Here's another oldie, while we tread the blogging equivalent of water, until we get to the promised Barks and Gottfredson posts...
And YES, I know Geox had already done this but - believe it or not - I'd actually done the post and sent it to my Reserve Archives well before his post appeared.
Then, for a long while, I hesitated posting my version, so as not to compete with his... or (horrors!) be considered a plagiarist! Anyway, at long (delayed) last, here it is! Enjoy!
I'm Not an Artist, But... let's examine a cover I've liked for a very long time... until I thought a little too hard about it as a writer... that of DELL GIANT # 38 Uncle Donald and His Nephews Family Fun (Dell Comics, Cover Date: November, 1960).
First of all, shouldn't it have been "UNCA Donald and His Nephews Family Fun", given the uncountable number of times that the WRITERS of these comics have referred to the character as "UNCA Donald" vs. calling him "Uncle Donald", but I'll chalk that up to a matter of branding and get to the heart of the matter.
To give you a peek into my mind (...dare you accept the invitation?), this first occurred to me when updating the index to the issue at GCD.
At a first glance, I gave this cover a synopsis of "Each member of the Duck family indulges in the reading preference of their choice.", because that's exactly what it looked like. In furtherance of this, whoever indexed the original issue for GCD gave it an "Unofficial Title" of "All reading" - a seemingly accurate, if uninspired, description of the cover illustration.
But is that earlier title, as well as my later synopsis, truly accurate?
I'd say not... Why? Because not all the ducks ARE READING!
The nephews are putting together a jigsaw puzzle... and Uncle Scrooge is just admiring a thousand-dollar bill! I suppose you could argue that Scrooge *could* be "reading" the bill's serial number, name of the Secretary of the Treasury, or the line about "In Whomever Ducks Trust"... but sorry, Scrooge, I'm not buying it!
You could even make the tenuous case that Daisy is WRITING in her Diary, and Grandma Duck is REMINISCING over her old photo album, leaving DONALD as the only one actually READING... but, since he's "reading" the "Investment News", he's probably just daydreaming, or something!
Now, I'm Not an Artist, But... I must lay a goodly amount of the blame on the (choke!) writer (gasp!) - or more likely the editor, or designer who came up with and/or approved this particular image - and not artist Tony Strobl who, as he once told me, had little or no input into that stage of the creative process.
While "I'm Not an Artist, But..." I am a WRITER, and here's how I would have "written" this scene... if, indeed, things like this are ever actually "written"...
Donald would be reading the latest issue of "Super Snooper Comics"! ...'Nuff said!
Grandma Duck would be reading farm reports - or something touting these "newfangled electric cars" to come in the future, and wondering what all the fuss is about since she's had an old electric car since about 1910!
Daisy would be reading a romantic novel... and becoming increasingly displeased with Donald over his lack of romanticism.
Scrooge would be reading "The Web Street Journal", or some other financial publication... provided he found a discarded copy on the street. Scrooge gets free info AND there's less litter on the streets of Duckburg? Win/Win, I'd say!
And anyone who thinks that Huey, Dewey, and Louie would be reading anything other than The Junior Woodchucks Guidebook is banned from my Blog for at least a month!
...Aaaaand, maybe I wouldn't put Donald so far in the background of what purports to be his own comic book! Switch him with Scrooge, maybe!
...Your thoughts?
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