Walt Disney's Comics Digest #3

My biggest problem with a comic digest is if they are a holiday issue, that they're never 100% full of holiday material. It's not like Gladstone was hurting for Christmas stories. They could have made this whole 96-pager 1987, about Christmas, if they really wanted to.

The cover is obviously Christmas themed. It's a great gag by Walt Kelly. The opener is about Christmas. It's a Carl Barks classic that sees Donald Duck jealously battling his lucky duck cousin, Gladstone Gander, in a competition to see who is going to win the Christmas turkey raffle. Though in all honesty, you could have replaced Thanksgiving with Christmas in this story and you'd never know the difference.

6 stories remain. They star Disney comics mainstays such as Hazel the Witch, Mickey Mouse and the L'il Bad Wolf. And then there's a full length adaptation of Lady and the Tramp and I couldn't be in a more festive mood about it. 

I didn't realize it, but the 1955 animated film is book-ended by Christmas. Lady is gifted to her mistress on a snowy Christmas morning. Then the story ends a couple of years later with Lady having given birth to a litter on Christmas. These 2 scenes do not make Lady & the Tramp a Christmas movie. But I am counting it as part of the holiday cheer that comprises this book. 

(Side note: adding to Lady & the Tramp's connection to Christmas, a stuffed animal version of Lady was all the rage in the Christmas of 1985. Burger joint Hardee's offered versions of the pup along with a plush Pinnochio, Bambi and Dumbo. I remember how myself and all my classmates just had to have the whole set of 4!)

I should have reviewed this book a couple of years ago. I bought it 2 years ago after a trip to the mountains during Spring Break. I read it later that year. But somehow I accidentally filed it in my Christmas read box before giving my rating of the book. Overall, not a bad find for only a buck in a thrift store I had never visited before. And now it can go back into the correct section of my collection.

Worth Consumimg!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Donald Duck Adventures #38

Living legend William Van Horn crafts the cover feature in this 1996 issue of Donald Duck Adventures.

The story has Donald attending an auction. Most of the stuff is out of his price range, except for a tiny chest that sells for all of 50 cents. When Donald opens the chest back home, he discovers a medallion that bears a treasure map. Donald's nephews are able to determine that the map is of an area in Florida and the medallion was crafted by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. Spanish explorers might mean buried treasure of Spanish doubloons and precious stones.

So Donald and his nephews head down South where they learn that the medallion points to a fabled area of swamp called 'The Hauntland'. According to Native legend, a terrible horror haunts the swamp and locals swear to steer clear of it. Determined to find riches and glory, Donald presses on. Only he won't find buried treasure. What Donald will find is the discovery of the century and it was only several million years in the making. 

The next story again has Donald seeking riches. His new dog, a massive Saint Bernard, is eating him and the nephews out of house and home. When Donald learns of a money making opportunity back on Bear Mountain, he takes his dog up for a try out. As the last Saint Bernard was injured making a delivery run, Donald has his work cut out for him including an encounter with one of Bear Mountain's namesake grizzlies!

Both stories were great duck tales starring Donald Duck along with Huey, Dewey and Louie. However, this comic book does show a decline in quality. 1996 is just a few short months away from publisher Gladstone Comics' ultimate demise in 1998. One cost cutting measure taken by Gladstone was to replace the glossy paper of the cover with the same dingy newsprint used to make the interiors. The whole thing looks like those flimsy free comics you'd get as a kid at Shoney's or Red Lobster. Nostalgic, sure. But the stories in this issue deserved more respect.

The cover promises chills. Not very much a scary story as it's a fanciful story set in a spooky place. It's rather magical, honestly. And the back-up story was a hoot.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Donald Duck and Friends #332

On the second day of Dia de los Muertos, I closed out my Halloween 2022 reviews with this classic from Disney! 

Gladstone Publishing re-issued this Carl Barks adaptation of the 1952 classic Halloween Disney short called 'Trick or Treat.' It's Halloween night and Donald Duck is playing the Scrooge to his trick-or-treating nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie. The sorceress Witch Hazel observes Donald's dirty tricks. Taking pity on the boys Witch Hazel decides to trick Donald for not giving out any treats. 

I remember watching this cartoon during many a Knightdale public library Halloween party and just about any Halloween themed Disney special from the early 80s through 1998. It's an animated holiday classic up there with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. And no, I didn't feel cheated with having a comic book version of a cartoon I've probably seen two dozens times before.

One reason I'm not hating this issue is that Gladstone actually includes 4 or 5 pages of material that actually never appeared in the cartoon nor the comic book. Comic adaptation creator Barks didn't think this story had enough material to fill a 32-page comic. Thus the reason for the extra stuff. But the editors hated the extras and the extras were omitted. For those of you wondering, the extra scenes include an ogre named Smorgie who Witch Hazel recruits as a partner in her war on Duck!  So this was like reading a director's cut of the adaptation of the Disney classic.

Carl Barks is a comics legend. Just about anything he did with the Disney Ducks was perfection. This was a perfect adaptation, even with the never before seen stuff that was once deemed unworthy of print!

And so I say goodbye to the Halloween season. I can't wait to see what Thanksgiving and Christmas have in store for me this year. I hope it's just as special and fun as this closing read was.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney Comics and Stories #546

This issue isn't 100% Thanksgiving. In fact, only one story takes place during the start of the holiday season. But considering how rare it is to find a Turkey Day story compared to a Christmas or a Halloween, I was thrilled none-the-less about this holiday feast for the brain and eyes.

In the main story, Donald and the rest of the men of Duckburg are challenged by Daisy and her women's club to be like the original pilgrims and Indians and forage for the materials of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The winner who provides the most food will get to have dinner with the feast's queen. Naturally, that'll be Daisy. Thus, it's Donald vs his scheming cousin Gladstone, who just manages to have the best of luck.

On hand for the rest of this special double-sized issue are several short stories starring a slew of Disney superstars including Lady and the Tramp's son Scamp, Winnie the Pooh and Walt Kelly's Gremlins. There's also a deluxe story starring Mickey and Goofy on the hunt for a rare stamp. Rounding things out is a rather unusual story. It stars Grandma Duck, Daisy and the dastardly Peg Leg Pete, who seems to have both limbs. But that's not the odd part. What is strange is that Jaq and Gus from Cinderella also star in this tale. So does that mean that the adventures of Donald's family take place at the same time as Cinderella? If so; why is Duckburg more technologically advanced than the realm of Prince Charming?

I really enjoyed this fun comic, even if only 10 pages (and the cover) were devoted to Thanksgiving. Okay, the holiday story was predictable. But I enjoyed reading it on the night of Thanksgiving. It was a nice opener to my 2020 holiday comic reading season.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck Adventures #35

 
Not sure why this was published under Donald Duck Adventures and not Gladstone's Uncle Scrooge titles. This Halloween themed story was very much a Scrooge McDuck story. And it was pretty absurd.

Scrooge wages war on Halloween. As a result, he ends up buying all of Duckburg's supply of pumpkins, costumes and candy. By the time it's Halloween, Scrooge is bankrupt; just because the price of candy went up a measly 2 cents per pound and the miser doesn't want to give any handouts to trick-or-treaters.

The story is pretty goofy. And it makes for a funny story especially with the addition of Disney guest-star, Witch Hazel. But this just doesn't seem to be a typical Uncle Scrooge yarn. I find it impossible to believe that the gazillionaire Duck would allow his finances to be misused like this just to save a few pennies. He usually comes up with such harebrained schemes but the thought of spending money to save money seems to bring Uncle Scrooge back to his senses. 

I'm 50/50 on this issue. It's a fun Halloween themed story but it seems atypical of one of my favorite Disney characters of all-time. I'm also on the fence with this 1995 issue's format. For some reason, Gladstone decided to replace the shiny covers with covers that are more similar to the newsprint filler inside. It might have been a cost saving method. As this is only the second issue of such I have ever seen, I don't think this experiment lasted very long.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars. 

Donald Duck #251

    You've heard the old adage 'If it looks like a duck , swims like a duck, and sounds like a duck- then it must be a duck."
    This book says Donald Duck on the cover and lo' and behold, there he is. But it also has him in a classic looking Christmas scene. Sadly, this isn't quite a Christmas comic and that's pretty much how it has gone with Disney comics for the past 30 years or so. 
     Why do I keep falling for this? 
     Every time I find a 'Christmas' themed Disney book, I get excited to add it to my forthcoming holiday readings. But hardly any of these comics ever end up being 100% what is says on the cover.
     This issue from 1987 starts out during the summer or spring. Donald's neighbor is moving and he boasts that he can sell his prized home in 48-hours. So Donald places a bet in odds to his peer. But when it looks like the neighbor is going to win his bet, Donald has to act fast or he's going to lose some cold hard cash.
      Then we get a Christmas story in which Donald and his nephews get lost in a snow storm on the way to grandma's house for Christmas Eve.  
       Rounding out the book is another yarn guest-starring Donald's nephews set during fairer weather. It's the day of Duckburg's big renaissance fair and Donald is jealous that he doesn't have a major role in the festivities. It's a comedy of errors as Donald tries and fails miserably to become the star of Ye Olde Fair...
       One out of three stories are Christmas/ Holiday themed. If I was the 70s rocker Meatloaf, I would have to say that that's bad. (Google it, kids...)
      A cute book that I did enjoy reading. But once again, it's not a complete Christmas comic book as I would like.

    Worth Consuming.

    Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Christmas Parade #2

This Christmas season, I read not one but two Walt Disney's Christmas Parades. This one published in 1989 was released by Gladstone. (The whole Gemstone/ Gladstone publication history is quite confusing and subject to another time.) Anyways, the second volume was actually a step up from the holiday fun of the first edition.

   This time around all of the stories occurred during the Christmas season. However, not every story was all that great. Bucky Bug returned in this treasury and even though his story did involve the holidays, it was extremely corny. I'm just not a fan of that character, plus his vintage style just seems a little culturally insensitive to me. I cannot put my finger on it, but it's like the character is based on the Al Jolson minstrel stereotype or Chaplin's Little Tramp but less dignified.

    Speaking of racial stereotypes, there is a Lil Bad Wolf story in this book that contains characters from "Song of the South", as well as some redneck forest animals and the Seven Dwarfs for some reason. I have a feeling that the inclusion of Brer Bear and Brer Fox probably wouldn't fly if it was reprinted today in anything but omnibus form. Even then, I'm sure Disney would include some sort of disclaimer about racism and differing attitudes in the 50s and 60s (when these stories were originally published) at the beginning of the volume. But this story was reprinted in 1989, and while it probably seemed harmless then, it smacks of the racial tensions plaguing our nations currently in New York and Missouri.

      The biggest thing going for this book are the tales based on the characters of Duckburg. Along with several cute one-page gags, Donald and Uncle Scrooge compete in one story to provide Huey, Dewey, and Louie with a real working steam shovel for Christmas after Donald forgets to mail their letter to Santa. Then the nephew and uncle duo return with Donald hypnotizing Scrooge into giving him all the gifts from the '12 Days of Christmas' but somehow, Scrooge decides to bestow these gifts on a mean mutt guarding an old lady's mansion.

      My favorite story starred Mickey Mouse and Goofy. Here, they help a friend harvest some Christmas trees and end up in the clutches of some poachers. There's a lot of laughs and some actual gun fighting as both Mickey and his nemesis Pete both carry rifles and fire at each other often. I never seen Mickey so bad-as...oops, sorry kids.

     Once again, another Disney holiday comic that I got for pennies on the dollar.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.