Oh My God: Walt Disney Comics Digest #22

Walt Disney Comics Digest #22

So, I’m continuing to try to collect all the old Walt Disney Comics Digests but slowing down a bit. This month I sent off for the June 1970 issue, #22, wondering what it would be like. It arrived today, I unpackaged it, opened the cover, and was completely gobsmacked.

It was better than any old issue that I had remembered. It was better than any old issue I had never seen. It was, in fact, an old issue that I had completely forgotten, but whose recognition came rushing out of the darkest recesses of my brain to greet it with delight!

Scrooge and Glomgold pile up their money to see who has the most, with Glomgold first cheating by ‘inflating’ his pile and then trying to shrink Scrooge’s. Madam Mim takes a genie’s place to give him a rest. Morty and Ferdie try to hoax Goofy with ‘Smart Apples’. Jiminy Cricket rescues a ladybug from a spider’s hole by climbing the sticky web with a gradated series of shoes. Minnie and Mickey use the old ‘who doesn’t touch it’ trick to catch a thief (saw that later on M*A*S*H). There's an adaptation of ‘Peter and the Wolf’, Daisy finds a mysterious ring and tries to make Donald jealous, Captain Hook enslaves Dumbo, and the Big Bad Wolf wins a medal for Champ Bad Guy that brings him trouble with the Wicked Witch.

I don’t remember the cover or the last three stories in the volume (Donald and Dimwitty, Chip and Dale with Micky camping, and April, May, and June taking on a dog watching business), which makes me wonder if, when we got it, the digest was already in a damaged condition (maybe it was given by a friend or a cousin or even bought at a garage sale). Or maybe it’s just been so long (52 years or so) that I can’t recall those details. But anyway, a little piece of my childhood is restored to my memories, and my collection gets one step closer to completion.