IDW sort of hinted at this back at NYCC, when they announced an Artists Editions of the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa. At the retailer meeting, Dirk Wood said, in that special way of his, something along the lines of “There will be more coming from IDW and Disney.” which at the time was a pretty clear indication there would be…more.

And so there is, and they mentioned it again in the fall but no one noticed. And now they just slyly let it out in the April Solicitations.

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Uncle Scrooge #1—GEM OF THE MONTH

Jonathan Gray, Rodolfo Cimino (w) • Romano Scarpa (a) • Giorgio Cavazzano (c)

Wak! Disney’s richest epic hero returns! In “The Wrath of Gigabeagle,” the McDuck Money Bin meets a monster-sized Beagle Boy mech!

FC • 48 pages • $3.99

Uncle Scrooge #1—Subscription Variant

Jonathan Gray, Rodolfo Cimino (w) • Romano Scarpa (a) • Derek Charm (c)

FC • 48 pages • $3.99

 

Uncle Scrooge #1—Blank Sketch Variant

Jonathan Gray, Rodolfo Cimino (w) • Romano Scarpa (a) • Blank Sketch Variant (c)

FC • 48 pages • $3.99

 

Bullet points:

  • Monthly Disney Comics are back, from IDW!
  • Fan-favorite creators: Romano Scarpa (legendary Italian Uncle Scrooge master), Jonathan Gray (Sonic the Hedgehog) and more!
  • Capcom’s recent DuckTales: Remastered video game has brought Scrooge McDuck back to Disney stardom. See what all the quacking is about!
  • 48 action-packed Pages for only $3.99!

And with this ad in Previews:
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Mickey Mouse! And Donald Duck! As noted by Graeme McMillan IDW is great at picking up licenses that their owners don’t want to put out, as they also publish Cartoon Network books, which are owned by Warner Bros.

Based on the first book, IDW seems to be taking the tried and true method of picking up some of the gazillions of pages of Italian Disney material and bringing it to the US. And everyone loves Romano Scarpa.

This leaves Marvel putting out ride-related titles such as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the somewhat mysterious Joe’s Books putting out Darkwing Duck and Frozen, and Disney itself doing the odd graphic novel like Space Mountain. And no one particularly trumpeting it from the rooftops, except Fantagraphics with their awesome Barks and Gottfredson reprints. But at least IDW is picking up Walt Disney Comics and Stories right where it left off (at Kaboom) with issue #721.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Pleased to see they’re picking up the old WDC&S numbering: that’s an important connector to comics’ past. The title didn’t have whole numbering until #124, when Dell surrendered to whole numbering (as opposed to volume-issue numbering as with other magazines); that was one of the many little moments when publishing comics grew distinct from the rest of magazine publishing.

  2. A few points:
    Disney licensees do not pay any reprint royalties. There’s less risk for a publisher.
    They also have very good archives, making it easier to collect stories. (Much of Fantagraphics Gottfredson archives were already produced in Italy.)

    Who controls the digital distribution? Disney has a decent comics app run by Disney Italia.

    Looking at the upcoming (12?) titles from Joe’s Books, they seem to be movie and TV properties.
    Hermes reprinted Toth’s Zorro strips in 2013, so add them to the list.

    Will someone PLEASE print this as a comic book?!? Make it a convention exclusive if necessary!
    http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=ZT+104

    Might we see original Disney comics based on Disney XD properties? IDW seems to know how to create and sell original material based on licensed characters, so why not Star Wars Rebels? Gravity Falls? Wander Over Yonder?

    Marvel seems to have kept control of the Disney Kingdoms titles. I expect an Epcot tie-in with Tomorrowland. (The parallel universe looks a lot like Walt’s original plan for the Florida project.)
    Marvel could also rework the “Vista/Kingdom Comics” initiative, developing Disney’s live-action heroes into comics series.

    (Also… are the Marvel titles produced by Marvel, or by Disney Publishing Worldwide and the Italian studio?)

    Here’s hoping some of the Marvel Disney comics from the 90s get collected, whenever Disney reissues a movie. There’s some interesting backstory in Beauty and the Beast.

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