics. With a big company like Disney, it's hard to know where such decisions originate (and those involved may not be at liberty to discuss them). Just speculation on my part, as I don't work for Disney or IDW, so I obviously do not speak for them.

[Minotaur]

I reckon one of the reasons why we have more Italian story now is because Gladstone & Gemstone have already printed a lot of Egmont stories, and David aims to introduce more characters to American reader. Plus if I am not mistaken, Egmont only produces 10-pagers now.

I would also say I prefer Italian story when it comes to comics been written nowadays. Egmont has some good stories but not as many. Some Scandinavian writers are especially good, like Korhonen, Nærum and Solstrand.

[Spectrus]

Mar 21, 2018 21:54:18 GMT sirtao said:

Pity Rock Sassi loses his Italian origins. I wonder how they'll play the joke about his surname if they'll ever translate that story.

I thought he was from Texas?

What is the joke about his surname?

[Spectrus]

Mar 21, 2018 21:08:55 GMT Matilda said:

Happily, I have not seen the stories by the Shaws which you cite.

This is what I suspected. Though, naturally, I can't speak for others' experiences and others may see things differently...

Mar 21, 2018 21:08:55 GMT Matilda said:

Yes, I agree on the inconsistency of the McGreals. That's why I say sometimes I wonder whether I only like the work of one of them. It's rare for me to love several stories by an author and *really* dislike several others by the same author...there's not usually such a big spread. It's more likely to be "all fine," "all mediocre," "fine to mediocre" or "mediocre to poor". Of course, since I haven't read the Shaws' stories which you despise, I can't tell whether the Shaws would also fall into this same unusual category. And maybe there, too, it's actually the work of *one* of the Shaws which I enjoy....

It's hard to say. There isn't any story written solely by Carol McGreal and only one written by Laura Shaw (which I'm not familiar with), but in the latter case I do have the suspicion that Laura Shaw seems to have contributed some positive influence because the first stories credited to both of them certainly read better than the ones credited to Mark Shaw alone. Unfortunately, this effect started to wear off after a while...

Actually, I think the main issue with the McGreals is that they simply write too much. I mean, Carlo Panaro writes a lot more, but he's got both feet on the ground - the McGreals constantly dabble with supernatural things, elves, goblins, whatnot, and after a while it really tends to get unbelievable that the Ducks and Mice constantly have to deal with this stuff!

Even Gorm Transgaard (who is IMO one of the best current Egmont writers) has shown signs of being overworked in some of his most recent stories. Sometimes I think he should write 1 long story instead of 2 short ones...

[vicar]

Mar 21, 2018 16:26:16 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Mar 21, 2018 15:56:41 GMT mrduckandmouse said:

Perhaps the people in charge at IDW just prefer Italian stories to Egmont stories?  

 Again I exaggerate, but you've seen ten Donald Egmont ten-pagers, you've kinda seen them all. 

Totally do not agree. Rota, Midthun, Ferioli, Van Horn... Definitely there should be more Egmont stories in IDW. I have bought subscription for Finnish Aku Ankka and in almost every number there is good Egmont story worth to be released by IDW. 

[mrduckandmouse]

I totally agree with Vicar. I find a lot of variety and creativity in short Duck and Mouse stories. After all, some pretty good 10 page stories were done by this guy by the name of Barks... Along with the names you have mentioned, how about some by by your namesake -- I *love* stories with art by the late, great Vicar!

I just wish we were given some idea why such a great shift has happened between Gladstone and Gemstone and the current IDW philosophy.

[Matilda]

Just theorizing beyond my data here, but.... my impression is that the preponderance of Italian stories in IDW comics so far has been a matter of (1) just balancing things out, because previous publishers gave us so little of the Italian stuff; (2) the intent (which David Gerstein has himself voiced) to familiarize American readers with characters in Disney Comics Worldwide which we hadn't seen, and most of those are in Italian stories (at least, if you're talking about characters who were used repeatedly); and (3) initially, I believe, IDW was able to get the rights to reprint the Italian stories before they got the rights for reprinting Egmont.

I'm actually not sure what the percentages are now, though. The Italian stories tend to be longer, so the page count may still be overwhelmingly Italian, but IDW Disney has certainly printed Egmont stories and Dutch stories as well. And my favorite-ever S-code story (Fallberg's Treasure above the Clouds) is on its way! I personally lean more towards Egmont and Dutch stories, myself, but I'm not unhappy with the mix we're getting.

I also expect that the hardcover series starting this summer will give us some of the best of Egmont and Dutch creators, as well as Italian ones. I'm dreaming of a Korhonen volume (I have nominations for stories!!), a Transgaard volume, a Midthun (or Nærum & Løkling) volume, a Geradts volume....

[Baar Baar Jinx]

I would also like to voice my support for more S-coded stories that have never been printed in the US or even in English .. as well as the reprinting of select non-Barks Western stories (Strobl, Murry, Bradbury, Hubbard, Moores, etc.) for which there is no other outlet at present.