Monday 26 April 2010

BRITISH-MADE PINOCCHIO GAG COMICS



The longest-running British-made gag comics series to start in Britain's Mickey Mouse comics magazine would be 'Pinocchio'. It started in no. 495 (dated July 9th, 1949) as a single-row strip spread over the top rims of the two central pages (scan above is broken into two due to limitations of my scanner) after the end of 'The Reluctant Dragon' strip. Soon, it would be reformatted as in the below scan from no. 500:

Later, it would be reformatted once again, this time as two-columns, and continue until 1953.
In 1975, another apparently British-made Pinocchio gag comics series would appear in The Wonderful World of Disney magazine under the title of 'The Playful Pranks of Pinocchio'. The Wonderful World of Disney Annual 1977 also included an installement of 'The Playful Pranks of Pinocchio', whose original art scans are below:

2 comments:

Tarrah Betts said...

I realize that this comment isn't about your post but I could find no email address to write to you in regards to this query.

I have a 1932 Mickey Mouse Annual published by Musson Book Company. From what I can gather, it seems to be a rare book. A dealer in NY city wanted to buy it from me and said it was only the second one he had ever seen.

Apparently, this book is infamous for it's use of racial slurs. I was told that collectors of Disneyana and black history buffs would be interested in it.

I found it in a pile of stuff destined for the garbage after my great aunt died.

What do you think I should do with it? Is it worth holding onto, could I make money on it?

Kaya Özkaracalar said...

It is rare indeed. It's Canadian. It would contain material from British Mickey Mouse Annuals published by Dean and hence feature works by British artist Wilfred Haughton. The 1934 Musson Mickey Mouse Annual was apparently sold at Hake's auction for 225 US dlrs: http://www.hakes.com/item.asp?ItemNo=78598&ListID=92
The value of your book would of couse also depend greatly on its condition (how much it is worn out, etc). If its condition is similar to the one as described at Hake's, I guess a similar price might be anticipated. You can put it on sale at ebay yourself or negotatiate with that NY dealer.