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A review by geekwayne
Disney Graphic Novels #4: Great Parodies: Mickey's Inferno by The Walt Disney Company
3.0
'Disney Graphic Novels #4: Great Parodies: Mickey's Inferno' by Guido Martina with art by Angelo Bioletti and English translation by Stefan Petrucha is a really weird graphic novel. Sending Mickey Mouse to hell with Goofy seemed like a strange idea to me, so I had to check it out.
I learned from the afterword by Jim Salicrup that this is a reprint from the Il Topolino comics from Italy from the late 1940s and early 1950s. Il Topolino is the Italian name for Mickey Mouse. So, this is an old idea. It was also repeated and condensed in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #666. Still, it may not be for everyone.
Mickey and Goofy are doing a play of Dante's Inferno, when they are hypnotized into thinking that they are actually Dante and Virgil. They then end up in a weird version of Hell where occasional Disney characters show up. This is all accompanied by bad puns and rhymes in the same scheme as the original Inferno. There are levels of hell that get skipped, but others are populated by new reporters who told false stories, or people swimming in vats of hot chocolate, or teachers being pelted by homework from students. The Big Bad Wolf shows up and ends up getting blown up, and Donald Duck keeps showing up to torment Mickey.
I'm still trying to decide if I like this. Part of me appreciates an English translation of an old comic book artifact like this. I also really liked the art. There are some fabulous full pages that are detailed and interesting. The other part of me just feels like this whole thing seems really wrong. Favorite characters in hell and a really odd parody treatment of a classic book are odd. The thing feels like a weird hallucination, but maybe that's the whole point. The imagery remains cartoony and silly, but there is still a lot of torment happening here, so I have a hard time saying this is for kids.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Papercutz and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
I learned from the afterword by Jim Salicrup that this is a reprint from the Il Topolino comics from Italy from the late 1940s and early 1950s. Il Topolino is the Italian name for Mickey Mouse. So, this is an old idea. It was also repeated and condensed in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #666. Still, it may not be for everyone.
Mickey and Goofy are doing a play of Dante's Inferno, when they are hypnotized into thinking that they are actually Dante and Virgil. They then end up in a weird version of Hell where occasional Disney characters show up. This is all accompanied by bad puns and rhymes in the same scheme as the original Inferno. There are levels of hell that get skipped, but others are populated by new reporters who told false stories, or people swimming in vats of hot chocolate, or teachers being pelted by homework from students. The Big Bad Wolf shows up and ends up getting blown up, and Donald Duck keeps showing up to torment Mickey.
I'm still trying to decide if I like this. Part of me appreciates an English translation of an old comic book artifact like this. I also really liked the art. There are some fabulous full pages that are detailed and interesting. The other part of me just feels like this whole thing seems really wrong. Favorite characters in hell and a really odd parody treatment of a classic book are odd. The thing feels like a weird hallucination, but maybe that's the whole point. The imagery remains cartoony and silly, but there is still a lot of torment happening here, so I have a hard time saying this is for kids.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Papercutz and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.