Events

If you’re going to be in the Baltimore area between July 17th and September 8th, you may want to stop by at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum to see a unique exhibit featuring the largest collection of original Carl Barks artwork ever assembled! A significant percentage of the artist’s 125 oil paintings will be on display, along with preliminaries, studies, statues and comic book pages. The Carl Barks Retrospective will also host a sale of Barks originals, lithographs, statues and other items by Diamond International Galleries during this period.

Check out this great 12-minute documentary about Carl Barks which I found on the Geppi Entertainment Museum website. It’s a very nice video in two parts about Barks’ career. The video ends with Barks’ 95th birthday held at a gallery of his oil paintings.

Source: geppismuseum.com

Update: In June 2009 publisher BOOM! Studios (boom-studios.net) picked up the Disney comics license in the United States. They have continued to publish Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories, Uncle Scrooge and several other monthly titles. See all their titles at boom-kids.com/series

It looks like Gemstone Publishing will no longer be making any new Disney comics in the United States. The news comes after it was revealed last month that owner Steve Geppi is facing financial problems. Gary Leach, who has been doing art and editorial work for US Disney comics for over two decades, reported on the DCML yesterday that “Gemstone is not renewing the Disney comics license, and won’t be putting out any more issues”. This sad news means the end of Disney comics in the United States, at least those with classic Disney characters like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Gary added that “Disney is looking for someone else to take the license” and he believes that they do have some candidates, although nothing is nailed down at this point.

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This Saturday, May 3rd, is Free Comic Book Day. This annual event is a great opportunity to introduce your friends and family to the world of comics as many comic book stores across North America and the world will hand out comics totally free! There will be over 40 different free comics this year, including the annual contribution by Gemstone Publishing, publisher of Disney comics in the United States. This year’s free Disney comic is all about Duckburg’s most famous inventor: Gyro Gearloose. More »

Egmont, one of Scandinavia’s leading media groups, has received the Disney Milestone Award at the annual Bologna Children Book’s Fair in Italy earlier this month. Tommy Melle, Vice president of Egmont Kids & Teens, received the award for 60 years of mutual beneficial cooperation with The Walt Disney Company. More »

Today is the 75th birthday of Mickey Mouse’s nephews, Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse. They first appeared in Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse Sunday comic titled ‘Mickey’s Nephews’ on 18 September 1932:

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The seven space shuttle astronauts who returned to Earth with Space Shuttle Endeavour on August 21st will be honored in a day of ceremonies at Walt Disney World on September 10th. Check NASA.gov for a schedule of events.

On 25 May, one of the most famous dogs in the world turns 525 years old. Well, that’s in dog years of course (he is officially an anthropomorphic Dingo). In human years Goofy turns 75. He first appeared in the cartoon “Mickey’s Revue”, released on 25 May 1932. Directed by Wilfred Jackson, the short features Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow performing a song and dance show. In his first appearance Goofy (named “Dippy Dawg”; he later changed his name) is a member of the audience, irritating his fellow spectators by noisily crunching peanuts and laughing loudly.

The Karikaturmuseum in Krems, Austria has an exhibition titled “Donald Duck … and the duck became human, The Drawings and Poetic Works of Carl Barks”. The exposition is from 25 March to 4 November 2007 and has more than 400 original works of art, including 290 from the collection of Gottfried Helnwein.

On Free Comic Book Day, participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores. This year’s 6th Free Comic Book Day will be on Saturday 5 May 2007. Gemstone Publishing’s contribution this year will feature a story by 2006 Eisner Award Hall of Fame honoree Floyd Gottfredson’s; “The Robin Hood Adventure” (1936) takes our hero, Mickey Mouse, to Medieval times, where he must prove himself a warrior — sword-fighting, jousting, and risking his life to rob the rich! More »

This month marks the anniversary of Brazilian monthly magazine Tio Patinhas (‘Uncle Scrooge’), as publisher Editora Abril publishes the popular series’ 500th issue. The commemorative issue of Tio Patinhas will feature stories by several classic Disney masters, including Carl Barks, Tony Strobl, Marco Rota, William van Horn and Don Rosa.