Disney’s “Oswald The Lucky Rabbit” Returns In A New Comic Book
Peanuts,
Han Solo and The Chipmunks aren’t the only classic characters making a comeback
this holiday season.
Disney
has been quietly reviving Oswald The Lucky Rabbit – Walt’s original cartoon movie
star, before Mickey Mouse back in the
1920s – in various media since re-acquiring rights allowing them to do so back
in 2006.
Just in
time for holidays, IDW Publishing (current licensor of the Disney comic books)
has released this past week Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #726
featuring Oswald on the cover (by artist Amy Mebberson) and inside an eight
page story, “Just Like Magic”, written by IDW’s Archival Editor David Gerstein
and drawn by former Disney animator Mark Kausler.
What a
treat! This is funny stuff and affectionately written and drawn. Bravo to the
creative team of Gerstein and Kausler – both are dyed-in-wool Oswald fanatics
and this comic strip tribute shows it.
Originally
created for a Norwegian Disney Christmas annual Walt Disney’s Julehefte
in 2011, this IDW publication marks “Just Like Magic” first US publication.
Here are
the first three panels (to whet your appetite):
Though
Oswald had been featured in Walter Lantz comic books in the 1940s and 50s –
this is the first time, apart from Epic Mickey video game spinoffs, the Disney version/1920s persona was ever captured for the
comics page.
IDW’s
monthly Disney comics can be ordered online from various sources, as well as
found at most larger comic shops. IDW also publishes trade paperback reprints
of its Disney comics, aimed at Amazon and regular bookstores, each trade
paperback collecting three issues’ worth of comics. In a few months, the Oswald
story will be reprinted in this one.
The Disney
Comics line includes Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Uncle Scrooge,
Donald Duck, and Mickey Mouse, all published on a monthly basis, put
together for IDW by Sarah Gaydos, Editor, and David Gerstein, Archival Editor,
with a team of domestic translators/writers that includes Jonathan Gray, Thad
Komorowski, Joe Torcivia, Gary Leach, and Maura McManus.
