DISNEY'S NEW LOOK IN COMICS

[MattBrady]

The New Wave of Disney Comics panel at SDCC on Thursday woke more than a few people up about the increased importance comics have taken on at the Mouse’s House.

The new direction of the Disney comics are exemplified by WITCH and Kylion, which were showcased in the presentation. The bulk of Disney worldwide comics are produced in Milan and Copenhagen, and together, their output equals roughly 10,000 pages a year.

While approximately half of Disney’s comics are still traditional characters (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, etc), an evolution began in the line in 1999, when European artists were asked to develop new franchises. The first of these is WITCH, which is now in 71 countries with over 20 million copies sold.

Created in Italy, WITCH is aimed squarely at attracting female readers. Disney’s press release on the title describes it best:

Will. Irma. Taranee. Cornelia. Hay Lin. Together they are W.I.T.C.H. - five ordinary friends with an extraordinary secret - they each have the power to control a natural element. W.I.T.C.H. is the acronym of the first names of the 5 heroines, all of who are 13 or 14 years old and are just like others of their age; they wear trendy clothes, they have fun with their friends, they’re classmates…. But they also have magical powers. Will controls energy, Irma commands water, Taranee has power over fire, Cornelia controls earth, and Hay Lin dominates air. The girls use their powers to guard against evil and to uncover the truth behind mysterious portals leading to other worlds.

WITCH launched in Italy in 2002.

Another new property created by Disney in Italy is Monster Allergy which, like WITCH creates an entirely new world full of characters.

The third property introduced to the audience was Kylion. Again, Disney’s press release:

In the distant future, around the year 2600, Colony 6, a spaceship with a pre-established destination, its objective to search for new forms of life, is forced to crash-land on an unknown planet, which causes the premature awakening of its crew. The interstellar journey, which had been programmed to last 30 years, is interrupted after only 16 years, which arrests the team’s physical and cognitive development. Instead of fully grown men and women, we find six teenagers who have to deal with a situation for which they aren’t fully prepared: Tanner, the commander of the spaceship, Mita, the mechanical engineer, Raiden, the military officer, Erin, the navigation assistant, Calliope, the bioanalyst, and Cole, the medical officer.

The story of Kylion and its crew is a metaphor of pre-adolescence: the ambitions and dreams of the group of kids clash with a world that is different from how they had envisioned it. They will succeed in their mission only if they manage to control their fears and impulses, learning to depend on each other.

Kylion launched in Italy in May, and is due to launch in Europe in August.

All new comic properties produced by Disney creators are fully visualized, with more development and market research done than with typical American comics. Partly, a good business move to ensure that there is an audience for the proposed product, fully fleshing out all the characters, environments, and items in the story allow for an ease of translation between different media.

For example, while WITCH is already in the process of being turned into an animated series (it debuts in January of next year on Toon Disney and the Jetix block on ABC Family), Kylion environments and spaceships have been created to a level of detail that adapting the property for a movie or animated series would be done with relative ease.

Currently, WITCH is available as a chapterbook with comic book content from Hypserion, with comic collections of the story due in 2005.

SDCC 2004 is the first time Disney has had such a strong presence at the show, reflecting its new commitment to developing new comic book properties and attracting talent. To these ends, San Diego is one of the company’s last stops in a global talent search, during which they have reviewed over 130 projects.

Insofar as comics go, the company has three objectives: 1) acquire completed projects to develop as ongoing series; 2) look for new ideas that can be developed and turned into franchises; and 3) look for new artists to maintain the high quality of the new monthly ongoing series.

Disney will also be launching a graphic novel line, again with the strategy to develop new projects for Disney. In this regard, it was explained that Disney is looking at its comics arm as an important R&D group, one that’s able to full develop and execute concepts without racking up millions in movie production costs. The first Disney OGN will be set in ancient Rome, and be titled The Last Battle. For more on that OGN from the point of view of artist Dan Brereton, click here.

[Jeffrey D. Smith]

The first Disney OGN will be set in ancient Rome.

That would be The Last Battle, by Italian writer Tito Faraci and illustrated by Dan Brereton, that Newsarama told us about recently.

The first Disney OGN

Don't you hate it when these first posters yell first?

[Dildo_Baggins]

I've been reading W.I.T.C.H. for over a year now and it kicks mayor ass!!!!! And most of the young girls I know love the comic!

It's really, really good. I am happy that people in the U.S. can read it now.

[The_Adventurer]

Now, if only we could get an Ongoing DarkWing Duck, Talespin, or S.H.U.S.H series.

[Adriano]

Originally posted by MattBrady

The bulk of Disney worldwide comics are produced in Milan and Copenhagen, and together, their output equals roughly 10,000 pages a year.

Sorry Matt, but the bulk of Disney Comics (70%) are produced just here in Italy.
The comics made in Copenaghen are about the traditional characters, but ALL the new projects have been created and are being developed here in Milan.

Sorry if this sounded too smart-assed, but you know...Italian comics industry is vital and aggressive (though in crisis) and our business model is completely ignored in the US...even if our bestesellers (Tex, Dylan Dog) here reach 200.000 copies a month (EVERY month, not just when a new #1 is released...) or 300.000 a week (Mickey Mouse magazine), numbers that even the Big Two can just dream of...

[utiti77]

Talking about Disney-inspired comics... what exactly happened to Studios 88mph's "Tron 2.0". I hear Disney called the deal off, but is there anyone here aware of what exactly happened ?

u77

[Landry]

I think he was working on the proposal. I remember reading somewhere that Disney just seemed to take a long time to aprove anything or there was some other trouble along those lines.


http://andrewdabb.com/

[NewFun#6]

Originally posted by utiti77
Talking about Disney-inspired comics... what exactly happened to Studios 88mph's "Tron 2.0". I hear Disney called the deal off, but is there anyone here aware of what exactly happened ?

u77

It's dead and I'm PISSED!! How long do we have to wait to get a TRON comic anyway??

[Mr Wesley]

Originally posted by The_Adventurer
Now, if only we could get an Ongoing DarkWing Duck, Talespin, or S.H.U.S.H series.

Forget that! I'd love to see just a Launchpad McQuack solo series.

But it'd never sell.

[saiyanspider]

Originally posted by Mr Wesley
Forget that! I'd love to see just a Launchpad McQuack solo series.

But it'd never sell.

Gizmo Duck, and Bubba Duck both HAVE to have minis. A Beagle Boys maxi series showing the inner workings of their criminal family would be very interesting I think. A Sin Cityesque noir showing the dangers and trail of blood they leave behind after every heist.

[sketchykg]

Originally posted by Adriano
Sorry if this sounded too smart-assed, but you know...Italian comics industry is vital and aggressive (though in crisis) and our business model is completely ignored in the US...even if our bestesellers (Tex, Dylan Dog) here reach 200.000 copies a month (EVERY month, not just when a new #1 is released...) or 300.000 a week (Mickey Mouse magazine), numbers that even the Big Two can just dream of...

What is the Business model? It that 200,000 copies shipped, or a definitive print run sold like US Direct Market numbers are?

[from the gutter]

I love the fact that Disney is putting out Donald Duck comics again. I would love to see DuckTales and Rescue Rangers come out to give to my nephew. I cant say that these two titles excite me though. But maybe Im too old.

[ShadowBrat]

I've been reading Witch in french since it's started, it's a very good series, the series was designed and first issue was drawn by Italian master Alessandro Barbucci (SkyDoll).

A word of warning though, I picked up some of the english novles with the comic inserts, and there are some sencorship issuse present that will probably spill over into the full comics version later on. I'll try to post up some examples later.

[The_Adventurer]

Originally posted by saiyanspider
Gizmo Duck, and Bubba Duck both HAVE to have minis. A Beagle Boys maxi series showing the inner workings of their criminal family would be very interesting I think. A Sin Cityesque noir showing the dangers and trail of blood they leave behind after every heist.

Mature Duck Universe comics are one of those things you pray for, but the chances of ever happening are a million to 1.

[BellaBeth]

I'd settle for having a new updated version of "Ducktales" with Launchpad back working for Mr. McDuck! Disney can create a new version of DW if they want to- as long as they leave Launchpad OUT of it!!!! Who they think will READ it, (or more to the point, BUY it ! ) without Launchpad- that will be the fun part for me!!! Except maybe if GOSELYN is now DW!!! With TANK as her partner- the bravest thing that wimp of a kid brother is likely to do is tell Goselyn "You can't make me!"


I JUST HAD A IDEA! Why not have BALOO become DW's sidekick? It's perfectly ok by me if this is somehow a hit- stranger things have happened- as long as it ain't LAUNCHPAD wasting his time being second banana to that idiot in the zoot suit and the Carmen Sandigo hat! I MUCH prefer Mr McDee as Launchpad's Don Quixote, thank you very much. Mr. McDuck, I respect. Yenta from Cranza on the other hand, Morgana can KEEP!!!!

For all I care, Gizmo-duck can become DW's partner- which might be fun, considering how competitive those two are. Can you just see them getting into a pointless power struggle, constantly trying to outdo each other, to show each other up? Might be fun, if handled properly. And the sooner Launchpad returns to "Ducktales" and Disney eases up on the "Launchpad is a moron" routine, the sooner I can forgive DW for Disney's pulling out all the stops to make Launchpad looks idiotic in that show and actually BUY a DW comic. It would take a while, but I don't hold a grudge.

Or all THREE of them can work together. Baloo could act as Ref and keep DW and Giz from killing each other. As Long as Disney leaves LAUNCHPAD out of it, they can team DW up with Arthur's (from PBS ) kid sister DW for all I care!!!