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Walt Disney's Comics & Stories #686
Writers & Artists: William & Noel Van Horn, Carl Buettner, Byron Erickson, Paco Rodriguez, Pat & Carol McGreal, Cesar Ferioli

Product Description
With Election Day near in "Just For Kicks!," Mayor Pork hires Donald to help show his voters that he's just an ordinary guy. Alas, the Mayor isn't exactly normal... nor are the mishaps Donald causes for him at Duckburg's biggest amusement park! In Noel Van Horn's "Signs," it's Goofy's turn for mishaps in a battle with superstition. While Zeke Wolf tells Lil' Wolf what it was like "When I Was A Lad", The Junior Woodchucks pit their fabled guidebook against the internet to find "The Lost Treasure of Cornelius Coot!" Then Mickey's in a battle to find and save the Missing Link in Cesar Ferioli's "Free Weegie" and finally, waterskiier Donald is slip-sliding away in Carl Barks' classic "The Great Ski Race!"
The books are finally getting back on schedule with the issue released this week: Opinions? Comments?

Great issue. I really enjoyed William Van Horn's story, as usual, "Just For Kicks." I guess just doing as Donald would do brings the bad luck. "Signs" by Noel Van Horn, while not a bad story, fell short of his usual Mickey stories. I don't know how to explain, it just felt odd. Without giving it away to those who haven't read it yet, I will say I liked the way it ended. The Li'l Bad Wolf story was great, the picture of Little Zeke and Big Zeke's reaction to it was hilarious. "The Lost Treasure of Cornelius Coot" just goes to show that you cannot outdo the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook. There may be a faster way to information, but not more accurate. Where can I get my copy of the Guidebook? In "Free Weegie" I was suprised by the "beast" in the cage, the poor little thing. A good McGreal story as usual. And of course the Barks story to finish the book was nice to read again.

REE-VOOOOOOOO

* Even when he's off a bit, William Van Horn is STILL good. IMO he's the modern day master of the Donald Duck 10 pager. This wasn't his best work, but darn if it that ending didnt make me chuckle.

* I don't know, I really liked "Signs". From an artistic standpoint Noel Van Horn has improved so much that its scary. Varying angles, altering panel layouts, a gamut of facial expressions - and he draws an incredibly fluid looking Goofy here. As far as the story goes - I LIKE that it didn't try to shoehorn Mickey into adventure mode in a short amount of pages out of nowhere. It was strictly designed to be a character piece and stayed that way. furthermore, it was an interesting role reversal that Mickey's natural curiosity actually allowed him to react calmly to the absurdities around him as opposed to OMGADVENTURESHEREWHYSTHATFISHINTHEAIRGOTTACHASEITWHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! That's not often done with Mickey Mouse and I liked the story all the better for it. I think this is one of his best attempts, but perhaps I am the minority here.

* Carl Buettner's Bad Wolf tales aren't many, but they're the earliest and some of the best in the series next to Turner. I've never read this Lil Wolf story before and that ending made the whole story worth it. Thank you Gemstone for printing a Bad Wolf classic that HASN'T already seen print a bajillion times. :)

* The Lost Treasure of Cornielius Coot" seems to me like it should have been placed under the monicker of Junior Woodchucks as opposed to Donald Duck but I don't care. I like it. A LOT. Nuts to the climate thing, it's a bit overanalyzing where there's a good story to be found here. I usually balk at stories that force modernization on the ducks for the sake of modernization, but this is an idea I'd always wondered and I like how it was handled. Furthermore, I'm slowly coming to prefer Paco Rodriguez to Cesar Ferioli when it comes to the ducks and the mice. He has so much varying expressions on his characters and renders them incredibly well and with a lot of fluidity. THIS is the stuff I like to see. It also helps that byron Erickson wrote it. MOAR PLEEZE.

* Free Weegie is the one story I did not like as much. I wondered where PT Cheatum and Phineas Philcher came from in the "Mythos Island" saga, so I suppose that this must have been their debut story. It's not bad at all but it just didn't do much for me I think. The artwork was great, but there were some bits storywise that just felt very predictable to me. Mickey's suddenly finding Weegie's parents out of nowhere at the end was just kinda "eh, well that's mighty tidy!". But maybe its just me.

* The Great Water Ski Race - I think I have this reprinted somewhere else during the Disney era. Not sure.

I loved Noel Van Horn's "Signs," and as another poster noted above, his artwork is amazing. The fluid, relaxed line and dramatic panel layout are amazing. I just love looking at his work. No one draws a more enjoyable Goofy. Looking back through my older Disney comics, he really seems to have forged a very unique style over the years. I would like here and now to cast my vote for another Disney title from Gemstone (as I understand one is under consideration) just as it would afford another showcase for NVH's great, great cartooning. It may be a little soon, but if Mr. Van Horn (the younger) keeps up this level of work, I will be searching out issues just for his work, as I do now for Scarpa and Jippes. --Mykal