Saturday, August 31, 2019

Friday, August 30, 2019


15 intriguing facts about Walt Disney (but you knew most of these already).

Thursday, August 29, 2019


The 13 weirdest Disney Channel original movies according to Bustle magazine.

My kids are huge fans of Zombies and Descendants, which I thought were plenty weird, but they don't even make the list.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Monday, August 26, 2019

Stupor Doof

I was really excited to win Phantom Blot #2 on Ebay, as all good comics fans know this as the first appearance of Super Goof.



So it is with a heavy heart that I have to report that this is a non-canonical Super Goof, what the Wizard Magazine price guide would call a "Super Goof Prototype" and not the genuine article.

My disappointment was compounded when I opened to this first page and remembered that I'd read this story before in the pages of Gladstone's Mickey Mouse Digest #3.  But what a first page- look at those title logos at the top, the economical info-dump in the first panel (we know it's night because the moon is out, sirens and search lights tell us there's a jail break at the helpfully labeled State Prison, O'Hara's balloon sets up the plot).  They don't make comics like this anymore.


Unfortunately it's downhill from there.  After a deductive leap that would make Sherlock Holmes drop his pipe into a giant bag of cocaine, Mickey deduces that the Blot is headed out West to become a villain like in the cowboy pulps that are all the rage these days.


A case like this requires assistance in the form of a weird-looking Gyro Gearloose.  "BUT GYRO'S A DUCKBURG CHARACTER" you're saying, but that's not even close to the weirdest part of this story so just roll with it.


Gyro invents a criminal detector, which makes you wonder why O'Hara bothers to keep Mickey on the payroll after this episode.


Goofy drinks the fuel to the machine because he's a f**king moron, and as a result he believes he has super powers.


As superhero origin stories go it's not as good as this one, but better than this one.



Convenient stampedes keep knocking Goofy on the ass and making him appear to fly (It looks like a super character of some sort!).

Ever notice that you never see Clark Kent and Superman at the same time?



And that's it!  Super Goof accidentally captures The Blot, Blot escapes and ties up Goofy and the Sheriff, Gyro invents a robot cow for Mickey to drive around in (for real!) and The Blot is captured and hauled back to jail.   

There's no super-goobers, no Gilbert, just some cattle rustlin and lasso twirlin. But technically this is the first appearance of your second-favorite Disney superhero.





Thursday, August 22, 2019

Moby Duck

I read Moby Dick for the first time not long ago, and it took me seven months to finish it.  That's a long time.  With school just around the corner, some of the young people may be thinking, "Couldn't I just read the Donald Duck version (a mere 77 illustrated pages) instead?"

As a service to the Youth of America, I have compiled a list of things not to include in your book report on Melville's classic novel.

1.  Any of these character names:







None of these are right, a sure tell that you didn't read the book.

2.  There is sadly no giant squid in Moby Dick.


Not even a tiny squid.


3.  There are no pirates in Moby Dick.



You'd think there would be at least a couple pirates, but no.


3.  The whale never eats anybody


At least not on purpose.

4.  Nobody lives in Moby Dick's belly and also there is no treasure contained within


and you can't escape by lighting a fire and making him sneeze.



You're thinking of Monstro, you idiot.


Everything else is spot on, especially the part where Magica DeSpell curses the boat.

You're welcome.


Moby Dick starring Donald Duck
script by Francesco Artibani
(amazing!) art by Paolo Mottura
colors by Mirka Andolfo
Translation by Erin Brady
Letting by Comicraft

Dark Horse Books 2018








Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Burn Baby Burn


The best damn Disney comics blog period, Duck Comics Revue, recently took a deep dive into the very strange Mickey's Inferno by Guido Martina and Angelo Bioletti, exploring its history as a very early Italian Disney comic and examining its relation to the source material by Dante Alighieri.  But is it weird?


It's pretty f**kin weird.

My library's copy has its own "Abandon Hope" message to the reader:

"Adult Collection" is right.  Look at these friggin harpies.

Nightmare Fuel

Thrill as beloved children's character Goofy gets cooked alive!

Tastes like chicken



Is it safe?


Oh hey, it's Mickey's pal Eega Beeva in the section where they torture the fortune tellers and diviners. Bet ya didn't see that one pcoming!


Watch as Old Dogface Man gets comically disemboweled!


This comic is GREAT.  I have the Papercutz promo minicomic that they gave away at Halloween; these pictures are from the full Papercutz edition.  Duck Comics Revue looks at the abbreviated version that ran in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #666 (seriously!).  Any and all versions of this story are well worth tracking down, especially if you like seeing beloved Disney characters in bizarre and violent scenarios, and come on, who doesn't.

Hell, boy.



Saturday, August 17, 2019

When I first started this blog wayyyy back in 2009, my main goal was to learn more about Disney comics, particularly the stuff I didn't get to see as a kid.

One of the most fascinating areas of study was the ill-fated Disney Comics line.  In the early days of Disney Weirdness I would have killed for an in-depth examination like this one from Dan Cunningham.  It's a long post-mortem on what went wrong and what could have been, with additional context about the comics market of the early 90's boom and bust.  Highest possible recommendation, go read it!

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Welcome Back Kotter

Today I went digging through all my old posts to verify that I didn't dream this video:



And it made me miss blogging!   So here I am, blogging like it's 2009.

My son and I have been reading The Phantom Blot's Double Mystery, a story I was a big fan of when it ran in the pages of Gladstone's Mickey and Donald.