Oz The Great (And Terrible)

 

"Hey did you know that in the 80s DC put out a miniseries called The Oz-Wonderland War?"

"Oh wow, that sounds terrific! Right up my alley!"

"Yeah, and Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew are the main characters!"

"Oh. Okay. Never mind."

I Wanna Be Sedated

 

He's Mickey Ramone!

 

I Don't Know About Art But

 

What We Like

by Mark Newgarden

From Bad News #3, 1988

Can't Stop Messin With The Danger Zone

 

Disney's Doorways To Danger is another oddball comic that I found surprisingly enjoyable.

This book came out in 2021 but I ignored it, assuming it would be some kinda Wimpy Kid middle school YA thing. While Jeff Harvey's art style is definitely in that wheelhouse, story-wise this could be a totally normal modern-day Duck Mouse adventure.  

Our heroes find themselves in the cast of an Amazing Race style gameshow, racing in teams around the globe to locate a series of keys which will unlock a hidden treasure. Because this is an Uncle Scrooge comic, the treasure and the gameshow are more than they appear.  

The characterization and dialogue are all perfectly in-character; I am not familiar with Tom Angleberger's other works ,but judging from this he appears to be a fan of the classic Disney Comics.  Like Donald Duck Visits Japan, this is an off-model, offbeat take on the Disney classics that is enjoyable for kids and longtime readers alike.

Spider-Man Far From Home

 

Did you guys know that Duck Maestro Giorgio Cavazzano drew a Spider-Man comic that was only reprinted in English once, in the UK-only collection Marvel Europa?  Well now you know.

Unfortunately, the characters are not all drawn with dog noses like Uncle Carl here.

Instead he sticks closely to the style he used for the human characters in Dragonlords.

The story uses some convoluted plot mechanics to get Peter Parker to Venice

But the story doesn't matter; the real attractions here are Cavazzano's dazzling cityscapes.

The bad guy, Count Gianus, could totally be a Topolino villain.

Biff Bam Pow!

The story's official title is "Spider-Man in Venice: The Secret of the Glass," written by Dylan Dog and Topolino scribe Tito Faraci with art by Cavazzano, and first appeared as an original graphic novel published by Panini in 2004.

It's baffling to me that Marvel didn't reprint this as a movie tie-in, but they know what they're doing I guess.  If you want to read this story you can do what I did, and find the UK reprint, or bust out the Google Translate and figure it out for yourself.

Brain Damaged

 

Why Disney Buried "Runaway Brain"

Multiverse of Mad Ducks

 

For all of these years I had been under the impression that Duck Tales comics and The Barks Duckverse were two entirely separate continuities, containing many overlapping characters but also some aspects unique to each of the two worlds.  Earth-D and Earth DT, let's say. 

  A recent thread on The Fethry Society, however, set me straight that there are several examples of characters created specifically for  Duck Tales making the leap into the mainline Donald Duck comics universe:

Mr. Mc Dee's butler Duckworth appears in the William Van Horn story "Snore Losers," collected in Pie in the Sky

While Launchpad McQuack shares space with Donald and Daisy in "New Year's Daze," by Stefan Printz-Paulson and Vicar, as seen in Bear Mountain Tales.

So there you have it, Bubba the Cave Duck fans, your favorite character counts as an honorary Duckburgian! Surely it's only a matter of time before the Darkwing/ Gizmoduck/ PKNA teamup that all the Tumblr fanart people have been clamoring for becomes official.

Dead Girl Superstar

 

Hey Millenials, remember "the aughts"?  The OC, the Nintendo Gamecube, the Emo, the SLG? 

Lenore Meets the Haunted Mansion by Roman Dirge

 

Great overview of Fawcett Comics' funny animal superhero Hoppy The Marvel Bunny.

Squeak Previews

 

Mitch Lohmeier's funny animal true crime epic Michael Mouse, starring his own totally unique and original characters, is now available to order through Previews.

Go get it, ya mugs!

You Know, For Kids

 

Speaking of promotional giveaways, here are all the comics pages from Nabisco's The Perils of Mickey Fun Book For Kids,  art inspired by Floyd Gottfredson but drawn by Stephen DeStefano in what appears to be excerpts from comics in Disney Adventures magazine.

The Wonderful World of Promotional Giveaways

 

Maybe the Baby Boomers have a point when they say things were better back in the day. Specifically, in 1970 a kid could accompany their parents to their local Gulf station and receive one of these, The Wonderful World of Disney Magazine.

This magazine's got everything.  Haunted houses from around the world,

Behind the scenes of the Haunted Mansion,

A rare U.S. appearance of Fethry Duck, as drawn by Tony Strobhl,

How to draw Chip and Dale,

The Junior Woodchucks,

And great vintage gasoline ads.

Oil crisis, shmoil crisis, let's make gas stations great again, America!

The Celery Stalks At Midnight

 

Watch Tim Burton's earliest animated short film "Stalk of the Celery Monster"

Wabisabi

 

Donald Duck Visits Japan is a charming and unexpectedly engaging comic.

I assume the purpose behind it is to teach kids about the customs and culture of Japan, but aside from its educational value it is a cute and cozy story.  The Three Caballeros work for a furniture company but are on the Boss's shit list, as they crashed his car during some off-panel hijinks.  Their punishment is to be sent to work in a hotel in Japan for a year, to learn about customer service and research Japanese hospitality techniques.  What this has to do with furniture making is unclear.

The boys learn all about sushi, yokai, and omotenashi, while slowly gaining self-confidence and pride in their work.

Meru Okano's character designs deviate significantly from the characters' classic look, but it suits the manga style while still reading as "Toon".  Supporting characters look like they just stopped over from Animal Crossing.  Donald Duck Visits Japan is a quick and breezy read, kawaii as fuck but might actually teach you something.  Recommended.

Meeting of the Minds

 

From the Double Duck/ Duck Avenger crossover event: Timecrime!

Magic The Gathering Kingdom

 

Your next Collectible Card Game obsession is now available for preorder.

The He Man Minnie Haters Club

 

Pages from The He-Man Effect: How American Toymakers Sold You Your Childhood

by Box Brown

Warning: This Post May Contain Spoilers For Thirty-Year-Old Comics

 

The Fantagraphics book Just Us Justice Ducks is a terrific collection of comics from the often-imitated, never-duplicated 1990s Disney Adventures magazine.  It's not just worthwhile as a nostalgia trip for the Millenials, though, as the collection includes new-to-me strips by Disney masters Romano Scarpa and Giorgio Cavazzano.

But for Disney Weirdness purposes, Justice Ducks is worth checking out for the ambitious and strange CROSSOVER EVENT "The Legend of the Chaos God."

Solego the Chaos God wants to return to this mortal plane, and to do it he needs to possess some of your favorite Disney Afternoon stars, such as:

Rebecca Cunningham

Parenting a toddler be like

This Guy

Whoever he is

Dale (voiced by Andy Samberg)

Fat Cat

Pete's Car

Fenton "Gizmoduck" Crackshell

Hopefully these images get you a taste of the story without spoiling too much.  I had aged out of The Disney Afternoon by the time these comics came out and completely missed them the first time.  Kudos to Fantagraphics for another great collection, one that fans of these cartoons will surely appreciate even more than I did.