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Walt Kelly golf cover; Carl Barks art (11/46) COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 5 (CBI)
Long before the purchase of Pixar in 2006, Walt Disney's iconic characters reached the hearts and minds of American children from the pages of Golden age comic books. With its predecessor, Mickey Mouse Magazine, dating back to 1933, Walt Disney Comics and Stories was launched by Dell comics in 1940. Initially taking content from the black & white comic strips of the day, they were reformatted and colored for comic books. Through aggressive marketing and holiday subscription incentives aimed at youngsters, the title became the best selling comic book in the U.S. by the mid-50's with an incredible three million copy monthly circulation. This issue starts with a mischievously fun Donald Duck feature written and classically drawn by Carl Barks, whose two decade tenure remains popular and beloved. Almost all of Barks' stories included Donald Duck's nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, followed by several short vignettes featuring a host of popular Disney characters. Many '40's era issues like this one featured an end story with Mickey Mouse penciled by Floyd Gottfredson and taken straight from the daily newspaper strips. After 71 years, six publishing houses and 720 issues, Disney's premiere title WDC&S is the longest running Disney-based comic book in history.