#IReadsYou Review: DONALD DUCK: MAGIC AND MAYHEM (Graphic Novel)

DONALD DUCK: MAGIC AND MAYHEM

FANTAGRAPHICS/Disney

STORY: Alberto Savini

TRANSLATION: Daniele Mittica

DIALOGUE: Joe Torcivia

PENCILS: Vitale Mangiatordi; Mattia Surroz; Emilio Urbano; Libero Ermetti; Mario Ferracina

INKS: Tommaso Ronda; Mattia Surroz; Roberta Zanotta; Stefano Porcu; Mario Ferracina

COLORS: Francesca Vivaldi; Annalisa Ferrari; Francesca Dramis; Connie Daidone

LETTERS: Paul Baresh and Ben Horak with Arancia Studio

DESIGN: Justin Allan-Spencer; C. Hwang

EDITOR: David Gerstein

COVER: Libero Ermetti with Arancia Studio

MISC. ART: Francesco D'Ippolito with Arancia Studio; Mirka Andolfo; Marco Mazzarello with Valeria De Sanctis

ISBN: 979-8-8750-0045-4; hardback; 6.9" × 9.3" (February 2025)

116pp, Color, $19.99 U.S.

Donald Duck: Magic and Mayhem is a 2025 hardback graphic novel starring Walt Disney's classic character, Donald Duck.  This book was published in March by Fantagraphics under their line of “Disney Originals.”  I think that “Disney Originals” are collections of new and recent comics starring Disney characters, likely originating from Europe.  This line is different from Fantagraphics' other line, “Disney Masters,” which reprints Disney comic books produced by comic book writers and artists from North America and from around the world who are considered masters storytellers in the Disney comic book tradition.

2024 was the 90th anniversary of Donald Duck's first appearance, which occurred in the 1934 animated short film, The Wise Little Hen, which was part of Walt Disney's “Silly Symphonies” line of animated shorts.  1934 was also the debut of the black and white animated short film, Orphan's Benefit, which introduced Donald as the comic foil of Disney's headline character, Mickey Mouse.

In 2024. a quintet of European Disney modern comics masters (likely all Italian) produced a suite of Donald Duck stories to celebrate his anniversary.  The plots kicks off with Donald finding himself having a hard time, but fate downloads an unusual app onto his smartphone.  When activated, the app frees the “Smartphone XL-Genie,” and this genie tells Donald that he will grant him one wish (and only one wish) each day.  With the words “App-Racadabra!,” Donald can experience his fondest dreams and wackiest wishes.  Will Donald's own foibles and imperfections, however, turn these fondest dreams into one nightmare scenario after another?

The five stories included in Donald Duck: Magic and Mayhem are as follows:

Chapter 1: “App-Racadabra!”

Chapter 2: “The Price of Fame”

Chapter 3: “Keep Perfectly Calm!”

Chapter 4: “How Hard Can It Be?”

Chapter 5: “The Luckiest Duck in the World”

Donald Duck: Magic and Mayhem also stars Uncle Scrooge McDuck, Daisy Duck, Cousin Fethry Duck, and, of course, the nephews:  Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  [I have to add this note.  This graphic novel is my first encounter with “Fethry Duck,” a character that apparently debuted in 1964!]

THE LOWDOWN:  I have been reviewing various Disney comic books produced by American publisher, Dynamite Entertainment, most or all of which I assume are American originals.  I almost always get a lot of visits and even more hits on my blogs when I review Disney films and publications, which is also the case with the Dynamite titles.  I decided to see if I would have similar luck with a Fantagraphics Disney title.  After discovering the existence of Donald Duck: Magic and Mayhem, I used some Amazon gift card credit and purchased it.

Editor David Gerstein offers an excellent short “Foreword” to Donald Duck: Magic and Mayhem.  In it, he talks about the way Disney has portrayed and depicted Donald for the majority of his existence.  Donald wants to lead a normal life, but finds himself involved with adventure that often becomes misadventure.  He is beset by bad luck, but he also usually seeks the easy way out.  He assumes that he can do anything, which inevitably leads to more dramatic disasters.  And as everyone who has ever seen him in film, television, and/or comic books knows, Donald is – as Gerstein puts it – “recklessly feisty and 'wreck-lessly' cranky.”

In the opening story, “App-Racadabra,” Donald gets in trouble merely because he wants to test his pancake-making meddle against the vlogger, “Doug Delish.”  The problem is that Donald is trying to make his magical recipe and Doug's at the same time.  Disaster ensues, and that's where the Smartphone XL-Genie comes into the story.  Afterwards, Donald uses the genie to fix things that he broke or to make himself better.  I am not spoiling things by telling you, dear readers, that this all leads to Donald learning that he really just needs to be himself.  This happens in this graphic novel's final tale, “The Luckiest Duck in the World,” the only one of the five tales that actually pits Donald against Uncle Scrooge.

I feel that I've spoiled enough.  What I want to tell you is that is if you love Donald Duck and/or Donald Duck comic books, this book is a treat that your imagination will want to have.  It's also a steal at the cover price of $19.99.  The creative teams that produced these five tales are true practitioners of the art and magic of Disney comics.  I found myself engrossed in these stories, especially the final one, and the art and colors are superb and look and feel like they belong in classic Disney comics.

I envy the readers in Europe who get to see these comics first, but I am glad that Fantagraphics is brings these “Disney Originals” to North American readers.  Please, support high-quality American graphic novels, and buy this or any of Fantagraphics' other Disney publications.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Fantagraphics Disney books and of Disney comic books in general will want to read Donald Duck: Magic and Mayhem.

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

DONALD DUCK: MAGIC AND MAYHEM is available at Amazon.

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#IReadsYou Review: DUCKTALES #1

DUCKTALES No. 1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Joe Caramagna
ART: Luca Usai; Gianfranco Florio
COLOR: Giuseppe Fontana; Giuseppe Fontana and Dario Calabria
LETTERS: Tom B. Long
COVER: Marco Ghiglione
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Marco Ghiglione; Jeff Smith
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (September 2017)

“DuckTales” was an animated television series that ran from 1987 to 1990.  Produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and Tokyo Movie Shinsha, DuckTales was syndicated to American local television stations and ran for 100 episodes.  The series also yielded a theatrical spin-off movie, DuckTales The Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp.

DuckTales was inspired by and based upon the Uncle Scrooge comics book and other comic books set in the world of Donald Duck that Carl Barks, legendary comic book writer-artist, created mainly from the early 1940s and into the 1960s.  DuckTales proved to be a popular TV series, and within a year of its TV debut, comic books based on DuckTales began to appear.

From 1988 to 1991, there were two DuckTales comic books.  There was a “DuckTales” children's magazine published by Disney, and it featured DuckTales comics.  The digest-sized Disney magazine, Disney Adventures, that included DuckTales comics from 1990 to 1996.  Cable network, Disney XD, revived “DuckTales” in 2017 in a slightly rebooted animated series.  That means that DuckTales returns to comics in a new comic book series from IDW.

DuckTales #1 features two stories.  In “The Chilling Secret of the Lighthouse,” Donald Duck takes a job as a lighthouse keeper, but the lighthouse is in a small desert town.  Now, Donald's three nephews:  Huey, Dewey, and Louie have found out that the legend about a lost underground river may be true.  In “The Great Experiment of the Washing Machine,” the nephews find misadventure in a den of absent-minded professor-inventor-scientist types.

Artist Luca Usai and Gianfranco Florio turn out some nice quirky, modern comic book cartoon art for DuckTales.  Their lite version of the post-new wave, alt-comics graphics is spry and energetic.  The colors by Giuseppe Fontana and Dario Calabria are sharp and keep the art from looking like typical Disney-style comics art.

As for the stories, Joe Caramagna writes both of them.  Both are good ideas, but don't work as 11 and 12-page stories.  Caramagna understands the spirit of Carl Barks and of DuckTales, but is unable to execute the stories as tales of adventure, mystery, and imagination.  They are just not long enough, and are therefore, underdeveloped.  I see DuckTales #1 as a primer for what I hope is to come – 20+ pages stories that recall the Uncle Scrooge comics of Carl Barks.

6.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: UNCLE SCROOGE #1

UNCLE SCROOGE #1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITERS: Rodolfo Cimino; Alberto Savini; Romano Scarpa and Luca Boschi
PENCILS: Romano Scarpa; Andrea Freccero
INKS: Giorgio Cavazzano; Andrea Freccero; Sandro Del Conte
COLORS: Digikore Studios; Disney Italia with David Gerstein; Disney Italia with Digikore Studios
LETTERS: Tom B. Long
TRANSLATION: Jonathan H. Gray; David Gerstein
DIALOGUE: Jonathan H. Gray; David Gerstein; Joe Torcivia
COVER: Giorgio Cavazzano
VARIANT COVERS: Derek Charm (subscription cover); Andrew Pepoy (RI cover); Giorgio Cavazzano (RE cover)
48pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (April 2015)

Scrooge McDuck is the maternal uncle of Walt Disney's Donald Duck and the grand-uncle of Donald's three nephews:  Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  Scrooge is the wealthiest person in the world (of Disney characters and stories), but he is quite thrifty, although for a long time, he could be described as a miser.  Scrooge McDuck was created by legendary comic book writer-artist, Carl Barks (who was named a “Disney Legend”), and he first appeared in Four Color #178 (Dell Comics).  Four Color Comics was a classic comic book series in which many Disney characters appeared.

Scrooge McDuck received his own comic book title, Uncle Scrooge (stylized as Uncle $crooge).  The first issue of Uncle Scrooge was Four Color #386 (cover dated: March 1952).  During a period of just over seven decades, several publishers and imprints have published Uncle Scrooge, including Gold Key Comics, Gladstone Publishing, and Disney Comics (now defunct), among others.

The latest American publisher to take on the license to publish comics featuring Walt Disney characters is IDW Publishing.  The publisher's Disney's comics will apparently reprint “classic stories” and offer new stories.  In April of this year, IDW started off its Disney publishing initiative with Uncle Scrooge #1, which is Uncle Scrooge #405, using a legacy numbering system that includes all the issue of the Uncle Scrooge comic book published in the past by various publishers.

Uncle Scrooge #1 reprints three stories, which I assume were first published in Europe, likely Italy, going by the names of the writers and artists.  Two are full-length stories, and a third is a single-page comic.  In “Gigabeagle: King of the Robot Robbers,” Scrooge McDuck frets because it has been several months since he has heard from the Beagle Boys.

The Beagle Boys are the criminal gang that is constantly launching plots and schemes to rob Scrooge of his money.  When he doesn't hear from them for a long period of time, Scrooge worries that they are plotting a particularly devious (and potentially successful) plan to get his money.  Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie take their Uncle Scrooge on a camping outing so that he can relax and forget about The Beagle Boys.  Then, Donald sees what can only be an apparition, a giant Beagle Boy...

In “Stinker, Tailor, Scrooge and Sly,” Uncle Scrooge is beset by a thief who keeps breaking into his home to steal Scrooge's trademark red frock coat.  After one of the theft attempts ends with the coat damaged, Scrooge visits “La Belle Brigitta,” a sewing boutique owned by Brigitta MacBridge, who has a mad crush on Scrooge.  However, Brigitta has a new minority business partner, Jubal Pomp, and they have plans for Scrooge, even as the thief continues to stalk the now-damaged frock coat.

I bought IDW's Uncle Scrooge #1 for two reasons.  It was a first issue, and it was a first issue of a comic book series (Uncle Scrooge) that I once read on a regular basis (even religiously) for about a decade.  I did not expect much from it.  I still like comics featuring classic Disney characters, but not enough to read them as much as I did in my younger days.  I was a bit miffed that this first issue did not even include a reprint of a Carl Barks story – Barks, the man who created Scrooge McDuck!

Well, it didn't matter.  The two main stories in Uncle Scrooge #1 are quite entertaining.  Romano Scarpa, the artist for both stories, recalls Carl Barks with his lively, energetic compositions.  If comics are composed of a series of static drawings, there is nothing in any panel that Scarpa draws for these two stories that seems static.  There is sense of movement; characters are moving with zip and arguing with zest.  These are stories of action and imagination.

Uncle Scrooge #1 is the kind of return that bodes well for IDW's foray into Disney comics.  I enjoyed Uncle Scrooge #1 so much that I will take a look at other IDW Walt Disney comic books.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Fantagraphics Bookstore and Donald Duck Do Free Comic Book Day 2012

Fantagraphics Bookstore Celebrates Free Comic Book Day On May 5 with Classic Collectible Comix!

Don’t miss Free Comic Book Day at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle. On Saturday, May 5, the Georgetown shop will be giving away free copies of specially produced comic books by master cartoonists like Carl Barks, Crockett Johnson and, while supplies last, the coveted Unseen Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz.

Celebrating its 10th year in 2012, the annual Free Comic Book Day promotion is a national effort on the part of publishers and retailers to attract new readers to the medium as well as show appreciation to loyal customers.

Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books offers two new titles for Free Comic Book Day this year, appealing to readers of all ages. Donald Duck Family Comics features 34 pages of full color comics by the great Carl Barks. Join Donald, his nephews, Uncle Scrooge and others on amazing adventures in some of the most acclaimed comics ever created. Also in store is Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley by Crockett Johnson. This rollicking strip follows the tyke Barnaby and his mischievous fairy godfather Mr. O’Malley. These wonderful cartoons will soon be collected in a handsome edition by Fantagraphics Books.

The first 50 customers at Fantagraphics Bookstore on May 5 will receive a free copy of Unseen Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. This delightful edition serves as both an introduction to the classic strip and a treasury of fascinating oddities designed to appeal to even the most fervent Peanuts fans. First issued by Fantagraphics Books for Free Comic Book Day five years ago, Unseen Peanuts became an instant collectible.

Fantagraphics Bookstore is located at 1201 S. Vale St. (at Airport Way S.) in the heart of Seattle’s historic Georgetown arts community. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110.

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I Reads You Review: UNCLE SCROOGE #401

"Graphic Novelistic"

UNCLE SCROOGE #401
BOOM Kids!

CARTOONIST: Don Rosa
LETTERS: David Gerstein
COVER: Don Rosa with Jake Myler
24pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (March 2011)

Way back in my early college years, some comic book reading friends introduced me to Carl Barks. Barks was a Disney Studio illustrator, but he became famous as a comic book creator. Barks invented the town of Duckburg, where Donald Duck and his three nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie live. Barks created Donald’s tight-fisted uncle, Scrooge McDuck and McDuck’s frequent adversaries, the Beagle Boys. Known as “The Good Duck Artist,” Barks also created many other characters that populate Donald Duck’s world, including Gyro Gearloose and Magica De Spell, among others.

Many readers consider American comic book artist Don Rosa as the heir to Carl Bark’s legacy. Rosa burst unto the scene with his Scrooge McDuck story, “The Son of the Sun,” which was first published in Uncle Scrooge #219 (cover date July 1987; Gladstone Publishing). The now-retired Rosa apparently idolizes Carl Barks (who died in 2000), and Rosa does indeed build almost all his stories on characters and locations that Barks invented. Many of those stories contain references to some fact pointed out in a Barks story, and Rosa has even created sequels to old Barks stories.

Still, Rosa is also a great talent, and he was one of the best cartoonists working in comic books over a period of two decades from the time he began drawing Uncle Scrooge stories until his retirement back in 2007. One of Rosa’s exceptional stories is “The Universal Solvent,” a 1995 Uncle Scrooge story. First serialized in Denmark, “The Universal Solvent” made its U.S. debut in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #604, the story was reprinted this year in Uncle Scrooge #401 (cover date March 2011).

The story begins when Gyro Gearloose invents “the universal solvent,” which is a solution that can dissolve anything, for Scrooge McDuck. The bad thing is that this solvent, which Scrooge gives the trade name, “Omnisolve,” actually works. Scrooge wants to use it to create deep mine shafts in which he can mine “super-pure, flawless diamonds,” and to that end, he drops some Omnisolve on the ground.

Before long, Omnisolve is dissolving its way to the center of the Earth, which precipitates a crisis that could destroy the world. To clean up his mess, McDuck leads a team which includes Donald Duck and the three nephews: Huey, Dewey, and Louie on a mission that resembles the events depicted in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. Now, can the Ducks save the world?

Like Carl Barks, Don Rosa can create comic book stories of 20 or so pages that could easily be stretched to three times the size. In “The Universal Solvent,” Rosa crams in enough drama, twists and turns, scenes, sequences, and set pieces that it reads like a graphic novel of at least 100 pages in length. This rousing adventure is an excellent read, and I hated getting to the last page.

As usual, Rosa’s strong drafting skills shine through; his meticulous line work and his subtle crosshatching create the most gorgeous, almost jewel-like compositions. The understated touches, like the use of light to create shadows, are the things that always capture the eye. The contraptions, sets, and the windstorms that the vacuums create in the story attest to the fact that Don Rosa is a great Duck artist and is certainly one of the best cartoonists of his time.

A-