March comics from IDW

March Disney comics from IDW

This post will be a quick summary of what I liked and some things I didn’t like from the March lineup of Disney comics from IDW.

Donald Duck #11 (378)

"Syds in Your Eye"

I already made a post with a little bit of Cornelius Coot history from this issue. The main story (The Incredible Quest for Cooties) was interesting and new to me, but not my favorite from this issue. Even if I already got several copies of Suds in Your Eye from before, that’s my favorite part. I’ve been hoping for more Fethry madness from Dick Kinney and Al Hubbard, and this story does not disappoint on that part! It's also the story about Daisy's first meeting with Fethry.

Mickey Mouse #10 (319)

"Shadow of the Colossus"

Mickey Mouse #10 started with the first part of another Eurasia Toft adventure. While on vacation Mickey and Goofy meet Eurasia who is looking for clues to the Colossus of Rhodes. IDW really got me to like the series of Eurasia Toft adventures! I had already read a couple of them before IDW stared printing the stories, but then they were just read in a hurry and completely forgotten the next week. With better paper, colors and larger format than the European pocket books, they are presented in a much better way. Now I’m already looking forward to the next adventure, that I’m sure we’ll see in a future issue of IDW’s Mickey Mouse. Sadly Topolino e le miniere di Fantametallo is the last Casty-written adventure with Eurasia Toft and the only one left for IDW to print after Shadow of the Colossus. But I hope more will be created in the future! 

"No Good Deed"

Mickey Mouse #10 also got another story I really liked. To American readers No Good Deed is a rarely seen Mickey story (well, mostly Pete) drawn by Marco Rota – actually the 2nd one, the first being The Big Glutton in WDC&S #631/632. Marco Rota has drawn a bunch of Mickey stories too, but the ones being published in the USA so far have mostly been Duck stories. I also liked the blue-gradient way of coloring darkness in this story. According to the credits that’s actually done by Marco Rota himself and not the Egmont office [edit:check the comments for a correction on this], and that might be the reason this story has a D/D-code (just me speculating). I don’t know much about this, but from what I’ve heard the D/D-coded Egmont stories are "development" stories made outside the budget of the regular D-coded stories. Some have been new writers and artists doing an Egmont story for the first time, and others looks like they’ve been trying out new storytelling or art styles. Both Lars Jensen and Marco Rota were experienced creators at the time this story was made, so the coloring or maybe Pete as the main character are the only special things I can think of.

Uncle Scrooge #12 (416)

"Gem Scam Jam"

While I liked the Donald and Mickey issues a lot, Uncle Scrooge was a disappointment this month. I didn’t like the main story Ten Little Millionaires much; in fact I’m not a huge fan of "Ducks in space" stories in general.

I was looking more forward to Gem Scam Jam, a Scarpa story with Jubal Pomp that I’ve never read before. But the dialogue ruined the story real quick... I’ve seen discussions about the dialoguing in the new IDW monthlies on other blogs, but even if I have mixed feelings about some stories I’ve never cared too much about discussing it. But this time, even if I have no clue what the original text is I can clearly tell that parts of the dialogue has been rewritten. When Jubal talks about "Mummy disguise" and an ark it’s obviously a reference to other recently published stories in Uncle Scrooge. This is not something I’d like to see in a professional translation/dialoguing – it sounds more like an unnecessary fan rewrite.

Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #729

"Hocus Focus"

We have now come to chapter 9 of 12 in the The Search for the Zodiac Stone. At first I skipped reading this story waiting for all parts to be printed, but now I’ve actually caught up. I remember liking the story a lot when I first read it in the 90’s, and I still think it’s okay – but just that. At this point I’m more excited to see the July issue of WDC&S when the story has ended, than to read the next chapter.

We also got Hocus Focus another story with a plot idea by Carl Barks and script/art by Daan Jippes. In the last one, The Doorman Doormat in Uncle Scrooge #8 (412), Jippes made the story based on an idea written on the back of an invoice. I don’t know the origin of the idea used for "Hocus Focus", but it might be from the Gyro folder with unused ideas that Joakim Gunnarsson bought. "Hocus Focus" is just a 1-pager so not too much to be excited about even if it's co-credited to Carl Barks. The gag reminds me of Machine Mix-Up, another 1-pager by Barks.

Donald Duck #378 and Cornelius Coot history

Donald Duck #378 (IDW's #11)

For Duckburg historians we got two important stories in the new issue of Donald Duck (IDW’s #11/legacy #378). In The Incredible Quest for Cooties we get new information about how Cornelius Coot founded Duckburg. Information that is quite different from what Don Rosa told in His Majesty, McDuck. First we get to know that Cornelius had a brother Johannes, then we can read that Duckburg was founded in the 1600s. And judging by the outfit and Pilgrim hats (also seen on the usual statue) they seem to be European pilgrims. The names of the ships, Ye Quackflower and Ye Duckwell are also references to the first pilgrim ships Mayflower and Speedwell, where Mayflower was the only one to end up crossing the Atlantic.
 

The second story of importance is Suds in Your Eye, where Daisy meets Fethry for the first time. This time Fethry is an expert caterer helping out with Daisy’s garden party, and Donald knows how that is destined to end...

From "Sufs in Your Eye"

But back to the Cornelius Coot history; in the crosstalk page we can read "Duck storytellers from Louisville to Rio have told how Coot settled the city in 1818… or was it 1518? Or 1718?". The first reference is to Don Rosa’s story about how the British fort Drake Borough became Fort Duckburg in 1818, but I'm not sure who the Rio storyteller is — or where the other dates are from.

Doing a search in inducks for Brazilian stories I found these two:

• A Invasão Dos Piratas with the description "Pirates invade Cornelius Coot's Duckburg". Seems to be part of a "History of Duckbrug" series.
• A Herança De Cornélio Patus with the description "Daisy finds out that a pioneer woman helped Duckburg's foundation".

I haven’t read those two stories, so I have no idea if they are the ones being refered to in the crosstalk page. Does anyone know?

But here are some other stories with historical details about Cornelius Coot and the founding of Duckburg.

Carl Barks' stories

We first get to know about Cornelius Coot in a statue contest in WDC&S #138 (1952). We also see him as a snowman in WDC&S #196 (1957) and as a statue in WDC&S #201 (1957).

From Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #138

From Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #196

From Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #201

Fort Duckburg is mentioned in The Money Well

From "The Money Well"

His Majesty, McDuck

This is probably the best known foundation story. From Cornelius Coot’s own diary we get the story about how the British Fort Drake Borough became Fort Duckburg in 1818. The story is inspired by the true story of Sir Francis Drake who landed in California in 1579 and claimed the land.
 

From "His Majesty, McDuck"

Last Sled to Dawson

In an earlier story by Don Rosa, when Scrooge buys the deed from Cornelius’ descendant, it’s said that Cornelius actually built the fort.

From "Last Sled to Dawson"

Nuts on the Family Tree

In "Nuts on the Family Tree" we can read (Nowegian translation) that Cornelius was "digging Duckburg out of the wasteland". To Scrooge the founder is a big hero, and a historian tries to find out if Scrooge is related. During the story we get to see several of Scrooge’s other ancestors, but the historian found no relations to Cornelius Coot. Scrooge’s secretary/butler however turns out to be a direct descendant of Cornelius!
 

From "Nuts on the Family Tree" - Scrooge's secreatry to the left, historian to the right

The Lost Treasure of Cornelius Coot

We find out that the Duckburg landmark statue is based on a sketch from another statue, found in a cave.

From "The Lost Treasure of Cornelius Coot"

From "The Lost Treasure of Cornelius Coot"

Brother, Can You Spare A Pot Of Gold?

A pot of gold that Cornelius got from a leprechaun helped build the city.

From "Brother, Can You Spare A Pot Of Gold?"

From "Brother, Can You Spare A Pot Of Gold?"

Paperino e la "graande impresa"

Cornelius helped George Washington getting the fabric used as tablecloth when signing the Declaration of Independence. Part of a date (68) is visible on the statue.

From "Paperino e la "graande impresa""

From "Paperino e la "graande impresa""

From "Paperino e la "graande impresa""

Disney Princess from Joe Books

The first issue of Disney Princess from Joe Books came out this week. All artwork is by Amy Mebberson, while writing is done Amy, Georgia Ball and Geoffrey Golden.

I’ve been curious about this project for quite a while now. We got the first look at some strips back in 2014; then planned to be a series of digital comic strips and a subscription service.

Strips planned for a digital subscription service - Images from bleedingcool

That plan was never realized and instead we now got this printed comic book with strip stories. None of the early preview strips with characters from Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph and Lilo and Stitch are included in the first comic book, so it seems the project was changed to be princesses only too. I don’t think Elsa (and Anna) have joined the official lineup of Disney Princesses yet, but maybe we’ll see the above strips under another title in the future.

As I’ve already said a few times now, the comics in this series are comic strips like the ones we use to see in the newspapers, and not the regular type of comic book stories. Each strip has its own gag, but some also make small story arcs together.
 

Inside Disney Princess #1

As seen on the image above, the first issue started with two single strips from Snow White and The Little Mermaid. Then the next two are the first strips in a 6-part story arc with Aurora and her fairies.

Also, you can see the strips are printed sideways with two on each page. We got a total of 22 pages with comic strips like this in the first issue, while the rest (11 pages including the back cover) is a preview for an upcoming Zootopia cinestory book. I really hate these kinds of previews, it’s basically 11 pages of ads for just one publication and not what I intended to buy… I hope they don’t do it again. But even if they wasted 11 pages of the comic, $2.99 is not that bad a price. Still, IDW’s Disney comics (at $3.99) will give you a lot more comics for your money compared to this one.
 

Back cover and Zootopia cinestory preview

If you have followed American Disney comics during the BOOM! run and now IDW you might have seen work by Amy before. She’s done a lot of covers (like the Oswald one in my last blogpost) and also stories based on Disney•Pixar movies and the Muppets. Her best known work however is probably the popular series of Pocket Princesses. But while Disney Prinsess from Joe Books is an official licensed comic, Pocket Princesses is a fancomic. Both the humor and drawing style are very much alike though, so if you love Pocket Princesses you’ll probably like the new comic book too!

But there are also a lot of differences between the two. In Pocket Princesses they are all one happy gang hanging out together, and rarely interacts with anyone else than other princesses. In the official comic strips however each "universe" is separated from the others, so you won’t find Merida and Rapunzel discussing their morning hair or something like that. Instead all other characters from the movies are used to interact with, and I like the clever way they are used a lot! Even if the princesses can be a lot dorkier than in the movies (especially the older ones) they still remain the same personalities as in the movies, and don’t just do something randomly funny but things you’d actually expect them to do. And the same goes for the supporting characters. Gaston is still a douche, Scuttle still pretends to know everything about human objects, and the Three Good Fairies makes a mess out of baking and sewing. So the comics will be a lot more fun if you have seen the movies (but who hasn’t?)

The character design is also a bit different from the movies. In a short interview in the December Previews catalog, Amy said Disney had approved her design to be a "cuter, more comedic “chibi” style". It’s not totally chibi like Disney Cuties or a manga style like Kilala Princess, but expect large heads and big eyes :) The princesses still looks very much like themselves, so being a bit "off model" to be cuter is fine by me.

I tried doing a comparison with the movies (left), the comic adaptation of the movie (middle) and the new style in the comic strips (right).

In Europe we’ve had an ongoing Disney Princess magazines for more than 10 years. But the stories in those are dumbed down, the princesses all live in a perfect world and if you’re not a pre-teen girl you’d probably not find anything interesting inside. The new series from Joe Books can’t be compared to those magazines at all! The humor worked fine on me, so I think both adults and kids can enjoy the comic strips in the new series. I’m going to get the next issue too!

The future of the series:


Some notes on what to expect from this series:

• 3 more issues have already been announced in Diamond’s Previews catalog. Order codes: JAN161536, FEB161608, MAR161538. So it seems they are planning to release a new issue each month.
• According to a tweet by Amy, 8 issues are planned.  
• Also, according to another tweet the comics are going to be available digitally too. I know some comics by Joe Books are available on iTunes in the same category as other Disney comics. But hopefully they’ll end up on comiXology too; that I think is a better platform for buying digital comics. 
• The website inside the magic got an exclusive preview and ended the article with "[...]the comic will feature new stories starring all eleven Disney Princesses. Further titles will include “Frozen,” “Finding Dory,” “Star vs. the Forces of Evil,” and “Harvey Girls." What this really means I have no idea, my impression was that all issues were going to be under the Disney Prinsess title.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in "Just Like Magic"

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in "Just Like Magic"

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #726 had something very special. For the first time in its 75 year history the comic features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit! Not just on the cover by Amy Mebberson, but also in a story written by David Gerstein and drawn by animator Mark Kausler.

The character was created for a series of short cartoons produced by Walt Disney Studios in 1927 and 1928, but the rights belonged to Universal pictures. When Disney stopped creating Oswald cartoons others continued and the character went through several redesigns over the years. In 2006 as part of a trade Disney finally got the rights to the Oswald character as well as the rights to the old cartoons produced by Walt Disney Studios.

Well, that’s the short story. So in Disney’s entire comic book history, up to 2006 they never had the rights to the character they once created and no Oswald comics under the Disney logo were created. After 2006 we’ve seen a few stories based on the Epic Mickey video game, but "Just Like Magic" is the first (and so far only) comic story created in Oswald’s old animation style.

The story didn’t get printed in English until this Christmas, but it’s actually 5 years since its first printing. The story was created for a Norwegian Christmas comic in 2011, where David also has been the editor since the start of the series in 2001.
 

Cover of IDW's WDCS #726 and the Norwegian "Walt Disney's Julehefte 2011"

"Just Like Magic" in different layouts

As you can see on the image above, the story was originally created for a 3-tier landscape layout, the traditional format for Norwegian Christmas comics. But a later 4-tier printing was probably thought of when creating the story, because the panels can easily be rearranged to this format without having to cut or extend anything. That is, until you get to the end. Then you’ll be one panel short and that’s why it looks like this in WDC #726:
 

Panel from WDCS #726

To get the panel a bit wider with less white space on the sides the panel has been slightly enlarged and the bottom trimmed a bit compared to the Norwegian print. But that’s the only alteration of the art I could spot comparing the two prints.
 

Panel from "Walt Disney's Julehefte 2011"

As I said earlier "Just Like Magic" is drawn in the same style as the old cartoons. When I first saw this story in 2011 I thought it was a bit strange looking, but that’s probably because this was right in the middle of the popularity of the Epic Mickey game, and I had gotten used to the new modern design. I didn’t think the same when re-reading it in English, I actually like the style! If I remember correctly I had also just read the comic adaptation of Epic Mickey when getting the Christmas comic, so I had that to compare to. It was only available digitally (still not printed in English I think) and I had to borrow someone’s Apple device to get to buy it through iTunes… Now you can get it more easily on comiXology, and it’s also printed in some countries.

Cover for the digialt edition of "Epic Mickey - The Graphic Novel"

Oswald and Ortensia in the Epic Mickey Grapich Novel

As you can see, Oswald and Ortensia had a more modern design in the graphic novel. Here’s a screencap from "Oh What a Knight", where the characters looks more similar to the ones in "Just Like Magic".
 

From "Oh What a Kight" (1928)

A rare appearance of Ortensia’s father in "Rival Romeos":
 

From "Rival Romeos" (1928)

If you missed out on WDCS #726, you can also find "Just Like Magic" in the trade paperback with the unusual long title "Donald and Mickey The Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories 75th Anniversary Collection" (puh..). The trade paperback has a gallery of covers at the end too, but for some reason the Oswald one is not included.

"Kite Weather" in The Carl Barks Fan Club Pictorial volume 9

The Carl Barks Fan Club Pictorial vol.9

I got The Carl Barks Fan Club Pictorial vol.9 in the mail today. For those unfamiliar with this publication it's a fanzine (I think I would call it that) mainly about Carl Barks' work, but with some other Disney-related articles too. It’s published by Event Horizon Press for the Carl Barks Fan Club, but you don’t need to be a member of the fan club to get these. They are published using Amazon’s CreateSpace self-publishing service, and are pretty easy to get not just on Amazon but from various online book sellers. Also, I believe this is a print on demand service, so there’s no problem getting back issues.

Even if I’d call this a fanzine; the editing, reproduction quality of scanned items and printing is better than any other fanzine I’ve seen! So it’s really a professional made product you’ll get. In addition to articles, scanned letters and other rarities we’ve also got a fair deal of comics printed in this series. Not just Disney ducks but also some of Barks’ non-Disney work have been reprinted. My favorite issue so far is volume 3 I think, where we got scans of the original script for The Candy Kid side by side with the comic pages. That was really fun to read, even if Carl Barks’ handwriting is not always that easy to decipher…
 

"The Candy Kid" (script and comic) from The Carl Barks Fan Club Pictorial vol.3

What I find most interesting in vol.9 is Kim Weston’s new take on restoring Kite Weather to a 3-tier format. That’s the format Carl Barks originally drew the story, but due to paper restrictions and less pages in each comic the story was edited to a 4-tier format for Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #42. Gladstone already did a restoration to the 3-tier format and that’s the most common version of the story being reprinted I believe. But now we have another version by Kim Weston that he thinks is closer to how the story originally looked. Exactly how the original art looked, we’ll probably never know. It’s going to be interesting to see how Fantagraphics will reprint this story in their collection.

The image under is a comparison with the Western layout to the left, Gladsone’s restoration in the middle and Kim Weston’s restoration to the right. (click on the image to get it a bit larger)

"Kite Weather" by Carl Barks