For me, one of the best aspects of attending a Comic Con is the conversations that develop among friends – and the 2012 New York Comic Con was no exception.
A particularly unexpected possible revelation concerned the character of YELLOW BEAK, the parrot character from the classic tale “Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold” (1942) and its occasional sequels over the next two decades that featured such diverse characters as The Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan, and even Woody Woodpecker.
Given that the last original American story to feature the character appeared in 1963’s WOODY WOODPECKER # 76 – and that story was presumably written by Carl Fallberg or Don R. Christensen (both confirmed as regular Woodpecker writers of the time)……And given my scripting work on THIS COMIC…
…And, discounting any minor editorial tweakings that are the nature of the comic book biz…
Does this leave me as the only living American to have written dialogue for Yellow Beak? …Really?
If so, consider me greatly honored!
And, speaking of another bird in comics (he continues the tease): “Beep-Beep!”
2 comments:
I recall Mark Evanier mentioning that one word of advice on writing WW comics was to just write Donald Duck stories in all but name only, but he didn't find it helpfull - he's not really a big fan of Woody, so the job was more of a mercenary gig. Meanwhille, this advice turned out VERY usefull for Carl! :)
‘Rehab:
Considering that Woody met Yellow Beak 21 years after Donald did, someone must have taken that idea literally. For all we know, maybe that incident helped form the basis for Mark’s “word of advice” – along with his years as Western Publishing’s best writer of the seventies, of course.
Having written for Donald, I see whereof he speaks. Strip out any of the Disney/Duck-specific elements and you have a good-guy character (with certain shortcomings) adventuring – or having domestic doings – with a nephew and niece.
I certainly would like to try it out… if anyone out there is interested in publishing foreign-produced Woody Woodpecker comics in need of entertaining English dialogue!
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