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.

A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics

This is one of those books I remember having from my first collection (that was stolen). This book was published in 1981; meaning I was 3 or 4 when it was released. I don't think that's when my parents bought it for me. I somehow remember seeing this book advertised on TV and wanting it really, really bad. I also remember opening the book from its shipping box on my parents' kitchen table and looking through it and being disappointed...

Over the years, as I read the book again and again, I came to appreciate it a little more each time. When I found this book recently once more at my favorite used book store, I finally understood this book's brilliance!

This book isn't comprehensive. While Superman, Batman and Captain Marvel are examined in this book, other important early superheroes like Captain America and Wonder Woman are noticeably not just absent, I don't think either are mentioned in any of the essays written by comic book historians J. Michael Barrier and Martin T. Williams. 

This book covers comics published up to 1955, right when the industry imposed the self regulated Comics Code Authority. A good stopping point if you were writing a multi-volume look at the history of comic books. EC Comics was the main target of the evils found in comic books from Dr. Wertham and state senators. As a result, no less than 5 stories from that legendary publisher are included in this book. Yet none of them are of the sci-fi or horror titles that ignited the comic book scare of the 1950s!

A number of legendary creators are examined. There are works from Walt Kelly and his critter creation, Pogo, John Stanley's version of Little Lulu and Tubby and Will Eisner's The Spirit. A seasonal story from Carl Barks starring Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge are also included. I would have finished this book a couple of weeks ago. But I wanted to enjoy Barks' 'A Letter to Santa' during the holiday season. Thus I waited. 

To my big surprise, the stories I was the most enamored with were the Scribbly stories, featuring the Ma Hunkel Red Tornado stories. Created by Sheldon Mayer (Golden Age Green Lantern), these stories were clever parodies of the age of mystery men, lively illustrated and just oh-so fun to read. To my knowledge, those stories have never been collected. Thus, other than the 4 stories comprised here, unless I max out my credit cards, I'm probably never going to get to read Ma's further adventures. 

I really enjoyed this collection. The artwork is so starkly different from what I grew up with and primitive compared to modern comics. The scripts are like works of art. They capture the dialect and tone of the times. For a kid born anywhere after 1977, these things are like trying to read Shakespeare. When I was young, everything just looked off and I couldn't really understand the stories. Now I am 45 and I felt like I was in the presence of greatness. and well into that presence I was. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars,

Santa Claus Funnies,. Vol. 1 (Gwandanaland Comics #460)

Gwandanaland Comics is a publisher that produces books by demand. That means they won't print the book until you make an order for it. How can a company make any money with this business plan? Sold exclusively through Amazon, Gwandanaland Comics only reprints comic books in the public domain. And that whole print by demand thing is a thing of beauty in an age of comics in which DC and Marvel will print thousands of copies of single issues and trades for insane prices that never sell!

There's 4 issues of the Dell Comics's legendary series of holiday comics known as Santa Claus Funnies. (Astute collectors will know that these Christmas issues were originally printed under the title of Four Color.)

Each issue boasts fanciful artwork from Pogo's Walt Kelly. Kelly crafts tales starring his woodland creatures, a character called Christmas Mouse and of course Santa.

Along with the work of Kelly, every issue of Santa Claus Funnies reprinted has festive stories from the Old Country. A couple of the later issues have activities for kids to do. And of course, there's Santa and even more Santa. 

There's some brutal tales inside. Several stories involve children being mistreated by adults. One tale has a couple of toys and a puppy being abused by a child. Even the puppet show story is kinda morbid as Santa recounts IN VERSE how a pair of siblings' wicked stepmother meet a grizzly fate. 

The shocking tale of Christmas weren't what bugged me. My least favorite part was the inclusion of sheet music. While I did learn of some forgotten lines to some beloved holiday classics, I'm just not musically inclined enough to appreciate these tunes. There's also some poems. For the most part, they are pretty good. But sometimes the lines would not rhyme and such flaws would perturb me to no end.

If I was to find issues of all 4 of these issues, I would either have to shell out some big bucks for decent copies or have to put on protective equipment in order to not destroy the nearly 80 year old titles that for affordable prices, would be extremely fragile. 

Finding Gwandanaland Comics has been an awesome experience. I've got some beautiful reprints and they've got a fan for life!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

This volume reprints Four Color issues # 61, 91,128 and 175.

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.

The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories

   I actually waited a full-scale year to read this book. My wife gave it to me for Christmas. But since we had traveled to St. Louis to visit her family, we didn't exchange gifts with each other until after we got back a few days after Christmas 2015. So I added this treasury to my collection database, put it on my 'To Read' shelf and I waited... and waited... and waited until it was Christmas time 2016 to finally read this volume.
    The Great Treasury of Christmas Comic Book Stories is just that; it's over one hundred and seventy pages of classic Christmas themed comics from the 1940s up till 1960. It features the work of comic book legends such as John Stanley (Little Lulu), Walt Kelly (Pogo), and even an Al Fago yuletide yarn starring his creation Atomic Mouse. Added to the holiday fun is a rare comic story from children's book master Richard Scarry (Busytown.) 
    Some of these stories are quite dated, either in appearance or conventional mores. A few are quite silly and there were a couple of duds. But this was a pretty enjoyable read. Plus, not liking every story is to be expected in a collection such as this and as long as the majority of the stories are gems, it still makes for an overall favorable read.
    This treasury was co-published by YOe Books, in cooperation with IDW Publishing. YOe has been building a reputation with it's massive editions of comic works featuring Steve Ditko, Dan DeCarlo, and Jack Kirby and the level of quality and detail in this treasury shows. 
     A really awesome Christmas present that was worth the wait. 

    Worth Consuming

    Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.