Written by my friend David Gerstein and drawn by "cumpa' from Italy too" Massimo Fecchi, this one celebrates the birthday of Zeke...which does happen to be on the same day of a certain trio of pigs (no wonder, all characters made their debut in "The Three Little Pigs". So we have one of them in-jokes/references only aficionados can understand and that are a beloved trademark in Gerstein's stories).
I'd be delighted if he would want to say something about this story.
Wit this story we end our marathon. Hope you liked it. In the future I may highlight other classic cartoon characters, so....stay tooned!
Best,
Andrea
looks great. i love the oldies.
ReplyDeleteAndrea,
ReplyDeleteI've always known our very good friend Mr. Groanstein as being a kind and learned comics and animation historian, but until now I've never gotten a taste of his actual comics work, and I have to say I'm very impressed by how well-written this story is.
I don't follow the Disney Comics scene as fervently as you, Thad, Rodney, and David do, but nonetheless I'm very appreciative of your Big Bad Week. It might actually inspire me to pick up some Disney comics.
Groan! Hmm, you want me to say something about this story? Hmm, how about my giving you all the scene that was deleted (or rather revised) before it was drawn?
ReplyDeleteFrom my original plot synopsis, when I first submitted the story idea to Byron Erickson:
PAGE 7
Back outside Zeke knows none of this. "I see it all now! Li'l Wolf didn't just disobey me— he abandoned me to celebrate th' Pigs' birthday only!” Well, then, Zeke figures that if nothing else, he'll ruin this event for everyone, including his son, as the last word on how wronged he feels he is. "I may never be a successful wolf! But I'll git some satisfaction!... I’ve never blown this brick house down before! Today is th' day!”
Zeke huffs and puffs and blows like never before... and really blows the Three Pigs' house down! It collapses on top of everyone inside, leaving the whole crowd dazed and angry amid the rubble...
And that's where the original ending of the story kicks in. As you can see, for Zeke's big birthday I really wanted him to finally succeed in blowing down that goddamned brick house. God knows he deserved to.
But Byron, ever the watchful editor, had a good point: if Zeke can really blow it down once, it just becomes unbelievable that he can't do it again (and there would have to be stories where he can't do it again, as it's a central point of the series' logic).
So Zeke was not merely deprived of a pig dinner on his big day, he didn't even get the gift his writer originally planned for him! Poor ol' Brer Wolf.
Any other thoughts? Hmm, well... this was the first Wolf story Massimo Fecchi ever drew, and he was given it at my suggestion. Before working for Egmont, Fecchi had drawn the German comic FIX UND FOXI for years, which features the wolf character Lupo— in some ways, a thinly disguised, slightly less villainous version of Zeke. I imagined that Fecchi might like to try Disney's original Big Bad Wolf... and I was right! It turns out he'd always wanted to draw a Zeke story, and he went over the top in adding beautiful details to mine. As for the specific character models, I had asked him to mimic Gil Turner's wolves of c. 1950, and I think he did a brilliant job of updating that design to a modern artistic look.
You'll notice an old-fashioned Bavarian mug on the mantle in the last picture of the story. That's a tip of the hat to Wolfgang and Katja Schäfer, 1960s German wolf story creators, best known for the self-referential story "Big Bad Wolf in Bavaria" (1965). No kidding!
Hey, does Big Bad Week really have to end? Another great golden age for Zeke came with the 1970s Dutch production... I've had an absolute ball translating some of these for Gemstone's printings, with "Judgment Day" (Thom Roep/Ed van Schuijlenburg, in WDC&S 677) and "A Christmas Carol" (Dick Matena, in our CHRISTMAS PARADE 4) being my own favorites.
Oh... and I hope everyone noticed Dirty Bill among the Badfellows' Club members. Am I the only guy who remembers him? "I never took a bath, and I never will!"
ReplyDelete"....oh, Dirty Bill".
ReplyDeleteI sure noticed him, and hope other ones did!
Big Bad Week gotta end, yep. But a friend of this blog could probably send me scans of....aw, I'm telling too much. But it is probably stuff UNSEEN in the States.
I know how you feel anyway, there are dozens of stories with BB that I'd love to post!
I'm quite fond of them two (I remember two) in which he meets Pinocchio.
"Another great golden age for Zeke came with the 1970s Dutch production... I've had an absolute ball translating some of these for Gemstone's printings, with "Judgment Day" (Thom Roep/Ed van Schuijlenburg, in WDC&S 677) and "A Christmas Carol" (Dick Matena, in our CHRISTMAS PARADE 4) being my own favorites."
ReplyDeleteAnd a big thank you for translating those in a great way! I've got a few issues of WDCS, one of them being the one with Judgement Day. (De dood van Vos) I had a blast reading the English version! "I didn't mean ter WOUND 'im! Just ter knock his head clean off!"
This also counts for the other Brer Rabbit comic I've read in English, most of them are much more fun to read than the Dutch versions. Unfortunately we're unabled to use a southern accent on the characters in Dutch, so they talk perfectly normal. No words like camel-flage or laffin place.
I really hope that in the future some of my stories will be published in the US, just for the great translations :)
(and yes, a lot of scans and translations are coming up!)
David,
ReplyDeleteI have to say that, in my humble opinion, your idea was waaaaay better and easily explainable.
This occasion, and the fact to see Li'l Wolf betray him, at least to think that he's actually betraying him, would have given Zeke enough fortitude to actually achieve his goal.
On the other hand the use of devices like firecrackers would be possible at anytime. Unless they're from ACME, of course.
But... but Li'l Wolf is ALWAYS betraying Zeke. The wolves have just never focused on the fact directly... as it would reveal the awesome double standards on which Zeke's entire existence hangs!
ReplyDeleteNever afraid to question moral law, we do have a story coming up to address this very matter with wolf-destroying clarity. look for Robert van der Kroft's "So Bad He's Good" (H/W/7311; Inducks H 73w11) in Gemstone's WDC&S 697; you won't be sorry. Henrieke, you may know this one already...
True, David.
ReplyDeleteBut here, to the eyes of Zeke, Li'l Wolf not only is leaving him alone, the day of his very own birthday, choosing to remain with the pigs: as you wrote for the dialogue he "didn't just disobey me— he abandoned me": the ultimate offence to an already challenged ego.