Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #721 (Family Comic Friday)

      Folks, I was really excited about this week's Family Comic Friday selection: Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #721 . I had just gotten the issue in a grab bag and with it being IDW Publishing's first issue since obtaining the Disney license from Gladstone/Gemstone, I was excited to see what new blood the company would add to a group of Disney books that had become rather stale. There hadn't been any new stories done by the folks at Gladstone/Gemstone for a while and the Disney titles had become nothing more than a collection of reprints. Plus, IDW has done such a fantastic job with licensed products like Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Transformers that I had actually been looking forward to reading this for quite some time. 
    Plus, the spooky Mickey Mouse villain, the Phantom Blot, was on the cover! I love reading stories of Detective Mickey taking on the Blot! I always thought of those stories were perfectly suited for fall reading in anticipation for Halloween. So, I waited a bit longer to read it.
    Well, last night was the night! I got home from working a double shift and I was ready to read this all-new Disney comic. So imagine my disappointment to learn that this book was A) nothing but reprints B) contains a story with my biggest comic book pet peeve, an unanticipated cliffhanger (spaced out into 12 parts no less) and C) the Phantom Blot, despite being on the cover, was nowhere to be found!!!
    I muddled through it anyways . The first tale was sorta new. Published in the 90s in an Italian comic, this English version story had never been published in the States. This adventure involved Mickey and Goofy going back in time to learn the mystery of the Lost Colony (which I assumed was published by Gemstone just before the license switch.) While back in time, the guys learn of a mysterious amulet that was divided between 12 astrologers. Back in the present, Mickey and Goofy set out to find the 12 missing pieces before their arch-enemy Peg-leg Pete (who has 2 perfectly fine legs in this story) can get to them first and become a powerful villain! This story was the one that ended in a cliffhanger.
     The second story was from a Swedish Disney Comic from 1990. I don't know if it was ever published prior to this book but it stars Donald and his nephews. Donald Duck has taken on a job as a bookkeeper, taking off site racing bets from the residents of Duckburg. Poor Donald accidentally forgets to submit one of the slips and when that bet comes through, the hapless Duck is in the hole for $2,000. And the guys whose bet got misplaced sure aren't happy. 
   Both stories were a comedy of errors and they were funny. But the art of the Mickey story just looked wrong and the translation of the Donald story seemed oft mismatched. There were also a couple of short stories featuring some unknown Disney characters from the 30s and 40s, which were okay but not great.
    Before writing this review, I decided to check out my favorite LCS to do a little more research on this title. I thought maybe IDW Publishing didn't have enough time to produce any new work thus all the reprints. But upon checking a couple of issue published in the last 3 months, those books too are nothing but reprints!
    I'm wondering whether to blame Disney on this. They own Marvel and have for sometime. I think it weird that Marvel doesn't have the rights to produce Mickey and Donald comics since the publisher has produced books based on Disney World rides like Thunder Mountain Railroad and other Disney properties like Star Wars. So what gives? Why isn't Walt Disney's Comics and Stories along with other titles like Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge putting out new material? Why stick with the reprints?
     While the classic Walt Disney books are a cult classic among adults, there seems to be a disconnect with them and young readers. So before you splurge on a bunch of these for your child, maybe try just one to see if it strikes their fancy. It couldn't hurt. It's just disappointing to not get what you expected.

   Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.