Talented Italian Disney comics artist Luciano Bottaro died on 25 November at the age of 75. He was considered one of the most important Italian humor cartoonists. His first Disney story for the Italian editor was “Paperino e le onorificenze” written by Alberto Testa and published in 1952. Besides his work with the Disney’s characters, he also worked on other magazines, creating a lot of his own characters, and in 1958 he founded the Bierreci Studios with Carlo Chendi and Giorgio Rebuffi. (more…)

Chinese Mickey Mouse, which is published twice per month by Children’s Fun Publishing Co., is starting a subscription service starting in January 2007, along with monthly Little Princess and Winnie the Pooh. Mickey Mouse was launched in China in 1993 when a contract was signed between Egmont and the Chinese Post Office. Each issue is now read by more than three million people! (more…)

Portuguese publisher Edimpresa has announced the cancellation of all their monthly ‘classic character’ magazines like Pato Donald (”Donald Duck”) and Tio Pathinas (”Uncle Scrooge”), shifting focus to pre-school magazines (eg. Winnie the Pooh) and girls magazines (eg. W.i.t.c.h. and Fairies) only. (more…)

Ten-part fantasy series Wizards of Mickey started in early October in Italian weekly Topolino (”Mickey Mouse”) magazine, and now the official website of the series (www.wizardsofmickey.com) features past chapters of the serialized story as free downloads! Putting stories online for free is an unprecendented event in Disney comics history! (more…)