I'm a long-time fan of both comics and Disney and it was only until very recently that I realized the plethora of content that combined my two interests. A couple page-clicks on Wikipedia made me realize just how big Disney comics were, especially in Europe. Unfortunately, I'm in the United States so it looks like the vast majority of stories published have not been translated and sent stateside, but there were enough English stories listed that it piqued my interest.
I was wondering, where should a newbie such as myself begin reading Disney comics? Are modern comics still printed in the US? Is there a way to get translated versions of the European stories that are so popular? What are the standout comics that every Disney comics fan is familiar with?
This site and many others has been a valuable resource!
Post by Scrooge MacDuck on Jul 10, 2016 17:41:58 GMT
Welcome. Some are still published indeed, by the licensed publisher IDW Comics. I believe the currently-existing titles are Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse (plus Darkwing Duck, which for some reason is published by another publisher, Joe Books). Nevertheless, those recent issues might not be the best place to start. I suggest the best way to get a thorough introduction would be to read Barks, Gottfredson and Rosa stories, who have laid down the basis of Disney comics. This being done, start looking into the aforementioned recent American Disney comics, where you are likely to find translations of Italian stories by prominent (such as by Romano Scarpa, Luciano Bottaro, Marco Rota, etc.) introducing you to the "regulars" that were added to the Disney comics cast by authors other than the core 3 (such as Brigitta McBridge, Doctor Zantaf, Jubal Pomp, John D. Rockerduck, the Duck Avenger/Phantom Duck, Atomino Beep-Beep…).
I'm a long-time fan of both comics and Disney and it was only until very recently that I realized the plethora of content that combined my two interests. A couple page-clicks on Wikipedia made me realize just how big Disney comics were, especially in Europe. Unfortunately, I'm in the United States so it looks like the vast majority of stories published have not been translated and sent stateside, but there were enough English stories listed that it piqued my interest.
I was wondering, where should a newbie such as myself begin reading Disney comics? Are modern comics still printed in the US? Is there a way to get translated versions of the European stories that are so popular? What are the standout comics that every Disney comics fan is familiar with?
This site and many others has been a valuable resource!
Thank you,
KaptainBill
IDW has printed many European stories (especially from Denmark, Italy and The Netherlands). But, since 1986, the subsequent US publishers, Gladstone, Disney, Gladstone II, Gemstone and Boom!, have also printed many non-US-generated stories by Daan Jippes, Freddy Milton, Ben Verhagen, Jan Gulbransson, Don Rosa, William Van Horn, Romano Scarpa, Marco Rota, Daniel Branca, Victor Arriagada Rios, and many other creators (including myself). You should be able to find many, if not most of them on Amazon.
Also, if you can read Italian, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Russian or any of the Scandinavian languages, you could also read many good stories not yet printed in English. Do you read any other languages?
Uh, RobbK1? What's with just quoting KaptainBill without actually answering anything? A glitch, I reckon…
Yes, a glitch. My Internet connection gave out just before I hit the post button. So, my post was erased, but my set-up for the post remained. So, when my Internet connection returned it followed through with my "order" to post, but my typing was erased, as my page had gone away. I have since re-posted.
I am not in my house now, but staying in my flat in Muenchen, Germany, for a few months. There, my work room and adjacent bedroom are both a bit far from the receiver point for my cable Internet service. So, sometimes my signal is intermittant. But, if I have a long post to write, I may decide to write it first in a text file, and the pop it into a forum post all at once, so I have a better chance to not lose a post, and have to start over from the beginning.
I'm a long-time fan of both comics and Disney and it was only until very recently that I realized the plethora of content that combined my two interests. A couple page-clicks on Wikipedia made me realize just how big Disney comics were, especially in Europe. Unfortunately, I'm in the United States so it looks like the vast majority of stories published have not been translated and sent stateside, but there were enough English stories listed that it piqued my interest.
I was wondering, where should a newbie such as myself begin reading Disney comics? Are modern comics still printed in the US? Is there a way to get translated versions of the European stories that are so popular? What are the standout comics that every Disney comics fan is familiar with?
This site and many others has been a valuable resource!
Thank you,
KaptainBill
IDW has printed many European stories (especially from Denmark, Italy and The Netherlands). But, since 1986, the subsequent US publishers, Gladstone, Disney, Gladstone II, Gemstone and Boom!, have also printed many non-US-generated stories by Daan Jippes, Freddy Milton, Ben Verhagen, Jan Gulbransson, Don Rosa, William Van Horn, Romano Scarpa, Marco Rota, Daniel Branca, Victor Arriagada Rios, and many other creators (including myself). You should be able to find many, if not most of them on Amazon.
Also, if you can read Italian, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Russian or any of the Scandinavian languages, you could also read many good stories not yet printed in English. Do you read any other languages?
To be fair, Rob, I think we are dealing with someone who actually as never read Disney comics, period. As I said in my post, I think KaptainBill should at least read some Barks/Rosa/Gottfredson to get the "basics" and get to know the characters; more recent Italian stories most often take the characters for granted, which would be off-putting for a new reader. I'm not saying he mustn't get to those issues soon, but for instance, reading "Life and Times" and classics like "Mickey outfits the Phantom Blot", "The Golden Helmet", "Back to the Klondike", etc., and maybe some Donald ten-pagers, would I think be a necessary beginning.
IDW has printed many European stories (especially from Denmark, Italy and The Netherlands). But, since 1986, the subsequent US publishers, Gladstone, Disney, Gladstone II, Gemstone and Boom!, have also printed many non-US-generated stories by Daan Jippes, Freddy Milton, Ben Verhagen, Jan Gulbransson, Don Rosa, William Van Horn, Romano Scarpa, Marco Rota, Daniel Branca, Victor Arriagada Rios, and many other creators (including myself). You should be able to find many, if not most of them on Amazon.
Also, if you can read Italian, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Russian or any of the Scandinavian languages, you could also read many good stories not yet printed in English. Do you read any other languages?
To be fair, Rob, I think we are dealing with someone who actually as never read Disney comics, period. As I said in my post, I think KaptainBill should at least read some Barks/Rosa/Gottfredson to get the "basics" and get to know the characters; more recent Italian stories most often take the characters for granted, which would be off-putting for a new reader. I'm not saying he mustn't get to those issues soon, but for instance, reading "Life and Times" and classics like "Mickey outfits the Phantom Blot", "The Golden Helmet", "Back to the Klondike", etc., and maybe some Donald ten-pagers, would I think be a necessary beginning.
He wrote that he's been a long-time fan of comics and Disney, so I assumed he was familiar with Barks' and Gottfredson's comics. if NOT, then I'd rcommend his buying Fantagraphics' Barks series, and The Gottfredson hardbound series.
Post by Scrooge MacDuck on Jul 10, 2016 21:30:01 GMT
Well, from his wording, he says he was "a fan of Disney and a fan of comics and recently discovered that he could combine the two", implying he wasn't even aware Disney comics were a thing until recently.
KaptainBill, though there are indeed piles of good Disney comics stories that have never been published in English, there are still PLENTY of great stories available in English, many of them quite cheaply, if you don't mind reading comics from, say,the 1980's. As folks have already said, Carl Barks and Floyd Gottfredson are the great classic creators (Ducks and Mice, respectively). Barks created many of the Duck-world characters himself: Uncle Scrooge, Gyro Gearloose, Beagle Boys, Gladstone Gander, etc. Don Rosa is a hugely popular more recent creator. All three of these wrote in English, and you can get inexpensive reprints of most of their great stories.
One indispensable resource is INDUCKS, an online fan-created index of worldwide Disney comics. Go to the INDUCKS coa page and put "Lost in the Andes" into the search box for title. You will get to a page dedicated to that classic Barks story, which will include a listing of all the printings of that story in comics around the world. You can use this to find American reprints of stories you'd like to read. To the right of the search boxes is "Top 100", and if you click on this, you will get a listing of all the stories rated by fans on this site (over 32,000!) in order of rating. You'll see that most of the top 100 are Barks, Gottfredson, Rosa, and several Italian creators: Scarpa, Casty, etc. Many of those top-rated Italian stories have been translated and printed in the USA (click on the story, you'll see). Only one caveat for the use of the INDUCKS ratings: many of the highest rated European stories are actually parodies of famous literature with Ducks or Mice playing the roles of the characters. Some of those are indeed great, but they're *not* the sort of stories you want to start with.
I'd advise two routes: (1) seek out inexpensive copies of Barks, Gottfredson, Rosa, using INDUCKS to find the issues to look for. Publisher Gladstone in the 1980's reprinted a bunch of Barks stories, and printed Rosa for the first time. You can often find Gladstone comics in lots on eBay that will provide you with many great stories cheaply. (2) Buy some of the current IDW Disney comics, especially Mickey Mouse, Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck. VERY well produced, excellent choices of stories--including, for instance, Mickey stories by Casty, probably the greatest Disney comics creator working currently. IDW comics are not reprinting Barks and Rosa, on the theory that there are plenty of ways to get those stories in American publications. IDW has been producing TPBs collecting the comics, so you can get the first year or so that way.
If you find, after reading some cheap reprints of Barks etc., that you want to get great-quality reprints of these classics, Fantagraphics is now producing gorgeous "collected works" editions of Barks, Gottfredson and Rosa. It's possible you might be able to find some of these volumes through your friendly local library--that could be another way to familiarize yourself with the classics and to find out which stories you want to buy for yourself!
Thanks all, for your timely and informative responses! It looks like the general consensus both here and other places I've looked is that Carl Barks and Floyd Gottfredson are the two standout Disney comic creators - though, I admit, I am only vaguely familiar with the former due to his name being attached to the DuckTales animated series.
As a couple of you noted, it looks like Fantagraphics has a pretty extensive reprint program. I was a huge fan of their Complete Peanuts series from a while back, so I have placed the first volume of Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse strips on order. In reviewing some of the single-issue reprints from the mid-late 80's, it seems like the cost of shipping would make buying individual issues a bit pricy, so buying copies of the Fantagraphics series uses should prove to be more cost effective. The Barks line is a bit confusing though, because it looks like those books are being released outside their chronological (of date published) order. What would you guys recommend? Start from the earlier volume released thus far (Christmas on Bear Mountain) or the first one released in the line (Lost in the Andes)?
I also got a tip from someone on another discussion group that the Duck Avenger comics are worth checking out, and IDW is reprinting those issue by issue starting next month - I'll have to check that out as well!
Post by Scrooge MacDuck on Jul 11, 2016 19:27:03 GMT
If it is still available (does anyone know about that?), you might want to by the much older Carl Barks Library, since it is chronologically ordered and already finished.
If it is still available (does anyone know about that?), you might want to by the much older Carl Barks Library, since it is chronologically ordered and already finished.
I did some googling for some used editions on ebay and those are priced at around $100 a pop.
What they've done with the Barks line is that they're releasing them out of order, starting with Barks' golden age. They say Lost in the Andes is the best story ever made, but honestly you can't go wrong in the whole line-up -- there's gems in each volume. My personal favorites would have to be volumes 10 and 11 -- but that's totally a matter of personal taste.
The Fantagraphics reprints are likely the best option for getting the Carl Barks stories at the moment. The idea behind those books is that while they're being released out of order, they're also designed in a way to where they would end up being a full chronological set once you have them all. Inducks lists the books with volume numbers if that helps make them easier to sort. coa.inducks.org/publication.php?c=us/CBDL Fantagraphics is also releasing hardcovers of the Don Rosa Library which many people would say is Carl Barks successor and his books are being released in chronological order. Though I would suggest reading some of Barks' stuff first before diving into Rosa. These books are at the same level of quality as The Complete Peanuts. My only complaint about them is that the Don Rosa books are larger than the Carl Barks books for some reason which seems awkward to me.
If you want to buy back issues, get them from MyComicShop.com. I've made purchases from them many times in the past and they've always been great with me. They have a good chunk of the 80's-90's era Gladstone issues for a dollar or two each and they'll ship everything together which is probably a lot better than buying issues individually on ebay. And of course, you can use Inducks to see what's in an issue before buying it. You can also get the more recent IDW issues from there if your local comic shop doesn't have them and you don't want to buy the trades. (The trades for IDW's Disney comics are more smaller digest sized which I'm honestly not a fan of.)
IDW will start releasing issues of Duck Avenger sometime within the next few months. I have not read this series yet but I do know that the tone of it is very different from other Disney comics. From what I understand, it's Donald as a superhero and he's fighting aliens or something. There's a couple issues in IDW's Donald Duck that shows the original origin story of the Duck Avenger that I'm not sure if you may want to read first or not.
If you like Darkwing Duck, there's also a new comic of that series that has just started from another publisher named Joe Books. If you decide to read that series, make sure to get the Definitively Dangerous Edition omnibus first. If you liked the show, you'll love that comic. It's a true labor of love from everyone involved.
There's a link in my description that leads to a calendar for upcoming releases for anything Disney comics related that I try to keep updated to use as a reference should anyone else get any use out of that.