tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5408368436169661319.post5335882637685729516..comments2024-03-18T22:38:02.319-04:00Comments on Joe Torcivia's The Issue At Hand Blog: Comic Book Letter of Comment: Mickey Mouse “The Return of the Phantom Blot”.Joe Torciviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5408368436169661319.post-61385946863608351652018-03-24T17:29:14.282-04:002018-03-24T17:29:14.282-04:00Spectrus:
Now, THESE are the discussions I love m...Spectrus:<br /><br />Now, THESE are the discussions I love most! Getting into the background and specific stories and time periods that go into the creation of a “dedicated fan”, of which you’ll agree both you and I (and most everyone who comments here) are! <br /><br />When I refer having to a “defining moment”, I mean EXACTLY that! Comic books had been a fairly significant part of my life for the previous five years, dating back to before I could even read. In fact, it was BECAUSE of comic books that I was reading before I started school. <br /><br />But, until “The Return of The Phantom Blot”, they were “just another thing in my life”, as were toys, games, hardcover books, magazines, TV programs, etc. I had gaps in my comic books runs, and never gave it a thought. I just took it as I found it. <br /><br />“The Return of The Phantom Blot”, however, was where I decided I was not going to miss an issue… ever again! And, in mid-sixties pre-comic-book-shop / pre-comic-book-convention America, that was not an easy thing, because no one store got everything – and once a comic book was “gone”, it was “GONE”! Yet, from that point – until I gave comics up for nearly a decade in 1972-73 - I missed only TWO ISSUES of the monthly WDC&S! Quite a feat of dedication, under the prevailing conditions! <br /><br />It’s interesting that you do not claim a similar “defining moment”. Perhaps because comic books were more a common part of the overall culture, or the “general European landscape” than they would ever be in America? <br /><br />Every appearance of the Blot, original or remakes of that original, occurred before my existence, so “The Return of The Phantom Blot” was a completely new experience for me, even having had a good working knowledge of the comics Mickey Mouse. <br /><br />And, in one of those wonderful things about life, I would be the one responsible for getting Scarpa’s “The Blot’s Double Mystery” first printed in the USA – lobbying Gladstone Series One for it, as a (all together now) “dedicated fan”!<br /><br />If David has his way, I’d expect to see any additional <i>“Darkenblot”</i> stories at IDW, provided the proper slot presents itself. <a href="https://inducks.org/publication.php?c=de%2FLTBPR&pg=img&num=1" rel="nofollow"><b>HERE</b></a> is that <i>“Darkenblot”</i> link!Joe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5408368436169661319.post-47697789155250199102018-03-21T16:32:18.235-04:002018-03-21T16:32:18.235-04:00I don't think I've ever read this story (i...I don't think I've ever read this story (it was only ever printed twice in Germany, both as serials - 1965 and 1983). Part of this is the problem that Mickey always seems to be underrepresented; there is a monthly Donald Duck comic magazine but nothing with predominantly Mickey in it... (and those non-Duck/non-Mouse characters like Zeke Wolf are having an even harder time)<br /><br />Even when I strain myself, I can't say I have one particular "defining comics moment". I think this is because I'd started reading them at a very young age and I simply don't recall the stories that impressed me so much back then. But of course, there are certain stories that are very close to my heart. Part II of the "Lords of the Galaxy" cycle (Pezzin/De Vita) is certainly among them, also some Duck Avenger stuff (I didn't choose my screen name Spectrus for no reason). And "Dialing for Disaster", Egmont's masterpiece. Wait, maybe it's "The Frog Queen" (Topolino e le rane saltatrici) by Scarpa - I'd actually mark that down as my favourite Mouse story, PERIOD... it's simply awesome!<br /><br />As for The Phantom Blot, Inducks tells me that there was a comic book remake of "Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot" (drawn by Bill Wright and Dick Moores) already in 1949, and another one partially re-drawn by (you've guessed it) Paul Murry in 1955, the same year the Italians used the character for the first time ("The Blot's Double Mystery"). In fact, Italy managed no less than 18 Blot stories before "The Return of the Phantom Blot" happened (one of these, also drawn by Scarpa, just had its first German release last year!)...<br /><br />"[T]he Phantom Blot moved directly to a fondly-remembered series of his own that [...] to my knowledge, was the first comic book series to feature a villain as its title character!"<br /><br />Interestingly, something similar just happened here in Germany with our relatively new "Premium" LTB line. So far, the title always included a titular hero, but issue #17 instead only bears the Blot's name on its cover! It contains all three story arcs of Darkenblot (1, 2.0 & 3) plus the interludes (2.1 and "The Return") and has already been declared by some fans to be the best Disney comic book ever released in Germany. Casty did it again...<br /><br />https://coa.inducks.org/publication.php?c=de%2FLTBPR&pg=img&num=1Spectrusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5408368436169661319.post-75824474665863116702012-04-03T08:07:52.360-04:002012-04-03T08:07:52.360-04:00Same for me, “Anon”!
Perhaps because of that, the...Same for me, “Anon”!<br /><br />Perhaps because of that, the Phantom Blot has always been my favorite comic book villain – even more so than Ra’s Al Ghul and The Joker! <br /><br />Imagine what a THRILL it was for me to actually work on a story with the Blot in it – “The Treasure of Marco Topo”, in Mickey Mouse # 309 and WDC&S # 720… 47 years after reading my first Blot story! <br /><br />Sometimes, life can be very kind, if you hang around long enough!Joe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5408368436169661319.post-66023031883685763732012-04-02T22:47:22.233-04:002012-04-02T22:47:22.233-04:00That cover, with the Blot looming in the window in...That cover, with the Blot looming in the window in the background, scared the living daylights out of me when I was six.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com