This is THE PHANTOM BLOT # 7 (Cover Date: November, 1966) released in August, 1966 by Gold Key Comics. Cover and interior art by Paul Murry.
Little did I know - or did ANYONE know - back in those "information-less" days, that this was to be the last ever issue of THE PHANTOM BLOT!
The Phantom Blot was a particular favorite character of mine since this 1964 issue of WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES...
...And remains so to to this day, where it's been a great honor for me to work with the character in modern comic books!
Culminating with WALT DISNEY SHOWCASE # 6 (Released August 15, 2018), the first issue of a regular comic book to be devoted (...or, at least "Cover-Billed") to the Phantom Blot SINCE that 1966 issue!
Therein, you'll find - and this is NOT a spoiler to the overall story - a gag, with dialogue wholly of my own invention, concerning the Blot's capture by the police.
Here is the gag presented in greater context... Rival villains The Phantom Blot and Peg Leg Pete with their respective henchmen, and Police Detective Casey with newly arrived super-cop Brick Boulder, have all been involved in various intrigues and misunderstandings in an art museum.
Much hilarity has ALREADY ensued, but continues with the arrival of Police Chief O' Hara and a squad of officers.
Now, how does all this tie in with my young reading days of 1966?
Glad you asked... And even if you didn't, I'm gonna tell you anyway!
In those original issues of THE PHANTOM BLOT comic book, the interior story would run for 32 PAGES uninterrupted by ads - that is, for the entirety of the book!
The 32 page story from PHANTOM BLOT # 4 (Cover Date: October, 1965): Story by Bob Ogle. Art by Paul Murry.
The BACK COVER was a "pin-up" that consisted of the COVER IMAGE, sans logo and any other descriptive text.
Front Cover and Back Cover Pin Up - by Paul Murry!
(Gag drawn by Paul Murry! Click to Enlarge!)
After reading THE PHANTOM BLOT # 7, way back in August of 1966, I conceived such a one-page Blot gag of my own!
Here it is, presented for the first time outside of my mind! Picture it drawn by Paul Murry, as these gags most often were...
PANEL ONE (FULL WIDTH OF 1st TIER): LOGO: "Walt Disney's The Phantom Blot".
BLOT is in a MUSEUM. Having just ripped a valuable PAINTING from its exhibit, he runs off to RIGHT.
PANEL TWO (HALF WIDTH OF 2nd TIER): With painting tucked under his arm, his run comes to a SKIDDING STOP.
PANEL THREE (HALF WIDTH OF 2nd TIER): Blot is FROZEN. Transfixed at the sight of SOMETHING OFF-PANEL to RIGHT.
PANEL FOUR (FULL WIDTH OF 3rd TIER): COP walks BLOT (still transfixed) to PADDY WAGON, as CHIEF O'HARA looks on.
COP: "I just FOUND HIM staring at an exhibit of VICTORIAN INK BLOTS!"
BLOT (still happily dazed - shape of balloon and nature of lettering should indicate this): "SUBLIME!"
THE END!
This is how I would describe it as a writer TODAY! In August, 1966, it was as fully-realized in my mind's eye as any ACTUAL Blot gag!
Any of this sound familiar 52 years later?
Alas, there never was a PHANTOM BLOT # 8 published back in 1966! Though I looked for one for quite some time thereafter.
It wasn't until my first OVERSTREET COMIC BOOK PRICE GUIDE in the early 1980s, that I realized that no PHANTOM BLOT # 8 ever existed!
However, WALT DISNEY SHOWCASE # 6, with its book-length story "Chief Casey's Longest Night", written in Italy by Tito Faraci, with art by Giorgio Cavazzano, and "translation and dialogue" by yours truly, is more than a worthy substitute for the long-awaited-but-never-realized PHANTOM BLOT # 8 of 1966!
So much so, that I will store an extra copy of WALT DISNEY SHOWCASE # 6 with my original 1960s run of THE PHANTOM BLOT... right where # 8 would have been!
I guess all things REALLY DO come to he, she, it, or they who wait... even if it takes 52 years!
For our pal "Spectrus", we present a full page of the Blot unmasked, as he appeared in this story. Please see Spectrus' request in our Comments Section! (Click to Enlarge!)
40 comments:
Through Wiki wizardry, I do declare that this issue of Walt Disney Showcase officially doubles as The Phantom Blot #8. There
And it's a great gag, for the record! Heck, the way you've worked it into this story refers to it as a past offscreene event, so some artist someday could even complete it in its intended format without conflicting with this version of it. Clever.
Thank you, Achille! ...PHANTOM BLOT # 8, it IS!
If there’s a Wiki link to anything that says so, let’s have it and I’ll publish it here!
Funny thing is, I didn’t translate-and-dialogue “Chief Casey’s Longest Night” with ANY thoughts of the incredible original run of the 1960s PHANTOM BLOT comic.
Oh, I did it with GREAT RELISH, as I do any time I get to work with The Blot (not to mention Pete), but making it a surrogate for PHANTOM BLOT # 8 had never crossed my mind.
But, once I received my advance copy from IDW – and eagerly devoured it on the spot – I came to realize that… “Hey! This could actually have been PHANTOM BLOT # 8!” What with its extra length, array of different characters, and complex (and funny) plot, it was a natural!
So, how’s about this for “irony”, “karma”, or what have you? I had a not-insignificant hand in helping create THE VERY COMIC BOOK I had been longing for… for 52 years!
…Can’t speak for the rest of you, but consider MY mind blown!
Say, since we're talking Blot, there's a question I'd been meaning to ask you: do you (or did you ever) have a "dream-casting" for the Blot's voice? Which of his two official animated voices do you prefer, even should neither of them really fit your idea?
Mine woudl be John O'Hurley in Mickey Mouse Works. Frank Welker did what he could in DuckTales but this shrill, snarling voice doesn't seem like it fits the ever-one-step-ahead, cool-headed-genius qualities that I like in the comics' Blot. He does lose his temper, of course, when Mickey keeps getting in his way, but unlike, say, Pete, you get a real sense that Mickey is being absolutely remarkable for managing to get a rise out of the Blot. The smooth, articulate voice of O'Hurley's Blot seems a much better fit to me.
(Of course, an obvious 'dream cast' for the Blot in the flesh, had there been a live-action film or series adapting Gottfredson and Barks's works on the big screen and trading the anthropomorphic animals for humans, would have been Vincent Price. Somebody once fitted Ratigan's song from Great Mouse Detective to images of the Blot on YouTube and you can just see it if you close your eyes — not to mention Price had the thin black mustache and slick hair all ready! But somehow, it's not even his voice which I hear if it catches my fancy to sound out comic-Blot dialogue in my head. It does come out as more of an O'Hurley. )
No one loves “talking Blot” more than I do, Achille!
Thinking about it, I find there are a few “different Blots”, per era and creator. And each one has his distinctive voice!
John O'Hurley is, without question, the “Gottfredson Blot”, or any Blot written in the Gottfredson mold, as in Scarpa’s “The Blot’s Double Mystery”!
The Paul Murry Silver Age Blot of my beloved mid-sixties comics would have had the same voice as PRUNEFACE in the early-‘60s UPA “DICK TRACY” cartoons, which were running daily at the time I read those comics. That uncredited voice is believed to be by an actor named Benny Rubin, who did the same voice for another Tracy villain, Sketch Paree, but with a faux-French accent. “Pruneface” is the voice I heard, but, that might be unique to my parallel experiences with the Blot and Tracy. If not, I’ll kick that one over to O’Hurley too.
Total aside, BOB OGLE wrote for both the DICK TRACY cartoon and the PHANTOM BLOT comic book! And, not surprisingly, two of my most favorite episodes of TRACY (still to this day, I’ll often watch them on DVD) were written by Ogle! You can see some of the humor-style of the best ‘60s BLOT and SUPER GOOF comics in those cartoons! “Rocket Racket” being the best of all! Can’t count how many times I’ve put that one up on DVD to fill “little pockets of time”!
The briefly-seen mid-1970s Blot, as written by Mark Evanier in a pair of stories for the SUPER GOOF title (drawn by Roger Armstrong), would have sounded like the Frank Welker “DuckTales Blot”! In fact, as I said in my fanzine writings of 30-plus years ago, I feel there was a connection between Armstrong’s ‘70s rendering of the Blot and the DT Blot, as both (incorrectly) exhibited a MOUTH!
The Blot that I write today would be perfectly voiced by Kelsey Grammer in his “Sideshow Bob” voice from THE SIMPSONS! Sinister, but often tripped up by his ego and other character flaws.
And as long as we’re on the subject, the perfect voice for the PETE that I write today is the voice he ALREADY HAS! The Jim Cummings “House of Mouse” Pete voice is perfect for the oafish lout he is portrayed as today. When you read my version of Casty’s “The Coat of Christmas Magic” later this year, you’ll see that I wrote Pete exactly to Cummings’ version! Though, that voice would not have worked for the more-straight “Carl Fallberg and Paul Murry Pete”!
Finally, on the subject of The Blot and Pete… It tickled me NO END to have had Brick Boulder consider Pete to be “…the greatest criminal mastermind of all time”, and simultaneously regard the Blot as “…a common street thief”!
Like the “Victorian Ink Blots”, that, too, was my own invention… though not a “52-year-old” one!
And a worthy addition it was! To be fair, it does seem that modern-Italian-Pete has been dumbed down considerably from the Gottfredson version, who seemed like he was decently smart, just with no education whatsoever. His plans could be devious and genuinely concerning. Twas a different time…
I've just watched a few samples of Benny Rubin's Pruneface, and… yeah! I can see it! Good thinking.
Also, I don't see the Blot with a mouth as being so much "incorrect" as it is an "alternate, weird design evolution" — I lump it in the same basket as white-haired Moby Duck, Dome-Roof Money Bin, or Italian stringy-haired Fethry in comparison to white-mop-of-hair Kinney Fethry. Changes that make little sense, were rather unnecessary, and are kind of off-putting at first, but have been used with enough consistency by their makers and others as to, for all intents and purposes, being as "right" as the original versions, in a way.
I see why Americans might not think that way, since Armstrong's Mouthblot's appearances were, as you say, quite scarce, but for someone like me who grew up reading the Corteggiani and Jean-Claude Marin Mickey stories (which had a very expressive, and very well-written, mouth-bearing Blot), the Phantom Blot with a mouth isn't anathema, just a parallel tradition in some stories.
Yeah, no offence to old Billy Bletcher or good Will Ryan, but Jim Cummings is clearly the definitive Peg-Leg Pete. (And if he ever retires, though by the look of things that'd surprise me, he has a potential successor in the talented Disney-impersonator Brian Hull online… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO4_ZlLbGmU).
Achille:
So true, on the “modern Italian Pete” vs. the “Gottfredson Pete”! And, as the “modern Italian Pete” is the one I write, it adds that I hear him perfectly as Jim Cummings!
You’ve seen that in “The Twelve Buttons of Napoleon” and, again, you will certainly see it in “The Coat of Christmas Magic”!
And, now that you’ve experienced “Benny Rubin's Pruneface”, imagine me bored silly in 5th grade math class, day-dreaming about The Phantom Blot speaking with that voice! …Good thing I wasn’t called-on that day!
There is one critical difference between the Blot having a “mouth”, and the other vagaries of design you cite. And, since we’ve been “all-nostalgic” around here these last few weeks, I’ll quote something I wrote for the fanzine, THE DUCKBURG TIMES # 22 (1987):
“…An interesting sidelight is that, ever since [Roger] Armstrong gave the Blot a ‘smile’, other artists, including Paul Murry, have done so as well! Evidently, it wasn’t understood that the Blot is merely someone under a black cloak, and not some sort of ‘Phantom Shadow’!”
…The descriptive term “Phantom Shadow”, I believe I borrowed from Scooby-Doo! Perhaps even Paul Murry never knew (or maybe forgot) this, as HE also drew the mouth in any “Post-Evanier/Armstrong Blot appearances”! And “Classic DuckTales” had not yet premiered, so no reference to the mouth (“smile”) appearing on the DT Blot!
Just curious, did the “Corteggiani and Jean-Claude Marin Mickey stories (which had a very expressive, and very well-written, mouth-bearing Blot)” appear BEFORE or AFTER the Evanier/Armstrong Super Goofs? (Late 1974 – 1975)
Brian Hull is quite good! Everyone, go check it out HERE!
Posterior — they're solidly 80's.
But here's a weird thing: looking back on Inducks to answer this question with certainty, I find that the first time Claude Marin drew the Blot in 1982 in the Patrice Valli-written The Phantom Blot Unchained, https://inducks.org/story.php?c=F+JM+81002, he did so without the mouth. But in the story which I remember most fondly and vividly, as, I think, my first introduction to the Phantom Blot in the first place — The Giants from Planet Rong, https://inducks.org/story.php?c=F+JM+85119 — he had the mouth.
Unchained and Planet Rong are, incidentally, both rather terrific tales. The former is, I think, a knowing and worthy successor to your beloved Return, reusing the plot device of a lot of newspaper clippings about the Blot's past exploits — except here, the Blot himself is the one who collects them, keeping them in his cell. The spark of the mystery is that after his inevitable escape, the police find the stash of clippings and discover, to their horror and confusion, that some of the articles describe crimes he hasn't committed yet… As for the latter, it's a rather Casty-esque romp with Eega Beeva and Goofy as equal-footing sidekicks, which manages to cram the Phantom Blot and Pete (competently fearsome Gottfredson!Pete at that!) together on top of the titular aliens and still come out with a balanced and interesting plot. Alongside Claude Marin's Donald's Great Invention, these two are top of my list of French stories that American publishers should run at some point.
As to whether the mouth was indicative of forgetting the Blot is a guy in a costume (what do you suppose that costume is made of, actually? House of Mouse says rubber) and instead taking him for some sort of literal living ink-blot or living shadow… I don't know. It certainly fostered that misconception among young readers, no doubt, but I don't think many actual authors harbored such an idea. He's quite clearly human in the French stories, and check out this panel from a 1988 S-coded story (https://inducks.org/story.php?c=S+85305, most notable, perhaps, for being one of the rare recent-ish story for which Inducks completely draws a blank in the 'authors' field): https://inducks.org/hr.php?normalsize=1&image=https://outducks.org/webusers/webusers-char0/br_mk_0473d_009_pb.jpg this mouthed depiction actually doubles down in the other direction, showing the outline of a nose and a clear collar, leaving no doubt as to the nature of the Blot.
Before anybody brings him up, the Epic Mickey Phantom Blot is not the same character, was never really the same character at any point in development, and the writers were quite aware that the original Blot was a man in a costume, even considering him giving him a role in the finished game separate from their living-ink-golem Blot. (They decided against it because it would be confusing for non-fans, which, fair enough, but dammit nonetheless.)
So, that would indicate that it was likely Roger Armstrong (circa 1974) who first drew the Blot with a mouth? …Unless there’s some other extant European edition that eludes either of us.
While I have not read either of those stories in many years, I recall nothing in Evanier’s scripts that would specifically indicate a mouth! It was probably just Armstrong’s misinterpretation of who and what the Phantom Blot was – perhaps due to his relatively limited background in Disney comics.
HERE, by the way, is the result of the “DuckTales Blot” being presumably derived from the “Roger Armstrong Blot”!
You cannot imagine how much I would LOVE to read Phantom Blot stories with the titles “The Phantom Blot Unchained” and “The Giants from Planet Rong”!
Say, David Gerstein and Fantagraphics… If you’re reading this, would CLAUDE MARIN be considered a “Disney Master”? If so, we’ve got some stories picked-out – and I wanna dialogue at least one of ‘em!
...Sight unseen, preferably “The Giants from Planet Rong”!
Either Kelsey Grammer or John deLancey (Q from Star Trek: the Next Generation, numerous animation vice-overs) would be perfect voices for the Phantom Blot, in my opinion. The DuckTales ‘87 Blot voice is just too cartoony.
I liked this issue of Walt Disney Showcase. It was a very funny crime farce.
John DeLancie?
That’s some good out-of-the-Blot… er, box thinking, Deb!
I like it, but I’d still opt for a deeper voice than had “Q”. “Q” didn’t need a deep voice to come across as menacing, because he was omnipotent! In fact, the more unassuming – yet overtly sarcastic – voice only ADDED to the character of “Q”!
The Blot, on the other hand, needs “more deep” to add to his mysteriousness.
That’s probably why the DuckTales Blot, rates rather low on this scale.
...And thank you! I REALLY enjoyed dialoguing that one! Can't 'cha tell?
To answer your above question, the "official" confirmation of "Phantom Blot #8" will come when I I finish up the page about this story on the Wiki. I… honestly can't tell you when that will be. Not too long.
Great! Please let us know, once it's up!
I think it is so DEEPLY COOL that you got to dialogue a Blot story *set in a museum* so that you could use the excellent joke you had written decades earlier. When I first read the story, before I knew this backstory, I loved that "sublime"!
And I'll call it karma, not irony, that you got to have a hand in creating the comic book you'd been longing for for 52 years. Karma, as in, well-deserved appropriate payback for decades of loyalty, appreciation, and high-quality fan-itude. Instead of a collection of newspaper clippings describing your heists, you get a collection of comics you helped create, some with your name on the cover!, including "Phantom Blot #8". Can't beat that!
Elaine:
I don’t think I could “beat that”, if I tried with every ounce of my energy and imagination! Thank you for sharing in these great feelings!
That I “…got to have a hand in creating the comic book [I'd] been longing for for 52 years” is something worthy of Rod Serling – in the best possible way!
Just imagine if “1966 me” could see me now! He’d probably ask me why we don’t have “flying cars”…
Finally got my chance to read the story today! I was "hearing" the Blot's voice as done by Paul Frees, similar to his Ghost Host voice but with a more sinister tone. There are actually two or three of his voices that might have done justice to the Blot. The "Green Goose" as voiced by Frees from "Man Called Flintstone" also comes to mind, although the pitch was too high for the Blot, but the tone was about right.
The dialogue was great, as always! Love the "Brick Boulder" reference! I wonder how many readers realize that Brick Boulder was an athletic director in Bedrock.
Scarecrow:
Why, yes! Paul Frees would certainly have been able to come up with a suitable voice for the Blot! Alas, who in the world of the 1960s, would ever have envisioned him being animated… beyond, young-actively-imaginative-me, of course!
As for “Brick Boulder”, I think we’ll just have to chalk that up to one of those “Happy Coincidences”!
I did not name the character, as he was created to be a continuing presence in Italian stories that feature the Mouseton P.D., specifically those with Detective Casey. In the original story I received to translate, he was called “Rock Sassi”!
I was instructed by David Gerstein to refer to this great new addition to Mouse-continuity as “Brick Boulder” and, as a “good little translator and dialogue writer”, complied unquestioningly. The fact that I LIKED the name – A LOT – had not a thing to do with my dutiful lack of resistance! :-)
I had echoes of the name “Brick Boulder” as having been used on THE FLINTSTONES (…and more specific thoughts of his being a “gym owner”, voiced by Howard Morris – but, at the time, was under too much of a deadline to look it up), contributing to my liking it all the more!
David does not have the background and interest in Hanna-Barbera that you and I do, though I’ve succeeded in “breaking him down” on some of the best early stuff! And it was HE who exposed me to the wonders of SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERY INCORPORATED, resulting in a memorable two-day DVD binge of it at my place a few years back!
But, I seriously doubt he had any inkling of THAT “Brick Boulder”, given that it was a sort-of-faint-but-nagging echo even for me! I’m also not certain if he and Jonathan Gray came up with the name (…I seem to remember something like that – and maybe one of them will confirm) or if it came from elsewhere, like Disney Italy or a specific creator like the story’s original writer Tito Faraci.
Either way, it was I who, in the spirit of the name “Brick Boulder” (…and, more obliquely, THE FLINTSTONES), contributed the name of Brick Boulder’s former jurisdiction… “Rio Granite, Texas”!
…I hope people remember to use it in any future translations!
Scarecrow, I think old Vincent Beauregard Gracey… Phineas J. Pock… Amycus Arcane… whatever name he goes back these days — the Ghost Host — would be quite offended that you don't consider his voice sinister. Of many things that the Ghost Host's voice is, I think "sinister" and "ominous" rank rather near the top. As for casting him as the Blot, I honestly think the Ghost Host voice is a bit too deep, but yes, of course. Though to be honest there's very, very few male characters to whom Paul Frees could not have given at least a decently fitting voice. I could easily imagine him doing a good Scrooge, a good Oswald, heck, even a good Brick Boulder (in a very hammy way).
And, Joe, I hate to stir up resentment for What Could Have Been But Wasn't, but though animation was probably out (though how awesome would it have been to have a live-action Blot interfere with the Mickey Mouse Club? eh? eh?), but we could still have gotten a 1960's voice performance of the Blot in radio shows. I read somewhere that the freaking Sleuth had a presence on one of the Disney radio shows, so why not the Blot?
Achille:
The very notion of “a live-action Blot interfer[ing] with the Mickey Mouse Club” has GOT to be worthy of some great prize!
Especially, if it was the 1950s version of "The Club That's Made for You and Me"! The Black-and-White broadcasts would have suited him perfectly!
Jimmie Dodd calls “Mouseketeer Roll Call”, and no one answers – no Darleen, no Cubby, etc. – because the Blot has kidnapped them all! Naturally, Annette and an animated Mickey (…or, if the animation was too difficult to do on a 1950s TV budget, the Walk-Around Mickey character form Disneyland), foil the Blot’s evil plan!
…And, in the 1950s, Paul Frees may very well have voiced the live-action Blot – who would have no moving mouth to synch to!
Anyone who may wonder why I love doing this Blog so much need look no further than stuff like this!
PS: I’m sure I’ve said it already but, from the moment I first saw the character of Brick Boulder, I imagined him being perfectly voiced by Patrick Warburton.
Is this still a Blog, or has it been transformed secretly into a Blot? You tell me!
Here's how the dialog goes (more or less) in the German version -
O'Hara: "I'd like to hear why I have to walk through the rain in the middle of the night to find THIS!"
Policeman: "Look who we've got here!"
Policeman: "These two had been hanging around in front of the museum!" - "Pete's here, too - and already handcuffed!" - Blot: "Grrr!"
O'Hara: "Very nice! Get them all in the police department!"
More "conventionally speaking", but we've been over the merits of dialoging too often before. I'm really glad this fantastic story has made it to the US, and hopefully it gets more people interested in these sorts of comics. Faraci definitely isn't a one-hit-wonder, and neither is Brick Boulder!
Warburton? Great pick.
(And a great actor. Not only is he terribly funny as his usual simple-minded Tick-Kronk-Danny-Etc. character, of whom Boulder would be a sort of variation, his work as Lemony Snicket which I watched a few months ago show he has a surprising amount of range. Snicket being the narrator of the story and a very intelligent and knowledgeable, ever so slightly sinister, mysterious character with a tragic background. It has to be seen to be believed, and genuinely makes me and many people want to see him tackle a Shakespeare role or something.)
Spectrus:
That’s more or less the way it went in the Italian version as well.
I’m not interested in reviving those old discussions either, but folks have told me how much they enjoyed the “Victorian Ink Blots” bit, and now they have something to compare it with.
I hope we see more Faraci and Brick Boulder going forward! I LOVE the character!
Achille:
Isn’t it funny that we AGREE on Patrick Warburton as a great voice for Brick Boulder, yet have different instances of Warburton’s work to cite as the reasons why!
My choice is based on his work on FAMILY GUY (Officer Joe Swanson), SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERY INCORPORATED (Sheriff Bronson Stone), and especially THE BATMAN (as Detective Cash Tankinson)!
That’s what makes these discussions so much fun!
Holy — Sheriff Stone is played by Warburton in English?… I never new! Having watched Mystery Incorporated as it ran on French TV, as its (well-)dubbed self…
I'm not enough of a general Batman fan to have known who Tankinson was offhand, sadly, but after looking him up I see how he could have informed your choice.
Anyway, as I have just been inspired to give Mystery Incorporated a watch in English (the only part of it I have seen in English is a brief clip of the Vincent Van Ghoul episode, where I was put off by the fact that the Vincent Price impression isn't actually all that great, if memory serves), I really recommend you give A Series of Unfortunate Events a look someday.
You should also give The Emperor's New Groove a watch (with Warburton as the immensely likable not-so-evil-henchman of Earth Kitt's Yzma, one Kronk by name). I know you're not much for Disney feature films, but this one is really unlike the others — it's a straight comedy, and even the anymation style is different; it's a fast-paced wacky comedy with more to do with Tex Avery and Chuck Jones than with old Walt. I think you might just really enjoy it.
Just chiming in to say how much I LOVE the idea of a live-action Blot invading the b&w Mickey Mouse Club. The unanswered roll call, how perfect. It's all so should-have-happened apt, probably 20 years from now I'll be certain that I actually *saw* it. And I'll be happier for it!
I'd be fine with Annette solving the case on her own, with an animated Mickey just appearing to brief her on the Blot's M.O. That should make the animation affordable, no? And then a live-action Chief O'Hara could give her a good citizenship award at the end. I'm sure you can suggest someone to play O'Hara....
David recently said on Feathery that the name "Brick Boulder" was "actually created earlier by Jonathan Gray" and that the name was one "we tested with Faraci himself and found he thought was perfect!"
You should read that comment of David's on Feathery, Joe, he compliments you in it! It's on the "Giorgio Cavazzano...and the artists influenced by his style" thread. (I'd quote that compliment here, too, but it works better to read it in the context of the conversation.)
Achille:
Once I have an idea of someone’s tastes, and I feel they know mine, I take seriously any recommendations that they might make. You’ve become one of that select group! I’ve heard of “Lemony Snicket” and should add that to my “to-VIEW” list! …Most ordinary folks have a “to-do” list! :-)
I would probably not seek out a Disney movie – especially a more modern one – without some serious provocation. But, perhaps there’s a slim hope for “New Groove”, if for no other reason than your recommendation. All the usual “Horrifically Busy” conditions notwithstanding!
Sometimes I marvel (LOWER CASE ‘m’) at the amount of things I actually HAVE managed to see/read/do/create, etc., given those prevailing conditions! …Days really need to become longer! Who’ll sign my petition?
Elaine:
Maybe Mickey could just be a “voice on the telephone” that guides Annette on her heroic mission! That would REALLY save money and animation – and (as 1950s TV productions went) would have actually worked!
I’ve long imagined Victor McLaglen as Chief O’Hara’s human counterpart! And, if not, there’s always Robert Emmett O’Connor, who did a great turn as an Irish Cop in THIS James Cagney film, which also added the “Ultimate Cagney Impression Phrase” to our lexicon – though not EXACTLY as it would be later immortalized by impressionists!
On the origin of the name “Brick Boulder”, I do recall David saying something to that effect in conversation. I checked out the post, and both David and Thad have some very kind words for my efforts. Thank you for pointing this out – and huge thanks to David and Thad, as well! I might not have seen it, if not for your alert.
HERE is a link, if anyone cares to read it – about halfway down the page. …Gawrsh! …Hyuck!
I see on IMDB that Victor McLaglen did play Irish or Irish-American characters a number of times, though his ancestry was actually Scottish! He even played an "Officer O'Mara." But I am most amused by the fact that he appeared in "The Gay Caballero"! Scottish...gay caballero...geez, maybe he should have played a character in the Duckworld! Just kidding. He'd have been perfect as O'Hara.
Yeah, O'Connor actually *was* Irish-American, and the main photo of him on his IMDB bio page shows him playing a cop.
Sure, Mickey could be a voice on the telephone. I like to imagine the dialogue you'd write for Mickey, as he fills in and warns Annette about the Blot.
I'd like to imagine it too, Elaine... even though I would have been age 0-3 at the time, and my dialogues would have been, um... "less sophisticated"!
I finally got my hands on IDW's The Phantom Blot #8 a few days ago… which means, here's the Wiki page about Chief Casey's Longest Night… complete with mention of its printing in "Walt Disney Showcase #58/The Phantom Blot #8", and a summary of the bit of trivia you related on this very blogpost!
https://scrooge-mcduck.wikia.com/wiki/Chief_Casey%27s_Longest_Night
Two questions for further improvement of said page — so there was your "second mention of Leonardo Da Ginchy"… was there another punny Da Vinci ripoff in the Italian (if so, what was the name?), or, like in Upheaval, did the Rotunda, painting go without any known author? And was the "monstrous green alien" gag on the first page yours? (It's only one of many, many jokes that hit home in the issue. Fantastic job.)
That’s GREAT WORK on the Wiki, Achille!
HERE is the link, for everyone's viewing pleasure!
I will send you a list of “additions/corrections/answers to your questions” off the Blog. No sense in listing things here that will soon no longer be part of the entry. Let us all know when it is updated.
I just realized you didn't post any pics of the unmasked Blot. Given that we in Germany never had the chance to see the Blot's face in this story except for one panel (as he was painted over to look as if he was wearing his cloak all the time) it would have been nice...
Spectrus:
There’s always some method to our madness around here, even when it came to selecting the Blot images used for this post.
ONE: An unmasked Blot image would not have been in keeping with our theme of relating this story to those of 1964-1966, which inspired in me the gag in question. Indeed, it wouldn’t be until 1978, and the reprint of the original Gottfredson Blot story from 1939 in the Abbeville Press hardcover “MICKEY MOUSE”, that I would first know what he looked like under the hood.
TWO: I intended (and still do, the usual “Horrific Busyness” permitting) to do a full post on the issue. In fact, I may do a number of “Retroactive IDW Disney Posts” on issues I felt I SHOULD have posted on, but didn’t for various reasons. The unmasked Blot would (will?) certainly appear there!
But, never let it be said that we fail to serve our readers around here! You’ll find a FULL PAGE with FOUR (…Count ‘em – FOUR!) Blot heads in all their Cavazzano glory! …Click to enlarge the image for greater detail!
Hum! When this story was published in Poland decades ago, The Blot was in mask for entire story... exept for one panel. Now I can tell they re-color him in that publication. You can still see the red toung, which was odd...
Pan:
It would be fascinating to know why certain publishers (…as in your experience, as well as that of Spectrus) opt to “color-over” or, perhaps, outright re-draw The Blot to be in his mask, when the original artist has drawn him not to be.
That’s one quirk I don’t believe we’ve ever had in the USA… and we have had A LOT of quirks!
I can only imagine they wanted to be consistent with the "He never takes of his mask" rule.
Honestly for so many years I only seen stories where he was only in mask I wasn't aware he even has a face (like he is ment to be some black ghost-like creature and not an actual human) untill I seen it on-line and some time after stories with un-masked Blot started to apperead in Poland.
I heard that in Germany they remove guns from the stories (something I don't think was ever censorship concern in Poland) but that's anther story...
The Blot was unmasked at the end of the original Floyd Gottfredson story. Any depictions of his exposed visage stem from that.
But, in the American comics, drawn by Paul Murry and few others, his face was never seen. This was the case until we began getting Italian stories here!
First of all, thanks for the image! Nice to see his actual facial expressions (and to learn that the English name of the painting is "La Rotunda"... I have no idea what the original name is, but in German it's "Lona Misa". That cracked me up as a kid, and still makes me smile today!)
Secondly, I'm pretty sure the Polish version of the book is the same compilation as the German, Swedish, Dutch, etc., as by this time the "Lustiges Taschenbuch" had already become an international collaboration put together by Egmont. And that's where the problem lies; because in this period Egmont started producing more and more Mickey comics themselves, certain "things" happened. The Blot in those Egmont stories was much more megalomaniac, but also a far less "human" character, and in several stories Mickey actually says he doesn't even know if the Blot is a human being or how he looks under his cloak. And in order to preserve this myth, the Italian Blot was almost completely blocked from publishing in these countries. This was the only exception in a looooong stretch that lasted from 1991 to 2005, and apparently the only way they could print it without making their own stories look stupid, was by violating Cavazzano's beautiful art. (There was one other I-Blot in that period, but he didn't take off his mask there: https://inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1942-D )
Sadly, during this period Mickey was reduced to 1 story per book, and because the Danish would not throw something away they produced themselves, I-Micky became almost eradicated in favour of stories which became more and more childish and absurd, including some horrible uses of the generic D-Blot. Bad times.
Thankfully, the editors remedied this when they started printing Blot stories by Savini and particularly Casty (I TL 2597-1 with the wonderful cover) and eventually killed off the 3-tiered D-Mickey (known by fans as "Kaschperlmicky", i.e. "clownish, idiotic Mickey") for good.
As for removing guns, this was done in the very early years of the LTB, but not in recent times.
Happy to help, Spectrus!
And thanks for all the Blot background! Imagine, covering up Cavazzano’s art like that! Criminal!
"La Rotunda" was the name of the painting in the Italian original that I received to work with. It was too perfect to even consider messing with!
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