Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Encyclopedia
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC or WDC&S, is an anthology comic book
series that has an assortment of Disney
characters, including Donald Duck
, Scrooge McDuck
, Mickey Mouse
, Chip 'n Dale
, Lil Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug
, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and others.
in #24 (Aug. 1942).
By the mid-1950s the title was the best selling comic book in the United States, with a monthly circulation of over three million. Mark Evanier
describes the high circulation as the product of "an aggressive subscription push."
To facilitate birthday and holiday gift giving to youngsters, Western Publishing offered to send subscription recipients illustrated letters that announced the gift. Also various premiums were offered for new subscribers, including a mini-poster attributed to Walt Kelly
advertised on the back cover of WDC&S #100 (Jan. 1949).
The anthology format usually began with a 10-page story featuring Donald Duck and for most of the run ended with a serial or single story featuring Mickey Mouse. The most popular issues featured the Donald Duck 10-pagers written and drawn by Carl Barks
who began the run with issue # 31 (April 1943) and ended with original stories in issue #312 (September 1966) but have been continually reprinted up to the present. Almost all of these stories co-starred Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie
, with frequent guest appearances by Barks' greatest creation Uncle Scrooge
, as well as the Beagle Boys
, Gyro Gearloose
, and Gladstone Gander.
In many 1980s issues, as well as scattered issues from 2006 onward, new Daan Jippes
and/or Fred Milton Donald Duck stories lead off the title. Issues #523, 524, 526, 528, 531, and 547 (all 1987-1990) featured lead-off stories drawn (and usually written) by Don Rosa
, while most issues from 1993-2005 featured lead-offs by William Van Horn
.
Many 1940s issues featured Mickey Mouse serials by Floyd Gottfredson
which were reprinted from newspaper daily comic strips; later Paul Murry
took over drawing original Mickey Mouse serials, with stories written by Carl Fallberg
and Don Christensen among others. The 1980s saw numerous Murry reprints; the 1990s and more recent times have seen new Mickey Mouse stories by Noel Van Horn
and (usually only drawn by) Cesar Ferioli
, as well as some Gottfredson serials not previously anthologized in comic book format.
Li'l Bad Wolf stories began in issue #52 (January 1945) and remained a regular feature for more than ten years, continuing to appear in the majority of issues even after the continuous run stopped. Carl Buettner (1945–1946), Gil Turner (1948–1956), and Dick Matena (2005–2008) are generally regarded as the most notable Wolf creators featured in the title. More recently (2003–present), Big Bad Wolf
has often supplanted his son as title character of the stories.
Bucky Bug stories began in issue #20 (May 1942) with a series of newspaper reprints; original Bucky stories started awhile later, in issue #39 (December 1943). Bucky stories were monthly through 1950; were not seen for several decades, then returned on an occasional basis from 1988 to the present, with a mixture of old and new material.
Walt Kelly
of Pogo fame did the cover art for many issues between #34 and #118 and provided interior art for issues # 34-41 and 43.
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories has been the longest running Disney-based comic book in history, making it their flagship title. After reaching its 600th issue, it converted to prestige format
and remained that way until the end of Gemstone's run at issue #698.
Comics anthology
Comics anthologies collect works in the medium of comics that are too short for standalone publication.- U.S. :- UK :British comics have a long tradition publishing comics anthologies, often weekly...
series that has an assortment of Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
characters, including Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
, Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Scrooge is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a red or blue frock coat, top hat, pince-nez glasses, and spats...
, Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
, Chip 'n Dale
Chip 'n Dale
Chip and Dale are two chipmunk cartoon characters created in 1943 at Walt Disney Productions. Their names are a pun based on the name "Chippendale"...
, Lil Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug
Bucky Bug
Bucky Bug is a fictional character, created by The Walt Disney Company. He first appeared in the initial Silly Symphonies comic strip; he was the first Disney character to debut in comics...
, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and others.
Publication history
The precursor to WDC was Mickey Mouse Magazine, published in several incarnations from 1933 to 1940. WDC itself was launched in October 1940, and initially consisted of reprints taken from the Disney comic strips Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies reformatted for comic books and colored. The first original story created for WDC was an adaptation of The Flying Gauchito illustrated by Walt KellyWalt Kelly
Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr. , or Walt Kelly, was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip, Pogo. He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contributing to Pinocchio and Fantasia. Kelly resigned in 1941 at the age of 28 to work at Post-Hall Syndicate,...
in #24 (Aug. 1942).
By the mid-1950s the title was the best selling comic book in the United States, with a monthly circulation of over three million. Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
describes the high circulation as the product of "an aggressive subscription push."
To facilitate birthday and holiday gift giving to youngsters, Western Publishing offered to send subscription recipients illustrated letters that announced the gift. Also various premiums were offered for new subscribers, including a mini-poster attributed to Walt Kelly
Walt Kelly
Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr. , or Walt Kelly, was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip, Pogo. He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contributing to Pinocchio and Fantasia. Kelly resigned in 1941 at the age of 28 to work at Post-Hall Syndicate,...
advertised on the back cover of WDC&S #100 (Jan. 1949).
The anthology format usually began with a 10-page story featuring Donald Duck and for most of the run ended with a serial or single story featuring Mickey Mouse. The most popular issues featured the Donald Duck 10-pagers written and drawn by Carl Barks
Carl Barks
Carl Barks was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , The Junior Woodchucks , Gyro Gearloose , Cornelius Coot , Flintheart Glomgold , John D...
who began the run with issue # 31 (April 1943) and ended with original stories in issue #312 (September 1966) but have been continually reprinted up to the present. Almost all of these stories co-starred Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie
Huey, Dewey and Louie
Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck are a trio of fictional, anthropomorphic ducks who appear in animated cartoons and comic books published by the Walt Disney Company. Identical triplets, the three are Donald Duck's nephews. Huey, Dewey, and Louie were created by Ted Osborne and Al Taliaferro, and first...
, with frequent guest appearances by Barks' greatest creation Uncle Scrooge
Uncle Scrooge
Uncle Scrooge is a comic book with the stingy Scrooge McDuck "the richest duck in the world" as the main character. The series also featured Donald Duck and his nephews as supporting characters. The first 70 issues mostly consisted of stories written and drawn by Carl Barks, the creator of Scrooge...
, as well as the Beagle Boys
Beagle Boys
The Beagle Boys are a group of fictional characters from the Scrooge McDuck universe. Created by Carl Barks, they are a gang of criminals who constantly try to rob Scrooge McDuck. Their introduction and first appearance was in Terror of the Beagle Boys, in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #134,...
, Gyro Gearloose
Gyro Gearloose
Gyro Gearloose is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic chicken created by Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company. He is part of the Scrooge McDuck universe, appearing in comic book stories as a friend of Donald Duck, Scrooge and anyone who is associated with them. He was also a frequent star...
, and Gladstone Gander.
In many 1980s issues, as well as scattered issues from 2006 onward, new Daan Jippes
Daan Jippes
Daan Jippes is a cartoonist, who has worked with Disney and other comics. He is admired by his fans for his lively emulation of Carl Barks' drawing style, and was therefore chosen by Egmont to redraw some old Junior Woodchucks stories from the 1970s, originally written by Carl Barks and drawn by...
and/or Fred Milton Donald Duck stories lead off the title. Issues #523, 524, 526, 528, 531, and 547 (all 1987-1990) featured lead-off stories drawn (and usually written) by Don Rosa
Don Rosa
Keno Don Hugo Rosa, known simply as Don Rosa, is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck and other characters created by Carl Barks for Disney comics, such as The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.-Early life:Don Rosa's grandfather,...
, while most issues from 1993-2005 featured lead-offs by William Van Horn
William Van Horn
William Van Horn has been a Disney comics artist and writer since 1988. He draws mostly Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, and he has also written and/or illustrated stories based on the animated series DuckTales...
.
Many 1940s issues featured Mickey Mouse serials by Floyd Gottfredson
Floyd Gottfredson
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He has probably had the same impact on the Mickey Mouse comics as Carl Barks had on the Donald Duck comics...
which were reprinted from newspaper daily comic strips; later Paul Murry
Paul Murry
Paul Murry was an American cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his Disney comics, which appeared in Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics from 1946 to 1984....
took over drawing original Mickey Mouse serials, with stories written by Carl Fallberg
Carl Fallberg
Carl Robert Fallberg was a cartoonist and artist who created animated feature films and T.V. cartoons for Disney Studios, Hanna-Barbera, and Warner Brothers...
and Don Christensen among others. The 1980s saw numerous Murry reprints; the 1990s and more recent times have seen new Mickey Mouse stories by Noel Van Horn
Noel Van Horn
Noel Van Horn is a comics artist and writer born in the United States and living in Canada. He does mainly Disney comics starring Mickey Mouse. He is the son of William Van Horn, a comics artist as well.-Life and career:...
and (usually only drawn by) Cesar Ferioli
César Ferioli
César Ferioli is a Spanish, Italian rooted comic book artist, who is basically known for his Mickey Mouse comics, which should renew the image of the seventies, eighties Mickey Mouse to a more lively form....
, as well as some Gottfredson serials not previously anthologized in comic book format.
Li'l Bad Wolf stories began in issue #52 (January 1945) and remained a regular feature for more than ten years, continuing to appear in the majority of issues even after the continuous run stopped. Carl Buettner (1945–1946), Gil Turner (1948–1956), and Dick Matena (2005–2008) are generally regarded as the most notable Wolf creators featured in the title. More recently (2003–present), Big Bad Wolf
Big Bad Wolf
The Big Bad Wolf is a term used to describe a fictional wolf who appears in several precautionary folkloric stories, including some of Aesop's Fables and Grimm's Fairy Tales.-Interpretations:...
has often supplanted his son as title character of the stories.
Bucky Bug stories began in issue #20 (May 1942) with a series of newspaper reprints; original Bucky stories started awhile later, in issue #39 (December 1943). Bucky stories were monthly through 1950; were not seen for several decades, then returned on an occasional basis from 1988 to the present, with a mixture of old and new material.
Walt Kelly
Walt Kelly
Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr. , or Walt Kelly, was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip, Pogo. He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contributing to Pinocchio and Fantasia. Kelly resigned in 1941 at the age of 28 to work at Post-Hall Syndicate,...
of Pogo fame did the cover art for many issues between #34 and #118 and provided interior art for issues # 34-41 and 43.
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories has been the longest running Disney-based comic book in history, making it their flagship title. After reaching its 600th issue, it converted to prestige format
Prestige format
Prestige format is a term coined by DC Comics and later came into wider use to refer to a square-bound comic book with cardstock covers. A prestige format comic book is usually longer than a normal, stapled 32-page comic...
and remained that way until the end of Gemstone's run at issue #698.
Publishers
- Dell ComicsDell ComicsDell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
(1940–1962) #1-263 - Gold Key ComicsGold Key ComicsGold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
(1962–1984) #264-510 (#474-510 under the "Whitman" name) - Gladstone PublishingGladstone PublishingGladstone Publishing was an American company that published Disney comics from 1986 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1998. The company had its origins as a subsidiary of "Another Rainbow", a company formed by Bruce Hamilton and Russ Cochran to publish the Carl Barks Library and produce limited edition...
(1986–1990) #511-547 - Disney ComicsDisney ComicsDisney Comics was a comic book publishing company operated by The Walt Disney Company which ran from 1990 to 1993. In the USA, Disney only licensed their comic books to other publishers prior to 1990...
(1990–1993) #548-585 - Gladstone Publishing (1993–1999) #586-633
- Gemstone PublishingGemstone PublishingGemstone Publishing is a U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. Gemstone published licensed Disney comic books from June 2003 until November 2008. The company has...
(June 2003-November 2008) #634-698 - Boom Kids! (Boom! StudiosBoom! StudiosBOOM! Studios is an American comic book company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. The "BOOM!" in BOOM! Studios is always capitalized by the company.-History:BOOM! was founded June 22, 2005 with Zombie Tales #1....
) (September 2009-June 2011) #699-720
See also
- Disney comics in the USA (general overview)
- Other notable Disney comic titles in the USA:
- Mickey Mouse and Friends (since 1933; originally Mickey Mouse Magazine, also Mickey Mouse)
- Donald Duck Four ColorDonald Duck Four ColorDonald Duck is a comic book starring the Disney character Donald Duck and published by various publishers since 1952. Initially, the series was a "try out" magazine that featured Four Color Comics characters that didn't have their own titles...
(since 2003 Donald Duck and Friends; 1952–1984, 1986–1997, 2003–2008, 2009-today) - Uncle ScroogeUncle ScroogeUncle Scrooge is a comic book with the stingy Scrooge McDuck "the richest duck in the world" as the main character. The series also featured Donald Duck and his nephews as supporting characters. The first 70 issues mostly consisted of stories written and drawn by Carl Barks, the creator of Scrooge...
(1952–1984, 1986–1998, 2003-November 2008, September 2009-today) - Huey, Dewey and Louie Junior Woodchucks (1966–1984)
- Uncle Scrooge AdventuresUncle Scrooge AdventuresUncle Scrooge Adventures is a comic book published by Gladstone Publishing under license from the Walt Disney Company. It features the adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his nephews...
(1987–1990, 1993–1997) - Donald Duck AdventuresDonald Duck AdventuresDonald Duck Adventures was a comic book featuring the adventures of Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie.- Gladstone I: 1987–1990 and Gladstone II: 1993–1997 :Gladstone Publishing published 48 issues...
(1988–1990, 1993–1997)
External links
- Walt Disney's Comics and Stories on INDUCKS
- Walt Disney's Comics and Stories on Disney Comics Worldwide (DCW)
- Cover of all issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories on outducks.org (click on issue numbers)