Mood:
caffeinatedTopic: Comic Book History
TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3186: This blog is perfect to run just before the upcoming San Diego Comic Con International, that is only 12 days away! That's because the San Diego Convention Center itself is only 18 miles North of the Border with Mexico! Plus, the Comic Con International is a destination that a lot of artists come up from the South American countries each year to attend! I know, I've met several during the past years! And finally, the Disney influence is very well represented on the exhibit floors and in the program halls each year at the San Diego Convention Center. However, I doubt if many of the con goers know of the period of time that this book, 'South of the Border with Disney' covers. Heck, I only knew a little bit of this period, because of the top left photo of the Dell Four Color Comic Book #71. That was a 'one-shot comic book', penciled by Walt Kelly for Disney, and published in conjunction with Dell Publishing in 1945. That one-shot could be considered as a 'promotional' comic book for the Disney film, 'The Three Caballeros'. It is a adaptation of most of the film, with some omissions and then also some new material. The comic book is representative of what the book 'South of the Border with Disney' tells of what was produced during the time period of 1941 - 1948. So what's with the book? Well, quite honestly, it is a very 'heavy' read, in both number of pages and content. I found it to be very interesting, with text, photos, and appendices. Actually too much for me for a casual reading less than two weeks before the Biggest Comic-Con for us of the year! So, I read as much as I could, and realized that this book is a true treasure for Disney Fans! Which is why I am blogging on just a little bit of it this morning. Here's what the promo blurb says the book is about: Millions of viewers have enjoyed Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros without realizing that these Disney films were produced for a specific diplomatic purpose: as part of an initiative to foster a spirit of friendly hemispheric unity by countering Nazi propaganda efforts in South America, so that all the Americas might stand together against the Axis powers. This effort, the Good Neighbor program, was initiated and guided by Nelson Rockefeller as head of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA), a new government post created by President Roosevelt in 1940. Beginning with the extraordinary research trip Disney undertook in 1941, leading a team comprising his top animators, artists, and writers from Mexico to Chile, renowned animation historian J. B. Kaufman reveals the story behind Disney's contribution to Rockefeller's program. Based on extraordinarily comprehensive archival research and richly illustrated with many images never before published, South of the Border with Disney is a fascinating study of an all-but-forgotten aspect of the American war effort that will inform and delight Disney fans, animation lovers, and World War II buffs everywhere. So you can see it covers a LOT in those seven years of the project! Again, I myself just read the intro and the parts of the book that interested me. It is a very detailed history of the time period, and amazed me on how much coverage there was.
Again, I'm surprised at how much there was in this book. It definitely needs more than a couple of sittings to read through all of this, even for an avid reader! J.B. Kaufman definitely did a great job on compiling this book to be very readable on what could have been a 'dry' subject, but it is such an in-depth look into the period that you would need to come back and come back again to peruse all of it! Here is the info you would need to purchase the book:
As for a 'grade' for this hard cover book...Well, I would give it a Near Mint (NM) 9.4 out of a 10.0 Comic Book Grading Scale, even though it isn't a comic book. BTW, for those of YOU that are into Disney information, there is also a Facebook Fan Page for the Walt Disney Family Museum. You can't post any new wall comments on this Fan Page, but you can comment on the posts that they show on their wall. So it is semi-interactive.That's it for this blog post...This was the topic that I was going to be blogging about yesterday, before I got sidetracked with a special comic book signing that is happening at the same Comic Con International: San Diego! My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,185 total posts in number! ~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com
http://www.comicbookscircus.com/
|
The photos of the period, the illustrations for the films and publications and posters for the films was just amazing to see. It is good to see that several films from this time period are coming out on DVD, as seen by the DVD to the left. 
Hardcover: 336 pages 
Note: Our online comic book store carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items at:
Also, if you are a Facebook member and would like to also join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 
Talking about comics: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review!
WEB PAGE NOTE: This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safarai, Netscape, Firefox and the others serve the page up differently, sorry about that!
