Walt Disney Comics #666

Is it wrong for me to chuckle at what we’ve done?

Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #666 was shipped out to retailers on February 15th. Yes, you heard right: issue number 666… and as Bill at Comix Connection pointed out, in this issue, “Mickey Mouse goes to Hell.”

And he’s right! In this issue, we’ve got a 37-page Italian adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, complete with Alighieri-inspired terza rima stanzas! I really have to hand it to Dwight Decker and David Gerstein; they did a smash-up job with the script!

You can see some of the art over at Scoop! The ending is a bit of a surprise, too! ::wink, wink::

I just think this thing’s cool. It’s neat how “the job” spills over into the rest of my life, too: I was asked to read over the script, and decided to take the opportunity to finally read Dante’s original work (translated, though — I don’t know Italian that well!). It struck me that his journey through Hell seemed to be more an allegory for this life than an account of how he pictured the everlasting Gehenna.

I have to admit I didn’t finish reading Inferno before I had to return it to the library, but I was drawn to the beauty and genius of his poetry in a way I never would have been if I’d had to read his work in school. In other words, a comic book led me to appreciate classic literature in a way no teacher ever could.

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