Disney and IDW Team Up for New Line of Licensed Comics

All of your favorite iconic Disney characters are coming back to comics, only they won’t be published by Marvel.

According to multiple sources, among them are Comic Book Resources, The Hollywood Reporter, and Bleeding Cool, Disney and IDW Publishing are teaming up to kick off a new line of licensed comic books.

Starting in April, the line will kick off with a new Uncle Scrooge ongoing series written by Jonathan Gray and Rodolfo Cimino, with art by Romano Scarpa. The plot synopsis for the first issue can be read below:

Wak! Disney’s richest epic hero returns! In “The Wrath of Gigabeagle,” the McDuck Money Bin meets a monster-sized Beagle Boy mech!

Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck will also be getting their own ongoing titles, along with an anthology series titled Walt Disney Comics and Stories.

IDW also shared what appears to be a road map of projected monthly debuts and releases for these titles throughout the rest of the year:

In addition to original material, each individual title will also feature reprints of never-before-released work originating overseas from foreign-language Disney comics. There will also be monthly, themed variant covers based on areas of Walt Disney Resort, including Adventureland (April), Tomorrowland (May) and Fantasyland (July).

With this announcement, Disney now has a multiple comic licenses spread across a number of publishers. Disney Book Group has its own in-house ‘Disney Comics’ line (Space Mountain graphic novels), while Marvel even has their ‘Disney Kingdoms’ line of comics (their latest title Big Thunder Railroad Mountain will debut next month). And just recently, Joe Books has emerged with a number of planned Disney titles. Where IDW appears to have the rights to the classic characters, Joe Books seems to have the rights for all the recent Disney films like Frozen and Big Hero 6, in addition to classic TV properties like Darkwing Duck.

Uncle Scrooge #1 and future Disney/IDW titles will be available in bookstores, digital platforms like Amazon and Comixology, and your nearest comic book store.

What do you think? Are you looking forward to new Disney comics?

Edited by: Kajsa Rain Forden