WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES #685 REVIEW

[Blake Petit]

Review by: Blake M. Petit Blake@comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: The Hada House and other stories

Will Donald and Daisy survive a Halloween fright night?

Writers: Marco Rota, David Gerstein, Romano Scarpa, John Clark, Pat & Carol McGreal, Carl Buettner, Carl Barks
Art: Marco Rota, Romano Scarpa, Vicar
Colors: Egmont, Fernando Ventura, Susan Daigle-Leach
Letters: Sue Kolberg, John Clark, Travis Seitler
Cover Art: Carl Barks
Publisher: Gemstone Publishing

Ah, October. A crisp, fall smell is in the air, pumpkins are appearing on every doorstep, and Gemstone is putting out Halloween issues of their Disney comics. It wouldn’t feel like Halloween without ‘em.

This year’s offering starts with Donald and Daisy Duck in “The Hada House” by Marco Rota and David Gerstein. On a creepy Halloween night, Donald and Daisy are run off the road and get stuck in the mud, forcing them to look for refuge in Duckburg’s creepiest mansion. To their surprise, the mansion is not abandoned after all, but inhabited by a suave, charming Count and his hunchbacked assistant. (If you can’t see where this is going, you haven’t watched enough scary movies.) Donald and Daisy wind up running for their lives when the Count’s secret is revealed, but there’s one more twist headed their way. This is a fine start to the issue – funny, wonderfully drawn, and it’s a Disney comic with a Rocky Horror Picture Show joke in it, for Heaven’s sake. You can’t tell me you don’t wanna read that.

“Transmutant Gifts” is next. Someone is sending gifts of small baby animals to the unsuspecting citizens of Mouseton, only to be caught in a pinch when they transform into large beasts. Leave it to our favorite everyman – er… everymouse – Mickey to try to hunt down the mad scientist responsible. A good little monster story that nicely puts Mickey in his normal hero role.

“Happy Birthday Times Three” is one of the few non-seasonal entries here, unless Huey, Dewey and Louie happened to be born on Halloween. At any rate, Donald’s nephews get upset when they realize that their classmates are looking forward to their birthday party because it’s always a “party times three,” and in a rare bid for independence, demand that Donald throw them each a separate party while the three of them each venture out on their own to try to make friends without their brothers. Poor Donald’s party-planning efforts are a wash, though, and (predictably) the boys learn that their new friends may not be all they’re cracked up to be.

The issue is rounded out with a pair of seasonal reprints. “Halloween Hog Tie” is this issue’s Lil’ Bad Wolf tale. His pop, Big Bad, decides he’s going to sneak into the Three Little Pigs’ Halloween party wearing his son’s costume. As usual, though, his plan winds up biting him on his Big Bad You Know What. Carl Barks’s wonderful “Jet Witch” rounds out the issue. Donald helps stir up the down of Duckburg against the sort of pranks and mayhem that Halloween brings, but neglects to stick around when the townsfolk decide on an alternative, so he spends Halloween night waiting in anticipation of havoc that may not come. And when Donald gets confused, he tends to create havoc of his own. Excellent story.

It’s hard to find something to dislike about this book – all good stories, and only the one non-Halloween happening to distract from the trick-or-treating mood. Nicely done.

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[ramapith]

Originally Posted by Blake Petit

“Happy Birthday Times Three” is one of the few non-seasonal entries here, unless Huey, Dewey and Louie happened to be born on Halloween.

October 17, 1937. We had an anniversary to commemorate. Close enough for you? (-:
Meanwhile, is Mickey really such an everymouse in Romano Scarpa's "Transmutant Gifts"? He has normal human limitations that at first lead him to setbacks solving the mystery, but he's got his two-fisted aplomb, too, when it's time to battle his rogues' gallery. A lot of everymice would run like rats out of hell from two fiendish cats with an infernal machine...
A moment of silence, by the way, for the final story both written and drawn by Romano Scarpa in his lifetime. He drew a few later for other writers, and he's got more than a hundred we haven't yet published in English; but speaking chronologically, "Transmutant Gifts" bookended an era. You'll be missed, maestro.

[Blake Petit]

Originally Posted by ramapith

October 17, 1937. We had an anniversary to commemorate. Close enough for you? (-:

I surrender! You win!

I didn't know that was Scarpa's final story, though. 'Tis indeed a shame.

[ramapith]

Pretty impressive career the guy had, though—a whopping 52 years. Unlike Barks, Scarpa never really retired; he reduced his output somewhat, but was diligently bringing his favorite ducks and mice to life right up to the end. What a trouper.