Garou Mark of the Wolves, how some characters evolved from concept art

At the EVO 2024 tournament in Japan SNK showed off a playable build of Fatal Fury City of Wolves, this was the sequel to the 1999 fan favorite Garou Mark of the Wolves. I had written about the original title, and updates on the sequel a few times on the blog. Most recently I talked about Preecha the Muay Thai genius. The entire character lineup hadn’t been revealed yet. There was a lot of speculation as to who was next to be unveiled. I wondered if the concept art of the original game might give us a hint as to how some of the cast evolved. Thanks to Zero an Italian friend of the blog (Grazie!) I was able to put together this quick writeup. 

Preecha was not in the original game, however a sprite sheet of the Garou 2 cast had been revealed a few years ago. In the lineup there was a Muay Thai girl that was an understudy of Joe Higashi. If we looked at the original concept art we could see there had been a few girls in the planning stages. One of them had shorts, and padded feet, and hands. She might have been the prototype design for Preecha from 25 years ago. There was also a girl with a briefcase. I think this might have been one of the conceptss for the pirate princess B. Jenet.

In the official canon B. Jenet came from a rich family, however she was bored with her lifestyle. She rebelled by forming a pirate crew, and going on treasure hunts. I think the girl with the briefcase might have been how Jenet would have looked when she was running away from home. An actual pirate girl would pop up in the concept art as well. The character had a sword, had a classic skull, and crossbones tattoo on her shoulder, and wore tattered clothing. She looked much more aggressive, and mysterious than the final design for Jenet. The character’s hair would get longer, and much softer in revised drawings. Eventually setting the template that would become the sassy blonde pirate queen herself.

I’m a firm believer that no good idea goes to waste. There were a few character designs that didn’t seem to work for the original Garou, however they would be revisited in other titles by SNK. One of the early concepts was a bald fighter with an oversized coat. He seemed to have sharpened nails. At a quick glance he might have been confused for Mr. Big, one of the South Town bosses that had first appeared in the Art of Fighting. So this character was redesigned a few more times. The coat was made more stylized, not unlike Jedah from the Vampire/Darkstalkers series.

His costume, and overall look would continue to evolve. Eventually he appeared like some sort of martial arts assassin. This character seemed to be one of the poison fist fighters like Duo Lon, A.K.I., Kurow, and Red Snake. Although this character wouldn’t appear in Garou in 1999, the design seemed to be the prototype for Lin. He would debut a year later in the King of Fighters 2000.

This wasn’t the only character destined to appear in a related game. Another concept character looked like a wild bruiser with a metallic arm, or brace. This arm was a weapon, a sort of cannon that could be used to fire projectiles. Long time fans of the SNK universe could remember that there was another fighter that had a similar mechanic who debuted in 1999. Maxima was a soldier that underwent a cybernetic transformation to make him bigger, stronger, with a false arm that could shoot projectiles. The weird thing was that this character had actually been in the planning stages from the team much earlier than that.

I argued that the designs for K’, Maxima, and Kryzalid from the KOF games were pulled from Daraku Tenshi: the Fallen Angels. The design for a large fighter with an arm cannon was seen in 1998 with the US soldier Harry Ness. The Steel Hearts team that developed the Fallen Angels for Psykio was credited for designing KOF 2001, and 2002, I would argue that their designs were influencing SNK as early as 1999. There was simply too much crossover with what would appear in the SNK games for it to be a coincidence.

There were two concept characters in Garou that only needed a little bit of polish in order to get them ready for the game. There was a classic martial arts villain, and a mysterious warrior in the planning stages. These designs could have been revised again, and again until the best elements of each ended up creating a single character. Instead the team saw that there was enough to make two distinct warriors out of them.

One of the designs was fairly straightforward. What if there were a fighter that was stylized on classic Chinese villains. Someone with a long ponytail, long pants, and wushu sash belt. He would appear similar to Feng Wei who debuted in Tekken 5 in 2004. In the earliest draft this character had massive black tattoos on his hands, and forearms. Perhaps they were tattoos, or they were to signify that he had some sort of poison fist. It was also possible that this marker was transferred to Lin for the King of Fighters game instead.

The look of this character was refined so that he looked more classic, and distinct from the other fighters they were working on. Gato ended up being one of the main villains in the Garou manhua (Chinese comics). His look was a little too traditional in my book. There weren’t any elements in his design that could have connected him to the modern era. He could have fit right into the feudal era of Samurai Spirits, or the Last Blade rather than the modern world. It didn’t take a lot to make the difference either. Something subtle like giving him sneakers (as Capcom did with Yan, Yang, and Jamie) could bring him into our time, while still allowing him to represent classic kung-fu forms.

The other villain that SNK was working on was supposed to be more mysterious. One of the ways they did this was by making his costume more stylized. Perhaps he would have only one arm in a sleeve, or even have him wearing a cape, and mask. These things were rarely seen in fighting games, and usually only appeared on bad guys. This rough idea would be the basis for the masked Grant. He would become the enforcer for Kain R. Heinlein, the main villain in Garou Mark of the Wolves.

Not every concept piece had potential. Some ideas were scrapped, some ideas would be revisited in sprite form for the proposed Garou sequel. There were some rough ideas that I was glad were changed early on. One of which was for the Black karate master Marco Rodriguez. This was a character that I had celebrated a decade ago in my second blog entry. In his original design he had an afro, rather than a pompadour. The afro was a trope that I had talked about previously as well. It was a bit lazy from Japanese developers to stick Black characters with a basketball, or afro because they simply couldn’t be bothered to have better representation.

There were some other ideas in the drafting process that I’ll talk about more in the future. How other popular characters evolved from concept art to the screen. Until then I’d like to hear your thoughts on the comments section. Were there ever any concept characters that you wish had appeared in your favorite games? Tell me about it. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Remix Culture, how Asian designers changed the game, part 1

Have you ever thought about the things you love, and how they were made? Have you ever thought about how those things changed you as a person? I’m very much a fan of the fighting game genre. If you’re a regular on my blog you probably know that. If you are new here then welcome! My name is Noe aka BigMex, and I believe that playing fighting games, writing about them, doing the occasional podcast, and even drawing them has made me a better person. I love sharing my takes on the genre, and I hope you like them too. This year I went back through the things that I loved as I cleaned up the apartment I live in, and brought in some of the items I had been sitting on for decades.

Gaming magazines, and books from Japan, comics from Hong Kong, and even rare sneakers had been moved from my leaky garage into my makeshift library in the hallway cabinet. One of the things that I used to enjoy doing was drawing in my sketchbook. I hadn’t done that in a long while. In fact, I don’t think I’ve drawn using pencil, or pen in more than a year. However I have still done art by using Adobe Illustrator for multiple projects in that time. There’s a reason I don’t sketch too much. That’s because I’m very hard on myself as an artist. If the drawing doesn’t come out the way I imagine it in my head then I get disappointed in myself, and I want to draw even less. The other thing is that I do not draw random things in my sketchbooks. I focus on something, and try to create finished pieces on every page. Sometimes monster trucks, or race cars, or wrestlers. One of my favorite subjects is basketball, and especially streetball, sometimes called playground basketball. 

I’ve filled hundreds of pages of basketball art across several thick sketchbooks over the past 25+ years. Doing this had actually forced me to learn anatomy, proportion, color theory, and even fashion. Being a mediocre basketball artist, eventually made me a halfway decent illustrator. When I want to get good at drawing a subject then I study it extensively. To get good at drawing monster trucks I would pour over pictures in some of the oldest magazines in my collection. Then I would try creating trucks that were an amalgamation of the things I liked in classic, and modern trucks. That was one approach that worked for me, but when drawing people I would look at the work of my artistic heroes. I would try to get in their head space, and ask myself how would they draw this? 

For example if I want to draw the Incredible Hulk I would look at the art of Dale Keown, who drew on the books in the early ‘90s, and still does the occasional cover. I consider him to be the best Hulk artist of all time, with people like Arthur Adams, and Ed McGuinness coming in very closely behind. Mr. Keown’s eye for scale, and power was awe-inspiring. When I want to draw a fighting game character then I think of Bengus, one of the senior designers at Capcom. He was, and remains one of the greatest gaming artists that has ever lived. When I want to draw skateboarders I look at the designs of Vernon Courtlandt Johnson, the artist that designed the iconic graphics for Powell Peralta. When it came to basketball art there was Kadir Nelson. He was the G.O.A.T. of lanky, but athletic figures in his paintings.

I wrote about Vernon Coutlandt Johnson, and Kadir Nelson previously. I do my best to channel those artists when I draw. I feel sorry for people that use AI prompts to create pieces, they will never know how it feels to develop their own style. The thing about my basketball art was that all of my other influences would creep into the piece, and end up shaping my style. A basketball sketch might include the proportions of Bengus, mixed with the rock solid musculature of Keown, plus the cartoonish lines of Steve Nazar. When I would recreate my sketch in Adobe Illustrator, and add color then the pieces would really pop. Of the hundreds of pages of sketches, there were over 70 that I felt were good enough for me to redo in Illustrator. I eventually printed a massive seven foot long poster with my best work. I would use this poster to advertise my art.

In the early 2000’s I got well known by the streetball community for my pieces. The image below was based on a poster I designed and took to the AND 1 Mixtape Tour 2003. A photograph of the poster appeared on the 2003 AND 1 Mixtape Tour photo gallery. The actual player, Philip "Hot Sauce" Champion liked the poster so much he commissioned me to design a poster and other related items for his 2004 and 2005 Killer Crossover Tour, featuring the Legends of the Blacktop. Around this time the people at AND 1 reached out to me to see about creating art for their tee shirts.

I remember getting the call while I was working at the college computer lab. They wanted to send me shoes, and clothing, hoping to win my favor. I was eager to work with them, as the Mixtape Tour was the hottest thing happening in basketball at the time. Plus they were taking creative chances that were ahead of anything Nike was working on. This fell through however. When I spoke to one of their art directors on the phone they said they absolutely loved my style, and wanted to see about getting my art on tees. I asked about compensation, and if artists got royalties. He mentioned that they wanted to buy the rights to all the characters I created in perpetuity.

I declined selling my characters to the company, especially as I was just getting started as an illustrator. These would be drawings that I’d like to have in my portfolio, or perhaps put on my own tees. The person I was speaking with actually got mad at me, somehow feeling disrespected. He asked if I had any idea how many professional artists were knocking down their door wanting to work with them. I said I had no idea, but I didn’t appreciate the tactics they were using. I reminded them that they called me, I didn’t call them. It was the Mixtape Tour players that wanted me to design for the company. It would be an honor to work there, but not if it meant that every basketball drawing I ever did from that point forward belonged to them. Needless to say they never called back, and I never got a box of free products. Although history could have been different for me as an illustrator I’m glad I stuck to my guns.

I still got to design some tour posters, as well as art for other independent streetball tournaments. I still managed to work with some of my streetball heroes. I had interactions that fans would have killed for. Best of all I got a few memories that I would cherish for the rest of my days. Artists were often expected to make all sorts of concessions when looking for work. This was especially true with the rise of AI art. I was grateful that I was working for a college at the time, and didn’t need to sell my characters to make ends meet. I understood that it was okay for an artist to turn down work, even with a high profile client. I learned this lesson from Michael Lau, the “Godfather of “Urban Vinyl,” I shared a write-up on Michael Lau not too long ago. Although the specific person in the story was never named it was rumored that a Nike Executive asked Michael if he could buy one of his original gardener figures. This person did not want one of his smaller figures normally sold in the gallery, or even one of the original figures that Michael sold at the CSBooth Toy Fair before he became famous. 

I would speculate that the person that asked was Nike founder, and former CEO Phil Knight, or one of his proxies. The reason why I think it was him was because Mr. Knight’s son was Travis Knight, the former animator and now CEO of Laika studio. Phil Knight supported his son when he tried his hand at rapping, and then animation. He bought out Will Vinton Studios, and put his son on the board. Based on his artistic leanings I think Phil was trying to score something rare for his kid. That was just my speculation. The thing was that Lau did say he had turned down multiple requests from very rich, and powerful people to buy the gardeners. He viewed them as his children. It would be a hole in his heart, not to mention in the presentation if one of his original creations was missing from future exhibitions. That was why I knew I shouldn’t sell the rights to my basketball art. Even if I never became a famous artist, at least I would still legally own my own creations.

Mr. Lau helped start an art movement almost 30 years ago. It was picked up by companies like Funko, and Disney in the west, but they didn’t quite understand the format. They thought the trend was something that could be sold on the mass market without any organic growth. As such the pricey limited run figures didn’t quite hit with the general public. They didn’t understand the appeal of these squat figures. Not that it mattered because Michael’s influence was still rippling through the creative community. I’ll try to connect the dots between urban vinyl art, collectors, and the culture in the next blog. For now I’d like to hear your story. Do you write, draw, sing, paint, dance, or do some other creative work? Would you ever sell your work to a massive company if you could? Tell me your takes it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Disney, the Italian Legacy, part 3 - A 1UP classic from July 12, 2011

In the previous blogs I had mentioned how some issues of Topolino came with gadgets, or toys for subscribers. Subscribers had to assemble the larger toys. The scale and attention to detail in some of the gadgets were amazing For example a catamaran for Paperino was about 8-inches long, actually floated and had a tiny electric motor to propel it forward. It had sails, a tiny canvas net and figure of Paperino could be removed. The on / off switch for the motor was activated by the steering wheel of the ship.

Topolino gadgets included firetrucks, snowmobiles, space ships, motorcycles, castles, dragons, pirate ships and even buildings. Each set was finely produced and was layered with detail and hidden surprises. Even the car gadgets were anything but typical.

The Phantom Blot was the major villain for Mickey Mouse in both US and Italian comics. He often was seen driving around in a mysterious black convertible with a dark blot over the license plate. The car (the Blackmobile or Blotmobile depending on the writer) that could be assembled with the issues of Topolino was a work of art.

The top of the car could be removed as well as the Phantom Blot figure that came with it. The gear shifter on the car triggered wings on the underside of the car to pop out. A button behind each tail fin of the car shot out red plastic taillight missiles. A button behind the driver dropped plastic oil slick cutouts from the trunk.

These gadgets were unavailable in toy stores, they could only be gotten through subscriptions to Topolino magazine. They helped build fans of the Disney name but also helped build a collectable market. One of the other publishers aware of this trend was De Agostini, also based in Italy. De Agostini held several publishing licenses in Italy, including those for Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star and Dragon Ball. They released DVD sets and collectable plastic figures for many of their licenses.

For Disney fans De Agostini released the Disney Parade series. These were hard plastic figures based on characters featured in film and comic books. Figures that would be considered rare in the USA appeared in the lineup, such as a young Scrooge McDuck in his Klondike outfit, or Jose Carioca from Brazil.

The detail in each sculpt was amazing. The coloring and poses were spot on, as if the heroes and villains were taken right from the pages of the comics.

Look at how Magica DeSpell was ready to cast a hex on Scrooge or the flirty look from Brigitta MacBridge. Of course Scrooge seemed fixated on his true love. These figures were not available in stores or online. Collectors had to go to De Agostini kiosks in local malls to collect the figures, two of which were released every week over the course of several months. Imagine how patient fans were that collected a complete set of the 60 figures! Goofy or Pippo as he was known in Italy was given a werewolf alter-ego in the X Mickey comic series. De Agostini was catering the collection to Disney fans that were familiar with storylines featured within the pages of Topolino magazine and the offshoot publications. The white-furred Pipwolf was given the colors and proportions based on the comic but was still kept in scale with the icon that inspired him

The figures were about 4.5 inches on average and each one released was to scale with the rest of the series. Taller characters like Goofy or Mortimer Mouse were pushing 7 inches while shorter characters like Louie or Paperotto (young Donald) were just over 3 inches.

The Disney Parade figures were not all heroes however. Even villains like Rockerduck and the mad scientist Emil Eagle were presented in the set.

Legendary Disney animator Marc Davis would teach his students that a great character designs did not feature characters with blank stares, instead the artist would make it clear that they were living, thinking figures. In the case of the De Agostini sculpts audiences could clearly see that the characters were thinking. The frustration that Rockerduck held while he was chewing on his hat, or that Emil was in the middle of hatching a diabolical plan were apparent.

The female leads were not ignored in the collection either. Emily Quackfaster, the secretary for Scrooge and Daisy Duck also made for very interesting figures and poses.

Not many Disney fans in the US were familiar with Donald Duck’s neighbor Mr. Jones. Unless audiences had kept pace with the comics they would have missed out on some of Carl Barks most hilarious short stories. Donald and Neighbor Jones had been the worst of neighbors for almost 70 years, always trying to put the other person in their place. The two characters turned out to be evenly matched despite their size difference.

De Agostini allowed the long running feud to finally be recreated in 3D. The figure of Jones was practically daring Donald to take his best shot. Of course one of the Donald figures created by De Agostini was posed ready for a fight as well.

Even after Carl Barks retired the talented Don Rosa kept the two battling in comics. Don ensured that new generations of Disney comic fans would never forget the bitter rivalry. Neighbor Jones did not come up as often in the pages of Topolino but De Agostini knew that collectors throughout Europe would be happy to see and pick up the figure.

It seemed that almost every character that had appeared in a Disney animated short or on the comic book pages got the Disney Parade treatment. Moby Duck and Fethry Duck made for two very whimsical figures and fit very well with the rest of the collection.

The Disney Parade set was so popular among collectors that De Agostini decided to follow up with a sort of deluxe edition of their figures. The newer ones would be in a larger scale, ceramic and painted with greater detail and fidelity.

The new edition of figures was dubbed the Disney Collection and the sizes now averaged around 6 inches. To distinguish them from the Disney Parade series the new figures were much heavier and placed on larger silver stands. These figures were also made with a smaller run, making them more collectable.

Not all of the characters featured in the Disney Parade made it into the Disney Collection. Those figures that did were given new poses and additional material. Some figures created for the Collection were not featured in the Parade series. The next blog will highlight my favorite figure and try to explain why these collectables were important to the community. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Disney, the Italian Legacy, part 2 - A 1UP classic from July 11, 2011

The Italians were noteworthy not solely for creating new interpretations of classic characters like Paperinik and Paperotto, but also for diverging from USA Disney canon. For example, in the USA the character of John D. Rockerduck was introduced once by Carl Barks into the Uncle Scrooge adventure the Boat Busters to help push along a plot. Rockerduck was a fellow business tycoon and he challenged McDuck to a race to find out who sold the better gasoline. Donald Duck won the race on behalf of Scrooge but was unfortunately using Rockerduck’s gasoline. In the USA the character would not be seen again save for a cameo in a “Life and Times” story by Don Rosa. Most Disney fans in the USA would recognize that Flintheart Glomgold was the older character, meant to be business rival and mortal enemy of Scrooge McDuck. Yet even Scrooge McDuck was also once meant as a one-shot character in the Bark’s universe. It was not until the character was revisited and fleshed out that he became a comic icon. In Italy and in other European stories John Rockerduck would be brought back and fleshed out as well.

Rockerduck instead of Glomgold would take a starring role against Scrooge. The design and appearance of the character was in fact meant to balance out Scrooge more than Glomgold. Visually Rockerduck’s suit, hat, tie, glasses and sideburns were more contemporary than Scrooge’s. Rockerduck was a brash younger tycoon that did not seem to value his wealth in the same way as McDuck. His fortune was handed down by his father Howard Rockerduck, a self-made business man that helped mentor a young Scrooge decades earlier. John Rockerduck had a different approach to his business empire than Scrooge did. He believed that it took spending money in order to make money, whereas Scrooge was a notorious hoarder and penny pincher. In the comics the ducks rarely got along and were constantly getting into fights while trying to prove who was the superior businessman.

To settle things in fumetti both ducks often had a wager, this part of canon was preserved from the original Barks story. The bet was rarely over money but instead prestige in the clubs for which both ducks were members of. The loser for most of the contests had to eat their own hat. Rockerduck was often presented chewing on the brim of his bowler hat, if not for the contest bet then because he was completely fed up with Scrooge.

As if one powerful tycoon rival was not enough for the pages of Topolino, a second was added shortly after Rockerduck. The Italian Marco Rota added Brigitta MacBridge to canon in 1960. Similarly to Rockerduck and Scrooge she was originally introduced to help push along a single story. She turned out to be a memorable character and would return again and again to drive Scrooge mad.

In canon she was an old acquaintance of Scrooge and was absolutely crazy about him. She was also good friends with Daisy Duck and would often cross paths with Donald and his uncle. She was convinced that the two were meant to be together. As a self made business tycoon she was clearly not in it for Scrooge’s money either.

Brigitta would often hatch a plot to try to get Scrooge to confess his feelings for her, or worse, to trick him into getting married. This character seemed to balance out the Rockerduck dynamic. Both were constantly trying to undo Scrooge for their own gain. Both had enormous fortunes so that they could keep up with Scrooge no matter where he went or what business he got into. Brigitta’s appearances were thankfully more comedic than dramatic though.

Yet many western audiences were not fans of the Brigitta character, or even aware of her. Scrooge had a female rival years before Brigitta, someone that was not falling over Scrooge at every instance but instead his equal, not in a monetary sense but in personality. Italians would have to ignore one of Carl Bark’s greatest creations, Goldie O’Gilt aka Glittering Goldie, in order for Brigitta to be his main female lead.

Goldie was a rival for Scrooge during his formative years in the Yukon. Over several seasons of hardship the two would grow to respect each other and more important to develop feelings for the other. Unfortunately both were too proud and stubborn to ever admit to those feelings. Scrooge left the Yukon behind and seemingly his heart as well. In flashbacks Scrooge would think fondly of his time spent up north. Goldie would always consider Scrooge the one that got away. This interesting dynamic left audiences wanting for closure to a relationship half a century in the making.

Adding superhero alter egos to established characters and creating new relationships within the canon were some of the major contributions by the Italians. One of the more controversial elements featured in the pages of Topolino, the inclusion of firearms in some of the stories, would have been a hard sell to American audiences, especially licensors and Disney stock holders. Many in the US would have never imagined seeing an icon like Mickey Mouse handling a weapon, let alone be threatened by one in a comic or cartoon.

Yet guns had appeared for decades in Disney comics in the US and even animation. For example when Glittering Goldie wasn’t flirting with Scrooge she was shooting him with a shotgun. This happened in both the cartoon and comic books.

This revelation was not to say that weapons were commonplace in fumetti or other European Disney comics. If and when they showed up they fit the form of the story and certain mature themes. Paperino for example had an alter ego as a spy. In addition to being Paperinik Donald also had the responsibility as a spy for his country, known to fans as Double Duck. In the Double Duck (DD) stories sometimes a villain showed up carrying a weapon, sometimes DD had to also carry one along with his tuxedo ala James Bond. Very rarely did these comics have shoot outs and never were any of the characters depicted as getting shot or injured during the battles. The violence of the weapon was implied rather than shown. A gun served as a tool to intimidate not as an excuse by artists to draw graphic violence.

Boom Studios actually published the DD stories in the US and did not censor out the guns as most had expected them to. Many in the west could not imagine an icon being threatened with a firearm but the precedence was set in the earliest Disney short films. Donald was once threatened with a gun by Mickey Mouse in the 1942 film the Symphony Hour. Not to mention the time Donald Duck tried to commit suicide by handgun in the 1943 film the Old Army Game or that Daisy Duck tried to do the same in 1947’s Donald’s Dilemma.

Disney Studios once used firearms in their animated projects and comics only now they seemed to shy away from any form or actual or implied violence. Topolino also used firearms but they certainly never put them flush to the temples of the icons as if they were in any real danger.

If Topolino and fumetti in general were geared only towards children then the writers and artists would certainly never have presented any weapons in the stories. At the same time they would never have produced as many memorable stories and adventures because of their audience. They would not have advanced the art of cartooning or showed how Disney comics could be written for every age.

These were a few examples of the creative risks that the Italians took in the pages of Topolino. These were things that would not have been allowed if the comic were limited to a specific audience.

There was a major difference between how Disney was perceived and marketed in the USA versus Italy, or for that matter the rest of the world. Topolino was family entertainment. The comics and anthologies could be enjoyed by both kids and adults. Best of all the fumetti brought the characters to life. The Disney cartoon icons as well as original characters were featured in ongoing stories. These were certainly not reprints for aged collectors but living, breathing volumes. Not every Disney comic published in Europe was approached in the same way.

In Germany for example the anthologies featuring the Disney characters could be picked up in local bookstores. These simple 4-color books featured reprints or stories, most meant for kids with very little done in production value. Colors bled into each other and no sort of cleanup was done to enhance the original art. These issues were stale and formulaic when compared to the work featured in the fumetti.

Other European countries did not settle for reprints. They were as passionate about the Disney comics and cartoons as anywhere else in the world. For example Donald Duck cartoons were viewed on Christmas Eve in Sweden as a tradition. Additionally fellow game writer Audun Sorlie mentioned how most stores in Scandinavia did not have a few Disney comics but instead had entire racks filled with the books.

These countries would develop new stories and art for the Disney books. However unlike the Italians the writers and artists from Northern European countries tried very little to deviate from the art and storytelling elements established in early comics. They would go so far as to look for artists that could draw in the same style as the classic Disney cartoonists. Of these artists none was better than Amsterdam's own Daan Jippes. Daan was an exceptional artist that could emulate the styles of the American masters, including Floyd Gottfredson and Carl Barks.

He was so good at emulating the Barks style that he was contracted to redraw stories written but not illustrated by Barks from the 1970's into new collections for the 1990's. Daan Jippes was considered a master of modern comics alongside the US's Don Rosa and Italy's Giorgio Cavazzano. The preference by the Scandinavians for classic characters and little deviation from the Barks canon meant that many of their comics progressed very little, as if they were stuck in a time loop. The Italians had a different perspective, while they respected the work of the early artists they pushed forward into new territory.

Even if the parent company in the USA had not released any new comics or animation featuring the Disney characters in decades they were all still fresh in the pages of the fumetti. Disney in Italy managed to keep the mascots relevant by allowing them to grow within the pages of Topolino. They were willing to introduce new characters and re-imagine classic characters equally. They enticed new collectors by offering toy sets with subscriptions and held onto long-time fans by maintaining a high level of quality in art and storytelling. In the USA most cartoon comics were labeled and marketed towards children specifically. The US publishers did not go out of their way to appeal to diverse audiences or interests. Nor did they offer any toys or figures featuring rare mascots. As such the Disney comic market in the US was nowhere near as big as it was in Europe.

As any business analyst could tell you the best and most successful forms of Disney entertainment were family oriented rather than obsessively kid-friendly. This distinction between entertainment for children and entertainment for families was too often missed by studios, not solely Disney. Mistaking comics and even videogames as a medium for children instead of for families did nothing to help promote the titles. Producing little content in print and toy form for fans and followers above the age of 10 also hurt the brand in the USA. This lack of connection with audiences and the lack of any new content featuring the icons was stifling. The Italian contribution to making the Disney name relevant was not limited to comics either. The next blog will explore how publishers were able to help keep the mascots fresh with collectibles. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!