Disney Christmas Story facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Disney Christmas Story |
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|---|---|
| Author(s) | Frank Reilly, Carl Fallberg, Floyd Norman |
| Illustrator(s) | Manuel Gonzales, Chuck Fuson, John Ushler, Floyd Gottfredson, Guillermo Cardoso, Mike Arens, Cliff Nordberg, James Swain, Tom McKimson, Lorna Smith, Larry Mayer, Willie Ito, Tony Strobl, Mike Royer, Steve Steere, Bill Langley, Keith Moseley |
| Current status/schedule | Concluded annual Christmas strip |
| Launch date | November 28, 1960 |
| End date | December 24, 1987 |
| Syndicate(s) | King Features Syndicate |
The Disney Christmas Story was a special Disney comic strip that appeared every year in newspapers. It started in 1960 and ran each year until 1987. These comics were published from Monday to Saturday for about three to four weeks before Christmas Eve.
Instead of being on the regular comics page, you would often find these strips at the bottom of other newspaper pages. This meant readers had to look for them, and they would often see Christmas advertisements along the way!
In 2017, all these Christmas stories were put together in a special book called Disney's Christmas Classics. This book included almost all the stories, except for the one from 1986.
How the Disney Christmas Story Was Made
Unlike most Disney comic strips, the Disney Christmas Story was special because it often mixed characters from different Disney movies. Imagine Ludwig Von Drake helping Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty! That happened in the 1962 story.
Another time, in 1976, the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio even helped Santa Claus! They worked together to stop bad guys like Captain Hook, the Big Bad Wolf, and Honest John from stealing Santa's toys.
Some stories even featured characters that rarely appeared in comic strips. For example, the 1963 story was the only time Li'l Bad Wolf appeared in this comic strip. In 1971, the Beagle Boys made a rare appearance too.
Many talented writers worked on these stories. Frank Reilly wrote them from 1960 to 1975. Then, Carl Fallberg took over from 1976 to 1984. Floyd Norman wrote the stories in 1985 and 1986, and Carl Fallberg wrote the very last one in 1987.
When Floyd Norman started writing in 1985, he thought it was a bit strange to mix characters from different movies. He felt that characters like Mickey Mouse and Dumbo didn't quite fit in the same world. So, he decided to try something new. His first story only featured characters from One Hundred and One Dalmatians. His next story was only about characters from Song of the South. This made the stories feel more consistent.
Stories from Disney Christmas Story
Over the years, many different Disney characters starred in these Christmas adventures. Here are some examples of the exciting stories:
- Peter Pan's Christmas Story (1960): Featured Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Tinker Bell, and even the Seven Dwarfs.
- Pinocchio's Christmas Story (1961): Included Pinocchio, Geppetto, Jiminy Cricket, and the Blue Fairy.
- Sleeping Beauty's Christmas Story (1962): Brought together Princess Aurora, Maleficent, and Ludwig Von Drake.
- Three Little Pigs Christmas Story (1963): Starred The Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf, and Li'l Bad Wolf.
- Cinderella's Christmas Party (1964): Featured Cinderella, her evil stepmother Lady Tremaine, and her mouse friends Jaq and Gus.
- Santa's Crucial Christmas (1974): This story had a huge mix of characters, including Timothy Q. Mouse, the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Robin Hood, the Three Little Pigs, and Merlin!
- Cruella's Very Furry Christmas (1985): This was one of the stories written by Floyd Norman, focusing only on characters from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, like Cruella De Vil and the dalmatians Pongo and Perdita.
Disney Holiday Story: A New Chapter
| Disney Holiday Story | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Floyd Norman, Karen Kreider |
| Illustrator(s) | Richard Moore |
| Current status/schedule | Concluded annual Christmas strip |
| Launch date | November 30, 1992 |
| End date | December 27, 1997 |
| Syndicate(s) | King Features Syndicate |
The tradition of annual Disney holiday comics returned in 1992, but with a new name: Disney Holiday Story. These new stories were created to help promote the latest Disney animated movies.
All six of these newer stories were written by Floyd Norman (with Karen Kreider helping on the first one). Richard Moore drew all the illustrations. A big change for these stories was that they only featured characters from the specific movie they were promoting. There were no more mixed-up characters from different films.
Here are the movies featured in the Disney Holiday Story comics:
- 1992: Beauty and the Beast
- 1993: Aladdin
- 1994: The Lion King
- 1995: Pocahontas
- 1996: Hunchback of Notre Dame
- 1997: The Little Mermaid (this was for the movie's re-release)
