I've wasted my life

Image taken from Donald Duck Adventures #1 (Volume 3), Gemstone Comics, 2003

Spider-Mouse

This Disney/Marvel deal was a long time coming.

From Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #635, Gemstone, 2003
Written by Pat McGreal, Art by Francisco Peinado

Also in #635: Don Rosa's "The Three Caballeros Ride Again!" Best issue ever? Hell yes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Images taken from William Van Horn Fansite, Grand Comic Database, The Golden Age of Comic Books.

Annual Speedskating Race of the Burg of Ducks

The Disney Comics Worldwide Blog has a great piece of Disney Weirdness- a two-page Don Rosa story for Speedskating World magazine. Go check it out!

via Disney History

Uncomfortable Moments in Disney Comics, Part 3

Mickey's Italian Stereotype character is just too darn cute to be offensive. But the nose is pushing it.

Read the entire story "Mickey Mouse and the Seven Ghosts" here.

Eeeee-vil Wo-man

Maleficent by Richard Friend. Taken from I Love Cartoons! Many more Disney characters are featured there, along with other amazing renditions of your favorite Saturday Morning pals.

These are Disney characters now.

As you've probably heard, Disney has acquired Marvel Comics. Everybody's excited at the possibilites- Donald Duck meeting Howard, Spider-Man meeting Mickey Mouse, Gizmoduck joining the Avengers, etc. I'd like to take a moment to shine a light on some of the lesser-known characters joining the Disney family: Mephisto, ruler of Hades. Morbius, the living vampire. Jack Russel, Werewolf By Night. Ghost Rider, biker with a flaming skull for a head. And, of course, Son of Satan. Wholesome entertainment for the entire family!

Why indeed

Image taken from Robot 6's excellent write-up of the legendary underground comic "Mickey Mouse Meets the Air Pirates Funnies." This book explains the controversy surrounding the Air Pirates. If anybody knows where I can get a copy (scanned or original comics) let me know in the comments!

Gargoyles!

To take away the pain from yesterday's post, here's Gargoyles! Gargoyles are f***ing badass!

Gargoyles comics! Gargoyles action figures! Gargoyles dolls!

Gargoyles episodes on YouTube! Gargoyles on DVD!

Two Times the Suck

1985 was not kind to The Walt Disney Company. In theaters, you had The Black Cauldron and Return to Oz, two movies that I liked but the rest of the world hated. In hockey arenas you had Disney on Ice starring Sport Goofy. And on television, you had The Wuzzles.

The Wuzzles, to put it mildly, sucked. Sucked hard.

A marketing gimmick disguised as a TV show, The Wuzzles existed solely to sell plush toys and other assorted crap. The cartoon only lasted thirteen lousy episodes, and boy were they lousy. Take a look at the opening sequence if you don't believe me:



As a kid I was obsessed with everything Disney, but this was too much even for me. I hate the Wuzzles.

The worst part is, early Gladstone issues of "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories" got infected with this junk. Here's a "story" from WDC&S 514, inexpertly scanned by yours truly. The art's nice and everything, but I can't get past the stupid, stupid concept. How could something be part lion and part bumblebee anyway? It doesn't make any sense. What are they, mutants? Refugees from The Island of Dr. Moreau? It's just stupid. Anyway, enjoy the comics.

Haunted Mansion Action Figures!

GO LOOK!

Soccermania!

I had vague memories of seeing this TV special as a kid, and now some kind soul has made it available on the YouTube. Uncle Scrooge's voice is kind of unsettling, but the animation and backgrounds are terrific. I love the pre-DuckTales designs of the money bin and other Duckburg locations.







More information about the show can be found here, here, and here.

Blot-a-palooza

WTF Disney Cartoon (with Blot and Duck Avenger cameos):



Mickey Foils the Phantom Blot (from House of Mouse):



Mickey Foils the Phantom Blot, Part Two:




DuckTales- All Ducks on Deck, Part One:



All Ducks on Deck, Part Two:



All Ducks on Deck, Part Three:




D23's article about the Phantom Blot is here.

Read the first appearance of the Phantom Blot in the Mickey Mouse comic strip here.

Buy a Blot action figure here.

Justa Lotta Animals

The Red Bat: Earth- T


Super Snooper: Earth- B


Super-Goof: Earth-G
Duck Avenger: Earth- PK
Gooflactus: Earth-A

Gizmoduck: Earth-DA

Darkwing Duck: Earth-DA


Ultra Heroes: Earth- B!

Blotman and Sidekick: Earth-2

Howard the Duck: Earth-616

New comics!

Walt Disney's Comics #700 and Mickey Mouse and Friends #297 come out this week. See previews here and here.

Hey, remember the time Donald and Moby Duck had a sword fight with Captain Hook and Smee?

Yeah, me either.


Images scanned from Top Comics Donald Duck #1, 1967. Click here for more information about Moby Duck.

DuckTales has warped my generation.

Play the Nintendo game here.

The original opening theme:



The extremely disturbing "(Alternate) DuckTales TV intro":





College Humor's "Ducktales Theme Gone Horribly Wrong":

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

It's like looking into a mirror

Mirror-Universe Mickey Mouse reminds me of somebody, but I can't figure out who...

From the superheroic "Mickey Mouse Meets Blotman," Gemstone Publishing, 2005

Hey kids! Comics!

The excellent blog The Big Blog of Kids' Comics! has posted the Don Rosa Uncle Scrooge tale "The Terror of the Transvaal," part of the epic "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck." Go check it out!

Via The Comics Reporter

So THAT'S what they're calling it nowadays!

"Quacky" Galore! GET IT?? So when Huey says to Louie, "Quit being such a quacky!" now we know what he means!*

From Boom! Studios otherwise-excellent Donald Duck and Friends #347, on sale now at finer comic shops. See a five-page preview here.





*It means he talks a lot.

Pity Mel Mallard

Later that day, Mel shot up the Duckburg Post Office with an AK-47.

Image from Top Comics Donald Duck #1, 1967.

Real mature.

You too can create classy and sophisticated sequential art right at your computer!

http://disney.go.com/create/#/create/writer/comiccreator/wizardsofmickey/

http://disney.go.com/create/#/create/writer/comiccreator/doubleduck/

Mickey Mouse Mayhem in the Mighty Marvel Manner

One of the biggest complaints lodged against the ill-fated Disney Comics line was that it was an attempt to Marvel-ize the Disney Standard Characters. In 1990 comic books were big business and Marvel were the top dog in the industry. From a business standpoint, it made a certain amount of sense to try to apply that magic formula to the Disney line; if you're going to make funnybooks why not try to emulate the Numero Uno publisher in the biz? (After all, that same approach ended up working wonders for Atlas, Valiant, and Malibu, amiright?)

In 1990, Disney got the comic book rights away from Gladstone, and started their own line of comics. Long-time Marvel and DC writer Len Wein was hired as Editor-in-Chief of the line, and superhero vets like Marv Wolfman and Stephen DeStefano were brought in to modernize Disney Comics for the kids of the 90's.

As much as people complain about the Disney Comics era, a lot of what they did was pretty good. Donald Duck Adventures, for example, had a lot of stories by Barks, Rosa, and Van Horn, and did an admirable job of mixing old and new Duck stories in a kid-friendly format that wouldn't have seemed out of place at Gladstone or Gemstone. Mickey Mouse Adventures was the title most affected by the new regime, as the Editorial staff deemed the classic Gottfredson serials to be too "old-fashioned" for the hip youngsters of the 1990's. This is the book where the creators tried the hardest to drag a character from the 1930's kicking and screaming into the go-go 90's.

Here's one of my favorite stories from this era, (and one of the very few that even old-school fans consider worthy) "A Phantom Blot Bedtime Story." Story by Lee Nordling, art by DeStephano, cover by John Byrne (!).