Separated at... (er, um...) Mirth?: Mr. Duck's Wild Ride!

There's not exactly a lot of "MIRTH" being "SEPARATED" on our two subject covers for this installment!  Perhaps it would be more accurate to designate this post as "UN-PAIRED IN PERIL"!

...Or, "PAIRED IN PERIL", for that matter, as it is essentially the same characters in the same situation!  ...That why I'm a WRITER and not an EDITOR!

Here are the covers of DONALD DUCK # 100 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: March, 1965) and DONALD DUCK # 195 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: May, 1978)...

Having never actually looked at them side-by-side, before undertaking the massive re-organizing and year-specific storage project that now provides the source material for so many of these posts, I always thought that DD # 195 was simply a REPRINT of DD # 100!

All of the interior content is reprinted from DD # 100, save a few pages taken-up by the higher number of ADs that proliferated throughout 1970s comics...
 

But the COVER is NOT a reprint of the earlier issue!  It has been redrawn... and it took me until 2019 to realize this!  ...Shame on me!

Oh, sure the COVER COPY has been moved and shortened to make way for the intrusive UPC Code Box... but this is a different - but similar - cover illustration altogether!

As such, the COVER is the ONLY NEW component to what would otherwise be a typically late-seventies / early-eighties ALL REPRINT issue of DONALD DUCK...

...Leaving me to ask WHY?  Why, when Western was in such an "economy mode" (more so with its Disney titles than others like Warner Bros., Woody Woodpecker, Pink Panther, etc. - which were primarily all new), was the effort undertaken to have this cover completely redrawn...

...When the straight reprinting of any old "gag cover" would suffice - like so!

Not only would it have "sufficed", but this particular choice would have brought his "wild ride" to a sudden stop!  

One could say that the REPRINT actually "did the original one-better" by having the TITLE LOGO misaligned by the impact of the crash!  Nice touch for Seventies Gold Key!  

But, no... For some reason they chose to redraw the cover - giving us an alternate image that is barely noticeable as such, unless you view the two issues side-by-side!

The original 1965 cover was drawn by Tony Strobl, who pretty much drew every issue of DONALD DUCK from the mid-1950s thru 1969 - and sporadically after that for the next several years.  

 Cover by Tony Strobl. 

Grand Comics Database speculates the 1978 reprint cover was penciled by Bob Gregory!  

I must disagree with that because, even with inks by the great Bill Wright, Bob Gregory (while a good writer) was a terrible artist who drew flat and simplistic stuff like this!  

Nope!  My guess is that it was penciled by Larry Mayer and either inked by Mayer, or Bill Wright!

Regardless of artist we leave you with DONALD DUCK # 100 and DONALD DUCK # 195... "SEPARATED AT MIRTH"... or "PAIRED IN PERIL"?  You decide!  

R.I.P. Russi Taylor

We mourn the passing of Russi Taylor, who sadly left us on July 26, 2019, at the (no longer old) age of 75!

Ms. Taylor, as most people know, was the longtime voice of Minnie Mouse...

...The life's delight of "you-know-who"!

Sharing the good times...

...And the not-so-good! 

But, to me, Russi Taylor's most astounding accomplishment was heard on the original 1987 version of DuckTales...

...Where she somehow managed to imbue Huey, Dewey, and Louie with understandable speech, while still allowing them to sound like their unintelligible "Unca Donald"!

Yes, Russi Taylor could make HER Duck Nephews speak lines like this (above), and this (below)...

...And still maintain that air of "Shared-Duck-Identity"...

 ...That was such a key aspect of stories like these!  Be they animated...  

...Or in comic books where they were at their best! 

So much so that I began to "hear" Russi Taylor SPEAK as the nephews, as I read the comics - though I never heard Donald's overly-quacky original voice actor Clarence Nash, or his successor Tony Anselmo, speak DONALD'S comic-book dialogue!  

To become my "official comics-reading character voice" takes a really indelible impression... and Russi Taylor had indeed made one, when it came to Huey, Dewey, and Louie!  

And also as Minnie Mouse!

When it was my great privilege to "do translations and write dialogue scripts" for these comics, it was Russi Taylor who "aided-from-afar" when it came to my putting just the right words in the mouths (balloons?) of Minnie Mouse...

...And Huey, Dewey, and Louie!

Other notable characters voiced by Russi Taylor include Martin Prince and Purple-Twins Sherri and Terri on THE SIMPSONS...

...And the indisputably indomitable and utterly unsinkable WEBBY, also on DuckTales (1987 Series)!  

But, the most "Disney-Magic-like thing" about Russi Taylor was that in 1991 she married Wayne Allwine (who passed away in 2009), who was THE LONGTIME VOICE OF MICKEY MOUSE!  

And, while we all feel the loss, we can also feel good, knowing that Mickey and Minnie are reunited... as they should always be!  

R.I.P. David Hedison!

This one really hurts!

David Hedison, actor of many roles with many "fan-constituencies" ("The Fly" with Vincent Price, two James Bond films as "Felix Leiter", and three soap operas: 2-afternoon, and 1-prime time) left us on July 18, 2019, at the age of 92.

He was best known for his "four-year-mission" as Captain Lee Crane of the Submarine Seaview on VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1964-1968)...

...That "four-years" actually playing out as TEN in the series unusual timeline, taking place between 1972 and 1982!

As Captain Crane, David Hedison adventured around the world both above and below the waves, and as far out as the planet Venus and the unknown reaches of "The Fourth Dimension"!

The Seaview itself never went to those last two places, but it's mighty weaponry DID almost crush the American Revolution in the service of the traitorous Benedict Arnold!

David Hedison shared star billing on VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA with the incomparable Richard Basehart, as Admiral Harriman Nelson.

Together as Nelson and Crane, they were a sort of prototypical "Jean-Luc Picard and William Riker" of Star Trek TNG fame.

Simultaneously, fellow diplomats and warriors - as well as surrogate "father and son"'!  

For a show that was unquestionably more "plot driven" than "character driven", Hedison and Basehart still always "brought their all" to their roles (that most often took a back seat to special effects), making them one of sci-fi television's more popular (certainly enduring, at any rate) duos for five-and-a-half-decades... and still counting!

For some idea of what David Hedison, Captain Lee Crane, and VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA meant to this humble Blogger, please see the post I put together for VOYAGE's fiftieth anniversary - HERE!

Beyond that, David Hedison, as Crane, was a constant presence throughout my life!

I watched the premiere episode of VOYAGE in 1964 as an enthusiastic young lad - and "stayed-tuned" until its end in 1968!

Then, there were syndicated reruns (of which I made audio cassette tape recordings in the '70s, so I could continue to relive the adventures), home-recorded VHS tapes in the '80s, professionally recorded bootleg VHS tapes in the '90s... culminating with the entire series being released on DVD in the 2000s!

(Click to enlarge!)

I had the great pleasure of meeting David Hedison at a New York convention in 1999.

He was warm and friendly, very willing to converse with fans, and gave everyone a fair amount of time.  Oh, and unlike some other celebrities, while he *did* sell photos from his several signature roles (at a very modest price, I might add), he did not charge for an autograph on anything else you brought to him for signing!

So, while there was this...

There was also this, which I brought along...

...And this...

...And this!

 Yes, the second issue was a reprint of the first!  It was Gold Key!  That's what they did!  

When David Hedison saw the comics he was a bit surprised...

"I never knew they made anything like this!", he said.

"So, that means you never had one?", I asked in return.  "I'll be right back!"

I went directly to a comic dealer I knew, and picked-out the best specimen I could find - in particular one with Hedison's image inset next to the title logo (they would alternate him and Richard Basehart)  - and one with a photo back cover! 

I inscribed it with a thank-you note, my name, and the date, and got back on the "David Hedison Line"!

When I reached him again with another comic, he asked me if I wanted this one autographed too. 

"No!" I said.  "This is for YOU!"

He was taken aback at the gesture! He opened it, read my inscription, leafed through it, and said (I'm paraphrasing here...)  "At all of these shows, no one has ever given me anything like this before!"

He was moved, and I was much more so - for having done a small kindness for someone who's been such a huge part of my life!. 

I can still remember him looking at the back cover and saying "Awww... There's me with my good friend Richard!" 

In response, he whipped-up and handed me another autographed photo!  It was a great day! 

Rest In Peace, Mr. David Hedison, and thank you for just being there for me to look up to as a kid, being a central figure of my days in Sci-Fi TV and Film Fandom, for a still-memorable day in 1999, and beyond!

I'm glad to have been along for some of the... VOYAGE!  

HERE are David Hedison's many credits at IMDB! 

HERE is his New York Times obit!