casmiki:
>>>>>So I guess that your "accompanying articles" were translated and published in that volume.
I'm glad to know that my Italian friends *might* have seen my texts. But neither you nor I can be sure of the accuracy of those texts without careful comparison to the American versions. That book was an "unauthorized" use of my name and writings -- I've known of the book and that it contained texts that I couldn't read, but I never knew whether the texts were presented as my writing, or if they were someone else copying the information from my texts into new articles, or if the texts were written by someone else entirely and contained dubious unsubstantiated information. I had no input into that book's contents. But I do know that other contributors to that volume were friends and supreme comics scholars like Alberto Becattini and Luca Boschi, so I figured the book in general was hopefully a good presentation.
Or perhaps my memory of that book, after all these years, is spoiled by the next Italian version titled, in English, THE DUCK DYNASTY... is that correct? In that case, even Luca and Alberto were disturbed because I believe they told me that even their own writings appearing in that previous book, and perhaps elsewhere, had been used without their permission or control. This attitude by Disney publishers, as I've said before, was one of the reasons I eventually could not keep working in that system. Many of these publishers use their Disney license as if it was a shield while they use all sorts of writings and authors' names they have never been given permission to use... lifting the work off Internet fansites and elsewhere.
A part of this was my fault due to my early naivite of how Disney publishers act. When my close friends at Gladstone comics first reprinted those "Life of $crooge" stories in America, I was naturally very proud. Gladstone had NO funds to hire people to create new material, so I voluntarilly wrote those accompanying texts for them *for free*. Idiot that I was, I thought I was writing texts for Gladstone ALONE. But, no... Disney publishers worldwide begand translating and using those texts under my byline without asking my or Gladstone's permission, much less paying for the usage. And why not? They were using my Disney-owned stories without paying me, and my texts had also appeared in a Disney-licensed magazine, so my name and my texts were also regarded as Disney property. That I put myself into that situation is my own fault for being too trusting and too ignorant. "Here I am! Take advantage of my enthusiasm!" The only publisher who asked permission and paid me for the use of those texts, and expanded versions that were seen on some friends' websites, was Egmont.
The Italian "Life of $crooge" books may not be as guilty of this as I was lead to believe, but since I was never in contact with the editors and cannot read any of the contents, I have always been suspicious of them. The Italian audience is the one most dear to my heart, so I hope the books (including my texts) were well presented.