Scrooge! Donald! Mickey! The Disney Comics Thread!

When I was a kid I preferred the Looney Tunes, MGM, and Fleischer's black and white Popeye cartoons to the Mouse House's offerings, but as an adult I've discovered that Disney rules the comic pages hands down! The reason: they were where some of the best cartoonists, like Carl Barks, Floyd Gottfredson, and Don Rosa, worked almost exclusively! Thankfully, these days we've got Fantagraphics cranking out hardcover collections of all this good stuff.

I was inspired to create this thread today because I just got a call from my sister on vacation. Apparently at some beach-side comic store she found some Uncle Scrooge comics in a $1 bin and bought them for me. Sent me a picture, too! I looked them up on INDUCKS and whatdoyaknow; two Barks stories and two Marco Rota (besides Barks and Rosa his are the duck stories I find strongest) stories I don't have! How cool is that?

Carl Barks is my favorite Disney artist. Not a big fan of Don Rosa's art but I highly appreciate how he connected the dots between all of the various Barks stories and references. William van Horn is great, really carries on the 10-pager tradition.

[QUOTE]You should edit out the word Thread and replace it with Appreciation since the word 'Thread' is redundant and goes against forum rules[/QUOTE]

Huh, okay - done. Had no idea.

Everyone should pick up the collections by Fantagraphics. They are awesome books. Amazing stories.

Those collections from Fantagraphics are really well done. Their Mickey Mouse volumes have so many great extra features such as essays, comic book covers, even some related modern-day stories in some cases. I always wait until the Fall and get the box sets, they look great with the enlarged Gottfredson art. The general graphic design of the boxes is just plain awesome, and looks classy on a shelf side by side.

[QUOTE=Angilasman;123188]Huh, okay - done. Had no idea.[/QUOTE]

I shouldn't have nit-picked. :)

I wish we would get new translated European material printed in the U.S. Is there any new imported material in digital form?

Would love a nice hefty volume of some translated Romana Scarpa material. I find that his stories really blend humor and adventure really well, making him deserving of the reputation on 'The Italian Carl Barks.' Especially his longer, older stories.

Do any of you remember the two part story where Scrooge had to re-assemble a sphinx block-by-block across the river. That was a really good story that ran during the Gladstone Era, unfortunately I missed part one but a good story nonetheless.

I'm honestly a bit jealous that Fanta's Mickey Mouse volumes get so much more extra material than the Duck books.

In Greece, where I grew up, Disney comics were by far the strongest line of comics, most people I know read them as kids, even if they don't read comics as a hobby. In that regard I'm luckier than most US citizens since there was an abundance of Disney material that was available to me (though you guys have probably read most of the best stuff). My favorites were by Carl Barks, Romano Scarpa and Don Rosa though I also remember very fondly "Mickey Mouse and the Bermuda Triangle"[URL="http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1128-AP"]http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+1128-AP[/URL] written by Alfredo Castelli (the creator of Martin Mystere).

I always prefered Disney comics to Disney cartoons and Carl Barks became the first comics creator I idolized (long before I discovered Alan Moore and Frank Miller). Still I never had the chance to read Floyd Gotfredson's Mickey Mouse (except for the comedic story "Goofy and Agnes") but I was reading that he was to the Mouse as Barks was to the Ducks, so now I'm going for "Mickey Mouse outwits the Phantom Blot" by Fantagraphics.

[QUOTE]Do any of you remember the two part story where Scrooge had to re-assemble a sphinx block-by-block across the river. That was a really good story that ran during the Gladstone Era, unfortunately I missed part one but a good story nonetheless. [/QUOTE]

That's "Colossus of the Nile", it is a Scarpa favorite. Personally I prefered the stories he wrote during the 50s and the 60s more than his later stuff (though I feel his artwork kept improving). Not having read Gotfredson, his Mickey Mouse was easily my favorite version of the character.

The comic versions of these characters are easily more fun than the animated versions
Like with Great O.G.U.F.O.O.L. these Disney comic are the most popular in my country
I loved these since the 90s, if Superman is not the character I started reading comics with, then I started reading with these characters

Donald's so much more articulated in the comics compared to in the cartoons that it's a little difficult to perceive they're supposed to be the same character.

I can't imagine Donald speaking with his cartoon voice when I read the comics. I had read that Don Rosa doesn't consider his cartoon voice as the voice of the character when he writes him.

Donald's cartoon voice really doesn't fit his comic version
I don't think I can hear the cartoon voice on the comic version either

I think that if Disney ever tried to do a faithful Barks-inspired animation they'd have to change Donald's voice [I]just a bit[/I]. Retain the iconic, quacking speech impediment but not as heavy as they usually have it. I think their can be a happy medium between the more articulate Donald of the comics and the iconic voice in animation.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Don Rosa at Motor City Comicon last weekend and, while we spent a great deal of time discussing his work and what it means to me (and now my six year old daughter as well), the bulk of our discussion ended up being on how sad it is the Barks, Rosa, and really all creators of non-superhero comics aren't on the radar at all in America while they are revered pretty much everywhere else in the world. Such a narrow focus on this side of the pond.

Anyway, I do love those classic ducks stories. I own all but four of the Four Color adventures, a complete run of Scrooge, and more WDC&S and Donald Duck issues than I can comfortably fit in my collection anymore.

Anyone pick up the Free Comic Book Day issue featuring Don Rosa stories? Some really excellent selections.

I've been getting (and loving) the latest volumes in the Donald Duck set, but wasn't familiar with the Mickey Mouse editions. What MM books are out there? And are they as highly regarded?
Thanks.