Dell Giant: Christmas in Disneyland #1

Instead of gifts from Santa, a little boy and girl ask Santa to take them on a magical trip to Disneyland in this 1957 Dell Giant. 

Santa obliges, telling the children an assortment of stories based on the various lands and rides throughout the park. The Carl Barks classic 'The Black Pearls of Tabu Yama' starts things off with Uncle Scrooge and his nephews marooned on a deserted island at Christmas. Chip n' Dale must rescue Jiminy Cricket from the clutches of Br'er Bear, who forces the wise insect to teach him how to become Santa Claus. Mickey and Goofy attempt to deliver a payload of gold to a group of miners before Christmas Eve. The L'il Bad Wolf thinks his papa is making him a snow blowing machine to help him in his snow shoveling business. And in the surprise of all surprises, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell attempt to rescue Santa Claus who has been kidnapped by the dastardly Captain Hook!

I was extremely excited about that Peter Pan story. The 1953 Disney classic plays into the story of how my wife and I met. I had no idea about the existence of this story. It was such a great read and I loved seeing the Tick-Tock Crocodile fly after getting sprinkled with pixie dust.

There were also several arts and crafts activities and a fun and games section in the back. Considering that this issue is nearly 70 years old and only 1 of those pages was torn out, probably by some child who had zero idea how collectible old comics would one day be, I consider myself very lucky. I paid less than $10 for this issue and if that page hadn't been missing, the book would probably have been priced out of my price range. 

On my wish list of Christmas comic books, I've got issue #38 of Gold Key's Walt Disney Comics Digest. The front invites readers to enjoy 'Christmas at Disneyland'. I have a feeling that the contents of this special are reprinted in that digest edition. I'm still keeping that book on my wish list. However, as I now own this book, in 99.% entirety, obtaining the Gold Key book is on the back burner for now.

Sure, this was a big ol' commercial for Disneyland which had opened less than 2 years prior in California. But the whole thing was jammed packed Christmas fun starring many of my favorite Disney characters and it's a treasured addition to my Christmas comic book collection!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Autumn Adventures #1

I could have finished this book earlier. I started in in mid-October. However, once I realized that there was some Thanksgiving themed stories, I decided to wait until now to complete.

Walt Disney's Autumn Adventures #1 doesn't just cover Halloween which is what I thought based on Chip and Dale hauling a gigantic jack-o'-lantern on the cover. Had I been a bit more keen, I would have noticed Gyro Gearloose using one of his new inventions to capture a turkey! No, this really is a book that runs the entire Fall season gambit.

The book is essentially divided into 3 sections: the coming of Autumn, Halloween and Thanksgiving. In the first part, Huey, Dewey and Louie get in trouble playing hooky during the first day of school in a Carl Barks classic while chipmunks Chip and Dale contemplate going south for the winter.

In the middle section, Donald's nephews and the Junior Woodchucks explore a haunted house owned by Uncle Scrooge in a DuckTales themed Halloween romp. Readers get to marvel at the genius of Barks once again when Donald tries out Gyro's latest invention: a jet powered broomstick, to disastrous effect. 

Thanksgiving stories include the Three Little Pigs and Li'l Bad Wolf feeding some turkeys when the Big Bad Wolf decides to use it to his advantage in another attempt to eat the piggies. Meanwhile, Pluto must save Horace Horsecollar's prize winning turkey from poachers after Mickey's dog accidentally lets the bird loose.

From the early 90s when Disney was self publishing it's own comics after the shuttering of Gemstone. It was a very brief affair that later lead to Marvel and then IDW publishing Disney comics for a time. Unfortunately, I can't accurately date this book as there's no copyright inside the book. However I do know that before they went defunct, Disney released another Autumn Adventures the following year. I'm on the lookout for that...

I had no idea that Len Wein was the EIC here. Based on his resume of horror works, heading Disney's comics division seems odd for him. Apparently, Wein brought some DC talent with him as Marv Wolfman among others is listed as one of the writers of a couple of other releases for the month in the back of this book.

A wonderful Fall holiday read that lasts the whole season.

Worth Consuming!

Rating:9 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #22

A while back, I was at my favorite comic shop, checking out when I saw this stack of Disney digests. I'm a fan of the books from Gold Key and Dell. I know that these treasuries are in high demand. Plus I just adore the Disney Ducks. So I took a chance and asked if they were for sale. Thankfully they were; but the owners hadn't come up with a price yet. After a touch of friendly haggling, we agreed upon a fair price and based on how much money I had left to spend, I bought 3. 

Wouldn't you know, I then misplaced these for about a year and I would have forgotten all about them if I hadn't been working on organizing my comic book collection during my summer break. 

The cover for this June, 1970 volume is what sold me. It's got Donald and Uncle Scrooge in a victory pose on the very center of the cover. While Scrooge is dressed as a champion prizefighter, his contest to prove he's got more money than anyone in the world isn't quite so pugilistic. Challenged by Flintheart Glomgold, McDuck must liquidate his assets to prove that he's got more money, by volume, than that of his legendary foe. With assists by nephews Huey, Dewey, Louie and Donald, Scrooge has to outfox Glomgold who's clearly cheating. Only without proof, it looks like McDuck's going to lose the contest. Should Scrooge fail, he has to eat his opponents hat, which for the Scottish businessman is a fate worse than death or losing all his money to the Beagle Boys!

A pleasant surprise running throughout this book was the team-ups. In one adventure Tinkerbell saves Dumbo the elephant from the clutches of Captain Hook. In another, Jiminy Cricket visits his bug friends of Silly Symphonies fame for a picnic! Chipmunks Chip and Dale have had a number of capers driving Pluto and Mickey Mouse crazy. But they've never teamed with Bambi's best friend Thumper to get the upper hand over Mickey and company before... At least to my knowledge!

Something Disney was noted for was its nature films. In this issue, we get part 3 of the comic book adaptation of 1953's Bear Country. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short, it's not a read where you have to know everything that has happened beforehand in order to enjoy it. There are also non-fiction one-pagers called 'Real Life Adventures' about dolphins and robins along with a longer essay on famous trains. Being that he was a lifelong railway enthusiast, I wouldn't be the least surprised to find out that old Walt Disney himself wrote that segment. 

Peter and the Wolf, Little Hiawatha, Li'l Bad Wolf, Pinocchio, Cinderella and many more stars of Disney's A, B and C level tiers appear in this digest filled with some puzzles, jokes and stories galore. A really enjoyable gem that felt like those Christmas mornings when I'd open a grab bag of comics up as a gift and just pour over the contents inside while the world outside melted away.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.