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Still on the Shelf #0 - Walt Disney's Comics and Stories By Blake M. Petit The final guest spot I had lined up over the last year was taken up by Mr. Blake Petit, a short 2 weeks after Brandon's fill-in. Actually, Blake's had been planned long before (as I needed a vacation), and the "Column switch's" timing just happened to fall close to the same time. Blake is an avid Cark Barks fan, and as such, was the ideal person for a Disney edition of Still on the Shelf. Blake wrote a great piece, and I am thankful for that!Originally published December 15th, 2003 on www.ComiXtreme.com. This work is, of course, © Still on the Shelf and Blake Petit. The Great Comixtreme Column Switch was a couple weeks ago, but long before that was even in the works our own Craig Reade asked me to sit in for a December “Still on the Shelf.” Since I’ll take virtually any excuse to run my mouth off, I readily agreed. Craig also suggested that, as my topic, I write about one of the Disney comics currently being published by Gemstone, since I’ve more or less made myself their unofficial advocate here at Comixtreme.The question then became, of course, which title to cover. Uncle Scrooge? Donald Duck and Friends? Mickey Mouse and Friends? I finally decided to go with the first and longest-lived of the Disney comics, as well as the one that offers the best mixture of the various characters the publisher offers: Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. Cast of Characters WDC&S covers the adventures of several Disney characters, mostly from the classic animated shorts, the early full-length films (you won’t find Lilo and Stitch or the Lion King in here), and a few others created exclusively in the comics. Chief among them are… Donald Duck: Hot-tempered but basically good-natured, Donald is your average resident of the town of Duckberg. He makes his living working odd jobs, most for his uncle Scrooge, and raising his nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie. Scrooge McDuck: Born to a poor but once-noble clan in Glascow, Scotland, young Scrooge started out with nothing but a shoeshine kit and one worthless American dime. Scrooge traveled the world for years, earning and losing money, before he finally struck it rich in the Klondike and made his home in Duckberg as the richest duck in the world. Scrooge now spends his time on treasure hunts, running his business, and protecting his fortune from the likes of Flintheart Glomgold, the Beagle Boys and Magica DeSpell. Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck: Donald’s nephews, Scrooge’s great-nephews, the boys are the heirs to the McDuck fortune. (Scrooge named them his heirs after his other relatives, Donald and Gladstone Gander, showed no business sense at all, whereas the boys showed ingenuity, cleverness and good economic acumen with their lemonade stand.) The boys are proud members of the Junior Woodchucks and frequently accompany Scrooge and Donald on their adventures. Mickey Mouse: Mickey is a sharp little guy, but one without much goal or ambition. He also works a variety of jobs to get by, most of them at the urging of his girlfriend, Minnie, and always seems to find himself involved in various mysteries and thwarting villains like Black Pete. Goofy: Dim-witted but with a heart of purest gold, Goofy is Mickey’s best friend and frequent partner on his adventures. The Big Bad Wolf and Lil’ Bad Wolf: Still smarting from being outwitted by the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf had hoped his son would join him in his campaign against them. To his utter shame, though, Lil’ Bad Wolf not only befriended the pigs, but turned out to be a sweet, kindhearted child – quite an embarrassment to his dastardly Pop. Thoughts As with any anthology title, the quality of any given issue of WDC&S rises and falls on the strength of the creative team in that particular issue. The title frequently reprints Scrooge and Donald stories by Scrooge’s creator, the late Carl Barks. Barks made Donald a sharp, relatable character for the first time, and adding Scrooge to the mythos opened up the gates to tell hundreds of stories. Barks’s stories were always funny and always smart, often employing a tremendous amount of research on history, geography and foreign cultures. Even the cultures Barks made up were clever and detailed enough that the reader could often mistake them for a real one. In recent years, Barks’ torch has been picked up by Don Rosa, who tells the same sort of incredible tale, often building on the foundation Barks built. Even when he deviates from Barks stories, as he did with the wonderful three-part story “The Return of the Three Caballeros” in WDC&S #635-637, Rosa tells witty, intelligent tales with some of the most beautiful artwork in comics. If he had turned his pencil to superheroes instead of talking animals, he would be a superstar today. Aside from Rosa, the best duck artist of the modern comics is William Van Horn, who tells less far-flung adventures, but is more likely to drift into fantastic tales, such as in WDC&S #636’s “Perchance to Dream”, in which a dragon escapes from Donald’s dreams and began causing trouble around Duckberg. The creators of the Mickey comics have recognized something that the animators did many years ago – while Mickey Mouse is a beloved, likeable character, he really isn’t that funny by himself. That’s the reason so many of the old shorts teamed him up with Donald, Goofy or Pluto – other characters he could bounce off of. In the comics, they’ve taken a different tack entirely, largely eschewing any effort at straight comedy and instead telling Scooby Doo-style takes where he and Goofy take on some mysterious haunting figure that’s plaguing an unsuspecting businessman, or a western tale where they’re riding through the desert hot on the trail of some bandit who made off with the local payroll. Other times they lapse into satiric tales, such as issue #635’s “Spidermouse” by Pat McGreal, which made fun of superhero comics from Spider-Man to Plastic Man. The stories in WDC&S are, for the most part, quite clever and entertaining, and the sort of thing you can give to kids to get them into reading comic books. It’s the perfect “gateway” title – featuring characters the children are already familiar with and almost totally continuity-free, anybody can pick up any issue of this book and jump right in. Even with the one or two serialized stories you may find in any issue, missing earlier chapters isn’t a problem because you know the characters and you know the formula. That brings us, unfortunately, to the big problem with this book; the price point. This title, along with Uncle Scrooge, is printed in a 64-page prestige format and costs $6.95 an issue. They inherited this format from the previous publisher of the Disney titles, Gladstone, which published the line through most of the 80s and 90s, shfting two titles to the prestige format shortly before closing shop a few years ago. Obviously, the books are aimed at collectors rather than casual readers (Donald Duck and Friends and Mickey Mouse and Friends are in the standard format, costing $2.95 an issue). I can understand the desire to target collectors – an enormous portion of the audience for this title is people like myself, who grew up with the books and appreciates having them in a sturdier, more permanent format than the standard magazine comic book allows. But I can’t help but feel it’s a big mistake to make such a wonderful comic book that could garner so many new readers if marketed properly, then make it totally inaccessible to the youngest readers by pricing it higher than most kids can, or would, spend on a monthly basis. Why can’t this be a regular-format book at a lower price? Even if they kept the 64 pages and charged, say, $4.95, it would be better for kids than the seven bucks they have to shell out now. Bottom Line This is a fun title. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s a book that a lot of people would really enjoy if they gave it a chance. People expecting a “kiddie” comic will instead find one of the true all-ages titles out there – most of the stories are smart enough for adults without delving into themes you’d be uncomfortable sharing with the little ones. If you’ve got a kid that you want to get into reading comics, this is a book you could all read together. It’s just unfortunate that, in all likelihood, you’ll have to buy them all for them, because Gemstone, like the previous license-holder Gladstone at the end of its run, is targeting the wrong audience. Credit Where Credit is Due Each issue of WDC&S is written and drawn by a variety of creators. Among the most frequent and most recent contributors are Don Rosa, William Van Horn, Pat and Carol McGreal, John Lustig and Stefan Petrucha, along with reprints of classic comics by creators such as Carl Barks. Next Week – Beats me! You’ll have to wait to see what Craig has got up his sleeve! |
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