Tuesday, September 29, 2020

"The Seven Dwarfs and the Pirate"

You thought the next entry would be about an interesting story? Ha! HA, I say! MORE FOOL YOU! It's time for the Yellow Beak/Seven Dwarfs crossover! SUFFER, HUMANS! I will give you my word of honor on one thing, though: I will NOT be covering any damn Peter Pan story featuring the character. I mean, there's precedent for me writing about Seven Dwarfs stories on this blog, and whether or not they're any good, at least they're spun off from a movie I like. Whereas I detest Disney's Peter Pan very intensely, so...yech! No good!


Hey, nice cover, though. By Carl Buettner, allegedly, sez inducks. I will say that although no, this story isn't any kind of lost classic or anything, it does have enough weird stuff to be worth gawking at for at least a bit. Read on!


Story art by Tony Strobl, which is cool. This mostly looks all right, whatever else you want to say about it. And hey, unlike some, the writer (unknown, per inducks) actually makes some effort to give Doc his usual speech mannerisms. I mean, not a super-GREAT effort I wouldn't say--this author apparently was unaware that he's supposed to talk largely in spoonerisms, so they just make his words start with random wrong letters--but it's something. I guess.

Hey look, I'm famous! For some definition of famous:



I need a publicist to keep me abreast of such things.


Yellow Beak! The man has an extremely specialized function, that's for sure: if you see him, it's a dead certainty he's going to tell you he knows an island where there's hidden treasure and needs you to go with him. This happens in every single story where he appears. Now that I think about it, from a contemporary perspective, this sounds very much like a phishing scheme. I'd worry that he was going to try to kidnap me and hold me for ransom.



...is that why he doesn't speak? I feel like you just made that up. You were casting around for a reason he doesn't talk, you thought of the popular cliche "actions speak louder than words," and Bob's yer uncle. Job's a good'un. Hic haec hoc.



Uh huh. I've gotta say, this story isn't getting any LESS suspicious. He was "caught in a storm" and somehow ended up in this enchanted forest? Does this seem particularly plausible? Also, I'm "persuaded" by that map to the exact degree that I'm persuaded by ANY random forged document a would-be scammer sends me to try to sound legit. And yeah, you feel you can trust me--JUST LIKE those widows of Nigerian generals always feel. MY GOODNESS, why am I so punchy here?

But really: it shows the limits of the writer's imagination that they can't imagine any reason other than money that the dwarfs would be willing to go along with this. Why do they need money, anyway? I thought it weren't no trick to get rich quick when you dig dig dig with a shovel or a pick?



WOW THAT'S CONVENIENT ALL RIGHT. Why does he need seven people here but in duck stories four is evidently enough? Reasons. Reasons indeed.



Suppose we don't and say we did. Or, alternately, how about we don't and then freely admit that we didn't. Either of these options sound a lot better than your idea.

OH OKAY, don't give me that wounded-puppy-dog look. What do you have for us?



See? Wouldn't it have been better if you hadn't shown me this and you went your way and I went mine? Really now.

This is extremely weird. Well, weird if you take the story and characters even slightly seriously, which is obviously a bad idea. But since when was "The Witch" obsessed with money? Also, and I know we've been through this before, but WHY would she maintain that look? We DO remember that it's not her real form, right? That it's just a disguise? No, I suppose we probably don't.



Wait wait WAIT. Are we REALLY supposed to believe that The Witch is the richest person IN THE WORLD? But if Yellow Beak finds a box of treasure--of which he gets to keep one eighth, remember--she'll lose the title? So I guess each dwarf will also be richer than her? How much thought do you think went into this? Not a lot, I'm guessing. Also, now she doesn't even have a magic mirror anymore, so she won't be able to keep track. Enough of your sassy talk!



"Will Snow White appear in this story?" you were definitely not anxiously wondering. Well, here's your answer. Doc only wants to be one of the eight richest people in the world so he can buy her a gift. Keep it in mind.



Why are you so fixated on The Witch? She's living rent-free in your head, I'll tell you that. This is one of these irritating things because this thinking is wildly nonsensical...but then the story vindicates it anyway. I just don't think this is the best writing technique. Personally. In my opinion, which is humble.



That direct frontal image of The Witch is freaking me out, I'll tell you that much. But Yellow Beak is right: who's ever heard of a seagoing witch? Such things can never be!



Please enjoy some weak slapstick as Dopey tries to brain the witch-rat.



This brig thing is incredibly strange. Since when is Yellow Beak such a damn tyrant anyway?



Seriously, dude, you specifically said you needed seven people in your crew, and now you're locking them up all willy nilly because they've violated your apparently totally inflexible maritime laws?


If you don't follow these rules, he will probably shoot you. Granted, Yellow Beak never had much of a character per se, but I feel like there's no version of who he is that this isn't an egregious violation of.



What?



WHAT? I will BET you weren't expecting Poseidon to appear in this story, now WERE you? Well, here he is. I seriously find the intensity of the anti-witch sentiment in this story a little disturbing. FUCK these FUCKING WITCHES! Shouldn't there be a god on terra firma dedicated to annihilating them as well? It's like the song says:

Run to the mountain

The mountain won't hide you

Run to the sea

The sea will not have you

Run to your grave

Your grave will not hold you

All on that day

What it's like being a witch in this world. Spooky.



Well this is pretty weird. I was confused by that top right panel for a while because while obviously it's the waves talking, the word confusion there makes you think it must be Doc. Also, why would an ocean wave know what a "puddle" is? Come on.



Oh fiddle-de-dee!



Well there you go. Is The Witch supposed to be rhyming there? Yes, clearly. It really is kind of amazing how the people who write these things seem to just have no idea that poetry, even doggerel, not only needs to rhyme but also to *scan*. This is just terrible. It could've been improved just by getting rid of "easily," but that ain't the world we live in!



Okay, credit where it's due: that's the kind of weird, macabre thing you'd expect from a faerie-tale witch. Fair is fair.




Also, this would be an extremely good panel to present with absolutely no context just to confuse people, as I did on the relevant facebook page.



So, like, it's your cat. Your pet! And you're just trading them for treasure like it's nothing? I mean, since the cat just disappears after its use is over, I suppose the guy gets them back, but come on now! What is this? It's almost like the writer wasn't thinking very hard about this story! Also, they probably weren't a pet owner.



Stop telling me what to think, narration boxes. I have HAD IT with you.



Yup, so The Witch is messily devoured by Abercrombie the cat. Shouldn't Dopey look, I don't know, horrified or something?  Sure she's your enemy, but you just watched her get HORRIBLY KILLED.  But instead, you just think it's the funniest damn thing you've ever seen.  What kind of psychopath ARE you?  Welp, I guess that's one less villain to have to deal with. I would say that that seems a bit weird, but hey, she also apparently died in the original movie, so I guess we can't expect our writer to be worrying much about continuity.



Seriously. I had nothing to do with the creation of this story. I refuse to be implicated in it. I AM NOT ONE OF YOUR "FOLKS!"  Go to!



HO HO HO A WHALE OF A TAXI! But you can't--that's not even--ARGH, you're driving me nuts here!



WHOA. Yellow Beak's a deadbeat dad? That was...unexpected. But now it's canon, apparently. I mean, I can't imagine there's anyone in charge of Yellow Beak canon, so there's no one to stop this from fitting into it.

Hey, I was just looking into Yellow Beak Lore (as you do), and I found this



The last time Gladstone printed this story was here, so am I to assume that this text was originally written way back in 1994? There's an idea for you.



It's not good for children's development for them to be yanked away from their homes like this. Imagine that YOU were living with a foster family and then some random dwarf came and snatched you away? How would YOU feel?



But you know, as bad as that might be, it's probably A LOT WORSE to go from being considered an adopted child to a pet. You have to decide on a level of anthropomorphism to use and stick with it, you damn writer! Otherwise you'll end up with trash like THIS!

Yeah. Okay. That's your story. BONUS CHALLENGE TIME! Here's a one-page short that appeared in this same comic book:



I spent an unjustifiable amount of time trying to suss this out. At first it was totally opaque to me, but then when I realized that Dopey was removing a doorknob there, it made a little more sense, and I do think the idea of him gluing an egg to the door to replace the knob is pretty funny. But there's still the question of why he removed it in the first place. What did he think he was going to accomplish by putting it in the hen's nest? Answers on the back of a postcard.

Labels:

32 Comments:

Blogger Psychopathicus said...

I suspect that the idea was to provide a 'nest egg' - apparently, hens for some reason are more likely to lay an egg in a nest that already has one in it. So farmers used to (and maybe still do) have 'nest eggs', false eggs that they would slip into nests in order to provoke the hens into laying. THIS hen, it would seem, ain't havin' it - or maybe she's just not fooled by a doorknob.

September 29, 2020 at 11:52 PM  
Blogger Adamant said...

It boggles the mind that the writer remembered the "witch" had a magic mirror and how she used to ask it for confirmation that she was the something-est of them all, but STILL couldn't remember she was actually a beautiful queen in disguise.

September 30, 2020 at 12:03 AM  
Blogger Achille Talon said...

I don't think it's a matter of remembering. Like it or not, the status quo of virtually all post-movie Seven Dwarfs comics is that Grimhilde is still hanging around, but as a witch living in a cottage in the woods. (The early Italian stories are a bit of an exception, and even then, by the time of The Crystal of King Arbor, the fact had become well-established to the point that Scarpa felt compelled to create a story spelling out quite what happened, namely that her magic laboratory was destroyed by the Huntsman, preventing her from turning back.)

September 30, 2020 at 9:00 AM  
Blogger Pan Miluś said...

Ahhhh... I haven't laugh out loud so many times while reading one of you articles in a while Geox. Great to see you back in form like that.

I like all the rain out-side of Dwarfs cotage - it makes the inside feels extra-comfy.

I think this explenation of why Doopey dosen't talk... is pretty darn funny actualy.

I guess all the surreality makes like the talking waves fit the Dwarfs universe, especialy after reading the Scarpa stories.

Witch being obsssesed with being rich do feels like odd direction. At least they coul have made treasure magical or something so it would be some artifact she would wish to have to make her powers grow.

Jose Carioca... er... Yellow Beaks map *MAY* feel like a scam to you GeoX -->BUT<-- what if I told you it's from an Nigerian Prince? Not so phony-boloney now, eh?

Man to Bashful look odd... it feels like he is flirthing with Yellow Beak...


Also a postcard from Warsaw :
That Doopey one page spectacular would made a little more sence if Doopey would felt sory for the hen for not having any eggs. If that was the idea then the rest of the story would work... or maybe not. Doopey looks extra-cute in the panel he is removing the doorknab. BTW - I love his Polish name "Gapcio". Say it out loud and it will make you more happy :)


P.S.
As usual I must ask - Where all of the SEVEN Dwarfs fairy represented in the story? Or is it another story where Grumpy, Doc and Doopey steal the show and the rest are just extras?

September 30, 2020 at 9:24 AM  
Anonymous Elaine said...

Let's talk about Yellow Beak's appearance for a moment. The paragraph you show as "Yellow Beak Lore" notes that he looks more like José Carioca here, and I concur. But also: what has become of his peg leg? Here, as in the Barosso brothers' sequel, his left leg has been miraculously restored. And at least in the Barosso tale, you can't claim that it took place before the original story.

Things I like about this weird story: that Dopey gets to save the day, and that he does so by having the right priorities (cat over untold wealth). That he gets to ride home floating on the whale's spout. Also, the way King Neptune summons up a storm by having whales relay the order via underwater switchboard. I'm quite fond of that switchboard.

Where is Yellow Beak when the dwarfs are riding home on the whale? I can't find him in that panel.

Extremely nitpicky comment: while in the Dopey-vs.-rat panels the writer correctly has Doc say "fizzy" because it is how you'd spell "busy" with a different initial consonant, in the panel above the one with the witch flying in the storm Doc says "yarn" and "darn" before the right word, "warn"--and "yarn" and "darn" do not rhyme with "warn". Should have had "corn" and "born."

No, the Witch should *not* have broken her magic mirror in a fit. If she were liable to do that, she would have surely have done it when her stepdaughter surpassed her in beauty. Except that yeah, this witch apparently isn't that same queen, but a witch from whom the queen got the inspiration for her old-lady-apple-seller disguise and who has snuck into the palace after the queen's death and made off with her magic mirror, in revenge for the queen's having infringed on her WitchFace trademark. So that would explain the Witch's different goal, and her un-Queen-like tendency to smash a magic oracle that didn't give you the answer you wanted. When she could have just put it in a broom closet and hired Scott Atlas.

September 30, 2020 at 9:30 AM  
Anonymous Elaine said...

Appearance aside, Yellow Beak is indeed a very unlikable character in this story. I said in commenting on the last story that I wouldn't have become fond of YB from that story...but if this story were my first experience of YB, I'd definitely be turned off. An AWOL father *and* an unreasonable tyrant who throws well-meaning crewmen in the brig at gunpoint...yeah, that's a hero, all right.

September 30, 2020 at 9:44 AM  
Blogger Achille Talon said...

GeoX is apparently not talking about the Woody Woodpecker and Peter Pan stories, but that's a shame in terms of YELLOW BEAK LORE(TM), because they're vital parts in figuring out a timeline for Yellow Beak, as I have ended up doing in the process of giving pages to all these stories on the Wiki.

To wit:

1 - “Captain Hook and the Buried Treasure”

Yellow Beak starts out as an apparently long-time companion of Peter Pan in Neverland. The story involves the Darling children a few months after the events of the animated Peter Pan, so this is taking place 1910ish. At the end of the story, Yellow Beak vows to use his money to buy a ship and have adventures on the Seven Seas. He has both his legs.

2 - “The Seven Dwarfs and the Pirate”

Yellow Beak starts out looking pretty youthful, owning a handsome ship. He has a wife, young children, and both his legs. It actually makes a lot of sense to assume that Yellow Beak's wife lived in Neverland with him, as you could then construe the orphan they fostered as a Lost… er… Chick?… who also washed up in Neverland.

3 - “Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold”

A signifiantly older-looking, and now unattached, Yellow Beak appears. He has a peg leg and has, by now, been through a number of adventures on the seas of Earth. He also no longer owns a boat, needing to buy one for the trip.

4 - “Donald Duck and the Pirates”

Following HDL keeping all the gold to themselves (???) at the end of the last story, Yellow Beak once again starts out flat broke. Still has a peg leg.

5 - “The Treasure of Yellow Beak”

Ditto.

6 - “Woody, Knothead & Splinter Search For Pirate Treasure”

Peg-legged Yellow Beak, clearly widowed by now, has taken up residence in a sailors' rest. He sneaks out for the events of the story but is seen being taken back to it at the end.

7 - “Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold… Again!”

Yellow Beak escapes the sailors' rest for good. It's anyone's guess why his leg has suddenly grow back. My theory is, the Widow Meaningwell, who is established to fuss over him and try to get him to be more of a proper gentleman (preventing him from sleeping in a hammock and using sea swears), might have persuaded him to wear a prosthetic instead of the traditional but less "medically advisable" unadorned peg leg.

September 30, 2020 at 10:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I suppose Yellow Beak alone overtaking the Witch as the world's richest person might make sense if he already has heaps of riches stashed away somewhere and even one-eighth of the treasure is enough to push him over Grimhilde in terms of wealth.

Then I guess Yellow Beak and Grimhilde would have a similar dynamic to Scrooge and Glomgold, where the difference in their wealth is infinitesimal, but they feel compelled to stay on top as a matter of pride? Maybe they were Barks's inspiration.

Also, if the sea has no witches, what does that make Ursula the Sea Witch?

September 30, 2020 at 4:46 PM  
Blogger GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Oh yeah, duh: I could've mentioned Ursula. The advantage of that of course is that she's a Disney character; the advantage of the Sea Hag is that she was around at the time and the writer might easily have been familiar with her.

September 30, 2020 at 8:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Okay, I've got to ask. What's your beef with Disney's Peter Pan? I mean, it's not my favorite or anything, myself, but I don't DETEST it.

September 30, 2020 at 8:41 PM  
Blogger Pan Miluś said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

October 1, 2020 at 3:17 AM  
Blogger Pan Miluś said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

October 1, 2020 at 3:34 AM  
Blogger Pan Miluś said...

While It woudn't shock me if Geox dislike may come from the Native American depiction... which is super-duper racist my modern standards....

I personaly always found it my least favorite of Disney movies made as Walt was alive.

There are some things I like about it - Tinkerbell is a cute mime character that steals the show, Captain Hook and his sidekick are funny, I like the part with the mermaids who tries to draw Wendy (even if that scene get's shorter every time I re-watch it...) and... well, yhe - before I realise it's seen as racist - I think "What's makes the red man red" is very cathy and fun song and Tigger Lilly is pretty amusing in her serious dignity... honestly I wish she got a bigger part...

As the rest of the movie... I don't know. The Darling childreen always felt to me like very generic, bland characters. Peter has an extra problem of not being especialy likable... he just comes of a jerk... same for the lost boys. Whenever all of these characters are alone... it's just not very interesting to me and these are ment to be our leads.

I guess it dosen't help that the look of Never-never land isn't that interesting. There is something about the colors choicess in this movie that seam less magical and more... I don't know how to even call it. It's just not the look that screams "Oh, hell, yhe! It's a place I would like to have adventure". The animation is nice but felt like it saved it big guns for more slapsticky stuff like the Crocodile or fairy-dust effects on Tink. I guess I wish this movie had look closer to something like "Pinochio", where every thing felt very big and spectacular. Here it feels more like their Donald Duck short animaiton... which is fine, but I don't know. In "Alicie in Wonderland" and "Cinderella" despite similiar visual look they still manage to make it look grand and magical. Here it's good but nothing stand out. Maybe it blow minds of people at the time but the flying over London sequence never amazed me, even as a kid.

Aside for that one song... which is now consider racist so damn, I can't even openly mention I enjoy it... I never realy loved any of the songs. None of it is bad as much it's just there. Heck, if you ask me what the songs are I propably coudn't name them all.

Finaly - I'm not a Peter Pan purist but even I'm bother that they replace the iconic Tinkerbell get poison scene by a time bomb? It just felt... out of place. I mean, I know that "I belive in faries" thing woudn't work in a movie - even if it's a sentence I say every day just in case - but I donknow... We get very rush moment of Peter stainding sad over Tink dying off screen and then HA-HA! She is still alive next scene... and then we bearly see her for the rest of the movie. There is zero resolution to her hate for Wendy... After she just had the most heroic moment in this entire thing... And this feels like such a easy fix - Just have her dying from the poison and then Peter has to bring her to the Darling kids so they can say the "I belive in faries" secret formula, resurect her from the death and have her hugg Wendy or something... See, problem solved and less literal ticking clock in the third act. But maybe I'm writing my own movie at this point...

So yhe, I can't say I hate this movie or anything, It's just of all the Disney movies (and by Disney I mean produced by the man himself) this is the one I watched the least times and the one I thnik about the least... Oddly enough I'm much more of a fan of the CGI Tinker Bell movies - Yhe, it's for younger kids but most of them are pretty darn enjoyable, they make neverland much more interesting place and that final one is a real tear jeker. I recomend these (well, ok the 4'th movie "Secret of the wings" sucks but as a series it's better then it has any right to be)

October 1, 2020 at 3:41 AM  
Blogger Achille Talon said...

I mean, it's very much the point of the movie, as a script, that Peter Pan is kind of the worst. The obvious narrative arc of the story is Wendy being disillusioned with how immature and jerkish Peter is in the flesh, when you're the victim of his boyish wit instead of some cardboard pirate.

A critic somewhere (Tim Brayton?) arculated that the problem isn't that Peter is too unlikable, but rather that the movie doesn't commit to that. With how the first 45 minutes go, it should have a climactic scene of Wendy rejecting, or at least berating, Peter — but that would thematically require a rejection of the "never grow up" aesthetic, and the Dream Factory were hardly going to provide that, so there's a weird tension there.

…And yeah, the whole "Red Man" sequence is just atrocious. With how silly the lyrics get, I'm pretty sure the idea is that those are supposed to be more… embodiments of 20th century kids' ideas of Injuns, as seen on Tee-Vee — or, I suppose, considering the alleged time period, in dime novels and the like. Just like how the pirates aren't really historically accurate pirates, but more an embodiment of the childish pirate imagery. (I like the Tinker Bell spinoffs too for what they are, but much as I like Pirate Fairy on its own terms, I feel queasy about positing that James Hook did in fact at one point live in the real world.)

But, obviously, while this explains it somewhat, it doesn't excuse it. You don't have to seriously believe Native Americans look and act like this, for it to be horribly racist of you to just present these ridiculous caricatures as comic relief.

…All of which said, the Tribe thankfully aren't in Captain Hook Finds Buried Treasure, and Peter isn't in it very much either. So… *shrug*

October 1, 2020 at 10:35 AM  
Blogger Marcus Vinícius said...

I got the feeling that I had a lot more fun than I'd have reading that story. The idea of envolving the Dwarves and the Witch on a treasure quest might perhaps work in more creative hands. What we get here isn't particularly inventive.
And the Witch is kinda, with a dispropportionate head for her body. When I was a kid she was one of the scariest things in Disney villains, but if I'd read that story, I'd probably find her was silly.
And how come she's killed in the end? Shouldn't that iterfere on the status quo, like, the next story she's back in the forest and kids are like, "wait, wasn't she eaten alive?" My guess is that maybe she's immortal and can't be permanently killed. That could perhaps explain why Dopey is so unmoved by her fate.

October 1, 2020 at 3:15 PM  
Blogger GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Racist Disney Song Deathmatch: "What Makes the Red Man Red?" vs. "We Are Siamese." Whoever wins, we lose.

But actually, that's not why I don't like the movie. You take something like Snow White or Pinocchio (whatever other problems I may have with that one) or Bambi of Fantasia and it feels like, okay, maybe in theory these are kids' movies, but they're really movies for everyone. Whereas Peter Pan feels very childish to me: like, this is basically a children's movie, and there's nothing in it that's meant to appeal to anyone who's not a small child. Admittedly, it's been a long time since I've seen it and that could be off, but such has long been my dominant impression of it.

October 1, 2020 at 3:38 PM  
Blogger Mesterius said...

GeoX: I agree that Disney's version of Peter Pan is more childish and kid-friendly than the studio's epics of the 30s and 40s, but there are some things to enjoy from an adult point of view too. The best part may be Captain Hook, in the scenes animated by the character's supervising animator Frank Thomas. Michael Barrier has singled out Thomas' animation of Hook several times on his blog, in particular the scene where Hook sweet-talks Tinkerbell into revealing Peter Pan's hideout: http://www.michaelbarrier.com/WhatsNewArchives/2004/WhatsNewArchivesSept04.htm I have to agree that Hook in such scenes is a great character.

As for Disney films made more or less squarely for kids, I think you can do worse than Peter Pan. It's far from my favorite Disney film, but I'll take it any day over stuff like The Sword in the Stone or Robin Hood, just to mention two of Disney's worst duds from later decades.

October 1, 2020 at 5:17 PM  
Blogger Achille Talon said...

Hogwash, says I! Peter Pan is visually lusher, of course, but both these movies have considerably more charm — and aesthetic coherence — than it does.

October 1, 2020 at 5:56 PM  
Blogger Mesterius said...

Couldn't disagree more, Achille. But then again, this is hardly the only thing we disagree on. ;)

"Sword" and "Hood" are both utter bores story-wise (if you can even call what goes on in them proper 'stories'), and the animation is often overly formulaic too. They're perfect examples of why Walt should never have elected Woolie Reitherman as sole director of the animated features.

October 1, 2020 at 6:13 PM  
Blogger Achille Talon said...

Oh, and another thing those movies have that Peter Pan lacks: a strong, lovable cast! …I mean, I'll grant you that Arthur in Sword is as wet a sop as e'er there was.

But that's definitely the case with Robin Hood, where on top of the villain/henchman duo being a winner on par with Hook and Smee (though I wouldn't say better), the protagonistand his love interest — are both likable characters in their own right, rather than fairly bland audience identification figures like the Darling Children (Beaumont's performance aside), or insufferable gits (like Peter).

October 1, 2020 at 6:42 PM  
Blogger Joe Torcivia said...

If I may spread a few words around in defense of “my anonymous writing forefathers” and, having written the American English script for “Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold… Again”, I guess I have as much cred as anyone to do so, it’s very easy, while sitting in front of a computer screen, or wielding a smart-phone, to forget (or, perhaps, fail to realize) that we are discussing something published in the year 1949!

There were no “fans” as we know (live and breathe) them today! Mostly these were people (very often different people – book-to-book and story-to-story) who were “just doing a job”!

This is why there was little to no “continuity” even in the most popular superhero comics, much less Dell/Disney titles. My guess is that “Writer-A” was simply given a premise or springboard by an editor, and told “come back in a week” with a story to be drawn by “Artist-B”. That Yellow Beak even HAD such a recurring role in pre-fandom comics is a tribute to Barks and Hanna and to the character itself!

Perhaps “Writer-A” was even given a file copy of “Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold” and asked to “do something similar – only with dwarfs”! And, if so, we should give “Writer-A” some CREDIT for doing something different with the idea, rather than basically repeating it as was done with the Peter Pan version!

Whether or not we “liked” that “something different” was almost immaterial as (A:) “the fannish mindset, that causes some of us to pick it apart from the comfort of our respective man-and-gal-caves,” did not exist at the time, and (B:) DELL FOUR COLOR (of which this was Series II, issue 227) was a disjointed hodgepodge of every genre and available property under the sun – and, if an individual issue fell short, it was of minimal consequence. ...Though, as nicely drawn and presented as a story for younger readers as it was, I would imagine it was at least somewhat successful sales wise.

As for any discrepancies with Disney-film source material, another thing that’s so easy to lose sight of is that such material might not have been available in ANY FORM to “Writer-A” at the time he/she was tasked with creating a pirate yarn for the Seven Dwarfs! “Writer-A” couldn’t just review the film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” for accuracy before drafting the comic book tale – as I *did do* by re-reading “Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold” before scripting “Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold… Again”!

If indeed “Writer-A” had even SEEN “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” at all, he/she might have recalled a witch and a magic mirror, without the specific knowledge or recollection of exactly how that dynamic worked. Just “put ‘em in the story” and that was probably good enough for the editor.

So, before we all continue to question (or even mock) this story, please consider this bit of (easy-to-lose) perspective! And, as I always say at my film group… “Judge everything by its time!” …Here’s to you, “Writer-A” – and to artist Tony Strobl as well!

Quick additional comments: A shout-out to Elaine for her reference to Scott Atlas! PERFECT!

And, to Achille Talon… My greatest compliments for even ATTEMPTING to create a workable “Yellow Beak Timeline”, much less SUCCEEDING!

October 1, 2020 at 6:58 PM  
Blogger Pan Miluś said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

October 1, 2020 at 7:03 PM  
Blogger Pan Miluś said...

I always found "Robin Hood" a very relaxing movie... there is not much story and scenes go for very long but that's what I like about it - it's very chill... at the same time I love the climax - especially the first half, where there is little action but a lot of sneaking around... very quite...

I recall when I watch it for the first time when I was a kid, some scenes like Marian playing with the childreen felt to go way to long but now I appreciate them a lot, again, for just how chill they are.


And yes - I think the characters are likable bunch and It has some fine voice actors who add a lot of personality to the characters. I use to think of Marian as a bland female character but re-watching it recently - eh, she actually has a lot of personality and the way she and Robin flirts while fighting of guards is pretty funny.

I will agree with criticism from one blogger (who's page's name escape my mind at the moment but I will be happy to give him full credit) that there is zero point of having characters be animals, as with exception of Sir Hiss it doesn't rally play a part. Robin Hood could have been a
dog, a cat or a rat and it wouldn't change much... but it's looks cute and that's good enough for me.

I also wish they didn't cut the original ending, where Robin Hood is wounded and hidding with Marian... They get capture by Prince John and as he about to kill Robin King Richard appears in the last second. I don't know feels like a stronger ending then we just cut to like a year later when things turn-out all right.

The way animation is reused get at points way to noticeable but in a way it fits the pencil style they are going for.

As for "Sword in the Stone" - it's probably my second least favorite of "movies made while Walt was alive" after "Peter Pans" but at the same time each time I watch I always get the vibe "Oh, yhe! It's better then I remember". I guess I would like to see more interesting take on Arthurian legends from Disney then "Merlin and Arthur turn into animals to learn (?) stuff"... but much like Robin Hood I think that the chill-relax atmosphere they create works to it's advantage. Here the only character I really enjoy is Merlin but at least he is the lead character... Well, ok Madam Mim is tones of fun as well but she dosen't appear until the last third but I love their magical duel in how creative it was. I never liked the proto-Biff from Back to the Future bully character but at least he is meant to be unlikable.

October 1, 2020 at 7:05 PM  
Blogger Mesterius said...

By the way, I too would love to see a review of the Peter Pan story with Yellow Beak. C'mon, GeoX, give it a shot. :) Remember, you used to say you'd never write about any Mouse stories too once upon a time.

October 3, 2020 at 4:01 PM  
Blogger Pan Miluś said...

I still would LOVE to see GeoX take on some of the comics adaptations of Snow White - the early one is extra interesting as the have some "deledet" (storyboarded but never aniamted) scenes from the movie - including an entire subplot about the Prince and even the newer adaption - the one in tree issues - which expends the story and makes Snow White more flesh-out character but in a way that stay true to the spirit of the movie and is (in my opinion) incredible charming



October 3, 2020 at 6:32 PM  
Blogger GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Okay, WHATEVER, man. If you lunatics REALLY want this, one of you has to send me scans of this Peter Pan Treasure Chest, which I've realized I don't have on file.

October 4, 2020 at 12:35 AM  
Blogger Mesterius said...

Will a scan of "Captain Hook and the Buried Treasure" in its 1986 reprint in Walt Disney's Comics Digest do?

https://www.zipcomic.com/walt-disneys-comics-digest-issue-2

October 4, 2020 at 10:16 AM  
Blogger GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Thanks; I actually have a copy of that, but it's better not to have to scan it. Of course, now that Peer Pressure is compelling me to READ the damn thing, the next entry is delayed.

October 5, 2020 at 12:02 AM  
Blogger Pan Miluś said...

We belive in you GeoX! If anyone can do it it's you! ^_^

October 5, 2020 at 2:50 AM  
Blogger Adamant said...

Can we peer pressure you into reviewing those different comic adaptations of Snow White too? That sounds a lot more interesting.

October 5, 2020 at 1:51 PM  
Blogger Pan Miluś said...

Good point Adamant. I can sent you the scans ;)

October 5, 2020 at 1:54 PM  
Blogger Specialist Spectrus said...

You might want to delete the sexy casino comment, GeoX ;-)

October 19, 2020 at 4:43 AM  

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