One area that I haven't touched upon on A Look at Disney is comic books. I'll admit that I know very little about comics save from Atop the 4th Wall but during my break, I read a Disney comic book courtesy of my Ipad. Now today's comic is a bit different as it's actually an adaption of Tom Sawyer. It does condense the story for younger children but still keeps a lot of the important elements and going over the plot for the story, it seems to be true to the tale. Now I will do my best to try and cover all of the important aspects of what I think should be cover in a comic review. Now, this probably won't be the best comic review as again, this is my first comic book review.
Cover
The cover is admittedly simple. We see our two main characters Mick Sawyer and Huckleberry Goof (I'll get to the talk about the character match ups later on) Now I believe that this scene is from the moment whenTom err Mick and Huck over hear the villain's plans regarding the treasure. It's simple and I do like the wind. It may be a simple cover but it is a good cover in how it represents the adventures that these two friends go through.
Staff
Written by Fabio Michelini
Now, I have to admit that I'd be lying if I said author because again, this is an adaption but there is enough that Fabio Michelini did a good job with text in making it an adaption while still letting it be it's own story.
Art by Maria Uggetti
I have to say that I really like the art in this book as it captures the old Disney look quite well. The details are just so nice and they really captured the feel of classic Disney characters perfectly. I think that classic comes to mind because of them using the white colored faces.
The Plot
The plot to this comic is just basically that of Mark Twain's classic tale. It does hit on all on the key moments. As it opens with Mick Sawyer being his Aunt Molly (Polly in the original version) catching Mick skipping School (okay, I have to admit that it's weird seeing Disney characters portrayed as kids, when in most other mediums, they are adults). Then we see him get his punishment of painting the fence. Of course, Mick being Tom Sawyer is slick and is able to trick someone else into doing it. We also see that Mick's best friend is Huck but in this version as portrayed by Goofy. After this we see Mick arrive late to class on purpose so that he can sit next to his crush, Minnie Thatcher. Afterwards, we also see Mick and Huck Peg-Leg Joe (should've been Injun Pete) talking to someone else, Muff about the treasure. Muff is arrested for stealing but the trial, Mick clears his name. This comic also hits on the fake death where the town thinks that Mick and Huck are dead and right before the end, it shows Mick and Minnie Thatcher getting lost in the cave when Mick wanted to show Minnie McDougal's cave at the picnic they were attending after all of the big key moments had been touched upon. Y'know after looking at the description for the plot, it seems besides calling this an adaption, one could argue that you could also call it a remake as it seems to hit on everything important. I think the biggest factor from me calling this a remake is that they change the names. Does that make it bad? Not at all, story wise, it's rather faithful and I appreciate that from an adaption aspect but with the usage of some of the Disney characters, I have some issues. Again, the story is rather faithful to Mark Twain's work but there are some liberties taken with the Disney characters and some of the casting doesn't make sense. With this being an adaption, however I think it's best to use Actor Theory, which for those that may not know refers to characters taking on traits of characters, they're portraying in an adaption and not acting liking themselves. Now there is one character that this does not work for but we will get to him in a bit.
Characters
Now I'll be breaking this down into Main, Supporting, & Villain. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Main Characters
Mick Sawyer
Now with Mickey as Tom Sawyer or as this comic named him, Mick Sawyer. It took me awhile to wrap my head having Mickey be Tom but the more, I thought about it, it makes sense if you think of his early, where Mickey was indeed a troublemaker and has been described as being a scamp in his early career. Those are traits that are seen in Tom. As Tom, is also a trouble maker. He means well, same as Mickey but both of these characters do get themselves into sticky situations, and that's explored well and I think this is one of the best pairings in this adaption.
Huckleberry Goofy
Now here's the casting, that I take issue with. Look, I like Goofy but I think that he was the wrong choice to portray Huck Finn. Reading up on Huck again, I'm reminded that he may not have had a formal education but he wasn't clumsy or dumb. He did have some street smarts and I recall him being a bit savvy. My big problem with this casting is that there is too much Goofy and not enough Huck Finn. On a sidenote, if you want a good Disney Huck Finn, see the Elijah Wood film, The Adventures of Huck Finn. Now I should also mention the Huck's drunkard father was cut from this comic but seeing as this comic is aimed at a younger audience, I'm okay with that.
Supporting Characters
Aunt Molly
Now to be quite honest, Aunt Molly didn't quite have a big role in the comic and again, it's been a while since I've read the book. So I can't recall if that's the case there but I do remember Aunt Polly being quite stern and not being one that would put up with Tom's trouble making ways. The same is true of Aunt Molly as she doesn't put with Mick's foolishness. Now this was just a character and to my knowledge, she was only in this comic and not any of Disney's actual characters.
Minnie Thatcher
Minnie as our Becky Thatcher character was the obvious choice. Now unlike in the book, where it is stated that's she's new to town but I don't think it was needed. Now when Minnie Thatcher was first introduced, she seemed to be stuffy and full of herself but I always Becky to be that way in all other adaptions. She later proves herself to be a very sweet character and I have to say that out of all of the Becky Thatchers, I've seen, Minnie has to be my favorite because in every other version, I've seen I could not stand this character.
Muff
Perhaps I should have Muff up with main characters as he plays a central role at least when it comes to trial. Now instead of him being a drunk, he comes across as being very sporadic. Which works well.
Villain
Peg Leg Joe
Okay, first off I have to say that admit my disappointment that they didn't make Pete's name Injun Pete as that sounds much more awesome then Peg Leg Joe. Ah, well just a minor nitpick and some people do view that word as being derogatory. So, I guess I can see why they didn't go with that. Though I think that they couldn't have picked a better character for this role. Sure, they tone down some aspects of Injun Joe. Such as it focuses on him stealing and they don't bring up the murders in this version but again with this being an adaption that came out in February of this year. So, some things were going to be more P.C. then Twain's original version. Now this doesn't bug me because it is an adaption and with a lot of other aspects, I found it very faithful to the book. I think one of the big reasons that it doesn't bug me is because as I said this is an adaption and they aren't changing the actual book as a lot of people have wanted to do in the past and that's something that I don't agree with.
My Final Thoughts
All in all, this was an enjoyable read and I feel the source material was treated with respect. Now I did have some issues with this adaption such as I would've cast someone else as Huck Finn but who, I don't know and I really wish that Pete's name had been Injun Pete but again that is just something minor. This is something that I highly suggest. This will probably be my only comic book adaption review unless I can find the Donald and Daisy Duck version of Gone with The Wind. Yes, that exists.
Cover
The cover is admittedly simple. We see our two main characters Mick Sawyer and Huckleberry Goof (I'll get to the talk about the character match ups later on) Now I believe that this scene is from the moment when
Staff
Written by Fabio Michelini
Now, I have to admit that I'd be lying if I said author because again, this is an adaption but there is enough that Fabio Michelini did a good job with text in making it an adaption while still letting it be it's own story.
Art by Maria Uggetti
I have to say that I really like the art in this book as it captures the old Disney look quite well. The details are just so nice and they really captured the feel of classic Disney characters perfectly. I think that classic comes to mind because of them using the white colored faces.
The Plot
The plot to this comic is just basically that of Mark Twain's classic tale. It does hit on all on the key moments. As it opens with Mick Sawyer being his Aunt Molly (Polly in the original version) catching Mick skipping School (okay, I have to admit that it's weird seeing Disney characters portrayed as kids, when in most other mediums, they are adults). Then we see him get his punishment of painting the fence. Of course, Mick being Tom Sawyer is slick and is able to trick someone else into doing it. We also see that Mick's best friend is Huck but in this version as portrayed by Goofy. After this we see Mick arrive late to class on purpose so that he can sit next to his crush, Minnie Thatcher. Afterwards, we also see Mick and Huck Peg-Leg Joe (should've been Injun Pete) talking to someone else, Muff about the treasure. Muff is arrested for stealing but the trial, Mick clears his name. This comic also hits on the fake death where the town thinks that Mick and Huck are dead and right before the end, it shows Mick and Minnie Thatcher getting lost in the cave when Mick wanted to show Minnie McDougal's cave at the picnic they were attending after all of the big key moments had been touched upon. Y'know after looking at the description for the plot, it seems besides calling this an adaption, one could argue that you could also call it a remake as it seems to hit on everything important. I think the biggest factor from me calling this a remake is that they change the names. Does that make it bad? Not at all, story wise, it's rather faithful and I appreciate that from an adaption aspect but with the usage of some of the Disney characters, I have some issues. Again, the story is rather faithful to Mark Twain's work but there are some liberties taken with the Disney characters and some of the casting doesn't make sense. With this being an adaption, however I think it's best to use Actor Theory, which for those that may not know refers to characters taking on traits of characters, they're portraying in an adaption and not acting liking themselves. Now there is one character that this does not work for but we will get to him in a bit.
Characters
Now I'll be breaking this down into Main, Supporting, & Villain. With that out of the way, let's begin.
Main Characters
Mick Sawyer
Now with Mickey as Tom Sawyer or as this comic named him, Mick Sawyer. It took me awhile to wrap my head having Mickey be Tom but the more, I thought about it, it makes sense if you think of his early, where Mickey was indeed a troublemaker and has been described as being a scamp in his early career. Those are traits that are seen in Tom. As Tom, is also a trouble maker. He means well, same as Mickey but both of these characters do get themselves into sticky situations, and that's explored well and I think this is one of the best pairings in this adaption.
Huckleberry Goofy
Now here's the casting, that I take issue with. Look, I like Goofy but I think that he was the wrong choice to portray Huck Finn. Reading up on Huck again, I'm reminded that he may not have had a formal education but he wasn't clumsy or dumb. He did have some street smarts and I recall him being a bit savvy. My big problem with this casting is that there is too much Goofy and not enough Huck Finn. On a sidenote, if you want a good Disney Huck Finn, see the Elijah Wood film, The Adventures of Huck Finn. Now I should also mention the Huck's drunkard father was cut from this comic but seeing as this comic is aimed at a younger audience, I'm okay with that.
Supporting Characters
Aunt Molly
Now to be quite honest, Aunt Molly didn't quite have a big role in the comic and again, it's been a while since I've read the book. So I can't recall if that's the case there but I do remember Aunt Polly being quite stern and not being one that would put up with Tom's trouble making ways. The same is true of Aunt Molly as she doesn't put with Mick's foolishness. Now this was just a character and to my knowledge, she was only in this comic and not any of Disney's actual characters.
Minnie Thatcher
Minnie as our Becky Thatcher character was the obvious choice. Now unlike in the book, where it is stated that's she's new to town but I don't think it was needed. Now when Minnie Thatcher was first introduced, she seemed to be stuffy and full of herself but I always Becky to be that way in all other adaptions. She later proves herself to be a very sweet character and I have to say that out of all of the Becky Thatchers, I've seen, Minnie has to be my favorite because in every other version, I've seen I could not stand this character.
Muff
Perhaps I should have Muff up with main characters as he plays a central role at least when it comes to trial. Now instead of him being a drunk, he comes across as being very sporadic. Which works well.
Villain
Peg Leg Joe
Okay, first off I have to say that admit my disappointment that they didn't make Pete's name Injun Pete as that sounds much more awesome then Peg Leg Joe. Ah, well just a minor nitpick and some people do view that word as being derogatory. So, I guess I can see why they didn't go with that. Though I think that they couldn't have picked a better character for this role. Sure, they tone down some aspects of Injun Joe. Such as it focuses on him stealing and they don't bring up the murders in this version but again with this being an adaption that came out in February of this year. So, some things were going to be more P.C. then Twain's original version. Now this doesn't bug me because it is an adaption and with a lot of other aspects, I found it very faithful to the book. I think one of the big reasons that it doesn't bug me is because as I said this is an adaption and they aren't changing the actual book as a lot of people have wanted to do in the past and that's something that I don't agree with.
My Final Thoughts
All in all, this was an enjoyable read and I feel the source material was treated with respect. Now I did have some issues with this adaption such as I would've cast someone else as Huck Finn but who, I don't know and I really wish that Pete's name had been Injun Pete but again that is just something minor. This is something that I highly suggest. This will probably be my only comic book adaption review unless I can find the Donald and Daisy Duck version of Gone with The Wind. Yes, that exists.
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