The cover to IDW's hardback collection of the strip.
Disney Christmas Story was an annual newspaper comic strip created by Frank Reilly and distributed by King Features Syndicate, that ran every holiday season from 1960 to 1987, always ending on Christmas Eve. As the title suggests, each story was a Christmas story starring characters from Disney animated films, often multiple films, usually with the characters having to save Christmas when one of the villains (or some of the villains teaming up) attempts to ruin it. Although there was very little continuity between storylines, several characters appeared in multiple storylines, such as the Seven Dwarfs being regular helpers to Santa Claus. The strip did not feature any appearances by Mickey Mouse and/or Donald Duck, though Ludwig Von Drake guest-starred in the 1962 story arc, and the Beagle Boys were the featured villains in the 1971 arc.
Frank Reilly wrote every story in the strip for its first fifteen years, with his last storyline, "Santa and the Pirates", coming after his retirement in 1975. Carl Fallberg, who also wrote for Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales comic strip, took over the strip from that point onward and wrote every story from 1976 to 1984, as well as the last installment of the series in 1987. For 1985 and 1986's stories, Floyd Norman handled the writing duties.
After the strip's initial run ended in 1987, it was revived as Disney Holiday Story, which ran each holiday season from 1992 to 1997. Unlike its predecessor, the Disney Holiday Story strips typically starred the characters from the latest Disney animated film at the time of publication (with the exception of its final storyline, which instead served as a tie-in with the theatrical re-release of The Little Mermaid) and did not do any crossovers between films.
In 2017, IDW Publishing published a hardback book titled Disney's Christmas Classics, which collected almost all of the storylines from both iterations of the strip's run, with the exception of the 1986 storyline, "A Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Christmas", which featured characters from Song of the South (even though Br'er Bear had also appeared prominently in the 1980 storyline, "Santa's Magical Christmas Helpers", which is reprinted in the book).
Stories[]
Disney Christmas Story[]
| Title | Writer | Artist(s) | Original run | Featuring characters from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Peter Pan's Christmas Story" | Frank Reilly | Manuel Gonzales | November 28 - December 24, 1960 | Peter Pan and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs |
| "Pinocchio's Christmas Story" | Chuck Fuson and Floyd Gottfredson (pencils) Manuel Gonzales (inks) |
November 27 - December 24, 1961 | Pinocchio | |
| "Sleeping Beauty's Christmas Story" | John Ushler | November 26 - December 24, 1962 | Sleeping Beauty | |
| "The Three Little Pigs' Christmas Story" | Floyd Gottfredson | November 25 - December 24, 1963 | The Three Little Pigs | |
| "Cinderella's Christmas Party" | Floyd Gottfredson (pencils) Manuel Gonzales (inks) |
November 23 - December 24, 1964 | Cinderella | |
| "Bambi's Christmas Adventure" | Guillermo Cardosos | November 29 - December 24, 1965 | Bambi, Dumbo | |
| "Snow White's Christmas Surprise" | Mike Arens | November 28 - December 24, 1966 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | |
| "Dumbo and the Christmas Mystery" | November 23 - December 24, 1967 | Dumbo, Sleeping Beauty, The Sword in the Stone, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | ||
| "Santa Claus is Never Land" | Cliff Nordberg (pencils) Manuel Gonzales (inks) |
November 25 - December 24, 1968 | Peter Pan | |
| "The Quest for Christmas" | James Swain (pencils) Manuel Gonzales (inks) |
December 1 - 24, 1969 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty | |
| "Santa's Christmas Crisis" | John Ushler | November 30 - December 24, 1970 | Sleeping Beauty | |
| "The Christmas Conspiracy" | Mike Arens | December 6 - 24, 1971 | Uncle Scrooge, Cinderella and Dumbo | |
| "The Magic Christmas Tree" | John Ushler | December 4 - 23, 1972 | The Sword in the Stone | |
| "A Castle for Christmas" | December 3 - 24, 1973 | Dumbo and Bambi | ||
| "Santa's Crucial Christmas" | Tom McKimson | December 2 - 24, 1974 | Dumbo, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs, and Cinderella | |
| "Santa and the Pirates" | John Ushler | December 1 - 24, 1975 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella | |
| "Captain Hook's Christmas Caper" | Carl Fallberg | Lorna Smith (pencils) Larry Meyer (inks) |
November 29-December 24, 1976 | The Three Little Pigs, Pinocchio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and The Sword in the Stone |
| "No Puppets for Christmas" | Wille Ito (pencils) Larry Meyer (inks) |
December 5-24, 1977 | Pinocchio, Peter Pan, and Cinderella | |
| "The Day Christmas Was Banned" | Tony Strobl (pencils) Larry Meyer (inks) |
December 4-23, 1978 | Robin Hood and Dumbo | |
| "Madam Mim's Christmas Grudge" | Tony Strobl (pencils) Mike Royer (inks) |
December 1-24, 1979 | The Sword in the Stone | |
| "Santa's Magical Christmas Helpers" | December 1-24, 1980 | Pinocchio, The Tree Little Pigs, Song of the South, and Sleeping Beauty | ||
| "Cinderella's Christmas Crisis" | Tony Strobl (pencils) Steve Steere (inks) |
November 30-December 24, 1981 | Cinderella | |
| "The Mysterious Christmas Spell" | November 29-December 24, 1982 | The Sword in the Stone and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | ||
| "Christmas Comes to Never Land" | Willie Ito (pencils) Bill Langley (inks) |
November 28-24, 1983 | Peter Pan | |
| "A Christmas Present for Mr. Toad" | Willie Ito (pencils) Larry Meyer (inks) |
December 3-22, 1984 | The Wind in the Willows and Pinocchio | |
| "Cruella's Very Furry Christmas" | Floyd Norman | Willie Ito (pencils) Mike Royer (inks) |
December 2-24, 1985 | One Hundred and One Dalmatians |
| "A Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Christmas" | Keith Moseley (pencils) Bill Langley (inks) |
December 1-24, 1986 | Song of the South | |
| "Snow White's Sinister Christmas Gift" | Carl Fallberg | Keith Moseley (pencils) Bill Langley (inks) |
November 30-December 24, 1987 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs |
Disney Holiday Story[]
All stories in the revival series were written by Floyd Norman (with Karen Kreider co-writing the first storyline) and drawn by Richard Moore.
| Featuring characters from | Original run |
|---|---|
| Beauty and the Beast | November 30-December 25, 1992 |
| Aladdin | November 29-December 25, 1993 |
| The Lion King | November 28-December 23, 1994 |
| Pocahontas | November 27-December 23, 1995 |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame | December 2-28, 1996 |
| The Little Mermaid | November 27-December 24, 1997 |