Note: The decision was made to consolidate all Disney publications under the name Walt Disney Company. This profile is for Walt Disney, the characters he created, and the company he founded. Any questions, please ask in the Librarian's Group. Walter Elias “Walt” Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $35 billion. Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most famous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, a character for which Disney himself was the original voice. He has been awarded four honorary Academy Awards and has won twenty-two competitive Academy Awards out of fifty-nine nominations, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual. He also won seven Emmy Awards. He is the namesake for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, and Disneyland Hong Kong. Disney died of lung cancer in Burbank, California, on December 15, 1966. The following year, construction began on Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. His brother Roy Disney inaugurated the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971. The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) (commonly referred to as Disney) is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, the company was reincorporated as Walt Disney Productions in 1929. Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. Taking on its current name in 1986, The Walt Disney Company expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theatre, radio, publishing, and online media. In addition, it has created new divisions of the company in order to market more mature content than it typically associates with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, today one of the largest and best-known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 11 theme parks around the world. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5. On December 31, 2009, Disney Company acquired the Marvel Entertainment, Inc. for $4.24 billion. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6, 1991. An early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, Mickey Mouse, is the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company. —from Wikipedia

Born in Cantù, Italy - 8th december 1977. Artist of many Graphic Novels as The Incredibles (Disney Books), Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney books), the Daffodil series ( 3 books, Soleil Editions - published in France, Italy, Spain, USA, Canada ), the first two books of the Artemis Fowl Series - The Graphic Novel, The Artic Incident Graphic Novel (Hyperion Books), Coeur de Papier (Soleil Editions) - a dark fairy tale in two acts written by Bruno Enna -, Lolika (Le Lombard Editions) and The Supernaturalist - the graphic novel (Disney Hyperion Books) - Text by Eoin Colfer & Andrew Donkin. He lives in Como, Italy. —- Nato l’8 dicembre 1977 a Cantù. Dopo gli studi scientifici si iscrive alla Scuola del Fumetto ed inizia a collaborare con delle Agenzie di Comunicazione e con l’editore tedesco Mosaik realizzando storie per la serie “Die Abrafaxe”. Nel 1999 viene selezionato per frequentare i corsi dell’Accademia Disney ed in seguito inizia ad illustrare storie a fumetti per PK, Topolino, X-Mickey, Lilo & Stitch, Witch. Lavora inoltre alla serie di Monster Allergy, disegnando il secondo libro della serie, ed alle graphic novels de Gli Incredibili e Pirati dei Carabi. Attualmente collabora come Layout Artist per la Divisione Libri di Disney USA e per Agenzie di Comunicazione italiane ed estere, illustra per la Francia la serie a fumetti Daffodil ( edizioni Soleil, testi di Frederic Brémaud ) e sta lavorando all’adattamento in graphic novel di The Supernaturalist ( edizioni Hyperion ), libro per ragazzi scritta da Eoin Colfer, con cui ha già collaborato per l’adattamento dei primi due volumi della serie Artemis fowl. Le Graphic Novels di Artemis Fowl sono in corso di pubblicazione in diversi Paesi tra cui Francia, Italia, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Brasile e Germania. Nel 2008 è uscito, in Italia per le Edizioni BD, il Teatrino delle Bambole Morte, una raccolta di filastrocche Gotiche illustrate ( testi di Davide Barzi ). Nel corso del 2010 è prevista l’uscita della miniserie Coeur de Papier ( Edizioni Soleil ), su testi di Bruno Enna, Lolika(edizioni Le Lombard ) su testi di Frederic Brémaud e The Supernaturalist - the graphic novel (Disney Hyperion Books) su testi di Eoin Colfer e Andrew Donkin.

Francesco Artibani (born 27 October 1968) is an Italian comics writer, most notably known for his work on Disney comics. Artibani originally studied animation. He debuted in comics in 1992, scripting an Uncle Scrooge story for the Italian weekly Disney comics magazine 'Topolino'. Besides writing stories for Topolino, since the 90's Artibani contributed to various innovative comic projects from Disney Italia, such as PKNA, MMMM and W.I.T.C.H. He is also the co-creator of the Monster Allergy comics series.