IDW Publishing announced today that it will publish a new line of Disney comics featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge and the rest of the classic anthropomorphic funny animal characters that have made comic books based on Disney characters a presence in the industry for most of the past 75 years.

IDW’s Disney publishing program begins in March with the Artist Edition of Don Rosa’s Life and Times of Uncle Scrooge, and continues with the launch of a new ongoing monthly Uncle Scrooge series in April, followed by a Donald Duck ongoing monthly series that debuts in May, a Mickey Mouse comic in June, and a Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories comic debuting in July.

The new IDW Disney line will feature stories from the best creators of Disney comics from around the world (most of the current new Disney comic book material is generated in Europe where the Disney characters, especially the Ducks, remain extremely popular).  The names of the creators, whose work will be appearing in the IDW Disney comics, will be familiar to those who enjoy post-Barks Disney comics: Daan Jippes, Romano Scarpa, Casty, Giorgio Cavazzano, and Al Taliaferro.  The first issues of each of the four IDW Disney comic book series will all be 48 pages long and retail for $3.99.  Subsequent issues will be 40 pages long with the same cover price.

In a move designed to appeal directly to Disney collectors, each issue will have two regular covers along with variants depicting the characters in one of the Disney theme park attractions.  April’s Uncle Scrooge variant will feature an Adventureland theme, while the May books will have Tomorrowland themed variants, July will see Fantasyland covers, and August’s theme will be Epcot (June’s is so special IDW isn’t revealing it yet).

The IDW Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, and Mickey Mouse series will all begin with a #1 issue, but Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories, one of great classic comic book anthologies of all time, will maintain its original numbering with the IDW series beginning with issue #721.