As you all know, my dear friend Dana Gabbard passed away January 11, 2022, at the age of 59, as I posted HERE! I miss him all the time, and want to share just another of the many jokes and gags we had between us.
Since becoming friends in the early 1980s, Dana and I had countless discussions about the state of the comic book industry... the few things we thought were good and/or improving - and the greater number of things we thought were bad and/or getting worse.
One of the worst things either of us could imagine was the rise of CGC!
CGC, for those not in the know, was the first entity to "professionally grade and entomb in plastic" comic books that were (and are) thought to be valuable! Some imitators have followed in this abominable practice, but CGC was the first and remains the best known.
The fundamental problem we had with this misguided concept is that we both felt that COMIC BOOKS OUGHT TO BE READ AND ENJOYED, not salted away like some form of "newsprint currency"!
Every comic book that undergoes this process will NEVER BE READ AGAIN!
Well, maybe not EVERY one... says this traditionalist contrarian.
You see, I got me some of them there "imprisoned comics" (because I couldn't find any copies that weren't "imprisoned") and set them FREE!
WHY? ...BECAUSE I WANTED TO *READ* THEM, THAT'S WHY!
I fully intend to detail that experience in another post (let's hope I actually follow through on that, because it was a real hoot to crack open those "clear flat coffins" like plastic walnuts), but what does one do with a busted-open CGC slab?
Well, there's where the joke with Dana comes in...
As you know, Dana was the publisher of a pioneering American Disney comic book fanzine called "The Duckburg Times"...
...And, just to show Dana how important it was, I gave him a peek at what a copy would look like, if it were slabbed by CGC!
He got a great big kick out of this! So much so that I turned it into a trilogy!
One of the comics I worked on...
...And for a great writer - and a great guy, Sholly Fisch...
2 comments:
A particularly nice choice you made in the cover art of the issue of Duckburg Times you encased. There are two ways to keep a comic book from continuing to fulfill its true purpose: destroying it, or preserving it in a plastic coffin that is meant to remain sealed forever! I'm sure the cat would bewail the entombment of Barks' comics, as well!
Elaine:
Wow! That’s a point I never even thought of when choosing that particular issue of The Duckburg Times to mock-encase! GREAT OBSERVATION!
I just sorta picked things that I liked so, if it were in some way considered to be an “honor” to be “preserved-in-amber-without-the-amber”, this trio of covers (…and once this is done, that’s ALL they are – just COVERS with no discernable content to back them) would be thusly “honored”.
Obviously, Mickey Mouse’s “Plan Dine from Outer Space” is one of my most favorite stories that I’ve ever worked on. “Night of the Living Text” is my actual favorite, but that didn’t have as good a cover image as this one – and, as we know, (all together now) “that’s ALL they are – just COVERS” - so “Plan Dine” wins out!
Scooby-Doo Team-Up #50 was probably Sholly Fisch’s greatest achievement in writing Scooby-Doo and Batman – and he’s written A LOT (a REAL LOT) of great stories for both properties – so the “honor” here is a “layup-executed-while-walking-in-the-park-and-eating-a-piece-of-cake”!
And, among a number of wonderful covers Dana Gabbard ran for The Duckburg Times, including one for his final issue by William Van Horn, this one remains my favorite and, as such, received the “honor”!
Thank you for adding another layer to what was once a simple throwaway gag, that becomes more and more meaningful to me every day!
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