I bought Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #741 from Comixology the other day. For $4 cheaper than cover price. I like the idea of WDC&S, but I don't buy it very often. For one thing because it's $5.99 on the stands. For another thing because they don't usually print stories by people that I'm familiar with. But last week was a light one at The Great Escape, so I looked harder at the kiddie rack, and when I saw WDC&S #742 I picked it up and had a look. The lead story was a Mickey Mouse adventure in which Mickey, Goofy, and another character I'd never encountered before went in search of Atlantis. Mmm-hmmm. Speaking of, if you like the genteel, pablum spewing idiot Mouse of recent vintage, then this is not the rodent you're looking for. This Mickey Mouse is actually kind of a bad ass. And you know...that's the way it was forty or fifty...well, maybe it was even sixty or seventy...possibly eighty...years ago. Mickey was a slam bam adventure man. And that's what this story looked like to me. But it was part two. I did a quick run through the store to see if there was a copy of #741 to be had, but there wasn't. So I put that lone copy of #742 back onto the rack and resolved to look on Comixology for both issues.
And wonder of wonders, I actually remembered to do it when I got home. And, much to my delight, it had a list price of $1.99...and was also subject to a little discount as I am still a Comixology Unlimited member. They also had issue #742...for $2.99...but I decided to see if I liked the first part before I went the whole hog.
And?
Oh, man, what a great story. There were a few moments of European awkwardness, but this was quite a thrilling little adventure story...and with a pretty high intellectual content for a kiddie comic. For instance...the titular Eye of Fire was referenced in the context of Jewish, Egyptian, Mexican, and Celtic mythologies. And it seemed pretty real to me (always a good sign in a story, whether it actually is real or not), so I had to Wikipedia a bit of it. And? They were real, man.
There was also a mention of a Lake Tritonis in Africa...which I Googled, and yep, that was a real thing, too. And in the story a mishap with that lake leads to an explanation of The Flood, and that lead to brief references to flood stories appearing in various different mythologies. It also lead me to find a Dave Brubeck album of that title, which I listened to and enjoyed immensely. And when I examined the fine print on that video, I saw that it was just posted on YouTube two days ago. So how's that?
And as if that's not enough, there was also a satiric jibe (not an unkind one) at Tom Cruise and Mission: Impossible (Tom Snooze, Mission Implausible)...and there were 42 story pages....
So of course I bought part 2. I probably could have waited a few weeks and got it for a buck cheaper, but I wasn't wanting to wait.
And? It was as good as part 1. Also had a nice little bit about the media and "truth" which seemed very topical. Check this out:
Hells, yeah. I don't know if all of the stories in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories are as good as this one, but you know what? Ahmo be checking next time it comes out. And if I see the name Andrea "Casty" Castellan on a story (story and art, by the way), I am going to be buying it. Matter of fact, I think I'm going to go look for some more of his stuff right now.
You come too.
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