Disney comics arecomic books andcomic strips featuring characters created bythe Walt Disney Company, includingMickey Mouse,Donald Duck andScrooge McDuck.
The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on, starting with theMickey Mouse comic strip.Mickey Mouse Magazine, the first American newsstand publication with Disney comics, launched in 1935. In 1940,Western Publishing launched the long-running flagship comic book,Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, which reached 750 issues in September 2019.[1]Uncle Scrooge, launched in 1952, reached issue #450 in June 2019.[2] In recent decades, Disney comics have seen a decline of popularity in the United States. In the rest of the world Disney comics have remained very successful, especially in Europe, where weekly Disney comics magazines and monthly paperback digests are national best sellers.
Disney comics have been the basis for academic theory, cultural criticism, and fan-created databases.
The first Disney comics appeared in daily newspapers, syndicated byKing Features with production done in-house by a Disney comic strip department at the studio. InitiallyFloyd Gottfredson along with his responsibilities for theMickey Mouse comic strip oversaw the Disney comic strip department from 1930 to 1945, then Frank Reilly was brought in to administer the burgeoning department from January 1946 to 1975. Greg Crosby headed the department from 1979 to 1989.
TheMickey Mouse daily comic strip began on January 13, 1930,[3] featuring Mickey as an optimistic, adventure-seeking young mouse. It was initially written by Walt Disney with art byUb Iwerks and Win Smith. Beginning with the May 5, 1930, installment the art chores were taken up byFloyd Gottfredson (often aided by various inkers), who also either wrote or supervised the story continuities (relying on various writers to flesh out his plots). Gottfredson continued with the strip until 1975. By 1931, theMickey Mouse strip was published in 60 newspapers in the United States, as well as papers in twenty other countries.[4]
From the beginning, the strips were parts of long continuing stories. These introduced characters such as thePhantom Blot,Eega Beeva, andthe Bat Bandit, which Gottfredson created; Disney createdEli Squinch, Mickey's nephews,Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse, andSylvester Shyster, which were also introduced in the comic.[5]
Starting in the 1950s, Gottfredson and writer Bill Walsh were instructed to drop the storylines and do only daily gags.[6] Gottfredson continued illustrating the daily strip until he retired on October 1, 1975.[5]
After Gottfredson retired, the strip was written and drawn by many other creators. The Sunday page went into reprints in February 1992, and the daily strip ended on July 29, 1995.[3]
In 2011,Fantagraphics Books began theWalt Disney's Mickey Mouse series, a hardback collection of Gottfredson's run on the strip. A total of 14 volumes were published between 2011 and 2018, collecting the entirety of Gottfredson's Sunday color work (two volumes) and all of his serialized story-themed daily strips (12 volumes). The collection doesn't include any of Gottfredson's gag-oriented material from 1955 onwards.
TheMickey MouseSunday strip started on January 10, 1932, with atopperSilly Symphony strip.[7]Silly Symphony initially related the adventures ofBucky Bug, the first Disney character to originate in the comics.[8] It went on to print more adaptations ofSilly Symphony shorts, often using the characters and setting of the original shorts, but adding new plotlines and incidents. It also went on to print adaptations of the feature films, as well as periods of gag strips featuring Donald Duck and Pluto. By late 1935 the strip was a standalone half-page, not strictly a topper for theMickey Sunday.
The strip was initially titledSilly Symphonies; after two years, the name was changed toSilly Symphony. The switch happened in the February 18, 1934, strip, just three weeks before Bucky Bug would be replaced with a new storyline, "Birds of a Feather".[9]
The complete rundown ofSilly Symphony strips, from 1932 to 1945:[10]
TheSilly Symphony Sunday strip ended on October 7, 1945, and was replaced byUncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit.
Three of theSilly Symphony stories inspired long-running features inWalt Disney's Comics and Stories. Original Bucky Bug stories first appeared in issue #39 (Dec 1943) and appeared every month for seven years, wrapping up with issue #120 (Sept 1950). "The Three Little Pigs" feature inspired the creation ofLi'l Bad Wolf, theBig Bad Wolf's errant son, who wants to be friends with the Pigs. Li'l Bad Wolf's adventures began in issue #52 (Jan 1945), and he made regular appearances until almost the end of the comic's original run, issue #259 (April 1962). Finally, Little Hiawatha had his own monthly story for two years, from issue #143 (Aug 1952) to #168 (September 1954).
The complete strip has been reprinted in four hardcover collections,Silly Symphonies: The Complete Disney Classics, published byIDW Publishing'sLibrary of American Comics imprint. The first volume, published in 2016, includes all of the strips from "Bucky Bug" (1932) to "Cookieland" (1935). Volume 2, published in 2017, includes "Three Little Kittens" (1935) to "Timid Elmer" (1939). Volume 3, published in 2018, includes "Pluto the Pup" (1939) to "Little Hiawatha" (1942). The fourth volume, published in 2019, concludes the series with "Bambi" (1942) through Panchito" (1945).
Donald Duck made his first comics appearance in theSilly Symphony adaptation of the 1934 Disney shortThe Wise Little Hen (Sept. 16, 1934-Dec. 16, 1934). As Donald's popularity grew, he became the star of theSilly Symphony strip for an extended run (August 1936 to December 1937),[11] and then gothis own daily strip starting on February 7, 1938. A Donald Sunday strip premiered December 10, 1939.Carl Barks, known to fans as "The Duck Man," wrote at least 20 of the strips between 1938 and 1940.[12]Donald Duck ran until May 2005, when it went into reprints.[12]
Starting in 2015,IDW Publishing'sLibrary of American Comics imprint has been publishing hardcover collections of theDonald Duck strip. As of 2019, five volumes ofDonald Duck: The Complete Daily Newspaper Comics and two volumes ofDonald Duck: The Complete Sunday Comics have been released.
Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit was launched as a Sunday strip on October 14, 1945, as a preview of the upcoming 1946 filmSong of the South. TheUncle Remus strip began, likeSilly Symphony, as a topper for theMickey Mouse strip, but after the first few years, almost always appeared on its own.[13]
The previous comic strip adaptations of Disney films lasted for four or five months, but theUncle Remus strip continued for almost thirty years, telling new stories of Br'er Rabbit and friends, until the strip was discontinued on December 31, 1972.[14]
In 1950, Disney distributed a limited-time Sunday strip adaptations of their new animated featureCinderella,[15] and followed the next year withAlice in Wonderland.[16] Judged a success, the experiment was turned into an ongoing feature in 1952—Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales—beginning withThe Story of Robin Hood.
The Sunday strip ran for thirty-five years, from July 13, 1952, to February 15, 1987. The animated features adapted for the strip includePeter Pan (1953),Lady and the Tramp (1955),Sleeping Beauty (1958),The Sword in the Stone (1963) andThe Jungle Book (1968).Classic Tales also featured animated shorts, includingLambert the Sheepish Lion (1956) andBen and Me (1953), and featurettes likePeter & The Wolf (1954) andWinnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966). The 1979-80 adaptation ofThe Black Hole was particularly notable for featuring pencil art by comics iconJack Kirby, withMike Royer inking.
Treasury of Classic Tales also adapted live-action films likeOld Yeller (1957–58),Swiss Family Robinson (1960),Mary Poppins (1964) andThe Love Bug (1969). The strip transitioned from historical dramas likeThe Sword and the Rose (1953) andKidnapped (1960) to comedies likeThe Shaggy Dog (1959) andThe Parent Trap (1961).
In 2016,IDW Publishing and their imprintThe Library of American Comics (LoAC) began to collect all theTreasury of Classic Tales stories in a definitivehardcover reprint series.[17] As of 2019, three volumes have been published, reprinting all the stories fromRobin Hood (1952) throughIn Search of the Castaways (1962). In April 2018, it was announced that, due to the sales goal of the series not being met, the third volume may be the last one to be published.[18][19]
In 1955, the animated filmLady and the Tramp inspired a new comic strip based on an adorable, unnamed puppy glimpsed at the end of the movie.Scamp debuted in newspapers on October 31, 1955, and ran for more than 30 years, ending on June 25, 1988. The strip was created byWard Greene, aKing Features Syndicate editor who wrote the original magazine story,Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog, and Miss Patsy, the Beautiful Spaniel, which inspired the film. Greene and artistDick Moores produced the strip for eight months as a continuing story. Starting in May 1956, other creators took over, and the strip moved to a gag-a-day format.
Beginning in 1960, a special daily strip with a holiday theme utilizing the Disney characters was offered each year through 1987.[20][21][22] It generally ran for three to four weeks with the concluding strip appearing a day or two before Christmas, often promoting the latest Disney release or re-release.[10] These were unique in that in some cases, they showcased the crossover of Disney characters that otherwise rarely interacted.
The tradition was revived in 1992 asDisney Holiday Story to publicize contemporary Disney feature animated films.
In 2017, the Christmas stories were collected in a hardback volume,Disney's Christmas Classics, published byIDW Publishing.[23] The collection includes all of the Christmas stories except for 1986's story based onSong of the South.
Disney created aWinnie the Pooh comic strip for King Features Syndicate starting June 19, 1978. Based on theDisney adaptations of the characters, the strip was written by Don Ferguson and drawn by Richard Moore.[24] In addition to the regular cast of characters, Ferguson and Moore also added a knight named Sir Brian, and his worrywart dragon. The strip lasted for almost ten years, ending on April 2, 1988.
Other Disney strips distributed over the years included (chronologically by start date):
A proposedRoger Rabbit strip underwent development but cancellation of the sequel ledKing Features to pass on it.[31]
The Disney comic strip department closed in January 1990. The last two strips,Mickey Mouse andDonald Duck, continued to be supervised by King Features. The Donald strip was drawn by Larry Knighton with King Features staffers writing it.[32] The Donald strip was discontinued in the mid-1990s. In this period the Mickey strip had Floyd Norman as the writer and art rotating between Rick Hoover and Alex Howell. Norman convinced the syndicate to allow him to drop thegag-a-day format in favor of adventure continuities of up to four weeks, much in the style of the classic Gottfredson era. By 1994 the strip was running in only 30 newspapers and by mutual agreement of Disney and King Features it ended.[33] Both strips continued with reprints.
In recent yearsCreators Syndicate has offered reprints of theDonald Duck,Mickey Mouse andWinnie the Pooh strips as part of a "classics" package and posts the current strip on its site (without archiving).[34] Domestically the strips have 20-30 clients at any one time; they also appear in many newspapers outside the United States (exact number unknown).[35]
Mickey Mouse Magazine (1933–1940) was the first Disney comics publication, and preceded the popular 1940 anthology comic bookWalt Disney's Comics and Stories. The concept was created byKay Kamen, a Disney merchandiser. There were three versions of the title: two promotional giveaway magazines published from 1933 to 1935, and a newsstand magazine published from 1935 to 1940. The publication gradually evolved from a 16-page booklet of illustrated text stories and single-page comic panels into a 64-page comic book featuring reprints of theMickey Mouse andDonald Duck comic strips.
In October 1940, Western rebrandedMickey Mouse Magazine asWalt Disney's Comics and Stories, an anthology comic book series featuring an assortment of Disney characters, including Donald Duck,Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse,Chip 'n Dale,Li'l Bad Wolf,Scamp,Bucky Bug,Grandma Duck,Brer Rabbit,Winnie the Pooh, and others. With more than 700 issues,Walt Disney's Comics & Stories is the longest-running Disney comic book in the United States.
By the mid-1950s,WDC&S was the best selling comic book in America, with a circulation hovering around three million a month (with the highest level reached being 3,038,000 for the Sept. 1953 issue).[36] It is regarded as one of the best-selling comic books of all time.[37]
The book was originally published byDell Comics (1940–1962), and there have been many revivals over the years, continuing the same legacy numbering. The revivals have been published byGold Key Comics (1962–1984),Gladstone Publishing (1986–1990),Disney Comics (1990–1993), back to Gladstone Publishing (1993–1999),Gemstone Publishing (2003–2008),Boom! Studios (2009–2011) andIDW Publishing (2015–2020). IDW relaunched the title asDisney Comics and Stories. IDW lost Disney comics rights in the 2020s and the comic book license for Disney properties passed toMarvel Comics.[38][39]
WhenWalt Disney's Comics and Stories launched in 1940 as a partnership betweenDell Comics andWestern Publishing, the comic only reprinted existingMickey Mouse,Donald Duck andSilly Symphony comic strips, rather than creating original stories specifically for the comic book form. This was common for comic books at the time.
Dell also had an anthology series,Four Color, which started in 1939 as a series of "one-shot" specials, each focused on a particular character. In the early days,Four Color mostly featured comic strip reprints ofDick Tracy,Little Orphan Annie,Terry and the Pirates and others.[40] The first series included two issues of Disney comic strips --Donald Duck strips were reprinted in issue #4 (Feb 1940),[41] and Gottfredson'sMickey Mouse serialMickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot was colored, reformatted into comic form and released as issue #16 (1941).[42]
In 1941,Four Color published the two earliest Disney comic book stories, based on new Disney films. Issue #13 featured an adaptation ofThe Reluctant Dragon,[43] and aDumbo adaptation was the focus of issue #17.[44] Both of these stories were assembled by using a film-editing machine called theMoviola, and having artist Irving Tripp trace the actual frames of the film to make up each panel.[45] Each issue also had additional short back-up features—theReluctant Dragon issue included comic adaptations of the 1941 shortsOld MacDonald Duck andGoofy'sHow to Ride a Horse, andDumbo of the Circus had an illustrated text adaptation of the Donald Duck shortThe Village Smithy, as well as some filler comic strips fromSilly Symphony andMickey Mouse.
The next story specifically created for Disney comic books wasPluto Saves the Ship, published in Dell Comics'Large Feature Comics #7 in July 1942. The story was written by Disney animatorsCarl Barks,Jack Hannah and Nick George; it was Barks's first comic book work.[45]
Four Color relaunched with a new numbering system in 1942, and in October, Dell published "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold" as issue #9 of the second series. This 64-page story was the first Donald Duck story drawn (but not yet written) by Barks.
Four Color went on to produce more than 1,000 issues from 1942 to 1962, and the major ongoing Disney comics series were all launched as individual issues of theFour Color series. "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold" eventually became the firstDonald Duck comic,Mickey Mouse began as issue #27 (1943), and the firstUncle Scrooge comic was issue #386 (March 1952).Scamp also began as aFour Color one-shot with issue #703 (May 1956), which turned into a series in 1958. When they each "graduated" to their own comic books, Dell continued their numbering as if they had been part of a series all along.
There were many other Disney characters featured in issues ofFour Color. This list shows the first issue for each character:[46]
Donald Duck (1942–2017) first appeared as part of theFour Color one-shot series, beginning in issue #9 (Oct 1942).Carl Barks, the first great figure among Disney comic book creators, wrote all of his early long stories for theDonald Duck one-shots, includingDonald Duck and the Mummy's Ring (1943),The Terror of the River! (1946),Volcano Valley (1947),The Ghost of the Grotto (1947),Christmas on Bear Mountain (1947),The Old Castle's Secret (1948),Sheriff of Bullet Valley (1948),Lost in the Andes! (1949),Voodoo Hoodoo (1949) andLuck of the North (1949).
The title received its own numbering system with issue #26 (1953) and ended with issue #388 (June 2017).
Mickey Mouse (1943–2017) first appeared as part of theFour Color one-shot series, beginning in issue #27 (1943). It received its own numbering system with issue #28 (December 1952), and after many iterations with various publishers, ended with #330 (June 2017) fromIDW Publishing.
In 1949, Dell began a tradition of publishing occasional "Disney Giants", plus-size comic books with more pages and a higher price. The first Giant wasWalt Disney's Christmas Parade #1 (Nov 1949). This was a 132-page square-bound comic that sold for 25 cents, considerably higher than the typical 10-cent comics.[47]Christmas Parade had a cover by Walt Kelly, and began with a Carl Barks-penned Donald Duck story, "Letter to Santa".
Christmas Parade was a success, and Dell followed up the next year withWalt Disney's Vacation Parade #1 (July 1950) andChristmas Parade #2 (Nov 1950). Dell also introducedBugs Bunny's Christmas Funnies in 1950, and soon all of Dell's top-selling characters had regular annuals and giant issues.[47]
Christmas Parade ran for ten issues from 1949 to 1959, and was followed byWalt Disney's Merry Christmas (Dec 1960) andDonald Duck Merry Christmas (Dec 1961).
Vacation Parade ran for five annual issues from 1950 to 1954, before being retitledPicnic Party from 1955 to 1957,Mickey Mouse Summer Fun (1958),Walt Disney's Summer Fun (1959),Daisy Duck and Uncle Scrooge Picnic Time (1960) andMickey and Donald in Vacationland (1961). There were also six annual issues ofDonald Duck Beach Party from 1954 to 1959.[48]
Dell also published nine annual issues ofSilly Symphonies (1952–1959).[49]
WhenDisneyland, the first Disney theme park, opened in 1955, Dell celebrated with the GiantDonald Duck in Disneyland (Sept 1955), and made frequent returns to the park over the next few years, includingMickey Mouse in Frontierland (May 1956),Mickey Mouse in Fantasyland (May 1957),Uncle Scrooge Goes to Disneyland (Aug 1957),Christmas in Disneyland (a one-time retitle ofChristmas Parade, Nov 1957)Donald and Mickey in Disneyland on Tom Sawyer Island (May 1958),Vacation in Disneyland (Aug 1958),Disneyland Birthday Party (Oct 1958) andDisneyland U.S.A. (June 1960).[48]
There were also three annual issues ofHuey, Dewey and Louie Back To School in October 1959, 1960 and 1961, and a number of one-shot Giants, includingPeter Pan's Treasure Chest (Jan 1953),Mickey Mouse Birthday Party (Sept 1953),Mickey Mouse Club Parade (Dec 1955),Mickey Mouse Almanac (Dec 1957) andDaisy Duck and Uncle Scrooge Showboat (Sept 1961).[49]
Carl Barks introduced Donald'sUncle Scrooge in the story "Christmas on Bear Mountain", published inFour Color #178 (Dec 1947). Scrooge made regular returns to both theDonald Duck comic and Barks's stories inWalt Disney's Comics and Stories over the next few years, and he finally received his own title inFour Color #386 (March 1952).
The spin-off title was very popular, and by issue #4Uncle Scrooge shed itsFour Color association and became its own independent book.Scrooge is one of the longest-running American Disney comics books, and is still presently ongoing, reaching issue #450 in June 2019.
The book has been produced under the aegis of several different publishers, including Western Publishing (initially in association with Dell Comics and later under its own subsidiary, Gold Key Comics and its Whitman imprint), Gladstone Publishing, Disney Comics, Gemstone Publishing, Boom! Studios, and IDW Publishing (until 2020), and has undergone several hiatuses of varying length. Despite this, it has maintained the same numbering scheme throughout its six decade history, with only IDW adding a secondary numbering that started at #1.[50]
By the late 1950s, relations between Dell and Western had become strained. Former Western writerMark Evanier states part of this was due to "... a small battle going on between the two companies over the ownership of properties in non-licensed comics."[51] In 1962 Western, ended the partnership and continued their comic book line under theGold Key Comics label. Comic book historian Joe Torcivia has dubbed the mid-1960s "... a period of creativity for Western Publishing's Disney line not seen since its formation, and never seen again."[52]
Western continued publishing Dell's four main titles:Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (starting with issue #264, Sept 1962),Mickey Mouse (issue #85, Nov 1962),Donald Duck (issue #85, Dec 1962) andUncle Scrooge (issue #40, Jan 1963). They also started (or restarted) several titles:
By the 1970s, Disney comics were undergoing a steep decline in circulation, with newsstand distribution discontinued in 1981. Western thereafter released its comics under the Whitman label, distributing them to candy stores and other outlets in bags containing three comics and also eventually distributed them to the emerging network of comic book stores. Western ceased publishing comics in 1984.
From 1962 to 1990 theWalt Disney Studio had a unit producing comic book stories exclusively for foreign consumption, theDisney Studio Program, in response to complaints of foreign comic book licensees thatWestern Publishing was producing fewer stories that they could reprint.
Many European publishers saw a great demand for Disney comics, and it was a typical pattern for a company to publish a comic once a month, then add regular specials, then phase out the specials and publish the comic biweekly, and finally turn it into a weekly magazine. France'sLe Journal de Mickey and the Netherlands'Donald Duck Weekblad started the trend, publishing weekly comics in 1952, and the others followed in the late 1950s. Germany'sMicky Maus turned weekly in 1957, Denmark'sAnders And & Co. in 1958, Sweden'sKalle Anka & C:o in 1959, and Italy'sTopolino in 1960. By the early 1960s, the weeklies' voracious need for material was using up the available inventory of stories.
George Sherman, head of Disney's Publications Department at the time, hired Tom Golberg to run the program.[53] Sherman noted the purpose of the program was "We [will] use new characters in our foreign comics, characters that we don't have [in the United States].... to bring out facets of existing characters, [and to] give the stories more variety."[54]
Tony Strobl, Cliff Voorhees,Al Hubbard,Paul Murry,Jack Bradbury,Carson Van Osten, Ellis Eringer andRomano Scarpa were among the artists during its early years;Carl Fallberg,Floyd Norman, Ed Nofziger, Cecil Beard, Jim Fanning,Dick Kinney,Diana Gabaldon andMark Evanier were among those who at some point did scripts for it. From the late 1970s on, the Jaime Diaz Studios of Argentina drew most of the stories.
In a few instances, Studio Program stories were reprinted in the United States in promotional giveaways ofGulf Oil (Wonderful World of Disney) in the late 1960s andProcter & Gamble (Disney Magazine) in the mid-1970s. Mickey and theSleuth stories were published byGold Key inWalt Disney Showcase #38, 39 and 42 (1977–1978). Besides the Sleuth, other characters created for the program include Donald's cousinFethry Duck and the hillbilly hermitHard Haid Moe. Also, whileCarl Barks createdJohn D. Rockerduck, he used the character only in a single story ("Boat Buster",Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #255, Dec. 1961) while the program subsequently created numerous stories with the Scrooge McDuck rival and helped refine him (along with stories by Brazilian and Italian Disney comic book licensees).[55]
Domestic printing of Studio Program stories became common starting in the late 1980s as the Disney comics published byGladstone andGemstone have featured them on a regular basis, along with reprints fromGold Key/Dell and material produced by foreign licensees.
This program was merged intoDisney Comics, and is the precursor of the comics that subsequently appeared inDisney Adventures.
Starting in 1986, Disney comics in the United States were published byGladstone Publishing (a subsidiary ofAnother Rainbow Publishing dedicated solely to Carl Barks). Impressed by Gladstone's unanticipated success, Disney revoked their license in 1990 to publish the comics themselves by the subsidiary W. D. Publications, Inc. under the name "Disney Comics",[56] and a large expansion was planned. However, following theDisney Implosion in 1991, Disney gradually returned licensing to Gladstone again (for the classic characters) andMarvel Comics (for the modern characters). Respectively, reprints of classic Barks stories were licensed to Gladstone again from 1991, while it took Gladstone until the demise of Disney Comics in 1993 to regain a license also for other stories containing the classic characters. Gladstone from then on remained publishing Disney comics until 1998.
In 2003, after a few years' hiatus, regular publication was restarted byGemstone Publishing, a reformed version of Gladstone. Gemstone's two monthly Disney titles wereWalt Disney's Comics and Stories andUncle Scrooge, but the license was not renewed with the last releases dated Nov. 2008.[57]
More recently, Disney licensed some of their modern properties toSlave Labor Graphics (Gargoyles) andBOOM! Kids (The Muppet Show,The Incredibles, andCars). Boom eventually also got the license for the classic characters,[58] and began publishing comic books with them in 2009. Although cancelling two titles previously published by Gladstone and Gemstone (Donald Duck Adventures andUncle $crooge Adventures), Boom! expanded their Disney portfolio in 2010-'11 by launching three new titles based upon the 1990sDisney Afternoon TV format (Darkwing Duck,Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, andDuckTales). However, in August 2011, it was reported that Disney and Boom! were to end the licensing agreement, leaving the future of comics including their classic characters as well as those from theDisney Afternoon format uncertain.[59]
In October 2014,Comic Book Resources (CBR) reported thatJoe Books, a small new Canadian publisher founded by former BOOM! vice presidentAdam Fortier, had acquired the rights to a "remastered" omnibus reprint of BOOM's entireDarkwing Duck comic series that would lead into an all-new on-goingDarkwing Duck series produced by Joe Comics,[60] and in February 2015, CBR ran an interview with series artistJames Silvani and series writerAaron Sparrow on the new "remastered" omnibus collection published by Joe Books that month, as well as their plans for the announced new series.[61] As the November 2014 edition of theOverstreet Comic Book Price Guide also contained ads for Joe Books comic adaptations of two theatrical Disney features,[62][63] observers have expressed rumors that Joe Books has acquired the full North-American comic license to all Disney animated and live-action properties.[64][65]
In January 2015,IDW Publishing announced on their publicFacebook account that they were to start publishing all the classic-characters Disney titles, starting withUncle $crooge in April of that year and focussing on reprints of European Disney comics with these characters by artists such asMarco Rota andRomano Scarpa.[66] The rights to North-American reprints of Carl Barks andDon Rosa comics are currently (2015) held byFantagraphics Books.
Disney has also begun publishing a bimonthly magazine based onPhineas and Ferb, featuring comic stories based on the show. Between 1999 and 2005,Dark Horse Comics published occasional adaptations of Disney's new movies.[citation needed]
TheDisney Studio launched Kingdom Comics division in May 2008 led by writer-actorAhmet Zappa, TV executiveHarris Katleman and writer-editorChristian Beranek. Kingdom was designed to create new properties for possible film development and reimagine and redevelop existing Disney library movies withDisney Publishing Worldwide getting a first look for publishing.[67]
Peachtree Playthings inMarietta,Georgia, published several issues ofMickey Mouse,Frozen,DuckTales,Toy Story andDisney Princess in 2019–20.Dynamite Entertainment inMt. Laurel,New Jersey, began publishing a new monthlyDarkwing Duck series in January 2023. Dynamite also publishes comic books featuringScar,Maleficent,Gargoyles,Cruella De Vil andLilo & Stitch.
There have been many comic books based on the popular 1990–1997 "Disney Afternoon" slate of afternoon television cartoon series:
Notable American Disney comic book writers and artists includeCarl Barks,Tony Strobl,Paul Murry,William Van Horn, andDon Rosa.
Disney comic titles in the United States include:
Disney comics first appeared in the United Kingdom in theMickey Mouse Annual, which published 18 editions between 1930 and 1947. The books were published by Dean & Son, and illustrated by Wilfred Haughton.
Inspired by the 1935 launch of the newsstand-version ofMickey Mouse Magazine, UK publisher Odhams Press establishedMickey Mouse Weekly, a large-size 12-page comics magazine, with four pages in full-color photogravure. Wilfred Haughton contributed to this publication as well, which featured the full range of characters from theMickey Mouse andSilly Symphony cartoons. The magazine included new material—both Disney and non-Disney—as well as reprints of the American comic strips.[68]Mickey Mouse Weekly featured the first ever Donald Duck comic book serial, originally calledDonald and Donna, which began in issue #67 (May 15, 1937), drawn by William A. Ward. There were 15 weekly parts of this first serial featuring Donald and his girlfriend Donna, an early version ofDaisy Duck.[69] Donna left the series after the first story, which was continued asDonald Duck,Donald and Mac andDonald Duck with Mac for the next three years, ending in issue #222 (May 4, 1940).[70] Goofy and Toby Tortoise also had their own strip,The Defective Agency, and so did Elmer Elephant, Pinocchio, Thumper and the mice fromCinderella, Jaq and Gus. The popular magazine ended in 1957, after 920 issues, because of a copyright dispute with Disney.[71] Ronald Nielsen had been producing painted comic book pages inFloyd Gottfredson's 1940s style, as well as of characters from Disney animated films, during the mid-1950s until the magazine lost its license.
Immediately after the close ofMickey Mouse Weekly, another Disney comics magazine was launched:Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, which ran for 55 issues from 1958 to 1959, and then changed title toWalt Disney's Weekly, publishing another 111 issues until 1961.
Other Disney comics published in the UK include:
Of contributors to American Disney comics who were born in the UK, Ted Thwaites was an inker forFloyd Gottfredson in the early Disney comic strip department, and Frank McSavage from Scotland drew a number ofGrandma Duck,Bongo and other stories for the American comic books.
British writers for Egmont include Paul Halas,Gail Renard and Jack Sutter.
BritishWebcomic creator Sarah Jolley has introduced a romance betweenGladstone Gander andMagica De Spell. Her popular online comics, that she calls 'duck doodles', have won praise from Disney artists.
Danish publisherEgmont (previously Gutenberghus) has one of the largest productions of Disney comics in the world. This production is not only for Denmark proper, but nearly identical magazines are being published simultaneously every week for all theNordic countries, Germany (see below), and since the fall of theBerlin Wall in 1989, Eastern Europe. The Danish company started publishing their own series in the early 1960s. Most of Egmont's content has come from several outside sources: reprints of classicCarl Barks stories, reprinted Barks-style stories from the Netherlands, American artist/writers such asDon Rosa andWilliam Van Horn, and the outsourced production of art for Egmont's scripts from Barks-style artists' studios, such asVicar in Chile,Daniel Branca in Argentina and several studios in Spain. Italian stories are often featured in digest-formattedpocket books.
Artists from Denmark includeFreddy Milton (penname of Fredy Milton Larsen), who worked for the Dutch studio withDaan Jippes, andFlemming Andersen who draws in a personalized version of the Italian Disney style. In addition toDonald Duck stories, Freddy Milton has utilized his highly Barks-reminiscent style for other series that he has written and drawn, includingWoody Woodpecker, his own series,Gnuff, and several titles involving a human character named Villiams Verden. The Scandinavian countries are among those in which Donald Duck is more popular than Mickey Mouse. Danish writers include Lars Jensen, Maya Åstrup, Tom Anderson and Gorm Transgaard (Jensen created Scrooge's opponentVelma Vanderduck, amongst other characters).
Disney titles published in Denmark include:
Sweden was the first Scandinavian country to publish a Disney comic book—the flagship comicKalle Anka & C:o (Donald Duck & Co), which started in September 1948. The comic began as a monthly, became bimonthly in 1957, and then a weekly magazine in July 1959. The comic is now identical toAnders And & C:o from Denmark andDonald Duck & C:o from Norway. All are published by the Scandinavian corporate group founded in 1878 as Gutenberghus; the name changed to Egmont in 1992. The FinnishAku Ankka is published separately, but is largely the same.
In the 1950s, Swedish Disney comics reprinted existing material from America, both inKalle Anka & C:o and a monthly series,Walt Disney's serier (Walt Disney's Comics). When the supply of American comics started to dry up in the 1960s, Denmark's publishing house Gutenberghus began producing original series, followed by Italy's Mondadori and Disney's own "Disney Studio" program. Thepocket bookKalle Anka's Pocket was introduced in 1968, and is still running today. A second pocket book,Farbror Joakim (Uncle Scrooge) was added in 1976. In 1980,Musse Pigg & C:o (Mickey Mouse & Co) was added as a monthly comic, and it continues as a bimonthly. Other current titles areKalle Anka Extra andKalle Anka Junior.
Per Erik Hedman is a writer from Sweden, and artistTony Cronstam draws in aCarl Barks style. Editor/writerStefan Printz-Påhlson wrote a time machine series with fellow editor/writer Lars Bergström; the former also created the reoccurring Stone Age character,Princess Oona. Per Starbäck compiled Disney comic book indexes into the Disney Comics Mailing List, expanded by Dutch programmer Harry Fluks into the online database,Inducks.
Thanks to a multitalented editor, Markku Kivekäs, who was also a skilled translator, essayist and restorationist, comic book stories about Donald Duck, along with the work ofCarl Barks, became extremely popular in Finland, more so than in any other country in the world (per capita), and are accepted as part of the mainstream culture. It was estimated in 2002, that a quarter of the population of Finland was reading the Donald Duck magazine,Aku Ankka.[76] Like the Netherlands, Finland publishes their own Disney comics apart fromEgmont.Cameos of local celebrities are common.Kari Korhonen has mostly drawn in a Barksian style and also writes some of the stories he illustrates. SongwriterTuomas Holopainen has written and composed aScrooge McDuck comic book soundtrack that went Gold,Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge.
Norway has the comicDonald Duck & Co [nb;no], which started back in 1948 and is still active. There are several pocket books, amongst them beingDonald Pocket from 1968 to the present day. Mickey Mouse also had a comic, specificallyMikke Mus månedshefte (Mickey Mouse monthly booklet) which lasted from 1980 until 2009.
Arild Midthun is a Norwegian artist who works in a Barksian style. He has written some of the stories that he has drawn, as well as illustrating stories by other Norwegian writers. Midthun has created popular stories about Viking history, and about Scrooge's days in the Klondike gold rush.Carl Barks books, clubs and fanzines first appeared in Norway, the home ofDonaldism, a Disney comicsfandom movement founded byanalystJon Gisle (1st fanzine, 1973; 1st club, 1975).
Italy is a major source for original Disney comic stories. The first Italian Disney comics were published in the early 1930s, andFederico Pedrocchi wrote and illustrated the first Italian Donald Duck adventure comic as early as 1937—a story called "Paolino Paperino e il mistero di Marte" ("Donald Duck and the Secret of Mars") in the weekly paperDonald Duck and Other Adventures (Paperino e altre avventure).
Italy has introduced several new characters to the Disney universe, including Donald'ssuperhero alter egoDuck Avenger (original namePaperinik), created in 1969. Production has been handled byNerbini (1932–1937),Mondadori (1937–1988),Disney Italy (1988–2013) andPanini Comics (2013–present).
Topolino is the main Italian Disney publication, and its first incarnation was a weekly newspaper published from 1932 to 1949, for a total of 738 issues. In 1949,Topolino switched to adigest-sized format and its numbering restarted at #1: originally a monthly, it became a biweekly in 1952 and a weekly in 1960. The second incarnation ofTopolino reached its 3500th issue in 2022. At first,Topolino alternated between translations of foreign stories and original stories produced by Italian authors, however since the early 1990s foreign stories have mostly disappeared from it.
Italy's digest-sized format has been adopted by many other countries in the long runningDonald Duck pocket book series.
In the late 1990s, Disney Italy launched several new lines, includingPKNA: Paperinik New Adventures (a comic book version ofPaperinik aimed at a slightly older audience),MM Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine (a noir series starring Mickey Mouse as detective),Wizards of Mickey,DoubleDuck, andW.I.T.C.H.,[77] plus the comics published under the imprint Buena Vista Comics (including the originalMonster Allergy comic series and a few other titles, such asKylion and a comic inspired by theAlias TV show).
The Disney comics published in Italy include:
The Netherlands (current publisher:DPG Media) has a significant school of Disney comics. The first Dutch Disney comics appeared in 1953. In 1975,Daan Jippes became the art director for production of these comics, and created a heavilyBarks-inspired line that remains the best-known Dutch Disney style. Donald Duck is the most popular Disney character in the Netherlands, but Sanoma also produces comics starring lesser-known characters such asLi'l Bad Wolf. Other productive Dutch artists who have worked in a Barksian style include Mark De Jonge, Sander Gulien, brothers Bas andMau Heymans and Ben Verhagen.Freddy Milton from Denmark also worked with Jippes as a team for both scripts and art. Wilma Van Den Bosch produced art for a Dutch Daisy Duck title. Frank Jonker and Jan Kruse, among others, have provided scripts.
The Disney comics published in the Netherlands include:
While the Donald Duck comics thrive in the Netherlands, the audience for Mickey Mouse has been relatively weak. A monthly magazine,Mickey Maandblad, was published in several formats from 1976 to 1989, finally dropped for lack of sales.[86]
Dutchprogrammer Harry Fluks created the online Disney Comics Database,Inducks (launched 1994), expanded from the Disney Comics Mailing List based in Sweden.
Mickey Mouse was a popular character in Germany since his first appearance in 1929, and a few comic strips were printed in some German newspapers (e.g. theKölner Illustrierte Zeitung). In 1937, the SwissMicky Maus Zeitung was published in German by Bollmann.
By 1948, the Danish magazine publisherEgmont (then called Gutenberghus) secured a license to print Disney comics in Scandinavia. In September 1951, Ehapa Verlag inStuttgart,West Germany, a subsidiary of Egmont, started the monthly publicationMicky Maus, a format similar toWalt Disney's Comics & Stories. From the start, it featured stories by Carl Barks, translated by chief editor Dr.Erika Fuchs. The comic book was published on a biweekly basis 1956/57, and from 1958 on it changed into a weekly. RenamedMicky Maus Magazin, it is still published today by the Egmont Ehapa publishing company (now in Berlin) and is the longest running comic book in Germany. In its heyday (early 1990s), its weekly circulation number rose to one million copies. In spite of the name, most stories ofMicky Maus feature Donald Duck, as he is the most popular Disney character in Germany.
Many other titles have been published by the company, most notablyDie tollsten Geschichten von Donald Duck ('The Best stories of Donald Duck', 1965-today), theLustige Taschenbuch ('Funny Paperback', a digest title mostly reprinting Italian pocket books; 1967-today) and many other series.
Volker Reiche and Jan Gulbransson are local artist/writers who have worked in aCarl Barks style. Gulbransson drew an 8-part series wherein Scrooge and kin visit regional German cities and wrote/drew a 4-part series set in the Alps and a story where Scrooge finances a team in the German soccer league, and many others. Barks-fan Volker Reiche wrote and drew a batch of stories in his signature scruffy version of Barks's 1940s style. A popular graphic novel adventure series,Tales From Uncle Scrooge's Treasure Chest was conceptualized, plotted and produced by Ehapa editor Adolf Kabatek. Although the art was outsourced, it was made sure to be in a Barksian style. Ulrich Schröder relocated to Paris to become the art director of Disney Publishing Worldwide, the company's European headquarters, and has produced comic covers, story and editorial art for Disney comics in Germany and France. Schröder has worked with Dutch artistDaan Jippes.
Austrian abstract artistGottfried Helnwein held a Barks comic art touring exhibition in Germany, that along with a similar exhibit that was being shown at the time, was seen by over half a million people (over 400,000 and over 100,000, respectively). Erika Fuchs's translation work was highly influential, and she incorporated many aspects of German culture into her translations. Many of her 'Fuchisms' have become part of the German language. TheDonaldist group, D.O.N.A.L.D. claims to be the preservers of the non-commercial original Donaldism and even hold congresses, knight contributors to children's literature and infiltrate conservative newspaper columns (that members contribute) with Fuchisms.
Some of the Disney comics from Germany include:
French-produced stories started in 1952, as a one-pager comic published in each issue ofLe Journal de Mickey, drawn byLouis Santel (Tenas) and written byPierre Fallot. After a few issues, a new series started (Mickey à travers les siècles) and continued up to 1978, drawn almost entirely byPierre Nicolas and written by Fallot andJean-Michel le Corfec.
Later in the beginning of the 1980s, a new production started, led by Patrice Valli and Pierre Nicolas as editors with adventures of Mickey Mouse, Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck. Among the best artists, one recallsClaude Marin, orClaude Chebille (known asGen-Clo), and Italian artists like Giorgio Cavazzano. Some of the best writers wereMichel Motti andPierre-Yves Gabrion. In the late 1980s up to now, an increasing number of Spanish artist from theComicup studio provided the art, while the writing stayed to French authors.
Disney comics published in France include:
The original flagship comic wasDumbo (akaColleción Dumbo Historietas Comicas de Walt Disney), which was published by Ediciones Recreativas S.A. (ERSA) from 1947 to 1965. Initially bimonthly,Dumbo increased frequency to approximately 40 issues a year, and the comic ran for 527 issues. Starting October 1965, ERSA rebooted with a second version ofDumbo, published monthly. The second series ran for 144 issues, until December 1976. A third series ofDumbo, published in 46 issues by Montena from July 1978 to April 1982, was released as monthly hardbound books (originally 100 pages, then dropping to 68 pages).
ESRA also published a large-format 16-page bimonthly magazine,Pato Donald, which lasted from 1965 to April 1966. ESRA rebooted with a second version ofPato Donald in May 1966, now a 36-page weekly. The secondPato Donald ran for 231 issues, until December 1975. Montena also published the weeklyDon Miki for 638 issues, from October 1976 to December 1988, andDon Donald for 136 issues, from 1979 to 1985.
In September 1989, Primavera began publishingMickey andPato Donald;Mickey lasted for 17 issues until January 1991, andPato Donald for 46 issues until June 1992. RBA tried to revive the line in 2002, publishing 22 issues ofMickey and 4 issues ofPato Donald.
Several comic studios in Spain produced story art for Disney comic scripts. Some artists became independent, such as Paco Rodriguez, who utilizesDaniel Branca's Barksian style.
The weeklyMiky Maous (Μίκυ Μάους) comic was first published on July 1, 1966, and remained in print for more than 45 years, eventually being ended by struggling publisher Nea Aktina S.A. on September 6, 2013, with issue #2460-61.[90]
Terzopoulos Publishing (renamed Nea Aktina after the death of founder Evagellos Terzopoulos) released 20 magazines, with Μικυ Μαους (Mickey Mouse) being the main, weekly magazine with stories from across the Mickey-Donald universe. Other publications were released from monthly to yearly basis, notably Ντοναλντ (Donald) and Κομιξ (Comics) featuring classic stories. Six of the publications went out of the Mickey-Donald bubble with franchises such asWinnie-the-Pooh, the Disney princesses, cars, and even Pixar'sToy Story. Moreover two Disney magazines were released,Almanaco, focusing mainly on video games and a teen audience, including short Disney comics, also releasing Κοσμος Ντισνευ (Disney world) which included info and stories from recent Disney franchises such asThe Incredibles andHannah Montana. Another 47 standalone publications were released in the time of the publisher. By the end of 2013, 11 series were being published.
In 2014, the title was relaunched byKathimerini, with numbering starting at #1.[91]
Kathimerini relaunchedMickey Mouse (weekly) andDonald,Comics,Super Mickey (monthly), along with some limited edition collections bundled with theKathimerini newspaper. The magazines nowadays mainly draw from the Italian publications.Kathimerini discontinued direct supply to Cyprus, however many stores get their hands on the comics with a middleman or a subscription.
Louis Santel (Ténas) created new material in the 1950s.
Vlastimir Belkić produced original content in the 1930s.
The first Mickey Mouse stories were published in Brazil in 1930, in the comics anthologyO Tico Tico, under the nameRatinho Curioso (the Curious Mouse). The magazine reprinted comic strips by Floyd Gottfredson.[92]
In Brazil, through the publisherAbril, national stories have been published since the 1950s, with artists like Jorge Kato inspired by Carl Barks. In the 1960s and 1970s,Renato Canini drew a number of stories in a style inspired by the popular abstract design of the era. He also developed a universe aroundJosé Carioca, a very popular character in Brazil. Abril increased production in the 1970s and 1980s. Except for José Carioca, recurring characters includedDaisy (turnedfeminist) andFethry Duck. Among the most prolfic authors were the writer Arthur Faria Jr. and the artist Irineu Soares Rodriguez. Brazil is also known to have retained many "obscure" characters, largely forgotten elsewhere, besides Portugal. "O Pato Donald" (The Donald Duck) was initially published in comic book format, then from issue #22 began to be published indigest-sized format.[93]
At the end of the 1990s, the Brazilian production ceased, and then restarted for a short while in the 2000s. After an absence of almost 10 years, with just a few special events stories, production again started up at the end of 2012. During the 2010s Abril was also responsible for publishing Disney's manga in Brazil (some unpublished in other countries outside Japan), including titles likeKingdom Hearts,[94]Big Hero 6,Kilala Princess,Stitch!, Miriya and Marie,Star Wars and others.
Disney comics were published by Editora Abril since 1950, but the company stopped publishing them in 2018, facing financial difficulties.[95] The next year, however, the comics returned through the publisher Culturama.[96][97] José Carioca's title was not continued by Culturama, but new stories returned in September, 2020, in the comic bookAventuras Disney.[98]
The best-known titles include:
Luis Destuet was an early artist in the 1940s (Some stories were reprinted in Brazil and Italy). Around the turn of the decade, Destuet moved to Brazil and started production there by training new artists. In the 1980s,Daniel Branca set up a prolific and influential story art production studio, influenced byDaan Jippes to create expressive artwork inCarl Barks' 1950s style.
The pre-war "Álbum Mickey" series contained various short strips that were possibly locally produced, according toInducks, as well as someZorro stories in the 1970s.Vicar set up a prolificCarl Barks–style story art production studio in the 1970s.
The main Australian publisher was W.G. Publications (Wogan Publications from 1974). A number of series reflecting equivalents in the U.S. includedMickey Mouse[99] andDonald Duck.[100] The most significant series, however, areWalt Disney Comics (1946–1978);[101] and the "Giant" (1951 to 1978).[102]
Walt Disney Comics mixed and matched covers and stories from its sister U.S. publication, rather than just reprinting them. The "Giant" presented selections from various U.S. series, from film promotions such asRobin Hood toUncle Scrooge,Beagle Boys andJunior Woodchucks. In some cases these were mere reprints. In others, an extra story was added to increase the page count; for instance, W MM 97-04 "Par for the Course", in No. 570The Beagle Boys.[103]
This practice of adding an extra story to an issue otherwise identical the U.S. one is common elsewhere; as an example, in the "Film Preview Series", the firstRobin Hood issue has W OS 1055-03 "The Double Date" added.[104]
Mickey Mouse was introduced to the Arab world through a comic book calledSamir, which publishedSamir Presents Mickey #1 in April 1958. This series published 24 issues in 1958 and 1959.[105] Mickey proved very popular in Egypt, and in 1959 he got a weekly comic book, ميكي (Mickey).[106] After 44 years of publication, the publisher Dar-Al-Hilal stopped publication in 2003, after disputes with Disney (The last issue being #2188, published in March, 2003).[107]
In 2004, publisher Nahdat Masr acquired the Disney license, and the first issues were sold out in less than 8 hours.[108] The new version ofMickey published issue #0 in December, 2003, and issue #1 in December 2004. As of 2018, the magazine had reached more than 700 issues.[109] Besides the publication of the weekly magazine, two monthly magazines are published: مجلد سوبر ميكى (SuperMickey) and Mickey Geib "Pocket Mickey" (a pocket sized magazine).
In the 60s and 70s, original material was created (inEgyptian Arabic), most notably by Ahmed Hijazi, afolk-style artist.
Many Disney comics originally by American or European authors have been entirely re-drawn by Japanese artists for local publication. The Italian manga-inspired series,W.I.T.C.H., was submitted to the same kind of treatment, giving birth to a Japanese-exclusive adaptation with art by Haruko Iida and published byKadokawa Shoten.
Japan also produced completely original Disney material, such as the manga adaptation of the videogameKingdom Hearts byShiro Amano, published by Bros Comics EX (and later translated in English byTokyopop) and Jun Asaga's adaptation ofTim Burton'sThe Nightmare Before Christmas (originally published byKodansha, English version byDisney Press).
Donald và bạn hữu (Vietnamese for "Donald and friends") is a bilingual weekly Disney comics magazine in Vietnamese and English published byTre Publishing House in co-operation with The Saigon Times under license from the Walt Disney Company since 1998.
On December 8, 2010, DPW's India unit signed a multi-year contract withIndia Today Group to print and distribute Disney comics in India.[110]
Starting in the 1970s, as production of new Disney comics stories moved from a mostly-American, centralized publishing model to a group of international publishers sharing work, it became a practice to give each Disney comics story a unique letter-number code that would help identify a single story across languages. (Disney requires all licensees to facilitating international reprinting by providing the reproducible materials at cost.) The code is usually printed at the bottom of the story's first panel, and it consists of one or more letters, representing the publisher or country of origin, followed by a multi-digit number. In some cases, the code ends with another letter.
The main publishers are:
| Story code prefix | Producer |
|---|---|
| AR | Another Rainbow (United States) |
| B | Abril (Brazil) |
| D | Egmont (Denmark) |
| E | Disney Europe (France) |
| F | Disney-Hachette (France) |
| G | Ehapa (Germany) |
| H | Oberon (Holland) |
| I | Mondadori, Disney Italy, Panini Comics (Italy) |
| K | Disney Comics (United States) |
| M | Marvel Comics (United States)[111] |
| S | Disney Studios (United States, for European market) |
| W | Western Publishing (United States) |
Multiple fan databases exist. Notable examples areI.N.D.U.C.K.S. andDon Markstein's Toonopedia.
Argentina
Belgium
Brazil
Chile
Denmark
Egypt
Finland
France
Germany
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Norway
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States
Yugoslavia
| Disney Publishing Worldwide |
|
|---|---|
| Games and interactive experiences |
|
| Other | |
