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.