IDW's Disney Comics!

[Angilasman]

^ Try the IDW Mickey Mouse issues written by Casty! Since Rosa retired in '08 I feel pretty confident in saying Casty's the best working Disney comics creator. His style is a bit more modern, but harkens back to the classic Mickey Mouse newspaper strips by Floyd Gottfredson of the '30s and '40s. I mean, all of these Italian Mickey stories owe a debt to Gottfredson (where Mickey is a Indiana Jones-style adventurer and detective) but Casty seems even more attentive a superfan, even reviving characters that hadn't been used in 50+ years!

Though the Casty Mickey stories are probably the best published by IDW so far, in my opinion the most consistent (and my favorite) book has been Uncle Scrooge. I especially liked Scrooge #8, which had two really great Danish stories. I notice the Danish seem to hew really close to Barks' Duck universe, while Italy has their own, wackier version of that world.

... Oh, and I'm really looking forward to "Scrooge's Last Adventure," a four part series that begins in Scourge #13 in April! The Beagle Boys, Magica, Rockerduck, and Flintheart Glomgold team up to take out Scrooge McDuck once and for all! Here's the solicit from previews:

http://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/FEB160354

From what I've been able to summarize from slightly garbled google translate: this is a popular (voted best new duck story of the year in Italy) story from a few years ago that tries to unite the more grounded world of the Carl Barks/Don Rosa universe with the wackier elements of the Italian tradition in one epic story, and to reestablish Flintheart Glomgold as Scrooge's arch-nemesis, as he's been rarely used in Italian comics.

Can't wait!

[Carloshll726]

Last year, I sent some e-mail to IDW Publishing about making a Goof Troop (Remember that Disney cartoon?) ongoing series!... I am looking forward to it, Joe Books!

[Angilasman]

^IDW just has the classic series license: Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Mickey Mouse, and associated characters as well as things like Chip n' Dale in their classic permutations. Joe Books has the license for Disney's movies and TV shows, and their first monthly comic will be Darkling Duck, premiering in a few months. If DW is a hit, maybe they'll revive other Disney Afternoon properties?

[Carloshll726]

^IDW just has the classic series license: Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Mickey Mouse, and associated characters as well as things like Chip n' Dale in their classic permutations. Joe Books has the license for Disney's movies and TV shows, and their first monthly comic will be Darkling Duck, premiering in a few months. If DW is a hit, maybe they'll revive other Disney Afternoon properties?

There is a new DuckTales cartoon coming to Disney XD with new animation.

[Angilasman]

^I could certainly see them making a tie-in comic when that happens. I certainly wouldn't mind there being two monthly Uncle Scrooge comic books!

[Carloshll726]

^I could certainly see them making a tie-in comic when that happens. I certainly wouldn't mind there being two monthly Uncle Scrooge comic books!

The power of Joe Books and IDW Publishing...

[Angilasman]

Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story!

Hold on to your number one dime: Scrooge's Last Adventure begins this week!

[Seth_Brower]

this preview for Joe Books Darkwing Duck just went up today.

http://nerdist.com/darkwing-duck-mak...usive-preview/

[Gaastra]

I would like to pick up the IDW disney trades. Are they good? Is the walt Disney comics & stories trade worth getting?

[Mormegil]

I've tried the first two donald duck trades and the first uncle scrooge. I like them. I think that some of the jokes are lost in translation. The trades are a much better deal than the individual issues but they are also more of a digest sized book.

As far as i can tell they haven't released and Walt Disney Comics & Stories trades yet. This is because each issue so far is split into two sections. the first part of each issue is one part of a 12 issue story called "The Search for the Zodiac stones." Just these parts of each issue will be collected in one hardcover book once they are finished ( i think part 10 came out this week).

The rest each issue are 2 or 3 short stories that only last a page or two. These will be collected into their own trade paperbacks. These stories are ok but i don't think they're worth getting.

I loved old disney cartoons (ones from 1940-1960) when i was growing up and these stories feel like a spiritual successor to those.

[Angilasman]

I would like to pick up the IDW disney trades. Are they good? Is the walt Disney comics & stories trade worth getting?

As far as trades are concerned I'd recommend Uncle Scrooge: The Perils of Pandora's Box and Mickey Mouse: Gift of the Sun Lord.

[Gaastra]

As far as i can tell they haven't released and Walt Disney Comics & Stories trades yet.

http://www.amazon.com/Donald-Mickey-...cs+and+stories

[Mormegil]

http://www.amazon.com/Donald-Mickey-...cs+and+stories

Its worth noting that this book does not contain any of the "Search for the Zodiac Stones" storyline. that will be collected in a hard cover after the 12 and final part is released.

I've been following the WDC&S and the 75th anniversary issues, since IDW took over the series. The Zodiac storyline has been by far the best part of the series. I liked the mickey and goofy story in the 75th anniversary issue but other than those two the series has been kind 'meh'.

I doubt i'll keep buying it after the zodiac story ends. Unless they do something similar in the later issues.

[kinwolf]

I've tried the first two donald duck trades and the first uncle scrooge. I like them. I think that some of the jokes are lost in translation. The trades are a much better deal than the individual issues but they are also more of a digest sized book.

Not sure about TPB beeing a better deal, at least here in Canada. Individual issue are standard floppy size and 4$ each. TPB are a smaller size(bigger than the digest version of the old Gemstone, but still smaller then the usual TPB) and cost 12.99 while collecting 3 issues. So, that's 4.33$ an issue, they actually cost more in collected form! I also don't like the glossy paper they are printed on, but that's totally a personal preference. And I'm not sure if it's the smaller size of the TPB, but the lettering is also very grainy compared to the floppies.

I agree that many jokes seems to be lost in the translation.

I get the french Mickey Parade Géant, it's a french bi-monthly publication that also collect stories from Italy, Dutch, etc, and as such I have some duplicates of stories where I can compare the french and english translation. So far, I much prefer the french translation that seem to fit much more what is happening in the panels, and it's funnier. (Yes, french is my primary language, but I don't think that influence my choice much as 90% of the books I read are in english)

And now my main gripe about IDW: First I'll say that I am THRILLED that Disney Comics are back in print in North America, but IDW price makes no sense. 1st, the floppy price. Why 4$ when there is no artist/inker to pay monthly since they only collect reprints so far. I read, about a year ago, an interview with Don Rosa where he mentioned that there is a publishing deal btw all Disney comics publishers that says once a story is published somewhere, it's "free" to reprint for any/all other publishers holding publishing rights for Disney comics. So why the premium price? It should only cost them translation + printing. In comparison, Mickey Parade Géant cost CAN9$ (4 Euros) for over 300 pages of translated/reprinted comics. Granted, the paper is of a lesser quality, but still, that's an awesome value. And if you compare it to Fantasgraphics hardcover reprints of Don Rosa and Carl Barks volumes... well... it's even worse.

Even compared to itself, IDW TPB cost more per issues than the floppies they collect, while being printed in a smaller format. That one is making me scratch my head and it's making no sense unless Scrooge McDuck is the actual owner of IDW. I switched to the TPB version because I'm building a library of Disney comics in french and english for my son(and for me in the meantime ;-P), and TPB are much easier to store vertically, but I'm getting a worse deal for it.

Anyway, I'll stop grumbling now before really turning into Scrooge

[Angilasman]

^Well, the truth is that these are just standard comics prices for these formats in the U.S. In many places in the world Disney comics are very popular, and sell a high volume with a low price. In the US comics themselves are a cult item, despite their penetration into our pop culture, and Disney comics are a very small cult within that cult. Specialty items typical don't have reduced prices. The only times I see, say, $1 comics in a US shop is when a publisher is putting out a first issue at a special price in order to entice customers to pay full price for the rest of the series.

The fact that these Disney stories are essentially free with the license (not counting paying people to localize the dialog and partially or entirely recolor it) does manifest in value for IDW's comics, but it's in the page count. An IDW Disney comic has an average of 40 story pages, typically with a main story and a backup story. This is roughly twice the amount of a normal comic book issue.