It looks interesting, but I'm not going to hold my breath about seeing it in the US anytime soon. We haven't even gotten the third and fourth books in this series. I think that the comics market in France is far different than in the US to be able to support such books.
Post by Monkey_Feyerabend on Jan 11, 2018 19:30:51 GMT
This is also the first of these "French MM graphic novels" not to be entirely "French": the artist is Silvio Camboni, an Italian veteran Disney comics artist. But apparently his style is changed since when I was a kid and his pencils used to look like this:
(which was not bad at all...but "different" for sure)
He was published in the US just last month, he's the drawer of that Scrooge-Magica's Christmas story from 2002:
Recently read Mickey's Craziest Adventures, it was pretty good. A few negatives were the inconsistent character designs (done on purpose) and that it was a bit all over the place. One second they are on the moon, then in Atlantis, then being chased by dinosaurs, without letting any story-line or setting develop.
Dang, if that page is an indication of the book's overall look then I am already extremely impressed! I think out of all the French books Mickey et l'Océan Perdu has my interest the most between the gorgeous art, intriguing story and the fact that Minnie has a more proactive role! But, like deb said, it will probably take a long time (if at all) before this reaches the North American market since it seems as though Glenat's Disney comics were not very successful over here.
Speaking of which, I am rather curious as to why all of the original Disney stories Glenat has been publishing have been very Mickey Mouse focused. Normally I have noticed a form of equal admiration for the Mouse and Duck stories (though I think because of DuckTales the Duck stories are remembered more in North America than the Mouse stories), so to see the Glenat books being more Mouse focused is curious to me. Do the French have a stronger nostalgia/admiration for Mickey Mouse comics than the Duck ones?
Speaking of which, I am rather curious as to why all of the original Disney stories Glenat has been publishing have been very Mickey Mouse focused. Normally I have noticed a form of equal admiration for the Mouse and Duck stories (though I think because of DuckTales the Duck stories are remembered more in North America than the Mouse stories), so to see the Glenat books being more Mouse focused is curious to me. Do the French have a stronger nostalgia/admiration for Mickey Mouse comics than the Duck ones?
It's not that they set out to do "Disney comics" and "oddly" focused on the Mouse characters — the line was originally pitched in French newspapers as "letting French comic authors handle Mickey Mouse". Why they made that choice originally is up in the air (deb's idea that Mickey is more flexible for new writers to put him in their style rings true), but it's no surprise all the books are about Mickey since that's the whole point.
Speaking of which, I am rather curious as to why all of the original Disney stories Glenat has been publishing have been very Mickey Mouse focused. Normally I have noticed a form of equal admiration for the Mouse and Duck stories (though I think because of DuckTales the Duck stories are remembered more in North America than the Mouse stories), so to see the Glenat books being more Mouse focused is curious to me. Do the French have a stronger nostalgia/admiration for Mickey Mouse comics than the Duck ones?
It's not that they set out to do "Disney comics" and "oddly" focused on the Mouse characters — the line was originally pitched in French newspapers as "letting French comic authors handle Mickey Mouse". Why they made that choice originally is up in the air (deb's idea that Mickey is more flexible for new writers to put him in their style rings true), but it's no surprise all the books are about Mickey since that's the whole point.
Ah, I was not aware of that. I assumed that the line was something for Disney comics in general, not just Mickey Mouse specifically. Still, no need to sound so snappy about it.
It's Mickey's birthday soon Whether that is a reason or not, I have no idea. But personally, I'm glad about that; here in Germany we have been told time and time again "people don't like Mickey" (which is why most publications are filled with Ducks and only a small proportion of the Italian Mickey comics actually makes it to Germany). That said, the only one that looks really interesting to me (so far) is the one by Camboni. I looked at "Craziest Adventures" in a bookstore and decided I didn't like it.
The plot is engaging and has a very clever concept at its core: what if all liquid water became weightless? The story takes place in an alternate dimension were Dr Einmung was a little less cautious than in the regular universe, and, instead of secretly building his Island in the Sky, shared his discoveries with the world, making the present-day Earth a gorgeous steampunk mess. [..] Its only flaw is that Goofy is inexplicably a competent, non-silly character.
Another character is depicted in an entirely different way than the established Disney canon (I won't say who in order to not spoil the story to those who didn't read it).
I hope you don't mind that I copied two sentences from your post into Inducks, which was missing a description for this otherwise very nice story.
Post by Monkey_Feyerabend on Apr 29, 2018 16:05:51 GMT
In this Glénat series they also released a regular Italian Disney parody, published last year on Topolino and actually even in France last summer on Super Picsou Géant: Enna-Cavazzano's Mickey Mouse version of Ballad of the Salt Sea, a 'graphic novel' by Hugo Pratt from 1967 (although they were not yet called like that in those days) introducing the famous adventurer Corto Maltese, arguably the most read Italian comics of all times. I read it in the cheap version on Super Picsou Géant. Worth a read only if you love the original and want to compare. Mickey plays the role of Corto Maltese while Pete is Rasputin, of course!
As concerns the other French stuff, I do want to read them, but I always postpose buying them because I already read too much Disney comics (still completing Barks and Gottfredson reading, by the way), so when I want to read other stuff I do go far away from Disney. Anyway, Cosey's one is on my radar.
I read the one by Loisel, for I could not resist to MM and Horace depicted in that gorgeous art style. Let me copy here my comment (spoiler-free) from inducks. Happy to hear what others think about it.
Super impressive art. Never seen something like that in a Disney comic. Actually, from an artistic point of view this work is out of standard for any kind of funny animals comics. MUCH LESS interesting from the writing point of view. In particular for the staging, which is often too much diluted: Loisel sacrifices the good mis-en-scène in order to have fun in drawing complex and hyper-dynamic panels. When choosing to use the strip format Loisel was playing with fire. And maybe he got a little bit burnt. The plot is good, although it may be interpreted as sexist here and there, so I am not sure that everyone is going to love it, especially in the United States, if they ever publish it there. To be clear: I do understand that in those sexist bits Loisel is trying to *denounce* and mock old-time sexism (he is "keeping it real", so to speak), and I like it. I fear that not everyone will be able to realize it.
Remark: one year ago I asked to Artibani on fb what was his opinion on these French experiments. He shares my view on Loisel's and liked Tebo's one (La Jeunesse de Mickey). But he did not appreciate much Craziest Adventures and A Mysterious Melody. Not for a lack of quality, but rather because in his view the authors did not put enough effort into being close enough to the characters's regular range of personalities (I am rephrasing his opinion, I do not remember his words precisely, so please do not take this as a quote).
I wish IDW would continue publishing this series, but I guess they have more than enough with the regular titles for the time being. Instead of catching up everything seems to be delayed even more now, with no new comics scheduled for the next month (just checked all Previews dates for the upcoming issues)
But back on topic; maybe some other publisher like Fantagraphics could continue this series in English? The one I'm mostly curious about is Café Zombo, and I've been thinking of getting the German translation just to get it in a language I can understand. But Mickey et l'océan perdu and the upcoming Donald's Happiest Adventures looks like must-reads too!
From google-translating Glénat's page about the Donald book, it looks like it will have different chapters/episodes like the Mickey book, but they are not re-using the same "lost pages" idea.
At this point, I think these books are done in the US, at least with IDW. Fantagraphics has their hands full with Carl Barks and Disney Masters. It could also come down to artists' royalties on these albums. They may not be a part of the standard Disney system, so they might cost more to print them in the US. Just a bunch of guesses on my part, since I don't work for Disney, IDW or Fantagraphics.