Donald has a problem with Mickey Mouse... well, kinda! Disney's famous fowl doesn't actually dislike his big-eared pal. But it does seem to Donald like adventures go right for Mickey, while the Duck gets stuck with all the bad luck. Then again: not this month! As of Wednesday, February 8, Mickey Mouse and Friends #286 and Donald Duck and Friends #337 have shipped to your favorite comic shop. When they arrive next week or the week after, you'll get to see Donald being lucky for a change... and Mickey shrinking in embarrassment. Literally!

Mickey Mouse #286 starts the party with “Coming Up Short,” a feature-length epic by Stefan Petrucha (The X-Files) and Paco Rodriguez. Mickey and Eega Beeva time travel to the island of Torgania in the year 2225, where they've heard that futuristic jousters participate in a thrilling tournament, riding atop giant dogs and cats. But wouldn't you know it? Torgania in 2225 is ruled by despotic king Torga, whose animals are really normal size. The jousters have been shrunken to rat-size with a ray... and Mickey soon meets the same fate! To win back his size and freedom and return to 2006, our highly embarrassed Mouse must become a master jouster, a position he's in no way physically suited for. Uh-oh!
Mickey's run of bad luck continues in our classic backup story, Paul Murry's “Green Dogs and Jams.” When Pluto gets covered in green paint and flees across the neighborhood, Mickey follows the trail and takes his lumps. We're giving this tale its first American reprint since 1953. But Mickey might have preferred it stayed buried!
And in the first story of a trend, Donald Duck comes out pretty good this month, buying “The Insult Robot” from Gyro Gearloose. The goal is never to let Neighbor Jones out-talk Donald again. Things get crazy when Jones buys an insult robot, too; but this is one feud where Donald personally gets to keep his hands clean!

The good times for Donald continue in Donald Duck #337, where we open with “Brother, Can You Spare a Pot of Gold?” Fan favorites Kari Korhonen and Daniel Branca spin a St. Patrick's Day yarn: the Junior Woodchucks are posing as leprechauns and hiding in the woods, and the first Duckburgian to catch one will win a real pot of gold! Donald is up against Gladstone and Uncle Scrooge for the goodies, and things look bleak... until our hero gets help from an unexpected source!
Donald a winner? Yes, and it continues in our next story, Tony Strobl's new-to-America “Byte Makes Right.” When Scrooge's new efficiency robot declares Donald expendable, a firing comes Don's way... but he gets his own back in spades!
And on top of Duck triumphs come more Mickey setbacks. In Sarah Kinney's “Leapin' Leprechauns,” -- another St. Patrick's Day misadventure -- Mickey practices some seriously ineffective gnome hunting at home with help from Goofy, Horace Horsecollar, and Butch.
Last but not least is this month's classic Carl Barks Donald tale, “Duck Luck.” Finishing off our themes of St. Patrick's Day and luck, Donald struggles to fight back against a fortune cookie's jinxy prediction. Hey, what the dickens? This time he ends up a loser! But oh, well. Three successes out of four is pretty good for Donald Duck, wouldn't you say? Join us in person for the details!

Gemstone is your source for new and vintage Disney greats. Order our titles online at http://www.gemstonepub.com/disney or http://www.walmart.com. Find them at RiteAid or your local comic shop. And if you can't find a comic shop, don't consider yourself unlucky. Call Diamond Comics' Comic Shop Locator Service at 1-888-COMIC-BOOK.

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