Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
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Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (WDC for short) is an anthology comic book that has an assortment of Disney characters, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Lil Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and others.
The precursor to WDC was Mickey Mouse Magazine (3rd series).[1] By the mid-1950s the title was the best selling comic book in the United States, with a monthly circulation of over three million.
The anthology format usually began with a 10-page story featuring Donald Duck and for most of the run ended with a serial or single story featuring Mickey Mouse. The most popular issues featured the Donald Duck 10-pagers written and drawn by Carl Barks who began the run with issue # 31 (April, 1943) and ended with original stories in issue #312 (September, 1966) but have been continually reprinted up to the present. Almost all of these stories co-starred Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, with frequent guest appearances by Bark's greatest creation Uncle Scrooge, as well as the Beagle Boys, Gyro Gearloose, and Gladstone Gander. More recently (issues #523 - present) a significant number of the duck stories have been written and drawn by Don Rosa. Many of the earlier issues featured Mickey Mouse serials by Floyd Gottfredson which were reprinted from newspaper daily comic strips; later Paul Murry took over the Mickey Mouse serials. Walt Kelly of Pogo fame did the cover art for many issues between #34 and #118 and provided interior art for issues # 34-41 and 43.
'Walt Disney's Comics and Stories has been the longest running Disney-based comic book in history, making it their flagship title. After reaching its 600th issue, it converted to prestige format and remains that way today.
[edit] Publication History
- Dell Comics (1940-1962) #1-264
- Gold Key Comics (1962-84) #265-510 (#474-510 under the "Whitman" name)
- Gladstone Publishing (1986-1990) #511-547
- Disney Comics (1990-1993) #548-585
- Gladstone Publishing (1993-1998) #586-633
- Gemstone Publishing (June, 2003-Present) #634-
