Disney Comics

Last updated
Disney Comics
Parent company The Walt Disney Company
StatusDefunct, 1993
Founded1990
Key people Len Wein (editor-in-chief)
Art Young (editor)
Bob Foster (editor)
Cris Palomino (editor)
David Seidman
Publication types Comic books
Imprints Vista Comics (planned)
Touchmark Comics (announced; never published)

Disney Comics was a comic book publishing company operated by The Walt Disney Company from 1990 to 1993. It was connected with W. D. Publications, Inc., which was a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that published "Disney Comics" during that time span. [1] [2] [3] W. D. Publications, Inc. created Disney Comics in 1990 so that The Walt Disney Company would not have to rely on outside publishers such as Gladstone Publishing. [4] In the USA, Disney only licensed their comic books to other publishers prior to 1990. Since the demise of the Disney Comics line, Disney has licensed out their properties to various US comics publishers, while continuing to publish comics in the since-defunct magazines Disney Adventures and Disney Adventures Comic Zone, as well as numerous book projects, and has reentered the periodical comics market through their 2009 purchase of Marvel Entertainment. Marvel and Disney Publishing began jointly publishing Disney/Pixar Presents magazine in May 2011 but did not revive the Disney Comics imprint as Boom! Studios would continue to publish classic Disney character comics. [5] Prior to 1990, the only Disney-published Disney comics were the ones published in Italy, after Disney Italia took over from Mondadori in 1988.

Comic book publication of comics art

A comic book or comicbook, also called comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative, usually, dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. Although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan, comic books were first popularized in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1930s. The first modern comic book, Famous Funnies, was released in the U.S. in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips, which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics. The term comic book derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone; however, this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres, usually not humorous in tone.

The Walt Disney Company American mass media corporation

The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Walt Disney or simply Disney, is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It is the world's largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue, ahead of NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia, which are owned by telecommunications giants Comcast and AT&T respectively.

Gladstone Publishing US publishing company

Gladstone 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 lithographs of Carl Barks oil paintings of the Disney ducks. The name references Gladstone Gander.

Contents

History

Initial titles

In its first year and a half, Disney Comics published:

<i>Walt Disneys Comics and Stories</i> anthology comic book series featuring Disney characters

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC or WDC&S, is an anthology comic book series featuring 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.

Dell Comics American comic publisher

Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium. In 1953 Dell claimed to be the world's largest comics publisher, selling 26 million copies each month.

Gold Key Comics company

Gold 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.

Initial collections

Additionally, during the company's first year, eight trade paperbacks called Disney Comics Album were published. These featured older stories, prefaced by opening editorials similar to the earlier Gladstone Comic Album series.

In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme, or an earlier mini-series.

  1. Donald Duck and Gyro Gearloose
  2. Uncle Scrooge and the Phantom of Notre Duck
  3. Donald Duck in Dangerous Disguise
  4. Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot
  5. Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers: The Secret Casebook
  6. Uncle Scrooge in Tralla-La
  7. Donald Duck in Too Many Pets!
  8. Super Goof — The World's Silliest Super-Hero!

Giant-sized seasonal specials included two issues apiece of Autumn Adventures and Holiday Parade, and one issue apiece of Spring Fever and Summer Fun. All of these titles were new to Disney and most were published only by them, with the exception of Spring Fever (revived by Gemstone Publishing in 2007-2008).

Gemstone Publishing comic book publisher

Gemstone Publishing is an American company that publishes comic book price guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Geppi in 1994 when he bought Overstreet.

Planned expansion

In this period, plans for expansion were announced. At one Comic Con panel, slides of a realistic European barbarian strip were previewed as one of many new titles in development. One planned imprint, Vista Comics, would showcase superheroes, many to be adapted from Disney films such as Tron and The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh , and was being developed by comic book writer and animated TV story-editor Martin Pasko. A second imprint, Touchmark Comics, was actually announced, with former DC Comics editor Art Young at its head. Among the scripts Touchmark acquired was Enigma by Peter Milligan and Sebastian O by Grant Morrison.

<i>Tron</i> 1982 science fiction hacker movie directed by Steven Lisberger

Tron is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as a computer programmer who is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer where he interacts with programs in his attempt to escape. Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, and Barnard Hughes star in supporting roles.

Martin Pasko writer

Martin Joseph "Marty" Pasko is a writer and editor in a diverse array of media, including comic books and television.

DC Comics U.S. comic book publisher

DC Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. since 1967. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, and produces material featuring numerous culturally iconic heroic characters including: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Nightwing, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Hawkman, Cyborg and Supergirl.

Editor-in-Chief Len Wein's Marvel Comics-esque approach to the Disney characters was criticized by many older Disney fans.[ citation needed ] The hiring of Wein has been championed by the comic book creative community as an alternative to the much disliked former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, who had made a favorable impression when interviewed by Disney management. [6] [ better source needed ] Prior to the launch of the comics division, Disney management proclaimed their intention to quickly become a dominant presence in the comic book market, competing with industry leaders DC and Marvel.

Len Wein American comic book writer and editor

Leonard Norman Wein was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men. Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.

Marvel Comics company that publishes comic books and related media

Marvel Comics is the brand name and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc., formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, a publisher of American comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide's parent company.

The "Disney Implosion"

These unreasonable expectations, coupled with poor sales, led to a mass cancellation in 1991. Echoing what had been called the DC Implosion of the 1970s, Duckburg Times editor Dana Gabbard dubbed this the Disney Implosion.[ citation needed ]Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, Uncle Scrooge, and Donald Duck Adventures were the only surviving titles.

Remaining titles

Following the implosion, the three titles continued being published along with an occasional mini-series based on a TV show or a movie. These included:

All plans for expansion, however, were cancelled. Editor Art Young moved back to DC, and many of the unpublished Touchmark titles were published as part of its new Vertigo imprint.[ citation needed ] Wein left and Marv Wolfman concentrated on being comics editor of Disney Adventures . In a mini-renaissance, editors Bob Foster, Cris Palomino, and David Seidman brought an appreciation of the classic Disney characters to the three continuing titles. Foster especially after a lifetime of involvement with Disney comic books and strips specialized in reprinting rarities even seasoned fans were unaware of. The Disney Studio finally decided to shut down its comic book publishing division in 1993.

Licenses

In 1990, the Disney subsidiary W. D. Publications, Inc. revoked Gladstone Publishing's comics license in order to create Disney Comics. [4] That same year, Gladstone was granted a new license to publish a series of softcover albums aimed at the collectors market, reprinting in color the stories of Carl Barks. After Disney Comics shut down in 1993, Gladstone regained the comics license for the classic Disney characters, which they resumed publishing until 1998, while Marvel Comics obtained the license for the modern Disney characters in 1994 and published them until they sold their rights to Acclaim in 1997. They licensed several properties such as Gargoyles and Tron to Slave Labor Graphics. In 2003, Gladstone reformed as Gemstone Publishing and once more published comics with the classic characters until 2008. Boom Studios has licenses for the classic cartoon characters for both new and reprint material, and previously held new material licenses for various Pixar and Muppet projects. Checker Publishing Group holds reprint licenses on comics material that Disney purchased from Crossgen.

Related Research Articles

Uncle Scrooge Adventures was a comic book published by Gladstone Publishing under license from the Walt Disney Company. It features the adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his nephews Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. It was usually distinguished from the main Uncle Scrooge title in its focus on longer, full-length stories, often in the pulp adventure style.

<i>Uncle Scrooge</i>

Uncle Scrooge is a comic book starring Scrooge McDuck, his nephew Donald Duck, and grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and revolving around their adventures in Duckburg and around the world. It was first published in Four Color Comics #386 March 1952, as a spin-off of the popular "Donald Duck" series and is still presently ongoing. It has been produced under the aegis of several different publishers, including Western Publishing, Gladstone Publishing, Disney Comics, Gemstone Publishing, Boom! Studios, and IDW Publishing, and has undergone several hiatuses of varying length. Despite this, it has maintained the same numbering scheme throughout its six decade history, with only IDW adding a secondary numbering that started at #1.

Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring characters created by The Walt Disney Company, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge.

<i>Donald Duck</i> (American comic book)

Donald Duck is an American comic book magazine starring the Disney character Donald Duck and published by various publishers since 1952.

<i>Donald Duck Adventures</i> comic book series

Donald Duck Adventures was a comic book series featuring the adventures of Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie.

<i>Mickey Mouse Adventures</i>

Mickey Mouse Adventures was a comic book first published by Disney Comics from 1990 to 1991. It featured Mickey Mouse as the main character along with other characters from the Mickey Mouse universe. Somewhat similar in style to the animated series DuckTales, it was based on the continuity of earlier print material starring Mickey, mainly Floyd Gottfredson's stories in the comic strip. These stories usually featured Mickey, with the help of longtime friends Goofy, Donald Duck, Pluto, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horsecollar, and Clarabelle Cow, having adventures in or out of Mouseton against adversaries such as The Phantom Blot, Big Bad Pete, Emil Eagle, and even newcomer villains like Wiley Wildbeest, Ms. Vixen, and Prince Penguin. The main feature was written by contemporary writers such as Michael T. Gilbert, Marv Wolfman, and others. The back-up features were reprints of classic Mickey Mouse comic stories. The comic ran for 18 issues from April 1990 to September 1991.

Disney's Comics in 3-D was a two-part comic book series made by The Walt Disney Company in 1992.

Donald Duck, a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company, is today the star of dozens of comic-book and comic-strip stories published each month around the world.

Walt Disney Giant was a forty-eight page, bimonthly Disney comic book published by Gladstone Publishing. It featured the adventures of Scrooge McDuck, his nephews, Mickey Mouse, and other Disney characters.

Only a Poor Old Man

"Only A Poor Old Man" is a 32-page funny animal comic book story written, drawn, and lettered by Carl Barks. It was published by Four Color #386 in the first issue of Uncle Scrooge. It was the first comic book story with Scrooge McDuck as its main character. The story has been reprinted many times. It was originally published with the one-page gag stories "Osogood Silver Polish", "Coffee for Two", and "Soupline Eight". Gemstone Publishing selected Poor Old Man for Free Comic Book Day 2005. Barks expert Michael Barrier has dubbed the story a masterpiece.

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion is a 2006 trade paperback by Don Rosa published by Gemstone Publishing for The Walt Disney Company.

David Gerstein is a comics author and editor as well as an animation historian. Gerstein has five books and countless comic book credits to his name. He has written many Disney comics stories. Past employments include Egmont Creative A/S, a Danish comics studio, and Gemstone Publishing. His current work is with various affiliates of Egmont, and Fantagraphics Books.

<i>Mickey Mouse</i> (comic book) work

Mickey Mouse is a comic book series that has a long-running history, first appearing in 1941 as part of the Four Color one-shot series. It received its own numbering system with issue #28 (1953), and is currently published by IDW Publishing.

Donald Duck Disney cartoon character

Donald Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is most famous for his semi-intelligible speech and his mischievous and temperamental personality. Along with his friend Mickey Mouse, Donald is one of the most popular Disney characters and was included in TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time in 2002. He has appeared in more films than any other Disney character, and is the most published comic book character in the world outside of the superhero genre.

Another Rainbow Publishing is a company dedicated to the re-publication and greater recognition of the work of Carl Barks that was created in 1981 by Bruce Hamilton and Russ Cochran. Its name references Barks's saying that there would be "always another rainbow" for his character Scrooge McDuck, which also became the title of one of Barks's oil paintings of the richest duck in the world. Its subsidiary division "Gladstone Publishing", founded in 1985, for non-Barks Disney comics several times throughout the 1980s and 1990s became the major to only publisher of Disney comics in the USA.

Andrew Cosby is an American comic book creator, film producer, and screenwriter. He is the co-creator of the hit SyFy TV series Eureka, and the co-founder of Boom! Studios.

References

  1. ↑ "W. D. Publications, Inc". Comic Book DB. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  2. ↑ "GCD :: Brand :: Disney Comics". Comics.org. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  3. ↑ "GCD :: Indicia Publisher :: W.D. Publications, Inc". Comics.org. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  4. 1 2 Gerstein, David. "Disney Comics: Back to Long Ago!" Comic Book Marketplace, Vol. 3, no. 103, June 2003, Gemstone Publishing, p. 52.
  5. ↑ "'Cars' Creative Team On Marvel's Pixar Move". comicbookresources.com. February 17, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Disney Adventures", Jim Shooter's blog
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