Darkest Disney stories

[nectaria]

Have you read a Disney story that you find too dark? I have seen some fans considering the PKNA and Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine stories as dark stories. I have read both of those series and I agree that the PKNA series was dark but not sure about  the Mystery Magazine series. I have seen some darkness in it but I don't find it to be as dark as PKNA. One of other Mickey Mouse stories that I find too dark was the parody of the Dracula novel story: coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+2945-1P .
This was one of the darkest Disney stories that I have read and I always thought that this story was darker than the Mystery Magazine stories but that's my opinion.

[Deleted]

Floyd Gottfredson and Bill Walsh had quite a dark ending for the story The House of Mystery.https://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=YM+065&redirected=1 Also, Carl Barks created a few stories that took a dark turn, like Voodoo Hoodoo, Ancient Persia, and The Firebug. The 10 pager about Donald's nightmares and The Treasure of Marco Polo were perhaps not as dark, but certainly more cynical than most Disney stories. Mickey's Inferno seems too dark on the surface, but it is appropriate considering that they are parodying Dante's work.

[caballero]

The darkest Disney comic of all time might be the 11th chapter of the Life of Scrooge saga. Scrooge McDuck burning down a village? How can you top that? It's also one of my five favourite Duck comics of all time.

Honorable mention: the Italian "Mickey's Inferno".

[Scrooge MacDuck]

The end of "Ancient Persia" is definitely…

[Orora]

One of the best stories I have read in the last few years was The 13 Spells Of Magica De Spell.

It was not only very well-paced in its action, but it also had great funny moments ("Look at me, I'm a bomb!!")

And in the end, there is a surprisingly dark moment where 

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
Magica is believed to have been killed in a mountain avalanche. Scrooge, Donald and the nephews are shocked when they can't find her, and are obviously sad when they say "She wasn't as lucky as us..." At the moment, I was almost believing it could happen! Great writing for this story!

[The KKM]

I'm not sure I agree with you, Nectaria. The way you put it is "too dark", which to me implies "so dark it's lost the usual acceptable tone for a Disney comic". In that sense, PKNA may be the closest I've read (but Rosa's Prisoner of White Agony Creek's the only one that really broke that mood for be, despite not being dark).

anyways, my disagreement here is with considering the Dracula story dark at all- Dracula, the Bram Stoker book, gets pretty dark, but that Disney adaptation... everyone just gets turned into beetroot! There's no murder or even maiming Just find it curious to see it listed as "darker than Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine"

[Scrooge MacDuck]

The story, put in words, might not be dark, but Mottura's art is… the usual fare, which is a gothic, burtonesque, twisted look. So when to boot he is using dark imagery as a source, the results can be pretty dark. I'd also cite his "Moby Dick", where the stakes are reasonably high, and the art is similarly scary.

[jumbojr]

Apr 26, 2016 17:06:35 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

The story, put in words, might not be dark, but Mottura's art is… the usual fare, which is a gothic, burtonesque, twisted look. So when to boot he is using dark imagery as a source, the results can be pretty dark. I'd also cite his "Moby Dick", where the stakes are reasonably high, and the art is similarly scary.

Fabio Celoni designed Dracula. He also designed the more recent Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde adaptation.
Another dark, but totally different story, is this one: coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=I+TL+2865-1
It basically shows that Gladstone is depressed due to everyone hating him because of his luck. The ending is sad too.

[nectaria]

Apr 26, 2016 7:19:55 GMT The KKM said:

I'm not sure I agree with you, Nectaria. The way you put it is "too dark", which to me implies "so dark it's lost the usual acceptable tone for a Disney comic". In that sense, PKNA may be the closest I've read (but Rosa's Prisoner of White Agony Creek's the only one that really broke that mood for be, despite not being dark).

anyways, my disagreement here is with considering the Dracula story dark at all- Dracula, the Bram Stoker book, gets pretty dark, but that Disney adaptation... everyone just gets turned into beetroot! There's no murder or even maiming Just find it curious to see it listed as "darker than Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine"

Well, no problem at all because I know that some other fans will not find the Dracula story being dark. Sure, this adaptation of the Dracula novel has no actual deaths but that's just my opinion about finding it too dark or being darker than Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine  . Fans can have a different opinion about finding a Disney story being dark but some other fans will not find the same story being that dark.

[screwysquirrel]

Hello Nectaria
I would say the darkest! If you mean the most unpleasant Disney stories I have seen, would be in the 3rd Mickey Mouse Annual from the United Kingdom (1933) Below is a description of the contents!

MICKEY MOUSE Annual 1933 (Back Again)
Third one again has a Deco background with Mickey in a Classical pose one foot on an orb pointing a bow & arrow. As the spine shows Mickey facing away, it looks like he is aiming to kill himself. My. Colour plates are now just one per book & we've had a few of this year proving other sources inaccurate. The Frontis is "Miles Behind". The style of drawing is more sophisticated than the first two books. This is the first book with WH's insane rambling stories in where puns are at every turn. Exhausting. You'll note the pictures appear before the story catches up, which adds to the mindbending. One story entitled "Mickey Comes Out" isn't about that, no... but instead heads into the macabre with Mickey & Minnie throwing bits of dismembered dead dog & cat at each other. Honest. Also the "Doctor's Orders" features Minnie having boiled her dog to death. Another "A Close Shave" shows Mickey intending to commit suicide. This was pre the Hays Code of 1934 & these are genuinely in the book. OMG indeed. The final page is a puzzle solution.

[geox]

...are we forgetting Van Horn's "Black Moon," a creepy story in which it is strongly suggested that all the characters are shortly going to die hideous deaths in the blackness of space? Yeah, that's pretty good.

[corrado]

I think the darkest Disney-Stories of all time have been created by the great Italian artist Guido Martina, for example his first story Topolino e il cobra bianco (1948/1949). A very dark character is the one of Scrooge McDuck, especially in the Martina-Stories between 1955 and 1960. In Paperino 3D (1953) he wants Donald dead, in Paperino e il grande barunz Scrooge tries to murder his fellow for getting all the money they earned together for himself. Also very dark are some of the Donald Duck stories by William Ward of the late 30ies. In 5000 Fathoms Under Sea (1939) Donald tries to kill a person.

[Matilda]

Yup, I agree with Corrado. Martina's Scrooge is one nasty guy. No deeply hidden heart of gold in this Scrooge!

[jubalpomp]

Guido Martina isn't dark. He use darkness to be hilarious, you are never scared reading his stories.

I think PKNA#10, "Trauma", is the darkest Disney story I've ever read.

[sirtao]

PKNA #33, "Il giorno che verrà"(The day to come) is IMHO much darker. It's a complete downer ending, unlike the upkeep ending of Trauma.
And #34, "Niente di personale"(psssh nothin personnel... kidNothing Personal) is a compilation of EVERYTHING GOES WRONG AND IT'S AWFUL AND HORRIBLE(thanks god for the ending)