Step out of the summer heat and into a comic shop next week! Your Disney pals are back with exciting new adventures -- not to mention choice classics by Carl Barks and Paul Murry. You'll be able to find them in Donald Duck and Friends 331 and Mickey Mouse and Friends 280. Having shipped Wednesday, August 10, these $2.95 32-page comics should arrive in comic shops next week or the week after.

Donald Duck 331 begins with Carl Barks' “Camera Crazy,” a vintage tale from 1944. “Newspapers want pictures of accidents and fires and things,” Donald tells his nephews. “I'm gonna make some money!” Of course, the thought of cash doesn't discourage Huey, Dewey, and Louie either, and soon the ducks are vying to snap the most spine-tingling shots. Then Donald decides to stack the deck -- by releasing a grizzly bear from the zoo and coaxing it to make the mayhem he wants. Smart move? Well...
Our backup stories may not feature roaring bears, but you'll still find plenty of hilarious trouble “bruin” (uh, pardon us!). In Stefan Petrucha's “Gliquid,” Mickey synthesizes a new form of matter... and must prevent its theft by mobster Krankle Gorb, even though neither Mickey nor Gorb really knows what it's good for! Then, in Gail Renard's and Wanda Gattino's “You Can Run, But You Can't Hide,” Donald becomes 'The Wily Fox' in an effort to outsmart his nephews' tracking skills.

Mickey Mouse 280 requires tracking skills, too... Detective Mickey's, that is, in the Paul Murry classic “The Case of the Vanishing Bandit.” Seasoned fans will know that there are several vintage stories with this title, more than one of them drawn by Murry. This one comes from 1956's Mickey Mouse 48, and features a dastardly scientist, a floating island, and an invention called the “super-crank crook-hooker!” That nostalgic Murry flavor doesn't come stronger than this.
Our backup stories are in fine form too this month. Paul Halas, Tom Anderson and Vicar offer Donald “A Unique Home” ...namely an island off the coast where everything that can go wrong, does. And in Sarah Kinney's and Fabrizio Petrossi's “Officer Goofy,” our heroic Goof becomes one of Mouseton's boys in blue. Sergeant Backlash trains him to be tough... but how much toughness is too much toughness? When Goofy makes cats and pigeons obey the law, you know his “goofy logic” has kicked into action again!

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 your local comic shop. And if you can't find a comic shop, no need to worry. Call Diamond Comics' Comic Shop Locator service at 1-888-COMIC-BOOK.

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