Tuesday 29 June 2010

MATANIA ILLUSTRATION INTEGRATED INTO MICKEY MOUSE WEEKLY COVER



In his memoirs published in a fanzine of the Britain-based Association of Comic Enthusiasts (ACE) years ago, British comics artist Basil Reynolds, who had also worked in editorial capacity in Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly in the post-World War 2 years, recounts how he had once visited famous illustrator Fortunio Matania (1881-1963) and borrowed a b&w original of one of his illustrations ("a jousting scene") to use on a cover of MMW ("as the large opening pictıre of a Disney strip") in colors. Above scan is of the cover of no. 592 (dated Sept. 15th, 1951) of MMW, which must obviously be the cover in question.
Big thanks to John Wigmans for providing me the Reynolds memoirs...

Sunday 27 June 2010

SOCCER-THEMED BRITISH DONALD DUCK STRIP (1948)



Above scan is of the cover of no. 478 (dated Nov. 13th, 1948) of Britain's Mickey Mouse comics magazine, featuring a British-made soccer-themed Donald Duck strip.

Saturday 26 June 2010

BRITISH-MADE DONALD DUCK AND GOOFY STRIPS FROM 1948


I had covered the evolution of the covers of Britain's Mickey Mouse magazine in the aftermath of the 2nd World War in my post on May 1st. In that post, I had noted that British-made strips had become the norm by 1949. Recently, I've come across an earlier example from 1948: no. 470 (dated July 24th, 1948) whose scan is above. Incidentally, that there was apparently something wrong with the publication of this strip: as far as I can fathom, the title 'Famous Last Words!' is unrelated to the plot..
The same issue also includes a British-made Goofy strip: