"At the End of the Quest, Victory"

 

              Walt Disney Comics Digest #31 (October 1971)

This morning, quietly unheralded on this damp, gray day, the dream of decades was at long last fulfilled. For many years just a wistful, vague longing, I have today fulfilled my desire to own all fifty-seven issues of Walt Disney Comics Digest (1968 – 1976). I ordered this last volume, #31, on November 30, as soon as I could, in the wake of last month’s fiasco. I still haven’t heard from THAT company about my complaints; I probably never will.

But #31 is here now, and all is well. It features, of course, the familiar tale of ‘Captain Hook and the Buried Treasure’ which I read in comic book form in the 2^nd Grade, and later when it was reprinted in the Gladstone Digest series. It is the familiarity of the story that somewhat muddies the water of memory.

Did we have this digest in the past, or at least read it somewhere? There are a few stories that seem to ring a distant bell: Scrooge lets Daisy and the girls use a repossessed ice cream truck to sell their cookies with disastrous results, Bongo tricks Lumpjaw into hibernating early, while on vacation Donald loses his wallet and he and the boys try to live off the land (this one seems very familiar), Gyro uses a wand to hypnotize sea creatures to do his bidding at a water show, Chip and Dale help the Aristocat kittens do a little growing up.

Others, closer to the end of the book, stir no memories at all: Practical Pig builds a super-fast brick-laying machine, Pluto finds a fledgling bird, Gus Goose and Dimwitty Duck try to renovate an old hotel infested with ‘varmints’, Ludwig Von Drake tries to make Gus a more efficient farmhand for Grandma, Mickey tries to sleep through a shark attack at the beach.

There are the usual ‘real life’ features that I probably wouldn’t have been too engaged by: a short life of Sam Houston, an article about pirates, the adventures of an African lion.

Did we used to have it? The question remains, at least until I can get some corroborating evidence. But what is sure is that I have it now, that the collection is complete, and that I can heave a deep sigh of contentment over the completion of a childhood dream. Time, once more, to crumble into dust.

Chilled With Disappointment

I fully expected to receive this issue (Walt Disney Comics Digest #31) today, thus completing my 40+ year-long dream of owning the whole run. I sat on the front porch in the brisk wind of the first really cold day of the year waiting for the mail to arrive, braced and invigorated by the weather. I thrilled to see the mail truck arrive and popped my head into the big house to get the key. There was a rather larger package than I expected, but it was obviously it. I took it in and opened it, breaking my old blue scissors in the process. My heart fell as I unwrapped the inner core. This is what I found:

It had been securely wrapped and was in excellent condition, but it was not what I had ordered and an issue I already had. For the first time this cold day, I felt chilled. I contacted my seller and told them what happened. I said I did not feel obliged to return their mistake, as the packaging was basically destroyed in the unwrapping, and that I expected them also to send me what I had ordered for no further money.  Whether they shall comply with my requests is a vexed question. In the meantime, my quest must go unfilled for a while yet. 

I know that technically I am not one whit the worse off than I was yesterday, but I let the anticipation of its arrival act as the impetus and the fuel for driving the early accomplishment of several tasks, so as to have more free time to bask in the experience. My hopes were raised, my mood elevated, only to be dashed against a brick wall. What had been shaping up to be a grand day has somehow been poisoned by the stymieing of what should be a trifling transaction. 

Penultimate WDCD Post

 

Walt Disney Comics Digest #38, December 1972

A little early for Christmas, but a little late for 1972! The acquisition of this comics digest means I'm just one away from fulfilling an age-old dream of mine, to own the entire run. I found this copy on eBay when Amazon had none available, and I must say it was delivered inexpensively, promptly, and in very good condition. As is evident from the cover, it is not only Christmas-themed but is also a not-so-subtle commercial for Disneyland, with Santa taking a couple of kids around the park for their holiday wish and telling them tales related to each section. 

 

A strange coincidence is that the first story (with Scrooge, Donald, and the Nephews) features a volcano that erupts with steam every time the tide comes in and douses the magma with seawater. Shades of The Rings of Power! Which shows that the showrunners write slightly less accurately than a comic book.

The other tales have the usual stable of Disney characters and their hijinks. Mickey and Goofy versus Pete, Chip and Dale versus Brer Fox, Captain Hook versus Santa Claus, and so on. To give some personal context, I would have been in Fourth Grade and the family still deep in the clutches of the JW's, and so had little to no chance of obtaining this volume at the time. But I have it now! And it looks like the last issue may come as early as this Saturday. We shall see.

New Arrivals, Old Survivals

 

Vaesen (2017) by Johann Egerkrans

"They may not look like us, but they are not of this world. They have many names and many guises. They are elusive, bewitching and dangerous." Some of these creatures appear all over Europe: ghosts, giants, dragons, trolls, werewolves and faeries. Others are endemic to Scandinavia, such as the Neck who rules the rivers, the nightly Mara, the Huldra who guards the forest, tomtar, mylings and many others. Author and illustrator Johan Egerkrans presents what he regards as the most important – and most fascinating – Scandinavian folkloric beings. This richly illustrated, well-informed collection, a bestseller in Swedish, is now available in English for an international audience.” – Amazon.

This has been on my Wish List for quite a while, and yesterday it came. A beautiful volume, this 158-page, 8.46 x 10.83 inch book sports a cloth-bound cover with an enamel inset that is redolent of a classic era of publishing and is most pleasing in the hand. While I turned its pages, I got a definite flash of the feelings I had when I first read Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee, and sure enough that book was listed (among many others) in the Bibliography. I do not mean that it copies it, but that it evokes the experience in its own particular style.  First published in Swedish in 2003, then in English in 2017, it has been around long enough to spawn a following and a popular RPG, also titled Vaesen. If you ever order it, be sure you get the right one.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #53 (June 1975)

Also arriving yesterday, Walt Disney Comic Digest #53. This late number in the series is again printed with the Whitman logo rather than the more specific Gold Key. It is touted as a Special Magic Kingdom Issue, with the stories all themed to the different sections of the amusement park. Advertising through Entertainment!

Donald and his Nephews take the battleship Columbia out on an ocean trip, with Donald trying to be an old time captain and not succeeding very well. Mickey and Goofy face the Blizzard Bandit on the Matterhorn; Scrooge and Gyro chase the Beagle Boys to Neverland where they have partnered with Captain Hook; Morty, Ferdie, and Pluto have adventures on Tom Sawyer Island; the Big Bad Wolf steals the rocket ship to the moon in order to fool and capture the Three Little Pigs; Minnie, Daisy, Clarabelle and Grandma Duck take an all-ladies cruise through Adventureland, and other such unlikely pairings and adventures take place in the Happiest Place on Earth. Also Paul Revere, Moby Duck and Dimwitty, and Goofy accidentally switches his Super Goobers with an old lady eating peanuts in the park.

Another step toward getting the whole run. Only two more to go!

Ever Closer To That Goal

 

Walt Disney Comics Digest #39 (Feb. 1973)

Donald gives a gorilla a haircut, Moby Duck gives us the Morse Code, polar bears at a lodge give Mickey and Goofy the business, Bucky Bug and Bo take off in a balloon, and Grandma Duck's cranky neighbor thinks she's sabotaging his hens!

Walt Disney Comics Digest #51 (Feb. 1975)

The Wicked Witch stoops to a new low and catches Chip and Dale (where'd her ambition go?); the Big Bad Wolf is evicted and tries building his own houses out of straw, sticks, etc., with ironic results; Goofy tries out his detective skills with the help of his nephew Gilbert. I remember when The Island at the Top of the World came out; it turned out to be the end of a certain era of Victorian/Edwardian 'steampunk' movies.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #55 (Oct. 1975)

A back-to-school themed issue, with various citizens of Duckburg teaching classes with Huey, Dewey, and Louis as the springboard for the beginning of each adventure. Young Sequoyah and Young Dick Turpin find their vocations early.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #56 (Dec. 1975)

Mickey and Goofy face "The Threat of the Stone-Eaters" in a four-part story; Bucky Bug and Bo find a "Ghost Ship"; Chip and Dale vie for the attention of Miss Chichi, who seems to ignore the dangers of the woods; Uncle Scrooge finds the Fountain of Youth, and all its drawbacks; Goofy and Gilbert dress as each other at a masquerade party and Goofy is accidentally summoned to work on a secret government rocket fuel project; Pluto contends with a bratty kid; and Grandma Duck contends with Gyro's new weather predicter and a cantankerous goat.

Dear 1970’s Bryan,

          You will be pleased to hear that yesterday (Monday Oct. 3, 2022) I got four more of the Walt Disney Comics Digests in the mail. You might especially be tickled that the earliest one (#39) dates from February 1973, right in the sweet spot of our Fourth Grade Renaissance. To give it some perspective, Susan wouldn’t even be born until that March!

The other three (#51, #55, & #56) are from the period when the series was winding down (February through December 1975) though #56 seems to rally quite nicely. They came out during the Briesemeister years. We never had any of these issues, so it’s all new to me.

Although I had ordered the four digests from three different companies on September 28, they all arrived at the same time. That left three issues unavailable from Amazon at the time of ordering:  #31, #38, & #53. Today after the delivery I checked again. Thirty-one was available but at a prohibitive price, Thirty-Eight was still unavailable, but Fifty-Three was there, at the quite reasonable price of $15, so I ordered it right away. It’s due on the 12^th.

Although I see the others are on eBay at very reasonable prices, I don’t know that I want to open that can of worms again. Which is a shame, because the pricey #31 is giving me vibes of familiarity. I seem to remember Tinkerbell blinding Smee with reflections off that golden ring she’s wearing as a tiara on the cover.

Anyway, I’m hoping that when (and if) I finish this collection and fulfill this long-held desire, it will help you to rest a little more easily, deep down there in the back of my memories.

Sincerely Yours,

    2020’s Bryan 

Walt Disney Comics Digest #52: Into the Archive

Yesterday (September 15^th) I returned from my doctor’s appointment to find that Walt Disney Comics Digest #52 (April 1975) had arrived, and sooner than I had expected. I eagerly brought it in and started to unwrap it, only to find it packaged more securely than a miser’s penny. As I finally, carefully, removed the last layer of wrapping, I began to notice a few odd anomalies.

A slight scuff on the cover drew my attention to the fact that it bore the Whitman impress rather than the more familiar Gold Key logo, as is shown in the picture here that I snagged off the internet. Now Gold Key is simply another division of Whitman, but it made me wonder what had gone on. Flipping it open, I also found that the inside covers were blank, without any of the advertising usually found there. Otherwise, the issue was still 128 pages for 69 cents, as was normal for the run at this time.

Inside, quite a lot is taken up with the Zorro story, a ‘live action-adventure type tale’ of the sort I never particularly cared for in the comics. I didn’t find the cartoon stories all that engaging either, but that could simply be because I’m a nearly 60-year-old grouch with no sentimental memories attached to them.

Super-Goof battles a scientific villain who steals his super-goobers; Donald tries to start a fix-it shop; Chip and Dale help Gramma Duck battle a thieving Pete; and Bucky Bug and the citizens of Junkville dealing with a sudden deep snow and an invasion of ants are among the better tales. There seems to be a drop in the graphic quality overall, not terrible but a noticeable simplification of the grade.

This acquisition leaves me with only five more issues to get to complete the entire run. Most of them are in the fifties, like #52 here. I hope they are of a better quality than this moderately bland offering, or it may leave the completion of the quest with a rather bitter-sweet tang in the feelings.

The Back Cover.

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.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #42: 50 Happy Years

 

The comic book adaptation of Mary Poppins takes 55 of the 128 pages of this edition and, in my opinion, did it right by not splitting it up between two issues, but only inside this one issue. This digest came out a mere nine years after the movie (August 1964 to August 1973) and only the next month from now the digest will be 49 years old itself. As an adaptation, especially of a musical, it is superior to most, neither skimping on the script or summarizing actions. The songs, while not including every lyric, are given sufficient length to indicate their importance to the plot. One can tell, whenever it was first produced before this reprint, that it was treated as one of Disney’s crown jewels and greatest successes.    

In the other 78 pages, Clarabelle Cow helps Clara Cluck with her weight problems; Jiminy Cricket and Chip and Dale stymie the Beagle Boys; Daisy tries to cheer up Gramma Duck by bringing the lucky Gladstone to her farm; Donald and the Nephews go hunting dinosaur bones; and Mickey attempts to make a picnic educational for Morty and Ferdie. Also, The Great Cowboy Race, Animals of North America, and The Great Camel Experiment. It’s just great!

I squeeze ever closer to my goal of having the whole run.

Hurrah and Haroo!

 

                      Walt Disney Comics Digest #14 (August 1969)

A very, very nice copy, both in condition and the quality of the art and stories. The tales are themed to the various areas of Disneyland: Donald and the Nephews struggle with the Beagle Boys on the river in Frontierland, Mickey and Goofy face off against the Wicked Witch who has set her sights on Cinderella and her castle in Fantasyland, Scrooge and Grandma Duck progress down Main Street, Chip and Dale and Jiminy Cricket go on safari in Adventureland, and Morty and Ferdie help the Three Little Pigs in Storybook Land. Also: Dumbo helps Madam Mim! Buck Duck rides again! Summer Magic (Part One)! And Windwagon Smith sails the prairies.

More "New" Digests, Just in Today!

Numbers 12, 19, and 20, now in the Archive! Settling down to peruse these perfect summer reads. My 'rewrites' might be a little late today.

The Mystery of the Ages is Accomplished ... Er, Kinda

 

Just got the two issues of Walt Disney's Donald Duck Comics Digest (#1 and #3) that I'd been missing since the Eighties. Now I just need to get all the missing issues from the old Gold Key Digests.

Present Mood

Just found out you can order old Walt Disney Comics Digests for quite reasonable prices on Amazon.

WDCD: Statistically Speaking

So, this is how the Walt Disney Comics Digest tally works out: we originally had fifteen scattered copies when we were kids; I bought thirty issues in the mid-Oughties that we never had (also replacement copies of the ones we used to have); and I need twelve more issues to complete the original run of fifty-seven.

Had: 1, 6, 16, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 41, 43, 48

Bought: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 21, 23, 24, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 54, 57

Don’t Have: 12, 14, 19, 20, 22, 31, 42, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56 

Walt Disney Comics Digests #51 - #57

 

                     Walt Disney Comics Digest #51 (January 1975)

Walt Disney Comics Digest #52 (April 1975)

Walt Disney Comics Digest #53 (June 1975)

                    Walt Disney Comics Digest #54 (August 1975)

                      Walt Disney Comics Digest #55 (October 1975)

                   Walt Disney Comics Digest #56 (December 1975)

Walt Disney Comics Digest #57 (February 1976)

I don’t remember seeing any of these issues back in the day; perhaps Baenziger’s, our usual supplier, no longer carried them; perhaps we simply averted our eyes because we could no longer expect such treats because we were growing up or getting poorer; it is even possible that our growing critical faculties may even have perceived the diminishment of an element of quality and decided to let them go by. All I know was that in those years I started middle school and life was suddenly about much wider things. A certain kind of innocence was left behind. A certain kind of wisdom was painfully begun.

As I say, we never had these issues at the time, and I only have two today (#54 and #57). What we can divine of most of their contents must be observed from their covers. But I think some attention must be paid to #57, this “Special Issue”, as the last in the series, and one that I do have.

It is labelled on the cover ‘A Year’s Supply of Fun’, perhaps because they knew there would be no more new Digests that year. The stories within are titled after the months themselves, going from “January Jimjams” to “December Dunking”. There is quite a lot of themed games, articles, and activities for each month, and much more about the astrological signs of each month than I would have expected (but this was the Seventies), and it ends with a calendar for the year 1976 (which was, of course, the Bicentennial year). Perhaps most significant for me is that it reprints ‘Bubble Trouble’, a little activity featuring Donald Duck that had appeared all the way back in Issue #1, thus bringing it all full circle.

That was the end of the Walt Disney Comics Digest original run. “If it has passed from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred…” But in December of 1986 (only ten years later, but it seemed an eternity to me) Gladstone Comics began publishing, of the same dimensions but at a slim 96 pages per issue, a new run of Walt Disney Comics Digest, along with three other digests featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Uncle Scrooge, a new volume published every two weeks! But that is a tale for another time …

Disney Digests: The End is Nigh

                      Walt Disney Comics Digest #46 (April 1974)

The Alice in Wonderland adaptation. Gyro invents a walking stick … that walks! Goofy encounters a sea serpent. And so much more. Didn’t have it; now I do.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #47 (June 1974)

Disney’s Robin Hood had come out in 1973; not only did we see it in the theater, we had the LP record. Note Donald Duck’s crossed eyes on the cover. What’s up with that? That’s not like Disney! Didn’t have this issue and now I do.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #48 (August 1974)

Now this issue we had, and if I remember correctly, it was the last one we ever got as kids. Possibly bought for camping or a trip to the beach. Scrooge buys a pearl of great price and almost loses it, Brer Rabbit has his doubts about astrology, Minnie and Clarabelle pick up a hitchhiker who isn’t what she seems, and Dan’l Boone and Little Hiawatha cross paths. And the price went up to 59 cents, and the page count is down to 128! Damn inflation!

Walt Disney Comics Digest #49 (October 1974)

No particular memories attached to this issue (didn’t have it then), though it does have the story of Stephen F. Austin. Otherwise it’s the usual hijinks with the Disney gang (and Bucky Bug).

Walt Disney Comics Digest #50 (December 1974)

And now it’s up to 69 cents! Although the theme of the Mouse Family Album seems vaguely familiar, I have my doubts somehow that we ever had this issue. It does contain the reprint of a story about the Reluctant Dragon meeting the three Fairy Godmothers from Sleeping Beauty, which I remember reading in a comic book at Nanny’s old beauty shop and coveting. Of course she wouldn’t let me have it. Business, not sentiment. 

Only seven more issues to go!

Walt Disney Comics Digests #41 - #45

 

                     Walt Disney Comics Digest #41 (June 1973)

Another themed issue, featuring stories with the Disney characters travelling along, giving shows, and encountering adventures, including attacks by Captain Hook, the Wicked Witch, and the Beagle Boys. True Life Adventures features a praying mantis encounter and cannibalism! Had and have.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #42 (August 1973)

Never had it and don’t have it yet. It would not have been appealing to us boys because we did not particularly care for Disney movies with actors and had no attachment to Mary Poppins. It seemed out of our wheelhouse at the time; too much musical whimsy. How tastes do change.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #43 (October 73)

Goofy and his Goof Cart feature in a series of adventures. We wanted a Goof Cart; it just seemed so doable and easy to handle and nicely eccentric. Also: April, May and June make a series of ‘themed’ cakes to win a contest (“Yummy, Mummy!”), Komodo dragons eat all the rats in True Life Adventures, Donald and the Nephews once more encounter a wayward parrot, and Gyro tries to relax and enjoy a Gyro Burger (which inspired our own version, the John Burger!). Had and have.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #44 (December 1973)

Just what it says on the cover (note the Ducks encounter another parrot!). Didn’t have it at the time.

Walt Disney Comics Digest #45 (February 1974)

Several circus or snow themed tales. Plus, Bucky Bug has a run of bad luck, Goofy tries to impress his nephew Gilbert as a detective, and this time Dumbo encounters the Seven Dwarfs and Willy the Giant! Didn’t have it then but now do.     

 

Also contemporary with the time: Susan was born in July. To put it in perspective, there were forty-one issues of Walt Disney Comics Digest between Kenny and Susan. Only around five years, but that was about half my lifetime!

Disney Digests: Lacuna Matata

 

                      Walt Disney Comics Digest #36 (August 1972)

                    Walt Disney Comics Digest #37 (October 1972)

                   Walt Disney Comics Digest #38 (December 1972)

                    Walt Disney Comics Digest #39 (February 1973)

                       Walt Disney Comics Digest #40 (June 1973)

The Comics Digests were shrinking in length, down to 160 pages from the 192 pages of Issue #1. Why was there such a big lacuna in publishing from February to June? Were they just gearing up and building suspense for that 50^th Anniversary business? All I can tell you is that I remember 1973 as a very ‘tinny’ sort of year, the year the Sordid Seventies really began to show their nature. We had none of these issues, and today I only have #37 and #40. Why the abrupt radio silence at the time? Perhaps inflation was starting to pinch; perhaps the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ ban on ‘worldly fun’ was cracking down in the family. That Christmas issue certainly wouldn’t fly under the circumstances!

Kurt Russell at the time was another one in Disney’s stable of young actors, in this instance meant to appeal to the teen crowd. His compromise appearance of a ‘wholesome hipster rebel’ made him an acceptable figure to a more cautious if still somewhat defiant middle class who wanted to know 'the kids were all right'. The future Snake Plissken made his way through such romps as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Barefoot Executive, and, as shown here, Now You See Him, Now You Don’t (among many others), modestly confronting all stuffy authority figures and making himself Disney’s top star in the Seventies. 

A Further Look into WDCD #32 and Gold Key Digest Ancillary Hoohah