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JWeinCom on 15 February 2023
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Wman1996 said:

If it's partly or entirely due to racial stereotypes, just put the Stories Matter disclaimer and keep publishing the comics. Disney says on their website that they are examining adding the Stories Matter disclaimer to literature and possibly theme park attractions. But perhaps Disney considers some of the content as severe or worse than Song of the South and doesn't want to simply add a disclaimer.

I don't think it's that the content is so bad, I think it's just that... why would they reprint it?

Comic books are already a niche market, and outside marvel and DC, super niche. Not a ton of people are clamoring to read a 20 year old Donald Duck comic. This isn't The Night Gwen Stacy Died. And it's not like Peter Pan which is definitely more problematic, but also a part of our cultural history.

So, would it hurt them to republish it? Probably not. Is it going to benefit them? Also probably not. So, not much of a point in printing any more.

Alex_The_Hedgehog said:
JWeinCom said:

Kind of a win win when you think about it.

If this didn't happen, there's no way I would have ever heard of this story. Now I know about it. And if I want to read it, I can find scans in about two seconds, which I did. And who knows if I think it's good I may read more of Rosa's stuff. And he may lose out on some royalties from this, but probably a tiny amount since nobody would really be looking for a random Donald Duck comic.

Meanwhile, if there's something Disney's not happy with, they can now distance themselves from it. Anyone who wants to read it still can, and maybe they'll get into Donald Duck comics which I, both a Disney and comic fan, just found out were a thing.

So yeah. People can still read it, more people probably will, and Disney doesn't have to take ownership of anything they don't want to. Good deal for all involved I'd say.

Edit: Read of bit of it. They go back to the old west and there's a mildly racist native american sidekick character. Then there's a zombie who kind of looks like a tribal African caricature. I doubt that anyone would have really noticed or cared if they published it again, but at the same time, I wouldn't be super keen to put my company's name on it. Also the plot is kind of inception, which is a little weird. 

Well, if that's the case, I have some books with Carl Barks stories, and I can remember a bunch of similar cases.

One of my favorites, "Volcano Valley" shows a fictitious country where the citizens are similar to mexican people, and they sleep the entire day to avoid work. Another one "Adventure Down Under" takes place in Australia, and shows a group of natives trying to capture Donald in order to cook him.

Yeah, times change. Those things probably wouldn't fly now, and maybe shouldn't have then. 

The best example is a Donald Cartoon, Donald Duck in Nutsy Land, or In Deh Fuhrer's Face. I'm sure Disney will never actively promote it, but it's actually a spectacular example of wartime propoganda, and just a great cartoon. Unfortunately, the only thing people would take away from it is "Hey Donald is heiling Hitler" without getting the satire element. 

(3) Donald Duck - Der Fuehrer's face | eng sub - YouTube