If you really are "judged by the company you keep", then freeze-dry and bury me RIGHT HERE!
IDW's DONALD AND MICKEY # 4 (on sale August 08, 2018) gave me quite the lift... and I don't mean the only by the great cover illustration for Casty's "Terrifying World of Tutor"!
Check out the line-up of creator names at the top...
Um, folks... That's... Ya know, like... Andrea "Casty" Castellan, William Van Horn, the great Mr. Carl Barks, John Lustig, and Daan Jippes!
Let alone the name of Walt Disney directly following this almost mythical gathering!
...I feel like a pebble on this "Disney Comics Mt. Rushmore"!
Yes, I know Mt. Rushmore honors FOUR US Presidents, and there are FIVE legendary Disney comics creators lumped together on that cover with li'l old me... but just "go with the bit"! I'm on a roll, here!
Or, if it were the REAL Mt. Rushmore, I would feel like a rock formation that, by some puckish design of nature, took the form of a nose hair on George Washington!
I don't really know, but I suspect the algorithm employed by IDW for creator billing is something like "Original Writer, Artist, Translator" for the lead-story, followed by the same for backups - in order of story appearance in the issue!
Given this issue's lead-story, Casty's "Terrifying World of Tutor"(translated and dialogued by yours truly), that WOULD put me in the # 2 position overall, but still...
...I'll take it! At least until someone comes along with some stone-cutting nose hair trimmers!
30 comments:
Hey, I say you deserve it!
The comrades of the Gang of the Green Gorilla will take this opportunity to mention that they would approve of Citizen Casty's report on the Saga of Tutor, and Translator Torcivia's diligent translation of same, were it not for the glaring omission of green gorilla-kind among the animals populating this tale's exciting climax. When shall mankind learn to know and respect us? (The answer is, when we have brainwashed them some more.)
Note also, Blogger… Borcivia… that we are eagerly awaiting your report on the further adventures of our reviled rivals, the Horde of the Violet Hare, in their quest for the Fire-Eye of Atlantis. Our sources indicate that they were expounded upon in a file designated "WDC&S #742". In rougher words as befitting our jungle-adapted species: GET ON THAT.
Achille:
Thank you! And thank you, IDW, for a fortuitous (in this instance, anyway) algorithm!
GGG's:
I'm beginning to see why Tutor didn't take you with him... And it ain't because "It's not easy being Green!"
Would you believe this issue's 8 pages of Donald content were really supposed to go between the two "Tutor" chapters?
I suspect the Gang of the Green Gorilla... confound you, Green Gorilla!
That *is* a great line-up. Glad you got to be in it! No matter what happens in the uncertain future of the comics biz, that cover, with its evidence of Your Place in the Pantheon, will be lovingly saved in many a collection!
May I take this opportunity to tell you how delighted I was by "McDonald Duckless" in the Money Rocket story? Pun of the Year. Did you think that up your own self? Did you think it up decades ago, and have you been waiting ever since for the chance to use it? It's so perfect.
Joe:
Congratulations on your entry into the “Disney Comics Mount Rushmore”! I’m sure the excitement you feel towards your name being listed with those other names can’t fully be articulated with words; so enjoy that feeling!
Oh wait, it can be articulated with words: Mr. “George Washington’s nose hair” lol
I leave you with a quote from the great Jerry Seinfeld from a discussion he had with then President Obama on the ACTUAL Mount Rushmore:
“You ever notice that George Washington is looking away from the other guys?”
I would say Castellan, Van Horn, Barks, Lustig, and Jippes are in good company!
Mt. Rushmore? Sure, but maybe more like Mt. Olympus!
Scarecrow:
No, Mt. Olympus would be Floyd Gottfredson, Carl Barks, Romano Scarpa… and Mr. Disney as Zeus.
And, if there really were a Disney Comics version of Mt. Rushmore, it would more likely be the same triumvirate of Floyd Gottfredson, Carl Barks, and Romano Scarpa… with the fourth place being debated among Al Taliaferro, Don Rosa, or Casty – depending on the sculptor’s inclinations.
My place would most likely be as either “the guy who sweeps-up the loose pebbles” that flake off the monument, or “the guy with the stone-cutting nose hair trimmers”!
David:
You write: “Would you believe this issue's 8 pages of Donald content were really supposed to go between the two "Tutor" chapters? I suspect the Gang of the Green Gorilla... confound you, Green Gorilla!”
Considering how long we had to wait to learn the story behind Tutor, anything – even the repositioning of a brief Van Horn break – was worthwhile toward resolving the suspense!
Besides, would YOU have left Mickey in the jaws of death, just to have some yuks with Van Horn’s Donald? I think those Green Guys did us all a favor in terms of narrative flow!
Maybe Tutor should reconsider his snubbing of them… and leave those wise-guy crows behind instead!
"What—with no prissy FOXES left for us ta chisel? Ya wound me, Joe."
Elaine:
Yes, amazing that you should say so… "McDonald Duckless" was one of those “random floating bits” that have bounced around in my brain for many years, just waiting for an opportunity to strike at an unsuspecting audience.
I have way-too-many of those… all fighting for their chance to be seen. Some have been around for decades – and have even had an intended-use vastly different from the way they were eventually employed.
For instance, “Is there no honor among Thebes?”, as seen in THIS ISSUE OF UNCLE SCROOGE, goes back 40-50 years (!), as something I mentally-wrote for the KING TUT character from the 1966 BATMAN TV Show!
“Facebeak” was something I came up with more recently than 40-50 years ago (obviously), but finally found its way into THIS ISSUE OF UNCLE SCROOGE! It was so good – and so obvious – I was afraid someone else would get it into a story before I did! …And, for all I know, outside the USA, maybe someone did!
Another one that’s been around for a VERY LONG TIME (decades), and that I’ll probably never get to use – so I’ll expend it here – is: A Medieval book on marketing and salesmanship titled “Buy My Troth”! I was optimistic about finding a place to force it into “Going Medieval”, but that never happened.
In the upcoming WALT DISNEY SHOWCASE # 6 (The Phantom Blot), the specific line about how the Blot was apprehended by the police was the punchline to a mentally-written one-page Phantom Blot gag, like the ones on the inside covers of the original 1960s issues. It’s been around since then – and finally got its chance to shine. Remember that when you read the issue!
Finally, I have a gag for Donald Duck’s Neighbor Jones that’s also been around a very long time. The only time I got to write the character, in THIS ISSUE OF DONALD DUCK, there was no opportunity to use it – so I’m holding-on to it! Tightly, so don’t ask! :-)
Clapton:
You quote Jerry Seinfeld: “You ever notice that George Washington is looking away from the other guys?”
Not only is that a great line from the Great Mr. Seinfeld… but I never noticed that before! LOVE IT!
Perhaps the only thing worse than trimming George Washington’s rocky nose hair with a stone-cutting trimmer would be scraping the rocky-tartar-build-up off his stone-wooden teeth!
If Carl Barks’ Donald Duck hasn’t already taken that job, no doubt he’ll hold it in the future!
Oh, and if I don’t have any opportunity to otherwise announce it… Tuesday, August 14 will be this humble Blog’s TENTH ANNIVERSARY! We’ll have a special post for the occasion. See you there.
Indeed, Washington doesn't seem quite on the same plane as the other three — which is something I noted a long time ago when I first saw a picture of Mount Rushmore from my distant, French, "who are these peculiar American guys and what have they done to that poor mountain" perspective. Though to be fair, while this famous angle [https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/grid_builder/mwr/crop16_9/C6C71E83-1DD8-B71B-0B3B2B02603AB440.jpg?width=307&quality=90&mode=crop] makes this distant gaze obvious, from others, probably-closer-to-the-intended-persective ones, such as this [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Dean_Franklin_-_06.04.03_Mount_Rushmore_Monument_%28by-sa%29.jpg/256px-Dean_Franklin_-_06.04.03_Mount_Rushmore_Monument_%28by-sa%29.jpg], it's somewhat less egregious.
Still, it's always been my opinion that memorable though it may be, Mount Rushmore is kind of a weird, shoddily-designed landmark, without even getting into the very muddy circumstances of its construction. Beyond the already puzzling choice of just four presidents, albeit four who are arguably the more famous ones, there's also the fact that while Washington gets to break away from the rock, Lincoln barely gets his beard and face out, the rest of him still welded into the stone. I'm sorry, but all I can think of is the Gnome King from Return to Oz when I look at that, and this is not good comparison to make.
I know that we Frenchmen of the gigantic steel replica of the letter A shouldn't be ones to talk about how other countries' monuments are silly… but still.
Like with the Super Mysterious Character a few months ago, now I'm all excited to see those Blot and Jones gags whenever they appear… confound your sense of dramatic suspense! Ghhh! You could make a living in the advertisement business, you know that?
While Donald hasn't trimmed George Washington's rocky nose-hair, tis true… he has come close twice, you'll recall; firstly and Barksianly, in the excellent ten-pager Losing Face (from WDC&S #204) where he had a very similar position at an obvious Mount Rushmore stand-in, and ended up destroying the depicted Senator's nose altogether… and second and most recently, in the Legend of the Three Caballeros animated show, where he met the ghosts of all four Rushmore presidents, and fought against demented, animate stone replicas of duckface-Washington at various times of his life. (It's… it's a weird show. Usually in a good way.)
A Disney Comics Mount Olympus? Boy, wouldn't that be the stuff. Some hasty notes:
God of Ducks: Carl Barks.
God of Mice: Floyd Gottfredson.
Also God of Mice (and if that bothers you, classic mythology has two divinites of war, so there): Romano Scarpa.
God of Mice Too (because good things come in threes): Casty.
God of Beauty: Marco Rota.
God of Time and Details: Don Rosa.
God of Imagination: Luciano Bottaro.
God of Abundance and Tirelessness: Vic Lockman.
God of Language: Joe Torcivia.
God of History, Archivism, and Prehistoric Monkeys: David Gerstein.
…god, I could keep going forever.
We of the Legion of the Chartreuse Tortoise actually were on one of those "Face Ships", but were unceremoniously booted off when our self-appointed leader Mervin kept asking if there was an in-flight movie and then insisted on driving the thing. Ultimately, the story's author Casty decided to leave our misadventures out of the story because not only was it already too long at three chapters, we really didn't add anything to the plot. Also, we would have ended up being the property of Disney.
Here comes Debbie...and she looks pretty angry. I'm not using her phone, I'm on the laptop!
I can understand why Debbie would be upset… um, “Chartreuse Mervin”. If you and “Mauve Fluffy” were to, by some twisted quirk of fate and copyright law, end up “being the property of Disney”, Debbie might wake up one morning to find that an entirely different group of individuals from another land are writing “Fluffy and Mervin”… and that, no matter how well Debbie had been writing the characters’ dialogue and providing their characterizations for an American audience, she had been unceremoniously given (if you’ll pardon the expression)“the boot”!
In fact, Debbie better hope your cut scene isn’t restored for some deluxe hardcover version, or SHE may also become a member of “the company I keep” for an entirely different reason – and relatively soon!
Oh, no wait… I didn’t say any of that! Those rassa-frassin Green Gorillas must have brainwashed me into saying it! YEAH… THAT’S IT!
Achille:
In one sense or another, aren’t ALL monuments silly? I can recall a JUDGE DREDD story (originally created and published in the late 1970s / early 1980s, and in England, of course) where Jimmy Carter had been added to Mt. Rushmore by Dredd’s future time – and some villain (can’t recall the specifics because I last read it in the ‘80s) met his demise by crashing into the former president’s large stone teeth! “No! Not the TEETH!”, I believe were the perp’s last words! I found that incredibly funny, as are many things to be found in JUDGE DREDD!
HERE and HERE are the Mt Rushmore links for your viewing pleasure!
You should be able to see my Blot gag in a matter of days. It’s where a police officer has caught him, the reason WHY he was caught - and the Blot's reaction to this turn of events! And, no one but the readers of this Blog will ever know that it dates back to 1966! And, as coincidence would have it, the Blot gag appears in THE VERY SAME STORY that introduces “the Super Mysterious Character [mentioned] a few months ago”! …Ain’t it grand how this stuff works out sometimes?
I’d be more than willing to bet that ALL writers have stuff like this, roiling and percolating in their brains – sometimes for decades, that eventually finds its way into their work whenever the opportunity presents itself! I’m sure that David, speaking above for Crawford Crow – whom Tutor would have decidedly left behind, could attest to that!
As for the “Jones gag”, both you AND I will have to be very patient… because I have yet to have a proper opportunity to use it! …And, when I finally do, it may very well be cut, like some of my references to “Goat-Ham City”! Let’s see how (and IF) that plays out!
I absolutely LOVE your Disney Comics Pantheon of Gods! Each one is both imaginative and befitting of their station and body of work! …Especially Vic Lockman!
And it's not just writers. This fan has dozens of ideas and knicknacks to be unveiled if ever a twist of fate lands me in a position to do so, no matter how unlikely this is… not even to go into the embarrassingly-endless stream of original movie and book ideas I get, with hardly the time (or, let's be honest, talent) to do most of them any justice.
For instance, it may amuse you that I have a synopsis all planned out of a Donald or Mickey story that would give the Gang of the Green Gorilla, Legion of the Chartreuse Tortoise, Mélange of the Mauve Muskrat, etc. their comic debut… and explain just where they came from.
But, that’s just it, Achille:
Most everyone with any kind of interest in this sorta stuff is a writer, or an artist, or a colorist, or a letterer (…some might even aspire to the exalted position of “Archival Editor”) on the inside. And some, by stroke of luck, quirk of fate, or their own innate talent coupled with dogged persistence will get the great privilege (…and make NO mistake, I consider everything I do with these comics to be a great privilege that has been granted me – by David and others who believe in me) of bringing that “stuff inside” out to the public!
Could I have ever imagined, even in my wildest of dreams, that the Phantom Blot gag that I first imagined way back in 1966 would actually appear in a Phantom Blot comic book in 2018?! …And actually credited to me, when even Paul Murry got no credit in those original comics?!
Heck, could I have even imagined a “2018”… without George Jetson in it? And our cars still riding along the Earth’s paved surfaces, just like they did in ’66?
And, on another “unrelated-yet-related” note, it was 52 years ago THIS MONTH (in August, 1966) that the seventh and final issue of Gold Key’s PHANTOM BLOT series was released – fittingly with story by Vic Lockman and art by Paul Murry. And that was when I conceived my Blot one-page gag – after reading that freshly-minted, newly-bought issue!
In fact, WALT DISNEY SHOWCASE # 6 fits so perfectly with those issues – a book-length story with a variety of characters therein – that I plan to store an extra copy of the issue with my original run of THE PHANTOM BLOT, and mentally-designate it as the long-awaited-but-never-arrived PHANTOM BLOT # 8! Perhaps other “obsessive comics organizers” will do the same for their own collections.
Finally, as is clearly obvious from both your comments on this Blog and our private correspondence, you are a very talented and creative fellow, with plenty of time ahead to get your shot! And, when that happens, I look forward to experiencing it… even if it’s in French, and you have to translate it for me!
Achille: as the owner of the Legion of the Chartreuse Tortoise's only two members, Fluffy and Mervin...you can have the name of the organization, but please, please PLEASE leave my cat and mouse out of your story. Especially if you decide to pitch it to Disney or one of their licensees. They're pretty much all I have creatively, and I don't want to lose them.
...Yes, after all, would you want to see a "blocky-looking animated series" that goes completely against Debbie's wonderful original designs?
@Debbie: Sure! In the highly unlikely event that I do get the chance to write this story officially, the Legion would only be namedropped in the list of bizarre societies.
…oh, if only I was half the artist you are, I'd write this story regardless of whether I get paid for it (didn't stop Sarah Jolley, did it? and she's awesome and successful in her own way), but I'm worried I wouldn't do it justice.
Joe:
A google search has revealed that the judge dredd story you referenced was chapter five of “The Cursed Earth” orignally published in May 1981.
I was interusted in finding out the exact year the story was published so I could better understand the context of the Jimmy Carter gag. Had it Been from early on in Carter’s presidency than his face on Mount Rushmore could have represented the enthusiasm and hope people felt about the man. Maybe he COULD end up on Mount Rushmore. With it actually being from after he left office the joke must have reflected his unpopularity at the time. ie The idea of Carter being on Mount Rushmore was absurd in 1981. Not saying I agree with what was the popular opinion but as an unoffical student of history I like to understand it.
And nooow back to comic books. Here’s a picture of the, ahem, “renovated” Mount Rushmore:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kfEA8laH94U/UX53kU2Y3FI/AAAAAAAAHvk/LOmRSee2vy0/s1600/judgecursedearth5.jpg
@Achille Talon: That is a good idea for a story! I hope you do get the chance to write it someday. For what it's worth, I think your art is rather good (judging by what you've posted on your Hatbox Ghost blog, anyway)
Hello Joe !
Any idea about how much original artwork by Paul Murry was saved ?
I am a collector and have some few pages by Murry from the 1960`ies and also a couple of Dell covers made by Murry from the 1950`ies.
I suppose that nearly all of Murry`s artwork from around 1970 and up was saved by editor Del Connell..?
But artwork before 1970 I rarely seen anywhere.
If you by chance know where I could find original comic book pages from 1970 - 1972 I would be very interested in buying.
Especially from the long 24 page stories, which I remember so well from my childhood. :-)
My mail is : marsnermail@adr.dk
Best,
Soren Marsner - Denmark.
Hello Joe !
Any idea about how much Mickey Mouse original artwork by Paul Murry that has survived ?
I would probably say that nearly all from the period 1970 - 1983 was saved by editor Del Connell.
Before 1970 that it seems quite rare to find original comic book pages by Murry.
As a collector I own some few pages from the 1960`ies and some old original Dell covers from the 1950`ies.
I am looking for buying Mickey Mouse original pages from the period 1970 - 1972. Especially from the long 24 pages stories that I remember so well from my childhood.:-)
If you know about any Murry pages for sale please let me know..
My mail is : marsnermail@adr.dk
Best regards,
Soren Marsner - Denmark
Soren:
I am probably not the best person to ask about original art, sorry to say.
If there’s anyone reading this that can assist, please contact Soren at the e-mail address he provides.
Clapton:
I looked it up and Chapter Five of the magnificent JUDGE DREDD epic “The Cursed Earth” was first published in PROG (Issue) # 65 of the weekly British comic 2000 AD – in MAY, 1978!
This would have been halfway through Jimmy Carter’s presidency, and before the unfortunate hostage matter with Iran would have made this more of a cynical joke, and less of an optimistic one.
For someone like you, still wandering the winding corridors of comic-dom, I could not recommend JUDGE DREDD more highly. Start, as I did, with the “Eagle Comics” issues of 1983-1984, which reprinted for an American audience what I consider the VERY BEST of the series:
“Judge Death”, “The Four Dark Judges”, “The Cursed Earth” (with Jimmy Carter on Mt. Rushmore), “Judge Caligula” AKA “The Day the Law Died”, and “The Judge Child Quest”! I was totally in AWE of these when I first read them back then – and still am! …They are remarkably inexpensive, even today – and unlike the original British printings and other subsequent collections, you get the entirety of all the stories in FULL COLOR, as opposed to just the splash pages.
HERE is Clapton’s link to the “Cursed Earth” version of Mt. Rushmore, as first seen in 1978!
Joe:
OOF I really got the wrong year.
Will check out those Judge Dredd issues when I can. Based on what we’ve discussed they sound hysterical!
I’m only familiar with that Judge Dredd movie from the 90s featuring Sylvester Stallone’s award winning performance. I say this with absolutely NO sarcasm (Read between the lines: A LOT of sarcasm) but my hairs stood up when Sly so gracefully declared that he Was THE LAAAWWW!!!
People say he was “robbed of an oscar” for his performance in Creed. No my friend. He was robbed of an Oscar for Judge Dredd.
Now if you excuse me, I have a strongly worded letter to write for the Oscar committee requesting a retroactive Oscar for Judge Dredd. Then I will write another strongly worded letter, this time to Fantagraphics, requesting that the next Disney Masters volume focuses on the masterful art of Kay Wright and features his masterpiece “Bird Bothered Hero”.
Ok I think I let this sarcasm thing go too far!!!
Clapton:
Going against public opinion is nothing new for me but, in truth, I kinda liked the Stallone JUDGE DREDD film.
Casting Stallone was not a bad idea in and of itself in that, at the time, he DID “stand” like Dredd! And, you need not be a great actor to play Judge Dredd – just be a “deliberate man of few, but potent, words”! In theory, he was a better fit for Dredd than many of the actors who played Batman!
The problem was that one of the conventions of the comic is that Dredd is NEVER seen full-face. He almost always wears his helmet or, under any special circumstance were he does not, the panel is always drawn to hide his full-face! Stallone insisted on breaking this convention, so we could all gaze upon his handsomeness.
One the plus side, the Stallone film was quite true to the comics, and that’s what I really liked about it.
There was a 2012 DREDD film which everyone-who’d-be-in-a-position-to-know says is far better than the Stallone film. I’ve recently gotten a DVD of it… but you know that “Horrifically Busy” life of mine…
Seriously, try some of those early issues of the JUDGE DREDD comic from “Eagle”, when you can. The sure made a huge impression on me.
Finally, I say with uncharacteristic understatement, I would imagine the Kay Wright edition of “Disney Masters” would NOT be a very thick volume!
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