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Anyways, jump ahead to right before the pandemic. So it's probably 2019, I think. It's been a decade since Disney bought Marvel. They had been nice for a while, allowing the contracts over their licenses to be assigned out of house. But now Disney was ready to solidify its properties to only being produced solely by companies under the Mickey Mouse umbrella. It's one reason why IDW lost the rights to the Disney catalog even though the company was doing a fantastic job.
At right about the same time, Disney decided to go after artists who were making money off of unsolicited and unlicensed intellectual property. Disney was having some success getting a lot of independent, small artists to stop making Etsy type goods for sale without any royalties going to Disney. It looked like the days of buying a Star Wars themed tee from Teefury or a sketch of Pinocchio from a dealer at a con were over. That is until Disney made the mistake of going after Don Rosa
Lawyers issued Rosa a cease and desist order. Unless he started paying Disney a chunk from every unlicensed Disney print he sold, Rosa had to stop selling things like that Donald Duck as Thor picture. Undaunted, Rosa dug into his ledger. But instead of paying Disney for what he owed, the controversial Duck artist showed where Disney and several subsidiaries still owed him for unpaid work!
Then COVID. Disney backed off of their all out war over unlicensed works produced by craftsmen and artists. And they quietly tried to forget ever challenging Don Rosa. However, Mr. Rosa didn't forget. Just like Scrooge McDuck, the artist had been short changed on services rendered and wanted his money - with interest! A compromise was apparently reached. While the terms of the deal have never been officially disclosed, word on the streets from Disney Duck aficionados was that Marvel world release a Donald as Thor cover and possibly a What If... type story with some proceeds going towards paying back what was owed to Don Rosa.
When I saw this book being solicited over the Summer, I assumed that this was what fans on message boards and in person has been talking about. It's one reason why I pre-ordered it as soon as possible. Only, there's no mention whatsoever about this storyline being the idea of Don Rosa! The Thor created byline naming Stan and Jack are on the credits page. There's also special thanks to several people for developing this one-shot. Only Rosa isn't one of them. So did the artist get screwed over again? Is Disney trying to be hush-hush over the unpaid work? Or are the fans I interact with about all things Donald and family just an urban legend?
The cover looks almost exactly like Rosa's print. The story is essentially an exact retelling of the 1962 first appearance of Thor, only with Ducks. Unlike the previous What If special that saw Donald becoming Wolverine, there's not really anything new to Donald's discovery of Thor's hammer, disguised as an old cane that turns him into the god of Thunder when struck. Heck, I just realized that Thor's human alter ego, Dr. Donald Blake has the first name as this issue 's hero!
The artwork is done in that more modern style of Disney Channel animated series like Mickey's House of Mouse; meaning that all of the characters look classic, except for way too heavy inking. If this was a Kingdom Hearts comic, I might be more of a fan. But it just doesn't work for Donald nor his nephews. However, artist Giada Perissinotto's design of the Stone Ducks of Saturn's World Destroyer blows the classic design of the Asgardian Destroyer out of the water... big time!
It was an enjoyable read. I just wish that we got more of an overview of what Donald's career as Thor would have been like instead of a complete rehash of JIM #83. Hopefully, What If... Minnie Became Captain Marvel will give readers a more original story and mean that there's more Disney/Marvel mashups to come!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
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