Marco who? One of Italy’s most renowned Duck artists, that’s who. And he’s
become quite a favorite with fans of Gemstone’s Walt Disney comics. That’s why
our flagship 64-page prestige books this month both feature cover stories by
this Milanese maestro, plotted by his English partner-in-crime Paul Halas.
Having shipped Wednesday, July 20, Uncle Scrooge #344 and Walt
Disney’s Comics and Stories #659 will zip into your local comic shop this
week or next.

Uncle Scrooge #344’s Halas/Rota tale is “Fishpond
Frenzy.” Scrooge has a new breed of carp in his private lake this month. He
wants to win the Koi Fanciers’ Society’s contest and take the world fish market
by storm! But a killer pike is terrorizing the lake… and our favorite
sorceress, Magica De Spell, hopes to take advantage of the situation!
Up
next are the Beagle Boys in “Beagles, Boys, and a Bin” by Janet Gilbert. In this
spoof of the Home Alone movie genre, it’s Huey, Dewey, and Louie who must
rout the Beagles and free a ducknapped Scrooge.
“All You Need Is Love” is
drawn by another Italian master, the late Romano Scarpa. Written by Terry Laban,
it follows on last month’s “Security” with the return of infamous disguise
artist Sly K. Switcheroo. When Sly matches wits with Scarpa’s famous creation,
lady tycoon Brigitta MacBridge, the fur and feathers fly!
Gyro Gearloose
stars in our next story, “Big Helper.” When show-off inventor Bruce Brainstorm
builds a giant, more talented copy of Gyro’s robot Helper, it results in
Brainstorm’s being feted as the superior inventor. That is, until David meets
Goliath in this second Janet Gilbert opus.
Finishing off the book is “The
Cattle King,” a vintage epic by Duck Man Carl Barks. Reprinted for the first
time in comic books since 1976, it tells of Scrooge’s visit to the Two-Bar S
Ranch, where his cattle are threatened by Snake McViper’s rustlers. You’ll die
laughing at the close encounters between McViper’s men and Donald’s nephews…
costumed as pretty girls!

Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #659
features the Marco Rota/Paul Halas adventure “Blazing Tastebuds.” Wanna-be
reporter Donald sends himself on duty to the South American country of Tapioca.
There his plan is to cover a chili-pepper-tasting contest… but if only it were
that simple! Semolina, the country next door, hopes to outdo Tapioca in the
hot-and-spicy department, and government agents have a fishy plan in which
Donald gets caught up!
Our celebrated “Mythos Island” serial, by Per Hedman,
Pat and Carol McGreal, and Cesar Ferioli, continues next with chapters five and
six: “A Drag of a Dragon” and “Menace in the Mist.” Daisy and Minnie journey to
Mythos Island in search of their boyfriends — and end up navigating stormy
seas, then fighting trolls and other nefarious beasties. Meanwhile, Mickey and
Donald meet off the island’s coast and help one dragon teach another…
acupuncture! And all the while, the fantastic island continues to crumble, bit
by bit, and drop into the sea…
Next up is the return of a much-requested
Disney comics character, Bucky Bug! Absent from our comics for a year and a
half, he’s back now with a vintage tale from 1945. Diving for treasure brings
Bucky and Old Man Bo in contact with dangerous depths and a big, scary minnow –
well, he’s big and scary if you’re a bug! Fan favorite Carl Buettner handles the
art.
Rounding out the book are vintage Three Little Pigs and Donald Duck
reprints. In “Wolf Bait” (a title that could really fit almost any Pig story),
foolish Fiddler and Fifer try to make forest safety into a game. And then
there’s “That Old Soft Soap,” a legendary 1991 adventure by Michael T. Gilbert
and William Van Horn. Trying to prove he’s an expert salesman, Donald markets
his “Supremo Soap” in all kind of outrageous, rather unnecessary ways… even
graded and slabbed in Mylar!

Gemstone is your source for new and vintage
Disney greats. Order our titles online at http://www.gemstonepub.com/disney
or http://www.walmart.com. Seek
them out at your local comic shop. And if you can’t corner a comic shop, no need
to look for one on Mythos Island. Call Diamond Comics’ Comic Shop Locator
service at 1-888-COMIC-BOOK.