That's What I Call "Being in Good Company"

If you really are "judged by the company you keep", then freeze-dry and bury me RIGHT HERE!  

IDW's DONALD AND MICKEY # 4 (on sale August 08, 2018) gave me quite the lift... and I don't mean the only by the great cover illustration for Casty's "Terrifying World of Tutor"!

Check out the line-up of creator names at the top...

"Castellan, Torcivia, Van Horn, Barks, Lustig, Jippes"! 

  
Um, folks... That's... Ya know, like... Andrea "Casty" Castellan, William Van Horn, the great Mr. Carl Barks, John Lustig, and Daan Jippes!  

Let alone the name of Walt Disney directly following this almost mythical gathering!  

...I feel like a pebble on this "Disney Comics Mt. Rushmore"!  

Yes, I know Mt. Rushmore honors FOUR US Presidents, and there are FIVE legendary Disney comics creators lumped together on that cover with li'l old me... but just "go with the bit"!  I'm on a roll, here!  

Or, if it were the REAL Mt. Rushmore, I would feel like a rock formation that, by some puckish design of nature, took the form of a nose hair on George Washington!  

I don't really know, but I suspect the algorithm employed by IDW for creator billing is something like "Original Writer, Artist, Translator" for the lead-story, followed by the same for backups - in order of story appearance in the issue!  

Given this issue's lead-story, Casty's "Terrifying World of Tutor"(translated and dialogued by yours truly), that WOULD put me in the # 2 position overall, but still...  

...I'll take it!  At least until someone comes along with some stone-cutting nose hair trimmers!  

Book Review: Disney Masters Mickey Mouse "The Delta Dimension" Romano Scarpa

In a word... yes!  

In two words... Yes! Yes!

In three words... YES!  YES!  YES!  

Do I make myself clear?  

Fantagraphics kicks-off its new Disney Masters line of hardcover collections with a true winner!

But, what is "Disney Masters"?  Allow me to quote from the back cover of the book...

"Fantagraphics' unprecedented new series, Disney Masters, brings you the work of the best Disney cartoonists from around the world - many in English for the first time."

Previously, Fantagraphics has brought us "Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse by Floyd Gottfredson", a heretofore "impossible dream" collecting all the years of Mickey Mouse newspaper strip continuities by the great Floyd Gottfredson - from 1930-1955!
 

This incredible effort was followed-up by similar collections of the comic book work of Carl Barks...

...And Don Rosa!

Not to mention E.C. Segar's POPEYE!

That is A LOT OF GREAT STUFF, folks! 

With the "Big Disney Three" of Gottfredson, Barks, and Rosa either under their belt, or otherwise ongoing, it is only natural that this extraordinary publisher turn its attentions to those other talents that have made the Disney comic the stuff of legends...

And, who better to feature in the inaugural effort than "The Maestro" himself - Romano Scarpa!  

In the pantheon of Disney comic creators, Italy's Romano Scarpa would rank third overall, directly behind the aforementioned Gottfredson and Barks - and his work was unquestionably influenced by both!

Indeed, while most creators would seem to have had a preference for "The Mickey Mouse Group of Characters" (as did Gottfredson, Paul Murry, Casty, etc.), or "The Donald Duck Group of Characters" (as did Barks, Rosa, William Van Horn, etc.) Romano Scarpa was an extraordinary creative force with both!

Mickey Mouse by Scarpa.

Donald Duck by Scarpa. 

Uncle Scrooge by Scarpa.

While I love 'em all, I feel Scarpa's best work was on Mickey Mouse... and three of Scarpa's very best Mickey Mouse adventures, from what the book notes as his "Golden Age" of 1953-1963, are found in this volume!  

True to the words of the back cover, two of these stories have never before been printed in American English... but, in order to include them, Fantagraphics MUST include our first tale - which HAS been printed in the USA... but only in DIGEST FORM, so it's still a great delight to read it in full size!

Without further ado, we open with "Mickey Mouse in the Delta Dimension" - Story and pencils by Romano Scarpa. Inks by Rodolfo Cimino.  72 Pages. Translation and dialogue by David Gerstein.  Reprinted from Italy's TOPOLINO # 206-207 (1959).

Freakish weather phenomena, like cotton candy snow and a precipitation of glowing lights, lead Mickey and the Mouseton Police to a mysterious blackmailer, who threatens that the next storm will be one of acid!  

The trail leads to a strange place called "The Delta Dimension" and to Mickey's old pal Dr. Einmug, from this ultra-classic Gottfredson tale - and his newest "discovery", the sentient atom-child known as "Atomo Bleep-Bleep"! 

  

The incredible places to which this tale takes us is proof-positive of the extraordinary imagination of Romano Scarpa.  Sorry... No Spoilers!  ...Awright... mebbe just this li'l one, eh?  

As a sequel to this unforgettable adventure, Scarpa gives us "Mickey Mouse and the Bleep-Bleep 15" - Story and pencils by Romano Scarpa. Inks by Rodolfo Cimino.  63 Pages. Translation and dialogue by Jonathan H. Gray.  Reprinted from Italy's TOPOLINO # 257-258 (1960).

Time has passed and the incredible little genius atom-boy "Atomo Bleep-Bleep" has not only adapted to life outside the Delta Dimension, but is visiting Mickey, and has become a playmate to Mick's nephew Morty.  

Like his mentor, Dr. Einmug, Atomo speaks with a German accent!

An accidental sneeze releases the force of Atomo's "Mesons" (a liquid force that he expels from his mouth - seen here from a different story)...

...And turns a toy rocket into a device that can travel at light-speed and "...steal the gravity and momentum away from any object it touches" - suspending said object (or person) in mid-air, mid-run, or mid-anything!  

Hey, I TOLD YA Scarpa had a great imagination!  

Needless to say, this device gets into the wrong hands, as so many super-scientific marvels are wont to do, and adventure ensues!    Again... No Spoilers!  Except the one I just showed ya below! 

By this time, you may be thinking that Atomo Bleep-Bleep is Romano Scarpa's own version of  "Eega Beeva", Floyd Gottfredson and Bill Walsh's eccentric source of miracles from the year 2447... and you'd be RIGHT!  

In our final story, lest you begin suffering from "Bleep-Bleep Fatigue", Atomo abruptly goes home to the Delta Dimension - not unlike the way Eega abruptly returned to 2477 in the original Gottfredson strip...

...Leaving Mickey to get on with our final adventure: "Mickey Mouse and the Fabulous City of Shan-Grilla" - Story and pencils by Romano Scarpa. Inks by Rodolfo Cimino.  65 Pages. Translation and dialogue by Dwight Decker.  Reprinted from Italy's TOPOLINO # 288-289 (1961).

Mickey's "Bleep-Bleep-less" adventure takes him on a treacherous journey to the supposedly-fictional-but-actually-real lost city of "Shan-Grilla"...
 

  ...Where he finds an "Old Friend" as the "New Guy in Charge"! 
 

  No more spoilers... except maybe this! 
 

 

 HOO-BOY! 

So, join Mickey, Minnie, and Peg Leg Pete...

...And Atomo Bleep-Bleep and Dr. Einmug...

...Oh, and did we mention Peg Leg Pete?  

  

...For the adventures of a lifetime, courtesy of the genius of Maestro Romano Scarpa...

...in Fantagraphics' Disney Masters Mickey Mouse "The Delta Dimension" Romano Scarpa!

As the back cover says: 

  

"It's Mickey Mouse at his crime-fighting and swashbuckling best!"

...And ain't that the ever-lovin' truth! 
 

While all roads may have led to Romano Scarpa in this perfect "first-of-series", Fantagraphics has some real treats up their "Disney Masters" sleeve!  If you can believe it, the NEXT VOLUME even TOPS THIS ONE!   

If you thought Romano Scarpa was something, wait until you get a dose of Luciano Bottaro!  

Contained herein is some of the WILDEST STUFF you've ever seen in a Disney comic!  And, if you've read as many of 'em as I have, you know that's quite a statement coming from me!  

I translated and dialogued the titular lead story, so I KNOW what's coming - and IT IS INCREDIBLE!  

The second and third stories in this volume are translated and dialogued by Jonathan Gray and Thad Komorowski.  So, if you like what we do at IDW, you'll love it here - combined, as it is, with the incredible creative energy of Luciano Bottaro!  

And, if you don't know the name of Luciano Bottaro BEFORE reading this book, you'll NEVER FORGET IT afterward!   

Indeed, following Bottaro, you'll need a full volume of "The Relative Sanity of Paul Murry's Mickey Mouse Serials of the 1950s", just to restore your equilibrium!  

On Sale December 20, 2017: DONALD AND MICKEY # 2 from IDW.

The next time you find yourself on a sinking ship (...and NEWS FLASH to Peg Leg Pete: YOUR SHIP IS SINKING!) don't run for the lifeboats before grabbing a copy of DONALD AND MICKEY # 2 from IDW to entertain you while waiting for rescue.  These unfortunate folks failed to do so - and LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!  

CLICK TO ENLARGE ALL ILLUSTRATIONS! 

In it you'll find the THIRD Donald Duck and Princess Oona story, written by Unn and Stefan Printz-Pahlson with still more superb art from the always reliable Victor Arriagada Rios (Better known as "Vicar") with American Localization by Yours Truly.  

Offering the third Oona story as the issue's lead feature seems a trifle odd to me, considering that her FIRST APPEARANCE in IDW's DONALD DUCK # 20, despite being the cover feature, was buried in the back of the book - as was Oona's SECOND APPEARANCE in IDW's DONALD DUCK # 21 - but who am I to argue!  

...Perhaps Oona had a little chat with the editors, and they saw it her way!  

Anyway, in "Working GRRRL!", Oona continues to wreak her own special brand of primitive havoc on Donald's once peaceful modern world to where Don vows to find her a job, which will lead to getting her own place to live!  

Needless to say, 12 pages of job-seeking joviality ensue!  

Next up is a wonderful tribute to Floyd Gottfredson and everyone who worked on Mickey Mouse comics from the 1930s thru the 1950s, including Carl Fallberg, Bill Wright, Don R. Christensen and many others!  

"Treasure Archipelago" is 16 pages (in two chapters) of true classic stuff with Mickey and Goofy in servitude on a ship commanded by Peg Leg Pete - who (yet again) claims to have gone straight! 

It is written and drawn by the great Marco Rota, with Translation and Dialogue by Jonathan Gray, who does "Classic Mickey" better than anyone!    

William Van Horn delivers one of his best stories in recent years with "Coff It Up!", where Donald and Neighbor Jones do battle over a winning lottery ticket!  

Finally, a REAL oddity!  An EEGA BEEVA SOLO STORY!  You KNOW I'm gonna love that!  

"Pocketful of Miracles" is written by the great Byron Erickson, who goes back with these comics to the very earliest days of what we call Gladstone Series One in the mid-eighties!  It is drawn by Fabrizio Petrossi.  

Eega, now far more acclimated to "our modern times", AKA "his past", as he's from the year 2447,  (all together now) wreaks his own special brand of futuristic havoc on the scientists who originally examined him in his Bill Walsh and Floyd Gottfredson 1947 origin story - and who have now forcibly taken him to conduct further research!  

This story makes for a nice "closing bookend" with the opening Oona story, as we have "characters out of their time" - one past and one future wreaking (all together now - again) their own special brand of havoc!

Only difference is that Eega is INTENTIONALLY heckling the scientists, a la Bugs Bunny, while Oona is simply and innocently doing her thing!  

So, hopefully by now, rescue has come to all of you of my "lifeboat legion" of readers, you've enjoyed reading DONALD AND MICKEY # 2 from IDW, and are ready to share your experiences in our Comments Section!  

Just remember, I do not speak for IDW, or anyone in its employ.  I speak strictly for myself as both a long-time fan and as a dialogue creator – and those opinions are strictly my own. 

Bon Voyage! Good Night! Sleep Tight! ...And Don't Let the Sharks Bite!