Pixie Dust at Home

by Joshua Olive, ALL EARS® Guest Columnist

Feature Article

This article appeared in the February 21, 2006, Issue #335 of ALL EARS® (ISSN: 1533-0753)

It's definitely not as easy to find that pixie dust at home as it is at the Most Magical Place on Earth, but it is certainly possible. How? Well, Disney really is just about everywhere, if you know where to look! For an unusual but highly enjoyable Disney experience, go to your local comic book store sometime and check out the various Disney comics available from Gemstone Publishing and from Slave Labor Graphics.

Gemstone publishes the old time-honored and cherished Carl Barks stories, as well as a host of Disney stories by other creators. They carry such titles as Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse & Friends, Donald Duck, Donald Duck & Friends, Uncle Scrooge, Walt Disney's Comics & Stories, and Walt Disney's Vacation Parade. These are the kind of comic books you read when you were kids, the kind your parents read when they were kids. They haven't changed one bit. The art styles are the same, the stories are the same – everything is just as you remember, and just as much fun to read. These are nice, sweet stories, with humor-filled art – almost like watching one of those old cartoon favorites again — and each of these titles ships a new issue every single month! A Disney enthusiast can take home at least seven Disney comics a month from Gemstone Publishing, as well as the occasional graphic novel or special.

Then there are the titles shipping from Slave Labor Graphics: The Haunted Mansion, Tron, Wonderland, and Gargoyles. Slave Labor Graphics, or SLG as they are more commonly referred to these days, has secured the rights to print some of the more off-the-wall Disney properties. As you can see from the titles, these comics are very different from the light-hearted fun of the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck books.

The Haunted Mansion ride promises that a ghost will follow you home, and now you can take home 999 of them! Some of the stories told in the Haunted Mansion comic book are very funny, and some of them are, for lack of a better term, just plain weird. The first story in the first issue of the comic very nicely treats us to all the lyrics of the great Grim, Grinning Ghosts theme song for the ride (which is awesome!), and then it goes directly into part one of a story featuring the architects who designed the Gracey Mansion. There are backstories for 999 Happy Haunts to tell, and this comic promises to tell all of them. This series is great for any fan of the Haunted Mansion who ever wondered exactly how the Gracey Mansion was built, why it's so creepy, and how it came to be filled with all these spirits who are frightfully sensitive to bright lights. Also, if you have always wanted to know a little more about Mr. Gracey, his origin will be told in these pages over the course of the series.

Then you have Tron, Wonderland, and Gargoyles. Tron transports you right back inside the special effects-laden computer world of the movie, and Gargoyles picks up right where the fan-favorite after-school cartoon left off. And while both of those sound interesting to some degree, Wonderland is the book I'm really waiting for. This book charts another girl's misadventures through the weird world of Wonderland, and all the advance copy on this title has displayed a sense of oddball wackiness that Lewis Carroll would most definitely have approved of!

In addition to lots of Disney comics every month, comic book stores also have access, frequently, to hard-to-find Disney collectibles! Be it an art book you've always wanted, a monthly magazine devoted to Disneyana, or a statue of your favorite "Nightmare Before Christmas" character, they can often acquire unusual things for you without much trouble, and frequently at reduced prices.

Sometimes, to find a little bit of pixie dust in your hometown, you just have to look in a little bit different place. Swing by your local comic book store and take a little bit of Disney home with you!

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Guest Columnist Joshua Olive, 30, is a 6'6", 380-lb. man whose inner child is bigger yet. He's been a BIG fan of Walt Disney World since his first visit in 1979 and he's now a 15-trip veteran. A program manager for a robotics integrator by day, Josh was also a peer reviewer for PassPorter Walt Disney World for Your Special Needs, written by Allears.net's Deb Wills and Debra Martin Koma.

Meet Joshua Olive and read his other columns: http://allears.net/btp/josho.htm

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Editor's Note: This story/information was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all current rates, information and other details before planning your trip.