ROGER’S COMIC RAMBLINGS: THE library OF AMERICAN COMICS/IDW’S WALT DISNEY’S SILLY SYMPHONIES: THE SUNDAY newspaper COMICS

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Roger Ash

by Roger Ash

Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies: The Sunday newspaper Comics Vol. 1

The library of American Comics as well as IDW just recently completed their Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies: The Sunday newspaper Comics volumes which gather all of the Silly Symphony comic strips. The series had never before been collected in its whole as well as the four hardcovers include many strips that have not been printed since their original appearance. There’s a great deal of history in these volumes. There’s the very first Disney character produced for comics (Bucky Bug); the very first appearance of Donald Duck in comics; the very first appearance anywhere of Donald’s nephews Huey, Dewey, as well as Louie; comic strip adaptations of Snow White as well as the seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, as well as Bambi; work by Disney legends Al Taliaferro, Merrill De Maris, expense Walsh, Earl Duval, Paul Murry, as well as others; as well as much more. as well as finest of all, these strips are just ordinary fun.

Silly Symphony cartoons were originally a line of Disney animated shorts. They were set to music, were commonly based on fairy tales, as well as usually featured standalone stories as opposed to the continuing adventures of characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, as well as Goofy. They sometimes served as tryouts for methods or animation styles prior to utilizing them in animated function films. the most famous of the Silly Symphony cartoons is The three bit Pigs, one of the few in the series that had sequels.

The Silly Symphony comic strip begins with the adventures of Bucky Bug, a brand new character produced for the strip, with art by Al Taliaferro. Bucky got into all kind of adventures in Junkville with his sweetheart June, pal Bo, as well as others. the most unforgettable of these is war with the Flies, which features a moving story as well as stunning visuals. A conceit of the strip is that all the captions as well as dialog are in rhyme. perhaps it felt more like music if it was written this way? Bucky would ultimately move to comic book adventures, however he never ended up being an animated star. Bucky’s star shone brilliantly for a while, however he is not well understood today outside of Disney fans.

After the final Bucky strip, the series changed to adaptations of Silly Symphony cartoons. kind of. While sharing the exact same name, these are not strict adaptations. They share some story aspects however commonly veer off on their own storyline, making for something extremely different than what you see in the cartoons. A prime example of this is The Tortoise as well as the Hare which has next to nothing to do with the animation as well as is now a tale of mystery.

Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies: The Sunday newspaper Comics Vol. 2

It is these adaptations that lead to Donald Duck’s very first comic strip appearance. Donald very first appeared on screen in the Silly Symphony animation The smart bit Hen. So it comes as no surprise that Donald’s very first comic strip appearance is in the adaptation of that cartoon. A few years later, Donald would take over the Silly Symphony strip for a number of months as a tryout for his own comic strip. It was during this run that we very first satisfied his sister’s three sons Huey, Dewey, as well as Louie.

After Donald departed for his own strip, Disney celebrated the release of their very first animated function film with an adaptation of Snow White as well as the seven Dwarfs. Not only is it a first, however the art looks extremely different than usual as routine artist Al Taliaferro stepped aside for this tale lavishly illustrated by Hank Porter. Taliaferro would not be on the strip much after Snow White as his focus would shift to the Donald Duck everyday as well as Sunday strips. This was a momentous modification as he had been with the strip since its beginning almost 4 years earlier.

Another major modification occurred as the Silly Symphony cartoons ended and, as an obvious result, so did their adaptations. The final adaptation was a short, four week version of The ugly Duckling. however that was far from the end of the strip. Adaptations of Pinocchio as well as Bambi complied with as did a number of fascinating strips. There’s a series of Pluto strips that are rather funny as well as hint at what might have occurred if he had been provided his own strip. bit Hiawatha, a native American character from a Silly Symphony animation of the exact same name, took over the starring function in the strip for eight months. These are all gag strips with a recurring cast of characters including his girlfriend, his rival, as well as his parents. As you may assumption from the name, this is not the most PC run of the comic.

Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies: The Sunday newspaper Comics Vol. 3

The last few years of the strip featured characters that may catch contemporary day visitors by surprise. very first up is Jose (Joe) Carioca, the parrot from Saludos Amigos as well as The three Caballeros. His adventures take location in South America as well as he always seems to be working a plan to get the girl, get the money, or, if possible, both. one of his adventures features a race against Panchito, the rooster from The three Caballeros. This foreshadows things to find as the strip concludes with Panchito as its star. The strips are fun with a few of my favorites centering on his connection with his horse. While they are not characters well kept in mind in the us today, Jose stays prominent in Brazil where he’s still featured in new comic book stories.

In a special treat for Disney fans, many of the Jose (Joe) Carioca as well as Panchito comics are drawn by Paul Murry, who is widely known as the artist for the prominent traditional Mickey as well as Goofy serials in Walt Disney’s Comics as well as Stories.

All four volumes include informative essays. These assist to location the strips in historical context, not only as to what was going on in the country as well as the world, however likewise exactly how they in shape into what was happening at the Walt Disney Studios. The reproduction of the strips is wonderful with art coming from the Walt Disney Archives as well as new coloring based on the original publication notes.

I truly enjoyed these four volumes. I understood Taliaferro’s Duck strips from reprints in Walt Disney’s Comics as well as stories as well as liked them long before I understood his name. His work has been overshadowed by Carl Barks’ comic book stories as well as I’ve always believed it was a pity that he never got his time in the spotlight. That’s altering some with these collections as well as the collections of the Donald Duck everyday as well as Sunday strips. It’s a genuine treat to see his early Duck strips right here in addition to so much more. The very first two collections, plus a bit of the third, are a testament to his talents as an artist.

I was pleasantly surprised by exactly how much I enjoyed the Bucky Bug strips. I checked out a few of his comic book adventures in Walt Disney’s Comics as well as stories as a youngster as well as discovered them a bit as well saccharine for my taste. however right here the stories have an edge that I don’t recall from those tales. Yes, they have their sticky wonderful moments, however there’s likewise action, adventure, as well as at times, a genuine sense of danger.

Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies: The Sunday newspaper Comics Vol. 4

As a Disney fan it was a genuine treat to get to checked out these comics, many of which have never been reprinted. finding something from Disney that’s new to me is always exciting. Yes, a few of the material is dated, however much of it holds up extremely well. It’s likewise an excellent look at what was going on at Disney in the ‘30s as well as ‘40s. So congratulations to The library of American Comics as well as IDW for bringing this part of Disney history to contemporary audiences in such lovely as well as informative collections.