[Comics] The Great Crown Jewel Robbery

"Mickey, Minnie and the Great Crown Jewel Theft"

I said that I love reading review posts on Disney comics by established bloggers such as GeoX, Review or Die, Disney Comic Randomness, not forgetting Joe Torcivia and also the sadly deceased Chris Barat. So, I've taken up GeoX' ('s?) example of writing about a story that's not published in English and translating some dialogue from the language I read it in, which is normally German. I don't want to claim I can write reviews as well as the aforementioned bloggers can, and I don't want to enter any competition either. I'm mainly interested in highlighting some stories that have not been published widely, and I'm starting with a favourite of mine. In fact, I've written about this story several times before (always in German though), so you'd think I've figured out how to do it…

The story I'm talking about takes place in London. Is it "very British"? Yes, I'd say so, but of course the Brits never had a chance to read it. The story of Disney comics in Great Britain is a history in itself, and not a great one (David Gerstein broke it down here). It's funny to talk about this story in the wake of Brexit, but hey – London has been one of the world's most important cities, and I doubt Brexit is going to erase that (even though I still think it was an awful idea to start with, but oh well).

You'll notice that the colouring isn't so great. Although a lot of Italian Disney comics have been re-colored over the years (especially in Greece), this one has so far evaded the honour (possibly because the Greeks never printed it). Too bad - Giovan Battista Carpi was arguably at his artistic peak sometime during the 80s (remember "That Missing Candelabra", "War and Peace" etc.) and his art, beautifully detailed and atmospheric, could really shine with new, more precise and diverse colours. But this is the way it was done in Italy during those times (that said, "War and Peace" certainly received a better colouring, and is hardly improvable).

Also, the choice of scans isn't entirely intentional; these are the pages I scanned for my German review, then edited. Because I'm lazy and have little to no desire to make even more scans, I simply used all I scanned way back then for this post. This also means that there are spoilers, if you haven't read it yet & plan to do so.

Now, let's begin at the beginning... ((C) Francis Rossi / Bernie Frost)

I've always liked detective stories. My favourite children's book was one that dealt with minor "crimes" and the efforts to solve the puzzle, and the crime mystery is, in my opinion, one of the essential columns of the Disney comic. Anyone who thinks otherwise should come with a warning sign… and definitely not be working for Disney! Some of Carl Barks' best (Duck) stories were crime mysteries, sometimes mixed with a touch of gruesomeness (see "The Old Castle's Secret" for one of THE best Disney comics of all times), but for the most part, Mickey is the main expert on these matters. The tradition goes back to the venerable Floyd Gottfredson, who was responsible for turning Mickey Mouse from a funny animation star into a character who could survive complex and 'serious' comic stories. The influence of Gottfredson's comic strips on future generations has often been written about, and unlike the USA (where Paul Murry's less entertaining Mickey overtook the scene, before there were some attempts to artificially re-create the Gottfredson spirit in the 1990s) or Northern Europe, Italy never lost the connection to those formative stories. Gottfredson's work repeatedly gets reprinted in Italian, and the most important Italian Disney cartoonist Romano Scarpa was a dyed-in-the-wool Gottfredson fanatic who often wrote in the strip format and also did some covers for classic Gottfredson tales.

Scarpa's influence, through his various inkers, friends and pupils (especially Luciano Gatto, Giorgio Cavazzano, Sandro Del Conte, Maurizio Amendola, Valerio Held, Giuseppe Dalla Santa and Casty), is felt even today – although Cavazzano's stylistic development probably was even more important in the long run. On the other hand, there was something of a concurrent "school" that was more rigid, and more based on copying poses from Barks, Taliaferro, Gottfredson or (probably also self-made) model sheets. Scarpa, of course, didn't draw with any boundaries; such was his talent that he could create incredibly dynamic panels full of movement – but at times, it also meant that his artwork could look deformed compared to the "originals", exactly because Scarpa created his own interpretation and didn't adhere to any set rules.

The school I'm talking about includes Giovan Battista Carpi, Giulio Chierchini, Luciano Bottaro, Tiberio Colantuoni and Guido Scala. Although Carpi became a teacher to many young artists, late in his life, his pupils (e.g. Andrea Freccero or Anna Marabelli) either didn't follow his example much or disappeared from the Disney scene after a few years (e.g. Laura Bozzano). Only the exceptional Francesco Guerrini could be seen as a modern torch-bearer, but even here Carpi's influence is more implicitly felt.

Anyway, let's get to the story then. INDUCKS isn't entirely sure on whether Osvaldo Pavese wrote it alone, or Carpi co-wrote it; I wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter, since Carpi did have a knack for epic stories, although Pavese's work is severely undervalued on the whole. His writing is well worth checking out.

There were not one but two covers for both issues of "Topolino" that contained part 1 and 2 of the story, although neither were drawn by Carpi himself – but Marco Rota is no slouch either:

Strepitoso successo! Il tesoro della corona 2.da parte

We start out with Mickey and Minnie enjoying their holiday trip in London. If they knew what was coming…

Immediately we're hit by Carpi deftly handling the cultural icons of London, with the center image of the first page (one single panel) being neither Mickey nor Minnie, but the Tower Bridge. Although it's secondary to the plot, it shows the care that Carpi invested into the comic. The slow pace of the story might put some readers off, but I think it helps to set the atmosphere and makes it feel "authentic". The attention to detail is what sets this apart from so many commissioned comics (especially from Egmont) that try to stick in as many sights of one city as possible. Here, though, it flows very naturally; ironically, not concentrating on the plot all the time makes for a more realistic read.

Tourist guide: To your right, you can see the legendary London Tower!

Minnie: The scene of gloomy and gory stories! Shudder!

Mickey (MM henceforth): True, but now it's a museum, Minnie!

Minnie (MI): A museum, you say?

MM (or guide?): Yes! Nowadays, you can see the famous crown jewels there!

MI: Oh, I'd love to see them!

MM: We'll do that tomorrow, Minnie! I'm sure we'll need an entire day just to visit the Tower!

Guide: And now, ladies and gentlemen, a short pause to take photographs!

MI (?): Good idea!

MM: Oh Minnie! Aren't you gettin' tired of photographing everything?

MI: Well, I happen to enjoy it!

MI: Besides, it's a way to capture something for later!

MM: OK, I hear you!

[Soon after…]

Guide: This is the Westminster Palace, the House of Parliament with its clock tower, the famous Big Ben!

MI or someone else: Great!

MI: And where are we going to next?

Guide: To Hyde Park, one of the nicest parks in London Town!

~~

While the plot isn't important at the beginning, various elements do appear on the first few pages. After the romantic boat ride through Hyde Park (Mickey and Minnie are the perfect couple here, which some may find a bit boring, but Minnie's no Daisy; constantly having her argue with Mickey doesn't make sense to me), they visit Madame Tussaud's and come across the wax figure of "Captain" Thomas Blood. The whole tourist group later visits the Indian restaurant. And if you thought this was a totally police-focused story, you could not be more mistaken!

[In the evening…]

MI: Say, why don't we try something truly exotic!

MM: That's a very good idea, Minnie!

MM: What do you think of a saap-skewer from the grill?

MI: Oh, that sounds lovely!

MM: Twice grilled saap skewer, please!

Waiter: A good choice!

[Shortly afterwards…]

Waiter: Here you are!

MM: Oh! Um! Thanks!

MI: What… what is that?

Waiter: Fresh snake from the grill!

MI: Snake??

Waiter: For the next course, perhaps a delicious omelet with…

MM: Oh, er… let's just stick with plain eggs!

Waiter: As you wish!

Waiter: We've got gull's eggs Nepal style, frog eggs in the Himalayan way…

MI: Oh no!

MM: Erm, I think we might prefer totally normal fried eggs!

Waiter: Ack! What??

MM: I think he's offended now!

[After eating…]

MI: Can you photograph me, please?

MM: Of course! We simply have to record this "snake dinner" for posterity!

~~

Somewhat ridiculous sequence, as it consists of clichés about apparently inedible "exotic" food, but I admit I do find it mildly amusing. Anyhow, the next day, it's time for a visit to the Tower, as has already been announced before. We see the famous ravens (a topic that was recently taken up by Francesco Artibani and Lorenzo Pastrovicchio, in a story that features both Ellsworth and his adoptive son Ellroy!), meet a grumpy guard and then go visit the crown jewels.

MM: The "Imperial State Crown"!

MM: It consists of over 3000 crown jewels and was crafted in 1838!

MM: The fabled "Black Star Ruby" was worked into it.

MM: And this is the well-known "2nd Star of Africa"!

MI: How many carats, Mickey?

MM: Oh, just 317, Minnie!

MI: Wow, that's frightful!

MM: Why that?

MI: Well, such precious stones surely attract thieves, don't they!

Guard: Impossible, Ma'am! The museum is well-protected!

Guard: We've got an ultra-modern alarm system, steel-reinforced doors, and, last but not least, us Warders in the Tower!

MM: Well, but Captain Blood got in too, didn't he!

Guard: Yes, but he failed even without anti-theft devices!

Guard: You hear that?

MM: That sure sounds solid but…

MM: …with today's thieves, you never know!

[The visit goes on…]

MM: This is where it goes into the basement!

MI: Something special in there?

Blogger's note: The 2nd Star of Africa is one of the largest diamonds in existence. The largest one is also shown!

Again, you can tell how well Carpi did his research: The uniforms of the Yeoman Warders look exactly like they do in reality (a few simplifications for the comic format notwithstanding).

MM: Well, it's been said that the ghost of Queen Anna Boleyn has been haunting this dungeon!

MI: Really?

MI: Mickey! Where are you!

MI: Mickey! Don't leave me alone!

MM: Woohoooo! Minniieee! Boohooooo!

MI: EEEEEEEK!

MI: Help! A ghost!

MM: Oh no! I've overdone it and terrified her!

MM: Minnie! Wait! It was just a joke!

MM: Minnie! Stop!

(Slam!)

MM: Minnie!

(Slam!)

MI: Mickey! Mickey!

~~

Notice how well Carpi switched from happy-go-lucky, friendly tourist surroundings to dark doom with no advance warning. And yet, it's so effortlessly done that you might not even notice it if I didn't tell you so. Also, notice how Carpi's Mickey is not anywhere near the boring spoilsport that he's often seen as; the scene of him giving Minnie a fright could be straight out of Gottfredson.

So Mickey is locked in a place where poor Anne Boleyn might still be spooking around. (By the way: This, along with the quick mention of Henry VIII. earlier – Minnie's face says it all – is a good example of briefly touching upon stuff that is way too dark for a Disney comic, without disturbing anybody... after all, it doesn't tell you anything that you don't already know, and if you don't know yet, it just goes by unnoticed. I think it's really well done.)

Though what's more spooky is the coincidence: Just a few minutes after this misadventure, the alarm goes off. A guard says the crown jewels were stolen. Enter Police Inspector McKey, a type that couldn't be more "typically British" with his trenchcoat, bowler hat and umbrella. Not forgetting a decidedly grumpy personality. (I'm not sure if the name McKey is a German invention – it's a stroke of genius in any case, as it's phonetically very similar to "Mickey"!)

MM: Finally! I'd already pictured I'd have to spent the night in that place!

MM: Whoa- what's up with YOU?

Police officer: You come with US, young man!

MM: But… I'd been locked in there by accident!

Police officer: You can tell that to the inspector!

[Soon after…]

Police officer: He'd been hiding in the Martin Tower!

MM: What the heck are you mumbling there?

Inspector McKey: Oh-kay, young man! What have you got to tell us?

MM: Very simple! I was locked there by accident!

[After explaining…]

McKey: And that's what you call an alibi?

MM: Alibi? Why do I need an alibi?

MM: I'll gladly pay a fine if I have to!

Guard: Good joke, mate!

McKey: The cost for the theft of the crown jewels will be a bit higher, I think!

MM: Theft of the crown jewels? Who did that?

McKey: That's what I'd like to know from YOU, young man!

MM: And how would I know that?

McKey: Your explanations are awfully thin…

~~

Long story short, the police don't believe Mickey and want to put him in a cell until the evidence has been collected. Scotland Yard is already looming on the horizon (and drawn ominously, with black clouds in the background – some subliminal message there, eh, Carpi!). Obviously Mickey is totally not OK with this; 1) he's innocent, 2) he knows how long a process like this can take and 3) he knows too well that the actual thief will be more than happy to get out of the picture until it's way too late. It doesn't help that Mickey was talking about thieves during the visit to the Jewel House, especially since the thief has signed as – you guess it – "Captain Blood"!

(Notice also, that Mickey's facial expression in the eighth panel is clearly a nod to late-period Gottfredson stories.)

So what does Mickey do? If you've read "The Blot's Double Secret", you'll know the answer: Escape and try to solve the crime while hiding from the police. And of course, this is London: Mickey can't simply go hide at Goofy's house or count on Chief O'Hara's support (although that's debatable anyway). He's now very dependent on Minnie's skills. And of the many positive aspects of the story, Minnie's portrayal is one of the most noticeable ones. She's worried about Mickey, of course, but totally excels at helping him get a disguise, and making various investigations. It still takes Mickey's inventiveness and experience (e.g. calling Minnie at the hotel with a different voice as "Aunt Mimmie" and warning her that the police will have her under surveillance), but essentially the two are a perfect match and compliment each other really well. (This is also why I tend to sigh when Casty uses her as a boring female stereotype, as it feels like more than one step backwards, despite the general quality of Casty's plots. But I digress.)

So, this story shows that Minnie can hold her own as a detective, although it still hinges on some lucky coincidences (and her love of photographing!) that she finds the connection.

MI: But... the guy who's speaking to him, is…

(Blogger's note: This is where part 1 ended, but the German printing didn't make much fuss about it. Thankfully, the title page of part 2 wasn't cut as is so often the case, even if it means looking at some rather empty art – obviously, since the Italian original had a cliffhanger and a sum-up)

~~

So, slowly, we're putting the puzzle together. Mickey's still a suspect on the run, so meeting up with Minnie isn't the easiest thing, but they somehow manage. Again, there's a reason why the title has both Mickey and Minnie as titular "heroes"; based on this, Minnie could be a detective in her own right (and Mickey even admits so, saying that she always had a good instinct). I love that there's no competition or bad feelings about this; other writers could have had Minnie be annoyed at Mickey for the rest of the story, leaving him out in the cold. Nope. And though there's nothing romantic about the situation, look at distressed Minnie giving Mickey a surprise hug and telling him to be careful. D'aw!

And lest you thought the story was lacking in humour, Carpi sticks in funny details here and there. There's some literal monkey business in the zoo that doesn't detract from the main action, not unlike Don Rosa's "side plots" (but not as elaborate).

Eventually, we're due a showdown. And Carpi exceeds himself at thickening the atmosphere. Basically, it gets thicker and thicker with each page. Not even the humorous sign on the side of the "Odeon" can alleviate that.

[Shortly afterwards…]

MM: There's the theatre! Ah, Shakespeare's on!

MM: The Sheik seems to like the classical drama!

Timothy (admission guy): What do you want?

MM: Er… balcony, once, please!

~~

Would you think that Mickey is the guy who falls asleep during a Shakespeare play? Well, now you know!

It turns out that the thief may be a criminal genius, but he's also a big-headed guy who didn't really consider that few people would want anything to do with such hot loot. Let alone finding somebody who's rich enough to pay for it. This is where the sheik comes in; the thief had thought him – a lover of costly jewelry – a potential buyer. Nope, it turns out that the sheik, even if he might not have the best morals, is not interested in buying some of the most well-known jewels in the world, although he might as well have expressed interest at first. He's actually so concerned about this that he vows to leave England "this night", which strikes me as an unusually realistic line for a Disney comic.

The showdown between Mickey and the thief is just stunning. I'd love to show the whole sequence because it's so captivating, but I don't want to completely spoil the story for those who haven't read it yet. Anyway, Mickey seriously underestimates the guy – his detective expertise ensures that he gets him to admit doing the deed, but he can't hold his own against such a dangerous and cunning person.

MI: Mickey!?

Telephone caller: No, here's a friend of Mickey!

Caller: You're Minnie, right?

MI: Yes, but has something happened to Mickey?

Caller: No, no, don't worry, Miss Minnie! He just can't use the phone right now!

MI: But why?

Caller: Er… he's gotta watch that geezer, you know who! And he needs you!

MI: What am I supposed to do, then?

Caller: You should come to the Odeon Theatre! With photos and negatives!

MI: What photographs?

Caller: You know! The photos from the restaurant and the Tower!

MI: A-ha! So then you must be Mr. Thompson?

Caller: Mr. Thompson? Er… yes, that's right, that's who I am!

MI: Good, I'm coming!

Caller: Fantastic! I'll wait for you backstage! See you there!

[Minnie's smart, you see, and she laid a trap for her caller…]

MI: Good to know! Mickey never told me anything about some 'Mr. Thompson'!

MI: I gotta hurry!

MI: But I won't arrive empty-handed!

MI: I'll take this – just in case!

~~

That facial expression in the eighth panel. Man, this guy IS dangerous. Watch out, Minnie!

"Thompson": Here am I, Miss Minnie!

MI: O…okay, Mr. Thompson!

~~

I actually get goosebumps looking at that panel. So well done. The speech bubble coming from an invisible place hidden by shadows, and a really frightened Minnie in front… amazing bit of staging. The whole page actually, too bad I only scanned the lower third…

Minnie again shows that she's just as capable as Mickey, and attacks Mr. Bad Guy with a pepper pot, which results in her being chased by the crook with a sword (!) and later a pistol…

Did I mention that the bad guy is a criminal genius? There's lots of evidence throughout the story. Given how much he shines in all his menacing irritativeness, it's actually a shame he was destined to be a one-shot character. You rarely see such colourful characters in Disney comics, especially when it comes to bad guys. And even when he was already supposedly "caught", he makes for an escape, adding another unexpected sequence to the story and giving us this hilarious nugget (that's Mickey stuck in a large vase, in case you're wondering):

(Tlang!)

MM: Heeelp! Get me out of this thing!

MM: Stop the thief! He's escaping!

MM: Ooph!

Guard: Halt! Everyone stop!

~~

In the next panel, Mickey utters the classic line "I'm falling! Help! A parachute! Quick!" 😂 Straight out of the best slapstick movies. Arguably it wasn't necessary for the story, but it makes it more fun. Why complain? Well, Mickey and Minnie getting invited to Buckingham Palace and being honored by Her Majesty, the Queen herself is perhaps a tad bit over-the-top, but what other way could this have ended?

So, if you like detective stories, or if you want to read one that isn't written after the most obvious formula, or if you want to see a lot of London in a Disney comic (there really is a lot), or if you want to see Minnie in one of her best roles… you might still want to read this comic despite my spoiling it to you!

PS: The art is so good that at least two different artists copied poses from the story in their own comics! :-)

No, Eric Clapton is *not* racist! (Rant)

Some statements are like zombies. They keep returning and replicating. And some people are all too willing to parrot simple statements like these. But simple statements are for simple minds...

If you're not aware of what this is referring to, you might be scratching your head and saying "How could a musician who dedicated almost his entire life to playing and celebrating Black music possibly be considered racist?". And that statement wouldn't be false either.

Nonetheless, there is that one incident which is, undoubtedly, a blemish on a career that otherwise can only be considered remarkable. I'm not going to replicate his words here; you can find them elsewhere if you're interested, and they're really horrifying. No denying that.

But there is a larger picture here and anybody who focuses on this one occurrence thinking it is in any way representative of Eric Clapton is engaging in willful ignorance. The incident happened in the middle of his raging alcoholism, which occupied about fifteen years of his life. After getting off heroin in the early 1970s, he slid from one addiction to the next. At the time this was seemingly not seen as much of a problem, and that is very much the problem. Can you imagine going to a gig where the main attraction performs the entire show lying on the stage, with a microphone stand lying beside him? This might sound hilarious, as does the episode where he went out fishing in the middle of the night and then freaked everybody out by returning in a diving suit. But in reality, alcohol had turned Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde. An introverted, intelligent, well-mannered man turned into a belligerent idiot. It's almost as if his personality had completely flipped - the only thing the two Claptons had in common were that they both played guitar. There is no film material of the infamous 1976 "speech" but there are bits of video showing him trying to pick a fight with the audience. He comes across as bone-headed and entirely unlikable. Pattie Boyd, his wife at the time, confirms that he was violent under the influence, and that it was not part of his sober personality at all. In his autobiography, he admits that there was always a nutcase inside him waiting to get out, and drinking set it free.

In his autobiography, Clapton also refers to his second time of rehab, since which he has been clean for good, as the beginning of his maturing into a grown-up. And if you analyze all those accounts of his drunken behaviour, they can be summed up in one word: childish. It didn't help that his management (Robert Stigwood) was protecting him from a lot of trouble, this clearly furthered the 'spoiled child' behaviour. He got mad at officials for reading his full name (Eric Patrick Clapton). Can you take anything serious he said in such a state?

In the documentary "Life in 12 Bars", he referred to that awful speech as "the moment that ruined everything". Again, it fits into a pattern - not one of racism, but one of self-destruct. He had car accidents that could've killed him (and others). His unquantifiable alcohol consumption gave him ulcers that could've killed him. It goes on and on. He had no respect for anybody, least of all himself and his own life.

To add context: Those horrifying comments didn't come out of nowhere. Clapton referred to UK parliament member Enoch Powell, already then a polarizing figure but not unpopular. His "rivers of blood" speech on what immigration would turn the UK into was deemed racist back in the day. For the record, Powell always denied being racist. If you define racism as hating others based on their skin colour or heritage, then he doesn't fit the definition. But nowadays it's generally consensus to also label the idea that racial groups have certain intellectual properties racist, and it's a definition I tend to agree with. Of course, genetic disposition is a thing, but not across entire swathes of population. And this kind of prejudice needn't be negative either. If you approach somebody with Indian roots with the clear idea that they must be a mathematical genius, this is still racist because you're basically not willing to accept that human beings are all individual, not just those of your own group. A certain former US president exhibited this kind of behaviour time and time again.

So, Powell does not really fit the bracket of a typical right-wing rabble-rouser, but he was seen as a problematic figure. As evidence, Manfred Mann, who had left South Africa partially because he couldn't stand the Apartheid regime and how it treated Black people, dedicated this instrumental to him after the "rivers of blood" speech. In case you're still wondering about what Manfred thought of him, just read the title "Konekuf" backwards.

Now why would Clapton, always influenced by and admiring Black musicians, come out with support of Powell? It's not an easy question; drunkenness is only part of the answer. First of all, I think many people have some amount of prejudice. We always like to think that we don't but most of us grow up in relatively homogenous surroundings. I'm wary of people who say "I'm the least racist person", because those either lack self-critical insight or modesty. Secondly, the UK has always been a bit funny about this. My father, who's a jazz musician, told me that the British jazz scene is the most isolationist in this part of the world. Just look at the Brexit vote: those beliefs are still very much alive. To be clear: There is a fine line between simply thinking 'mass immigration' is bad for one's country and being actually racist, but Clapton's comments clearly crossed the line, not just through the choice of words. So is he racist, after all?

...I don't think so. I still think it was mostly alcohol-fueled shit-talking. Maybe he was spending a lot of time in pubs where his drinking mates talked like that and he simply parroted something he'd heard the other night. Not really an excuse but an attempt at an explanation. Every ugly cloud has a silver lining, and in this case, people horrified by Clapton's comments started the Rock Against Racism movement in response to this incident (as well as a cocaine-based David Bowie ogling fascism at the time).

Anyway, let's put things into perspective.

In 1968, a very thoughtful and articulate Clapton commented on the conundrum why so many of his main role models and influences didn't get the same amount of media attention that Cream got at the time. Clapton analyzed the situation succinctly and told the interviewer that this was due to ongoing segregation and racism in the USA. In fact, a lot of the original bluesmen (and -women) had received more praise from a white audience in Europe (on the so-called "American Folk Blues Festival" tours) than what would've been possible in the US at that time. For reasons still somewhat mysterious, a lot of young white kids in the Old World, especially the UK, had really latched onto this style of music. It was a dedicated fandom, blues nerdism was a real thing. Those Brits might not have known all the backgrounds of slavery and sharecropping, but there was something universal in the music that spoke to them. Bands like The Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann, The Animals, The Spencer Davis Group, The Yardbirds and later Cream basically re-imported a genuinely American style of music back to the USA, where it was then rediscovered by a larger audience (while people like Mike Bloomfield were similar catalysts on American ground).

In any case, Clapton was well aware of the civil rights movement and said that it needed to progress further towards equality so that his heroes could get their due respect. This is the Clapton I want to remember when he's no longer with us. His statements then are consistent with pretty much his entire career. How?

His formative days were influenced by blues music he heard on the radio and later, on import records. Big Bill Broonzy, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Freddie King and Chuck Berry were among the musicians he payed close attention to. He literally modeled his playing style on those icons of Black music. In 1965, he left The Yardbirds because he was a blues nerd and didn't want to go their way of diluting that element for pop success. His subsequent playing in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers was ground-breaking; the combination of a Gibson Les Paul and overdriven Marshall amps (which he stumbled onto by trying to imitate Freddie King's sound) basically defines the tone of modern blues rock guitar. The famous graffitti "Clapton is God" originates from this period. Mayall himself was extremely educated about the blues and saw it as his mission to introduce his fans to lesser known blues artists - the LP "Crusade" (recorded after Clapton's departure) explicitly states the aim to bring more blues to the radio, and contains a mournful ode to J.B. Lenoir, one of Mayall's biggest influences.

Clapton left Mayall because he had seen Buddy Guy at a gig with just bass and drums and wanted to front his own trio. In the end, Cream was a rather different beast, with multi-instrumentalist Jack Bruce doing most of the singing and songwriting. What didn't change was the reverence for the blues: After he'd already sung Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' on My Mind" on the Bluesbreakers album, Clapton resurrected another Johnson classic with "Four Until Late". And Skip James earned more money from Cream's version of "I'm So Glad" than from anything he had done up to that point.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2015/07/08/jack-bruce-lost-tapes-viii-skip-james-widow-thanks-cream-for-im-so-glad/

As this Jack Bruce interview shows, Cream were not fussy about giving people credit. Clapton even eschewed bringing any new material of his own to Cream's third album "Wheels of Fire" in favour of covering Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign" (which was brand new at the time), Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" (aka "Cross Road Blues", combined with elements of Johnson's "Travelling Riverside Blues") and the classic "Sitting on Top of the World" (written by the Mississippi Sheiks but made famous by Howlin' Wolf).

Clapton once also pointed out, correctly, that Cream's heavy blues paved the way for Led Zeppelin. But Willie Dixon had to sue the Zeps for royalties to "Whole Lotta Love", given that they gratuitously used his lyrics of "You Need Love" (recorded by Muddy Waters). This is not the only example of LZ ripping off black artists without giving proper credit, whereas Cream rearranged songs so heavily that they could've at least called themselves co-writers, but didn't. So who's the racist? (As an aside, Clapton admitted that his own "Let It Grow" borrowed heavily, if unconsciously, from "Stairway to Heaven", which he saw as a sort of irony considering how much he had criticized Led Zeppelin...)

If, after all of this, you still consider EC to be a racist, think of this: He has made music with Black artists almost his entire life. The Yardbirds backing up Sonny Boy Williamson didn't work out so well, but a few years later he was invited to play guitar on an Aretha Franklin song, he jammed with Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King and worked his way up, if you will.

In 1986, Clapton's live band consisted of himself, Phil Collins, Greg Philinganes and Nathan East. In other words, it was a 50/50 black/white split. Generously sharing the spotlight, all four bandmembers got to sing some parts of the show. East has been one of his go-to sidemen ever since and Philinganes also worked with him a couple of times more. I could list more names (e.g. his backing singers Michelle David and Sharon White), but you get the idea. If there was more to the allegation than the drunk rant, someone will have come forward about it at some point. I've not heard any tales that he treated fellow musicians different based on their skin.

That said, being the boss of his own band is one thing, but I've also never heard from any African-American blues artist who didn't accept him. He was good friends with Muddy Waters, who invited him to his wedding and even told him to keep the blues alive - Clapton goes as far as saying "The Mud" was almost like the father he never had, and he regrets that this took place in the time alcohol still had a tough grip on him. (Muddy died in 1983.) Robert Cray and Buddy Guy are also on good terms with him. The friendship with B.B. King seems to have been even deeper. B.B. called him a genius and told him "May I live forever, but may you live forever and a day". Of course B.B. was one of the most generous souls who ever walked the earth, but this was unusual even for his standards. Even if their collaboration album "Riding with the King" was a disappointment for me (as a fan of both artists), it probably still brought B.B. some new attention.

My favourite Eric Clapton album was released a few years earlier - I'm talking about "From the Cradle", which is an almost 1:1 reconstruction of classic blues mostly from the Chess Records stable. This was a project dear to his heart; after the tragic death of his son Conor, the ensuing hit single "Tears in Heaven" and the very successful MTV Unplugged album/video, management clearly expected something else but it's just like Clapton to deflect from himself by putting out a love letter to this classic era of Black American music. It has some of his finest playing and some of his most passionate singing ever, and the live gigs - with a fantastic band that featured, among others, Muddy's harmonica player Jerry Portnoy - were even better.

If anybody who bought this album and didn't know the blues before would investigate the work of Leroy Carr, Eddie Boyd, Lowell Fulson, Jimmy Rogers or Charles Brown, the album already was good for something. A few years later, Clapton finally explored his love for Robert Johnson's music at album length. "Me and Mr. Johnson" soon got a sibling in form of "Sessions for Robert J", because EC kept playing with the material. And his more recent albums have usually also included a handful of blues classics such as "Can't Hold Out Much Longer" by Little Walter or "That's No Way to Get Along" by Robert Wilkins. In the final chapter of his autobiography, he goes through names of people who meant the most to him, and they're predominantly Black: Muddy, B.B., Leroy Carr, Little Walter, Ray Charles, Robert Cray and so on.

Cynics might say Eric made a lot of money playing African-American music. It's partially true, but then again he himself has become a main influence on many guitarists, including Jimi Hendrix, Peter Green or Gary Moore. For all of his borrowing of licks, his playing is usually recognizable because it's his own personal expression.

And if we talk about money, we shouldn't go without talking of his charitable actions. After surviving heroin addiction, going through alcohol rehab twice and also finally quitting smoking, he contemplated the fate of many of his musical heroes who didn't get the chance to straighten up their lives - blues and jazz are notoriously littered with addiction casualties. He also thought of people who couldn't afford therapy. Borne out of all this was the Crossroads Center in Antigua, which became a major undertaking for Clapton. He auctioned many of his guitars to raise money (besides the amount that he paid out of his own pocket), and this led to the Crossroads Guitar Festivals, which have usually taken place every three years and seen some of the best line-ups ever. The DVDs of the festivals are usually very recommended and all profits from their sale go to the Crossroads Foundation.

So, I don't take too kindly to people trying to paint him as some kind of villain. He's not faultless but he's mostly worked on himself; he had to overcome a lot of problems and managed to both find personal peace and a good cause to dedicate himself to. If you don't like his music or consider him a bad imitation of real blues guitar playing, that's a much more understandable & valid criticism than "he's racist".

In general, I abhor people who complain about "wokeness" and "cancel culture" because they want to have unchecked free speech and demand the right to offend anybody's sensibilities, which should not fly. But sometimes there is a grain of truth and I think this is it.

See, I'm very much pro equality and against discrimination. Structural and institutional racism is definitely a thing and "we" (= mostly privileged white people) must all work to do away with it. But an ideology that literally does not accept apologies and disregards the idea that someone might actually change their stance (if you can call even a drunken slur a stance) is not what I want to be part of. Clapton, although it's hard to disagree he wasn't really himself, said and did awful things and expressed regret about it. Though I'm not a very religious person, there is the teaching of Jesus that says "He who is faultless may throw the first stone". If you're going to keep on jumping on a man who's done so much since then for one drunken slur he made over forty years ago and that he has repeatedly disavowed, you'd better be sure you have no skeletons of your own somewhere in a closet. Moreover, you should really be taking your attention elsewhere. To me, a racist is someone who doesn't regret making offensive comments. EC doesn't fit that bill. Many people still do and act like that, though, and not just under the influence either. This is what we need to focus on.

Oh, and if you are only using this story in order to defend your personal dislike of his music and to make the ill-informed point that EC is unimportant/talentless/whatever, this is very poor form.

Don't get me wrong: Eric Clapton can be a bit of a pain to be a fan of. His albums are famously differing in quality - for every "From the Cradle" there's a "Back Home" and for every "CLAPTON" there's an "Old Sock". Politically speaking, his recent collaboration with Van Morrison on the subject of "lockdowns" alienated a lot of fans. But while I also criticize him for his unhelpful statements, I'm irritated that now all of a sudden this old stuff gets dragged to the surface again when it's really old hat.