I would never presume to "do-one-better" to the great Carl Barks but someone, between its publication in 1958 and my purchasing it as a back issue in the mid/late 1980s, appears to have done exactly that to my copy of WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES # 214 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: July, 1958)!
Just look at the "fan-added veins" popping out of Donald Duck's glaring, angry eyes! ...Why, he's madder than Carl Barks ever intended him to be! ...And they fit quite nicely within the existing art!
The people who worship Price Guides would consider this a devaluing factor...
(Alert! Alert! We've just dropped from VF/NM to VG-!)
...But, in my own peculiar way, I view it as an "enhancement"!
What say you all?
10 comments:
I like it. It looks as if it belongs and does enhance the overall mood. I like the cover too with the colorful foreground and black background. I have never seen this cover before.
Carl:
It looks SO MUCH like “It belongs”, that I never even realized that it was added until this year – when I took a closer look at the book as a whole, while revisiting Mickey Mouse serials in order to write the text afterword for “Disney Masters Paul Murry” Volume # 3!
I suppose I *can* be slow on the uptake sometimes… but three decades since I bought it? No. That was just a good “addition”, and that’s why I wanted to share it here!
Donald’s “lower lip” is also blacked-in, but it was done so neatly and, dare I say, “professionally” that it’s difficult to notice against the black cover background.
I never mind artwork that contributes to the overall design. Whoever did this had a pretty good artist's eye for what would fit. As you said, you never realized it was added until recently.
Two examples from my own collection come to mind. One is the first Dell issue of "Huckleberry Hound" in which the characters' eyes on the cover are all shaded in with dark blue pen. But it's been artistically and stylistically done, so it does not look bad at all, even though in this case it's an obvious alteration to the original design. The second is a copy of "The Purple Prince of Oz" in which many of the black-and-white interior illustrations have been enhanced with color crayon--but not at all haphazardly. The crayon has been applied carefully and deliberately with an eye to the right colors, and "improving" the overall look of the book. I got it at a markdown because of this "defect"--twenty dollars instead of the usual two hundred dollars that are charged for vintage Oz books. Yet to my mind it is not a "defect" at all--I like my copy with its enhanced illustrations better than I would have liked a "better condition" copy without them. I also liked paying a reasonable price--that always helps! (On an interesting side note, in this 1932 volume of the Oz chronicles, the Purple Prince and his companions travel over a rainbow to get to Oz--a full six years before the release of the Harburg and Arlen song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" so iconically identified with the film "The Wizard of Oz." Proving that the Oz stories had a rainbow connection much earlier than the popular song from the MGM film. But I digress.)
So I definitely agree that occasionally a previous owner's additions can be quite welcome ones, if artfully done.
Scarecrow:
Well, hooray for the “180-Dollar Defect”!
One of the things I’ve long since conceded is that, if I’m not the original owner of something (and, often even if I am, but was an “active little kid” at the time) my so-called “collectable objects” are not going to be perfect.
Perfect is nice, but “imperfect” can be intriguing and often historical. That is, the history of the object in question. Who once owned it, how they treated it when it was theirs, where in the USA, or in the world, has it been before it was mine, etc.?
For instance, I have a 1950s Dell Uncle Scrooge that was originally(?) owned by someone who lived within walking distance of where I live at present! (…Or, so says the handwritten address added to the issue!) But, nowhere near where I lived way back when I bought it from a dealer. So, in some odd way, that comic has “come home”!
Imperfect can also be nice, when it is well-done, as in this case, and the ones you cite.
Next post, unless I get sidetracked by something, will show you one that was decidedly NOT well-done – but extraordinarily entertaining nevertheless!
Personally, I am not a fan of “altered” covers, but I’m picky about the condition something is in usually. Not because of any perceived value, but I like having books and comics in good condition. The imperfections would distract me from my reading experience. But I can see why it might not bother someone else.
I myself never tried to add art to a comic cover, but I did carefully label the seven dwarfs with their names on the cover of my comic telling the story of the movie. Thereby significantly reducing its resale value, but adding to its sentimental value in the family!
Every now and then there's a cover with a great deal of Empty Space (I'm sure you know the Donald Duck cover I'm thinking of!) which I'd argue could easily be improved by some additional artwork....
Deb:
Of course, the better the condition, the better (or certainly the “more attractive”) the book.
But sometimes the altered stuff can be fun… like THIS ONE!
And just wait until you see the one coming up next!
Elaine:
I never thought I was *good enough* to enhance a comic book cover or interior. So, I confined all my drawing to paper – for which I’m very grateful today, that one WDC&S issue plastered with red crayon at age four aside.
Though, yes… even I am attempted to draw SOMETHING into all the empty space on THIS ONE! …That’s the one you had in mind, right?
Hehe. I, as a kid, also sometimes did bad things to my comics... but we shall not talk about that. :)
I actually just dropped in to say I hope you & everyone reading this blog stays healthy! Cheers!
Spec-Spec:
We’ve all done bad things to our comics, especially if we had them at a very young age. Even *I* did… Just not very often, thankfully, as I still have many of those comics even today!
…But whatever I did was not nearly as creative as this kid was!
Esther and I are fine, though voluntarily locked down. Same for everyone in our personal orbit.
I thank you and echo your wishes of good health for everyone!
We will continue here to keep all of your (and my) spirits up. New post tomorrow.
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