Do you remember that time in Star Wars when Luke Skywalker and Han Solo dropped by Harry Potter’s house to see if he wanted to help them defeat Darth Vader and destroy the Death Star? Of course not, because it didn’t happen, except perhaps in Star Wars-Harry Potter Fan Fiction.

That’s what I felt like, though, when I was reading an old copy of Walt Disney Comics Digest (#23, July 1970) I found at a library book sale. I’m flipping through this old digest-sized comic book of classic Disney comics and there between the “Brer Rabbit” story and the “Super Goof” adventure was a tale called “The Magic Brew,” starring Donald Duck’s nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie.

Identical triplets, the three nephews were created by Ted Osborne and official Disney Legend Al Taliaferro. HDL first appeared in a comic strip on October 17, 1937. Their first animated appearance was in the cartoon “Donald’s Nephews,” released on April 15, 1938. You can get all that info and more at the Wikipedia.

So far so good, but the actual plot of “The Magic Brew” is what really threw me.

HDL have been invited to the secret clubhouse of Pinocchio. That’s right, the little wooden puppet who became a real live boy. He’s got a secret treehouse hideaway that hides him from the local witch – as well as from Gepetto, Figaro and Jiminy Cricket who are conspicuously absent in this seemingly out-of-canon gem. The witch has a sack of “magic powders” and she’s intent on (a) dipping Pinocchio into her Magic Brew and (b) turning him into a solid gold statue so she can (c) profit. [Spoiler alert] HDL manage to overcome their cowardice – even after two of them are turned into talking apples. They free Pinoke from his golden goodness, and dunk the witch in her own brew. Game over, man.

I’m okay, somehow, with all the Disney ducks appearing in the same world. I’m okay when Mickey Mouse and his brood join in, too. But sticking Pinocchio in Duckburg is too much for my continuity-themed brain.

According to the gang at the Grand Comics Database (the smartest boys in class), the story originally appeared in Dell Comics’ Vacation Parade #5 (July 1954). There’s no writer credit, but the pencil art is credited to Dick Moores (the guy who took over the Gasoline Alley comic strip from Frank King), and GCD thinks the inking might be Moores as well.

I would love to have been in the room when the idea for this story was hatched – Of course, that’d make me about 1000 years old now and living in a diaper, but I can only imagine the pitch. “It’s Pinocchio, right? He’s a boy now, all boy, and he’s got a place in the woods away from his own continuity. It’s a treehouse – made of wood, which is what he used to be, get it? So he often goes there to hide from a witch who’s only looking for him when he goes there, and Donald’s nephews come over to play and eat some chocolate cake and they team up with Pinoke to defeat the witch and learn about courage. I can have the script for you on Tuesday.”

Sold!

[Artwork: Page from “The Magic Brew” © Disney]