Walt Disney Comics and Stories: Donald and Mickey- Quest for the Faceplant

IDW presents a rather charming collection of comic stories starring Mickey Mouse, Donald and his family and other iconic characters from titles originally published previously all over the globe.

Obviously, Donald Duck is the star of this collection. The best two stories costar Donald's cousin Gladstone who's literally a lucky duck! Usually Gladstone and Donald are rivals. But in the opening story based on the cover, Gladstone teams with Donald to photograph a rare plant that's about to bloom for the first time in years. With Donald's photography equipment and Gladstone's luck, the pair seems to have the edge over the competition. That is until they meet up with another contestant out to win the large cash prize: Scrooge McDuck!

Donald then gets a chance at being lucky for once when his wish to be as blessed as cousin Gladstone is mysteriously granted. It's a classic episode of blunder, satire and screwball comedy when Donald's luck runs out unknowingly right before he's about to perform the most insane stunt ever imagined!

In the Mickey arena, there's a pair of mystery stories. One involves the Phantom Blot. The other, Peg Leg Pete. Both co-star Horace Horsecollar, which is kinda odd, since Goofy tends to be the sidekick in those stories. Instead, Goofy have been saved for an adorable story in which he creates a series of mysteries for Mickey to solve in order for the busy amateur sleuth to finally have an exciting day of fun.

Stories starring some of the more lesser known characters of the Disney Universe include the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs, Bucky Bug and his insect friends, Brer Rabbit and his country-time enemies, and an adorable one-pager starring Chip n' Dale. Plus, there's plenty of fun with Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, including an epic sized riverboat adventure starring a character called Garvey Gull. A brand-new character to me, the jury is still out as to whether I find this little guy to be charming or annoying.

The love for the international Disney comics keeps growing within me. I think I have Don Rosa to thank for that. But IDW should get a little bit of the credit as well.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: Darkenblot

Let's face it. Mickey Mouse is just too much of a goody-goody. Other than occasionally getting called out by girlfriend, Minnie, when he's trying to do right but his good intentions end calamitously, Mickey lacks the ability to be a bad guy like Donald Duck or Uncle Scrooge. That's why Mickey needs a perfect antagonist like the Phantom Blot!

The Blot is almost pure evil. No, not evil like a demon. He's just got zero redeeming qualities. Everything the villain does is for his own selfish gains. Truly, he's the antithesis of Mickey, unlike Peg Leg Pete, another Mickey Mouse foil, who does have the occasional soft spot. 

From the cover of this IDW collection of Mickey Mouse comics, one would think that Darkenblot is set in a gritty dystopian future like Akira or Blade Runner. Instead, this high tech story is set in the present day in a city designed to be everything ol' Walt Disney himself envisioned with the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow: EPCOT!

Avantegarde City is nearly 100% automated. Only the police force still uses humans as partners to robotic cops as a previous model was deemed to strict and abusive. Lately, the approved models have been acting up as well. Suddenly, an android version of the Phantom Blot begins terrorizing the city with electronic drones of his design. A visiting Mickey decides to stay in Avantgarde City to assist with the capture of this upgraded cyber villain calling himself the Darkenblot!

The Darkenblot story makes up probably 85% of this book. The remaining pages give readers a Mickey one-pager guest-starring Pluto, a Super Goof adventure in which the long-john donning hero takes on a mad scientist with a weather controlling machine and a yarn involving Horace Horsecollar. For those of you unfamiliar with Horace, despite looking more bovine, he really is a horse. Introduced in 1929, it's his girlfriend Clarabelle, Minnie Mouse's best friend, who is the more well known character. 

Despite my initial disappointment at Darkenblot not being set in the future, the story turned out to be really enjoyable. It lacked the formulaic traps that most Mickey Vs. Phantom Blot stories fall into. Perhaps because it's just Mickey to the rescue here. None of his beloved sidekicks like Goofy or Donald are available for comic relief. I kinda wish IDW had used one of the international covers. They present a more accurate feel of what the story was actually like instead of the American one which looks more cyberpunk.

The Super Goof story was silly.. uh, make that goofy. Horace's story was a delight, mostly if only for the unfamiliarity with the character. So I didn't know what to expect. And the one-pager, involving Pluto and an alley cat, was a delight that I re-read at least 3 times before moving on to the next story and I enjoyed it once more while writing this review.

I'm really becoming a fan of the international Disney comics. They're actually good! I want more!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.