[Fantasy Wish] Disney Comic Stories with "Grown-Up" Content

[Anastasios]

Hello, friends!

One thing that I know would never fly with Disney officially, but which I would love to see if it were possible, would be dramatic (even melodramatic, as in Bollywood-style movies) stories featuring Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, etc. Maybe even soap-opera level drama? I know some are already cringing at the very idea, but I think it would be pretty cool.

One of the problems with Disney comics, and why I think they've become stifled, is the huge creative shackles Disney puts on the content of the stories. I understand their need to protect their brand, certainly, but take a look at how ABC handled the series Once Upon a Time. I really liked how they created a whole, unifying mythology around all the characters and set them in an epic good vs. evil battle. I would love to see something like that. Maybe you would not, but you would like to see the Disney comics address social issues. Etc. We might even disagree with the stories, but the point is there would be more variety and more ability to round these characters out.

Since I know it won't ever happen officially, I wonder if such could occur via fan fiction. One problem I see is that there are numerous fan fiction stories out there, and there are numerous fan fiction drawings, but hardly any fan fiction comics, end-to-end, full stories (I've found some, but not many, and a lot of them are computer-generated junk). I know it's a lot of work, especially when there will be no financial recompense, but still.

One intriguing idea I found on DeviantArt is the Uncle Scrooge/Magica de Spell romance arc: www.deviantart.com/james-li. It's bizarre, I'll admit, and I've mostly only looked at the art, not the stories the author has tried to create as well. I can think of a few story lines of my own as to how such a "romance" could come about, though, and would love to see that fleshed out. Or maybe Gyro creates an invention that kills someone, and he has to deal with the guilt and his grief. Donald goes on a drinking binge and gets a DUI, losing Daisy's affection; conversely, Donald and Daisy finally get married and have a child! HDL get tempted into bad behavior at school and have to deal with themes of loyalty, peer pressure, teen angst, etc.

At any rate, I'd love to see some of us cook up some unofficial comics featuring "adult themes" (not that kind of adult theme, though!)

Anastasios

[Scroogerello]

The closest thing I can think of is a “Duck-comic-for-adults” that Evert Geradts wrote some years ago, back when the Dutch publisher was doing Donald Duck glossy magazines for older readers, with Daan Jippes originally set to do the artwork. However, it was rejected for being ‘too adult’. Geradts mentions on his blog that he would publish the script on his blog someday, but I couldn’t find it and he hasn’t been updating his blog in a while.

The year was 2009 and the publishers of "Donald Duck" magazine planned to do a glossy "Donald" magazine for an adult public. I did a rather adult story to be rendered by Daan Jippes. Alas, it was much too adult and was immediately and categorically refused. Instead, they took another one of my stories that I had already written for the 57th anniversary of the magazine. (57 is my lucky number, by the way).

Source: workingforthedisneydollar.blogspot.com/2014/08/glossy-greys.html

That sounded like an interesting experiment—Geradts is a good writer (not to mention the fact that we’ve been depraved of a full-length story with Jippes artwork!). And it couldn’t have been *offensively* adult-themed, of course, since it was still meant for Disney publication. I hope Geradts will publish the script on his blog someday.

[caballero]

Yes, I absolutely would love to see Disney comics with more mature themes. I think we have already seen some Duck comics that adults can understand more fully than children can, such as the Life of Scrooge saga, and especially some later Rosa comics such as A Letter from Home and Prisoner of the White Agony Creek. Althogh a bit different than what you are talking about, William Van Horn's comics are also full of jokes that most kids won't understand.

Btw, I have some very specific ideas for 4 more mature Duck comics that I am 100% determined to finish one day in the not so near future. One starring Panchito Pistoles set in late 1950s Cuba, another one starring Aprin Lusene and Grace Kelly set in 1960s Monte Carlo, and two Lo$ bonus chapters exploring parts of Scrooge's life that Rosa has not explored.

[Matilda]

I’d be interested in some of these possibilities—certainly interested to see what caballero is thinking up! I’m not interested in stories that put the characters in “adults only” situations just for shock value. (Look at me, showing the Disney Ducks using hard drugs, or having sex, or breaking up!) The stories would have to be built on the characters as we know them, and would have to have some humor along with the drama, and not snarky, meta humor or mean humor. Such stories would have the chance to move the characters forward in some direction, not having to reset at the end of every story. To the extent that much fanfic is focused on shipping characters, whether I’d be interested or not depends on whether I can imagine that relationship developing between the characters as I’ve come to know them. I greatly enjoy Sarah Jolley’s professional-quality comics, but she hasn’t convinced me of the plausibility of the Magica/Gladstone pairing. And a Scrooge/Magica pairing is a nonstarter with me.

One issue that has largely gone unaddressed in published comics is war. Did Donald serve in the Navy during WW2? (Don't talk to me about the cartoons; that's different from comics-Donald.) HDL would have been draft age during the Vietnam war. (Here following Rosa’s timeline; alternative timelines might bring up other wars.)

[AzureBlue]

Regarding shock value adult-oriented stuff, there's always Rosa's very unofficial Return to Duckburg Place, which seems to be posted widely online now and no longer back-alley trafficked. Ultimately *less* mature than his official stuff, as the edge to it is more juvenile, but it certainly isn't for kids. You could say the same for Air Pirates, I guess.

I do think the Life of Scrooge is maybe the most obvious official work that fits the bill to some degree.

||One issue that has largely gone unaddressed in published comics is war. Did Donald serve in the Navy during WW2? (Don't talk to me about the cartoons; that's different from comics-Donald.) HDL would have been draft age during the Vietnam war. (Here following Rosa’s timeline; alternative timelines might bring up other wars.)

Regarding Donald's service, The Icebox Robber certainly seems to imply that he has Pacific War PTSD, although one could argue that it could be a general paranoia and doesn't necessarily prove that.

[Anastasios]

Aug 25, 2021 19:14:15 GMT Matilda said:

I greatly enjoy Sarah Jolley’s professional-quality comics, but she hasn’t convinced me of the plausibility of the Magica/Gladstone pairing. And a Scrooge/Magica pairing is a nonstarter with me.

Thanks so much for the reference to Ms. Jolley! I had never seen her work before! I really enjoy it!

[duckly]

Aug 25, 2021 18:24:17 GMT caballero said:

Althogh a bit different than what you are talking about, William Van Horn's comics are also full of jokes that most kids won't understand.

You don't really believe that!?! Can you give examples?

[caballero]

Aug 26, 2021 22:35:01 GMT duckly said:

Aug 25, 2021 18:24:17 GMT caballero said:

Althogh a bit different than what you are talking about, William Van Horn's comics are also full of jokes that most kids won't understand.

You don't really believe that!?! Can you give examples?

For example Pudding it Straight is full of the kind of absurd humour that adults can appreciate more. A nightmare within a nightmare within a nightmare within a nightmare within a nightmare about... tapioca pudding!

[crazycatlord]

I think some "official" stories are very close to that - "The Firebug" (mental disease creating a spree of crimes, HDL with doubts about if Donald is guilty or innocent), "Bubbleweight Champ" (Donald addicted to a "soda" that works exactly like an alcoholic beverage), "King Scrooge the First" (suicide, the tragedy of immortality), "Topolino e il segreto di un bambino" (domestic violence, with Morty and Ferdie in doubt about calling the police or not; a couple with problems related with the time the woman spends in her job...).

[duckly]

Aug 28, 2021 0:05:22 GMT caballero said:

Aug 26, 2021 22:35:01 GMT duckly said:

You don't really believe that!?! Can you give examples?

For example Pudding it Straight is full of the kind of absurd humour that adults can appreciate more. A nightmare within a nightmare within a nightmare within a nightmare within a nightmare about... tapioca pudding!

Sorry to follow up, but why do you think kids understand or appreciate the humor in this specific story less than adults? The story is not complicated or based on things that kids don't (yet) know. Rather the opposite. Children dream longer and more intensely and have more nightmares than adults. And children are more likely than adults to hate tapioca pudding. And that's what this story is all about.

[caballero]

duckly We will have to agree to disagree.

[bats]

Aug 28, 2021 4:15:54 GMT crazycatlord said:

I think some "official" stories are very close to that - "The Firebug" (mental disease creating a spree of crimes, HDL with doubts about if Donald is guilty or innocent), "Bubbleweight Champ" (Donald addicted to a "soda" that works exactly like an alcoholic beverage), "King Scrooge the First" (suicide, the tragedy of immortality), "Topolino e il segreto di un bambino" (domestic violence, with Morty and Ferdie in doubt about calling the police or not; a couple with problems related with the time the woman spends in her job...).

Couple others that come to mind:
Uncle Scrooge and the Sidereal Alternance, a rather complex story about a bizarre but functionable alien society, bureaucracy and lots of nutty pun logic (Scrooge uses obsolete documents from the local town hall's "complicization office for simple matters" as a rocket fuel retardant because "nothing slows things down as much as an overdue municipal matter"). Everything about this story is clearly written for somewhat older readers and I remember struggling to really understand it as a kid.
Mickey Mouse: Firemaker from the Mickey Mysteries subseries. A lot of these definitely qualify, but this one in particular is a very talky story that treats mental illness and trauma in a mature way you don't really associate with Disney comics. A very memorable story for most that read it.
Mickey and the Twins That Aren't Exactly Twins, the sequel to the aforementioned segreto di un bambino, where parental negligence leads to a girl falling in with the wrong crowd and nearly getting killed. These stories were both written in cooperation with Telefono Azzurro, an Italian support phone for abused children, and in both stories the situation gets resolved thanks to concerned kids calling them.

At least the third one has an English scanlation out there:

[caballero]

Aug 25, 2021 17:58:21 GMT Scroogerello said:

The closest thing I can think of is a “Duck-comic-for-adults” that Evert Geradts wrote some years ago, back when the Dutch publisher was doing Donald Duck glossy magazines for older readers, with Daan Jippes originally set to do the artwork. However, it was rejected for being ‘too adult’. Geradts mentions on his blog that he would publish the script on his blog someday, but I couldn’t find it and he hasn’t been updating his blog in a while.

The year was 2009 and the publishers of "Donald Duck" magazine planned to do a glossy "Donald" magazine for an adult public. I did a rather adult story to be rendered by Daan Jippes. Alas, it was much too adult and was immediately and categorically refused. Instead, they took another one of my stories that I had already written for the 57th anniversary of the magazine. (57 is my lucky number, by the way).

Source: workingforthedisneydollar.blogspot.com/2014/08/glossy-greys.html

That sounded like an interesting experiment—Geradts is a good writer (not to mention the fact that we’ve been depraved of a full-length story with Jippes artwork!). And it couldn’t have been *offensively* adult-themed, of course, since it was still meant for Disney publication. I hope Geradts will publish the script on his blog someday.

Any updte on this? RobbK1 You know many of the Dutch Disney comic creators, do you know anything about this rejected Evert Geradts story?

[RobbK1]

Jan 15, 2024 8:58:20 GMT caballero said:

Aug 25, 2021 17:58:21 GMT Scroogerello said:

The closest thing I can think of is a “Duck-comic-for-adults” that Evert Geradts wrote some years ago, back when the Dutch publisher was doing Donald Duck glossy magazines for older readers, with Daan Jippes originally set to do the artwork. However, it was rejected for being ‘too adult’. Geradts mentions on his blog that he would publish the script on his blog someday, but I couldn’t find it and he hasn’t been updating his blog in a while.

Source: workingforthedisneydollar.blogspot.com/2014/08/glossy-greys.html

That sounded like an interesting experiment—Geradts is a good writer (not to mention the fact that we’ve been depraved of a full-length story with Jippes artwork!). And it couldn’t have been *offensively* adult-themed, of course, since it was still meant for Disney publication. I hope Geradts will publish the script on his blog someday.

Any update on this? RobbK1 You know many of the Dutch Disney comic creators, do you know anything about this rejected Evert Geradts story?

I heard about that story years ago, but don't know the details of the story which were thought to possibly or likely be objectionable to The Disney Company, related to their image as being "careful not to not expose young children to concepts or life's actions that might be too early for them to think about".  As Evert hasn't yet posted his storyboard scribble pages of the story on his website, after 14 years, I suspect it won't likely be posted on The Internet while he still works for them, and possibly not until after he is gone from this planet.  I'll ask a few insider friends of mine what those details are, and if they've got or seen copies of it.  But, even then I wouldn't publicly post details about it, and even if I were to get a copy of it, I couldn't post it anywhere, or show it to anyone else, for Evert's, Dutch Disney's, and my own professional personal and reputation's sake.

[m1ttens]

There was going to be an adult focused imprint called Touchmark Comics (a reference to Touchstone Pictures, a company Dsiney owned at the time) similar to DC's Vertigo imprint. Interestingly two of the comics originally commissioned for Touchmark (Sebastian O by Grant Morrison and Enigma by Peter Milligan) would later to go on to published by Vertigo. The imprint was cancelled following the Disney Implosion of the 90s icanbreakaway.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-disney-comics-story-1990-1993.html