Okay, now that I know in what version of the story you see "Byman", I can answer your question... and give you a lesson in what it's like when you are a writer who takes great pride in his work (as all writers should) and yet has no control over how his stories are handled by editors, how frustrating that can be for 20+ years, and why it might finally contribute to the long list of reasons that would ultimately cause him to quit. This story has several examples, though I'll admit these are minor.
You show me a link to page 7 of the American version published by Gladstone. Yes, "Byman" is the name of the baker, but I think the question concerns the fact that "Byman" is a strange, unheard of name. Well, the name in my script was "BYRON'S" for Byron Erickson, my editor at Egmont. But Byron had previously worked for Gladstone and had quit, so apparently the publisher had some ill will towards him and would not allow me to even mention his first name. So here we have an example of a script change due to personal animosity.
Next in this same story we see on page 7 and 8 the members of the "Ale & Quail Club" on a train -- this is a reference to the group of drunken hunters who were having a party on a train in Preston Sturges' classic movie PALM BEACH STORY. But look at the obviously drunk man on those pages who keeps saying "Yay!". In my script, he is saying "Hic!"... he's hiccupping, like all drunks in comics do. Here we have a cowardly editor who is too worried about being politically correct and won't dare to suggest a minor character in the comic is drunk.
Next we look at page 10, panels 1 & 2: Gladstone Gander has just been sucked out an airliner through a hole caused by a meteor strike. You'll need to go see what dialogue was used, or you can just trust me that it was nothing special, and even made little sense. Here is my original dialogue:
Pilot 1: "A passenger was just sucked out of the airplane by that meteor strike!"
Pilot 2: "Omigosh!!! Was he.... (gulp)... was he.....?
Pilot 1: "Yes, his ticket was PREPAID!"
Pilot 2: "Whew! What a relief!"
So here we have a change made in the dialogue again by a cowardly editor who is afraid he'll get complaints from airplane pilots. Or maybe he doesn't like my weird sense of humor as much as Europeans do.
Here's another bit of incredibly trivial political correctitude -- a running gag all through my script was Gladstone telling different people to "Oh, SHUT UP!" Apparently the editor thought that was too rude, so all those were changed to "be quiet" or "pipe down".
Then look on page 13, panel 2. See where Gus Goose was sleeping in a haystack which was struck by a bolt of lightning (!) and he was not even awakened because we know what a sound sleeper Gus is. Ha ha. I think that's funny. That was actually the way it was in my script! But in certain European versions that "Z" was changed to a "?", so that you have Gus having just been struck by lightning laying on the ground with his eyes shut calmly wondering what just happened. But not even caring enough to open his eyes and look around. What the @#$&!!! So, here we have an example of a translator or letterer who has no sense of humor and sabotages the gag.
Yes, these and hundreds and hundreds of similar examples over 20+ years (not to even mention all the things happening to my scripts in editions I can't read and will never know what's being screwed up) are things that made my pretty red hair turn white and fall out while I did these comics.
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