Disney comics - any fans?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by JulesRules, Oct 24, 2018.

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  1. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    I searched a bit, but to no avail. It's kinda curious that the country that more or less invented the most successful comics (world-wide) seemingly has lost its interest in them, whereas they are still very popular in Europe, and some other places as well.

    While I'm not much into other comics (save for some newspaper strips such as Garfield, Calvin & Hobbes or Peanuts), I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Disney comic fan - and there's several different styles and artists I like; from the classics (Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson, Romano Scarpa) through the traditionalists such as Don Rosa or Casty

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    to the more out-there modern Italian artists, e.g. Lorenzo Pastrovicchio

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    or Claudio Sciarrone

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    Anyone else?
     
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  2. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    I seem to recall Pastrovicchio did quite a few Phantomias comics (you know, the ones having Donald as a super hero of sorts). I have this book somewhere that collects some of those stories and remember loving them as a kid. Some of those drawings are stunning!
     
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  3. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    Ah, somebody from my neck of the woods :)

    For the English-speaking readers, I guess I'll have to explain that Donald's secret identity is called "Duck Avenger" in English. The original Italian is "Paperinik", often shortened to "PK"/"Pikappa" especially when referring to the modern super-hero style comics as the ones I've posted above.

    And yes, Pastrovicchio is the most important artist of the PKNA (Paperinik New Adventures = Duck Avenger New Adventures) series.

    Here is an overview over the original Italian series: https://inducks.org/publication.php?c=it/PKNA&pg=img&num=1

    "Trauma" was Lorenzo's first contribution. What an opening page!
    [​IMG]

    I'm also looking forward to the products released for Mickey's 90th birthday. Quite a lot indeed, but the German-speaking area has never really stopped loving these comics...
    [​IMG]
     
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  4. keefer1970

    keefer1970 Metal, Movies, Beer!

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I've been out of the comic book loop for a number of years but during my peak teenage collecting days (mid/late '80s) I snapped up issues of Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, etc. just as feverishly as I collected Spidey, Batman, X-Men and the rest.

    At the time a company called Gladstone had the Disney comics license, and their books had a heavy emphasis on classic Carl Barks reprints (aka "The Good Duck Artist"). They also offered a fair share of new material by the great Don Rosa (Barks' heir apparent) and William "Nervous Rex" Horn, as well as a lot of newly-translated stories from the European comics. I even had a fan letter printed in an issue of "Uncle Scrooge Adventures," haha.
     
  5. Evan L

    Evan L Beatologist

    Location:
    Vermont
    I did too.
     
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  6. LeBon Bush

    LeBon Bush Hound of Love

    Location:
    Austria
    I still love the mystery of his opening pages just like the one you posted. Like a really, really thrilling SciFi movie of sorts.
     
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  7. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    The one I posted above (in the first post) is from a very recent new adventure, by the way ("The Event Horizon"). It'll take some years until it can be printed in German, though, because the series is still missing lots of episodes.

    I've heard a lot about the Gladstone era and it must have been an amazing period. Thankfully Barks, Rosa and Van Horn have also been printed pretty much completely over here.

    I do wonder why it has dwindled so much since those days. Neither Boom! (from 2009 to 2013, if I recall correctly) nor the current licence holder IDW seem to sell a lot of their normal issues. Not sure about the stuff produced by Fantagraphics, but their Barks, Gottfredson & Rosa libraries seem to be doing ok, and the "Disney Masters" series has a great reputation among the fan circles. Like this one: Joe Torcivia's The Issue At Hand Blog: Book Review: Disney Masters Mickey Mouse "The Delta Dimension" Romano Scarpa
     
  8. Rhett

    Rhett Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cool City
    My dad has a box of Disney comics from the 50's. Probably not worth too much.
     
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  9. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    I'm really not an expert as far as these things are concerned but I wouldn't rule out the possibility that there's some gems among them.
     
  10. keefer1970

    keefer1970 Metal, Movies, Beer!

    Location:
    New Jersey
    If they're old Dell Comics issues they very well may be worth quite a bit.
     
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  11. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
  12. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    Here's some updates concerning "Duck Avenger's New Adventures".

    In Italy, a new story was just released in three parts on Topolino. Written by Alessandro Sisti and drawn by Claudio Sciarrone, it's called "Droids" and apparently is a pretty close adaptation of "Blade Runner". I haven't read it yet - Germany is still way behind, a fat pocketbook was just released featuring the 41st to 45th chapter plus bonus stories, and "Droids" is the 77th chapter if my math isn't off - but at least we're still getting these stories...

    'Cause apparently the US release was suspended for the second time, and after neither the magazine issues nor the books have caught on, I guess the series is dead in the USA. Which is a shame if you ask me! IDW only got as far as the 8th chapter, which means they stopped before such gems as "Trauma" (still regarded by many fans as an absolute high point, not least thanks to Pastrovicchio's stunning art), "Urk", "The Darkest Night" (a sort of violent Christmas story that even works some subtle Barks references in), "Carpe Diem", "Camera! Action!" (hilarious thanks to the collaborative spirit of Tito Faraci and Silvia Ziche), "Tyrannic" (a sort-of precursor to DoubleDuck spy fiction), "The Day That Will Come" or the entire epic Xadhoom trilogy...

    I assume that could change if all the issues released so far suddenly started flying from the shelves, but in order for that to happen some serious grapevine would be necessary. I don't get the impression the comic found its target group so far...

    (And if you have bought the previous issues but have no way of purchasing the rest of the series in a language you can read, you may search around for some fan-made translations... although I don't condone illegal downloading, of course!)
     
  13. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
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  14. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    Gotta admire those Italians for still pushing the boundaries on what is supposed to be a Disney comic! This is from a scan I've made from Topolino (again from The Event Horizon, drawn by L. Pastrovicchio, coloured by Max Monteduro):

    [​IMG]
     
  15. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    The Italian Disney world has lost a legend - Giulio Chierchini died at 91. He was not only the oldest still working artist (at least I think he worked until around 90), but also the one with the longest career, as he started working as an inker for Giovan Battista Carpi already in the 1950s!

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  16. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    I was overjoyed to learn that Germany is finally getting its Floyd Gottfredson collection! It looks like a more or less copy of the US Fantagraphics edition... :righton:
     
  17. Jord

    Jord Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    I really like the Barks comics and I bought a few of the hard cover Bark story bundles recently after having not read his stories for a long time. Reading them again, and in English this time, made me appreciate them so much more. A Christmas for Shacktown is masterpiece. Humor and a lot of heart.
     
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  18. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    Barks' work is the core of virtually anything involving Ducks. He was so good at adding characters (like Scrooge, who became a lead character himself), landmarks, the whole world around Donald.

    I do feel some of his early work hasn't aged that well, some of it I found a bit annoying upon recent re-reading - it's when he started to get into the long adventure stories where the real gold lies.

    (For Mickey, Floyd Gottfredson was basically what Barks was for Donald - but Gottfredson's work is still under-appreciated and under-published.)
     
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  19. cjefferys

    cjefferys Forum Resident

    I've been a fan of the Barks Duck comics since I was a teenager, great stories! Back in the 1980's-90's I was trying to put together a collection of the original comics plus the big hardcover B&W reprint books from Another Rainbow. I eventually gave up and am now slowly collecting the color, hardcover reprints from Fantagraphics.
     
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  20. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    Massimo De Vita's last story was just published in Italy (he's now retired). This seems like a good opportunity to mention that his work, criminally underrepresented in the US so far, has finally been given some attention by Fantagraphics:

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    "The Ice Sword Saga" is one of the most revered Italian productions and stands up among the timeless classics of Disney comics.
    Inspired not by "Lord of the Rings" (which De Vita had not even read when he created the series), but by some of the Nordic myths that Tolkien also drew upon, it's probably one of the best fantasy stories in the Disney realm.

    The covers Fantagraphics used are not drawn by De Vita, by the way... Germany got the De Vita cover from 1989 on.

    Here's what Joe Torcivia has to say about the books:
    Joe Torcivia's The Issue At Hand Blog: Coming from Fantagraphics: Disney Masters: Massimo DeVita -- Mickey Mouse "The Ice Sword Saga" Book 2
     
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  21. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    Just because I liked the picture. Art by Francesco Guerrini, colors by Casty.

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  22. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    As many boomers discovered,it would take decades till I knew that the Good Duck Artist had a name-Carl Barks. I read tone of comics of all types in my Pop's drugstore till mid-60s and it was the Duck stories that stayed in my head. Passed the passion to my first-born-we both loved and shared the Gladstone issues in the '90s. Odd that in 2018,Disney has put together four titles-Mickey Mouse,Toy Story,Frozen & Disney Princesses- in slim yet colorful and glossy issues sold via Dollar Tree dollar stores. some of the Mouse pages go back to decades ago. But,for a buck and two titles aimed at girls,a good thing. No Ducks-sad. I suspect there are financial issues involved with no Ducks.
    Don Rosa is basically blind and has admitted depression issues in recent years. Sad,Don & I were born six months apart and that just added to my affection to Don as a person & his work. Throwing in a little "comix" humor in his art,I felt captured. My kid & I hoped to meet him at a signing at a department store in the '80s,but missed just as soon as we got in line. Early fans in line got full art drawn on the spot.
    Barks,Rosa,Walt Kelly's Pogo-better than any super-hero comic.
     
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  23. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    Actually, his eyesight is better than ever since his second operation :righton: He just has stopped being creative because he felt the Disney system was sucking him dry, so to speak. :sigh: (It really is a problem, but more so for a guy like Don, who really put 200% into everything.)
    I watched this livestream a few weeks ago and he was very entertaining. I'm sure it won't be the last time.
     
  24. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    I grew up with the Carl Barks Donald Duck, the Jack Bradbury Chip N' Dale, and the Al Hubbard Scamp comics. As mentioned we only learned the names of the creators years/decades later. Great comics! Don Rosa and William van Horn have done some great modern era work under the Disney name, also Daan Jippes who did so many great covers for the first Gladstone editions!

    I remember having one Italian Topolino & Paperino book in the '80s and the coloring was far more advanced than in most U.S. comics at the time. I guess topo is mouse and pape is duck in Italian? Are they called that in Germany? In Holland Donald Duck is still Donald Duck (and was accompanied by Tom Poes in de 1970s weekblad).
     
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  25. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    I'm of the opinion you can't "collect" Disney stuff...there's just too much of it. And moreover, collecting it is immoral. The company has been shoveling product down the marketplace's throat since the first days of the mouse; the world has more Disney pollution than we have an overabundance of empty water bottles floating in sargassos polluting our oceans.

    And this is coming from a Disney stockholder.

    I will say, I got caught up in the early exuberance of Keno Don Rosa's obsession with Disney comic art in the 1980's, when I was hanging out with a guy who owned the comic store in my town. We cheered him on as he found his way into the hierarchy of the Disney comics world, and no doubt I appreciated his quality and his adherence to the house styles. But, that was a long time ago, and I grew to resent what Disney represented: a neverending regurgitation of product-for-product's-sake, to the point where you can't tell the difference between the "product", and the products based on the original product.

    And this is coming from a Disney stockholder.

    I watched in horror as The Comics Journal laid-out how Walt fought the striking workers in his own studio; how their legal teams descend on any conceivable "trademark infringement", not to protect their own creativity, but to stifle others; how the business model based on creating things, is just a front for owning the rights to things; how "corporate synergy" becomes just another way to shill people on multi-level-co-promotional-strategies. And worse, how, if the company can't manage to make better creations, they will wheedle and deedle and cajole and parry, like Mr. Potter trying to put the ol' Savings & Loan out of business, until eventually they end up owning the competition's creations.

    And this is coming from a (formerly Pixar) Disney stockholder.
     
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