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.

Dell Giants #26

The cover is touted as 'Walt Disney's Christmas Parade'* and the entire amount of over sized content does not disappoint. I didn't count pages. But I would estimate that this was either an 86 or 100-pager. Every story was Christmas themed from a team-up with Pluto and Grandma Duck against those tricky crows from Dumbo to a Goofy and Mickey caper involving a ton of stuffed moose heads. Then Donald and his nephews learn about Christmas in other lands from friends Tinkerbell, Jiminy Cricket and others. Uncle Scrooge gets in over his head in anticipation for a winter ball thanks to his desire to save money... Man- it was just an awesome issue from 1959. 

I was lucky to find this issue is really decent shape. There's a bunch of games and puzzles. A page to color. And no less than 3 opportunities to cut up this beauty with do-it-yourself holiday crafts. But other than a small nick on a corner on the front cover, there's not a page missing or fun page filled in. 

True, the pages have yellowed some. But the colors inside are vibrant. Especially the yellows! Those hues look almost like the printers used highlighters, those yellows are that full and bright.

The only thing that might have aged poorly was the Br'er Rabbit story. The cultural value of the Uncle Remus stories, especially in regards to the Disney film, Song of the South, has warranted a lengthy debate over whether such stories should be cancelled. If this issue was reprinted today, there's a very good chance that the Br'er Rabbit tale might have been censored if not omitted all together. I thought it was a charming story about a Americanized version of the classic trickster god character seen in stories about Loki and Anansi otherwise But yes, I did wonder if it was wrong of me to enjoy it or not.

As a whole, this was a timeless collection of Christmas stories. The art was crisp and clean. The jokes were fresh and plots delightful. This Christmas Parade was a welcomed diversion from a holiday season that was anything but normal. And heck yes- I'd read the entire thing again from cover to cover!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

* Despite what the cover says, this was a part of the Dell Giants series. Leaving off that 'S' can make database searches quite difficult as I learned the hard way. 

Walt Disney's Adventures of Tinkerbell (Dell 4-Color Comics #896)

Last month I reviewed a holiday collection called Walt Disney's Christmas Classics. The book was published by IDW. It reprinted an annual holiday comic strip that ran in newspapers for almost 50 years. 

In these festive tales characters such as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell would share adventures with Cinderella's pet mice. Or maybe Bambi and Sleeping Beauty would team together to save Santa from the Beagle Boys.

I thought that these crossovers were the only ones of their kind. But I found that to not be the case in this 1958 issue of Dell 4-Color Comics #896 (Walt Disney's Adventures of Tinkerbell). 

I bought this book as a part of my wife's Tinkerbell and Peter Pan Collection. A gift for her, I got to read it first before it went into her permanent collection display case. I had seen copies of this book for upwards of $100. Yet while in Chicago, I got a very good deal for a fraction of that cost. 

The book begins with a clever plot device. Normally, Tinkerbell doesn't speak words as you and I do. She communicates with tiny tinkles and jingles of her wings. But to have a comic book in which the main character doesn't speak was pretty unheard of in the 1950s. So, the writers of this book came up with a smart idea to have Tink get a yearly 'fairy wish' and for this year's wish, she gets to speak English with all her friends. 

There are four stories in this comic. The first takes place in Neverland with Peter Pan stealing the bell from Captain Hook's ship. In return, Hook kidnaps Peter's bell- I.E. Tink! A cute story- it felt like a retelling of the 1953 Peter Pan movie only there aren't any of the Darling children.

Tinkerbell then goes off to visit some of her friends and this is where the crossovers come in. First, she teaches the Wicked Witch to be nice to the Seven Dwarfs. Then Tinkerbell goes to visit Dumbo's circus where a new lion attraction has gotten the flying elephant into a terrible tizzy. Lastly, Tink travels to Italy where she assists Pinocchio and Geppetto in finding some beautiful flowers for a special festival.

On the back cover there's an activity in which children could cut out a picture of Tinkerbell, make a few folds, add glue, string, a stick and some flour and make a pixie dust kite. I have a feeling a lot of these books ended up with the back cover being destroyed, thus why pristine copies are so expensive. 

There's a sequel book to this comic. It of course in on my list to find for my bride. It's just about as expensive as this book is. But that volume is actually harder to find as I have never seen one for sale except online. I wonder what activity kiddos were expected to make out of those issues.

Worth Consuming if not for anything else that it's charming as hell, a fun crossover comic and classic 1950s Disney through and through.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Disney's Christmas Classics (Family Comic Friday)

I want to apologize beforehand. I had promised, since Thanksgiving, that I would be reviewing all-new holiday specials until Christmas. However, my region of the country got hit with what we consider a major snowstorm. As a result, my LCS didn't get in their new books due for the week. So no Archie Christmas Spectacular #1 this week's Family Comic Friday! Sorry!

Wait! Don't Go!!! I still have a round of holiday cheer to provide for this week's edition of FCF! Last week I was touring Chicago when I found a really cool comic book store with an amazing Christmas comic display. I am a huge collector of holiday books and just couldn't resist rifling through it.

Boy, am I glad that I did! One of the book's in the window has been on my holiday comic wish list for some time and since I'm without my planned title for the week, I am excited to share this one with you instead!

Disney's Christmas Classics
Written by Frank Reilly, Floyd Norman, Various
Illustrated by Floyd Gottfredson, Manuel Gonzales, Various
Published by IDW Publishing
SRP: $39.99

Comic history is full of amazing crossovers. Superman Vs. Spider-Man. Batman and Captain America vs The Joker and the Red Skull. Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and the Seven Dwarfs saving Santa from the clutches of Captain Hook and Maleficent! Don't remember that last one? Don't worry, not many do. But for one glorious December in 1960, Disney fans of all ages were treated to the most epic of crossovers in their daily news.

Such holiday crossovers would continue until 1987. Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Dumbo and many more of your favorite Disney characters would save Christmas or Santa (or both!) on an annual basis from villains such as Prince John, The Beagle Boys and Cinderella's wicked stepmother. Never mind that Robin Hood took place in the Middle Ages. Forget that Merlin and his owl Archimedes was from the Sixth century. If there was a need for rescuing during the holidays, the space-time continuum was no match for Walt Disney.

This 2017 collection also features a 90s revival strip that was also Christmas themed. While these stories featured newer properties like The Lion King and Pocahontas, the crossover element is missing. In my opinion, that little bit of holiday magic was absent as well.

Fans should also not expect to see Mickey, Donald or Goofy in any of these stories. Since Disney already produced a couple of comic strips with the more popular characters in them, it was decided that the Christmas Classics annual would feature stars of some Disney's most beloved animated features. The Beagle Boys and Professor Von Drake are as close to the Duckburg outer limits as you are going to get in this book.

I know that the $39.99 cover price might seem steep. But if you look on Amazon, you can find this treasury for a fraction of the cost. The black and white images might be off-putting to some young readers. But that's how they originally have been published. Plus, IDW did an amazing job restoring these works to their original greatness. 

With 27 crossover Christmas classics comprised in this book, this could act as an annual Advent tradition. Fans both young and old could start December 1st reading the first 3 tales. Then from December 2nd to 25th, enjoy a story a day. You could keep the holidays alive with a 90s Disney story per day up until New Years! There's literally something for everyone in this book. 

The stories are a little uneven. But that's due to having to be written for a daily newspaper strip. Still, this is a classic that should become a timeless tradition in your future holiday enjoyment!

Disney's Christmas Classics debuted in print in November, 2017. It can be purchased in hardcover, both new and used, on Amazon and other online book retailers.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Pop Culture Folk Art at Orange County's Hog Day 2015

In Orange County, NC, the fam went to the 33rd annual Hog Day. The festival is devoted to North Carolina BBQ. For those of you not in the know, NC BBQ is whole hog pork, deboned, chopped, and doused in pepper vinegar. For someone like myself who 's trying to lose weight, my menu options were limited. So I decided to devote my attention to the crafts section in search of pop culture folk art.

My search was not as hard as I thought it would be.

My first stop was at a booth called Blown Glass by Winston. Along with a menagerie of dragons, birds, and other animals, there were honest to God superheroes. As you can see in the picture, Winston crafted characters such as Deadpool, Superman, Green Lantern, Captain America, and an upside down hanging Spider-man. I couldn't get him in the picture, but Winston also does a mean Lizard.

Winston's son paints the glass and his work is amazing. To the right of Superman, you see a green and white figure they made of a Miami Hurricane football player. The detail was crazy good and I would love for them to make me a Steelers one. 

My mother-in-law and I went halfsies on a Tinkerbell figurine for my wife. Here she is in her new home, a display case devoted to Peter Pan and Star Wars collectibles that are very fragile. 

The next stop for me was AmourableArt. The below duo of Darth Vader and the TARDIS was enough for me to A) fetch the wife immediately and B) start shopping. Pat Kenrick does an amazing job of sketching anything from seashells to silhouettes to pop culture icons the images below. After his sketch, he watercolors the interior of the pictures to look like ocean scenes or in the case of the Doctor Who print, the Time Vortex. I snatched up an 8x10 of the TARDIS and once I get a frame, it'll be hanging in my office next to my autographed Kelly Yates print of the Fifth Doctor.

I bought a couple more things here, but I can't put pics of them up yet as the art due to be anniversary gifts for my bride next month. But I strongly advise that if you love fan art like this, you need to check them out at their website or their Facebook page for more selections. You can also email Pat's wife Alexis about commissioned works if you can't find what you're looking for.

Throughout Hog Day, I found little odds and ends that would make excellent gifts for the superhero or pop culture fan in your life. On the left, you see little bottles with images of Iron Man, Capt. Jack Sparrow, and such forth. At that booth, you could make your very own sand or aqua-artwork. 

At several booths, skilled knitters and sewers created everything from M&M bibs to Ninja Turtle and Superman bows like in the pic in the middle. At another booth, a woman sold maracas made in Guatemala. These music shakers had images of just about every cartoon imaginable. But I thought the likenesses of Batman, The Thing, and Black Costume Spidey were quite good. (Image on right.)

Your collection doesn't have to have only officially licensed stuff to be yours. It's the little treasures that someone took the time to craft that can make your hobby unique. There are dozens of festivals and craft fairs nationwide every weekend that have little curios and artwork such as the examples I've shown today. These events are worth checking out. They're good for the community, filled with good music, delicious food, and quite possibly the next addition to your collection of favorite characters, movies, or books.