Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #1 [25]
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #25 (October 1942) holds a unique place in Disney history as the first published appearance of Chip and Dale — beating their debut animated short, 'Private Pluto,' to the public by roughly six months. The two chipmunks appear here without individual names or distinguishing features, presented as a matching pair of mischievous antagonists pestering Pluto, which is precisely the dynamic that would define the characters for years to come. This issue demonstrates how Dell's WDC&S served not just as a reprint vehicle but as an advance showcase for Disney's animated pipeline, giving print readers a preview of characters still in production at the studio. It is also part of the era — around issues #24–31 — when the series was making its first tentative moves toward original comic content, transitioning away from its earlier identity as a pure newspaper-strip reprint book.
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Walt Disney's Comics and Stories launched in October 1940 as a partnership between Dell Comics and Western Publishing, initially reprinting Disney newspaper strips by creators such as Floyd Gottfredson (Mickey Mouse) and Al Taliaferro (Donald Duck). By the time issue #25 arrived in October 1942, the series had grown to a circulation approaching one million copies per issue, riding a wave of aggressive subscriptions and strong newsstand sales. The 'Private Pluto' text story in this issue was adapted from a cartoon then still in production at Disney, directed by Clyde Geronimi; the chipmunks had been designed by animator Bill Justice. The issue's cover was painted by Walt Kelly — later the creator of Pogo — who was doing cover and interior work for the series throughout this period.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First published appearance of Chip and Dale (here unnamed), in a four-page illustrated text story titled 'Private Pluto' — predating the theatrical cartoon short of the same name by approximately six months (the short was released April 2, 1943).
- The chipmunks appear without individual names or distinguishing characteristics in this debut; they would not receive the names 'Chip' and 'Dale' (a pun on furniture-maker Thomas Chippendale, suggested by story artist Bill 'Tex' Henson) until the 1947 short 'Chip an' Dale.'
- Pluto co-stars in the 'Private Pluto' story, establishing from the outset the chipmunks' signature dynamic as mischievous antagonists to Mickey's dog.
- The story format is a prose/text piece with spot illustrations, not sequential comic-book panels — an important distinction noted by key-issue databases, as it affects how some collectors and historians categorize the appearance.
- The issue cover was drawn by Walt Kelly — future creator of the comic strip Pogo — who provided cover and interior artwork for numerous WDC&S issues during this era.
- Issue #25 carries the alternate indicia designation Vol. 3, No. 1, reflecting Dell's volume-based numbering system used before the series switched to continuous whole numbers with issue #124 (January 1951).
- Additional interior content includes Mickey Mouse newspaper-strip reprints drawn by Floyd Gottfredson and Donald Duck strip pages by Al Taliaferro, keeping the issue rooted in the series' reprint origins even as it broke new ground with the Chip and Dale text story.
- The characters' next comic appearance after this issue did not come until Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #69 (1946), covering the events of their second short 'Squatter's Rights'; it was not until their eighth comic appearance (Vacation Parade #1, 1950) that Chip and Dale graduated to traditional sequential art with speech bubbles.