Mickey Mouse Comics Starter Pack

"Hey there, hi there, ho there! You are as welcome as can be!"

If you are reading this, you are likely expressing interest in Mickey Mouse comics, but have no idea where to begin. Or maybe you want a refresher or aren't sure which books are the best starting point for spending your cheddar. Don't feel like a novice, we all begin somewhere. 

After all, the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip started back in 1930 and the monthly issue was launched in 1952. This is a long-runner and that time period is merely considering American publications! This article will cover English publications. Unfortunately, I cannot read Italian yet and have no experience with the foreign markets. 

Floyd Gottfredson Library

Floyd Gottfredson is Mickey's second father. He developed the comic Mickey which entertained and thrilled millions of readers. Every Mickey story has a touch of his DNA running through its pages. He originally was only suppose to substitute on the strip for two weeks. Instead, he spent nearly 45 years drawing and plotting, and became a Disney Legend. Without Floyd, this article, and arguably Disney comics, do not exist in their present form. 

Volume 3&4 Box Set 

Essential reading for anyone looking to dive into the Mickey Mouse comic world. The set contains of the most best Mickey portrayals in fiction: Bat Bandit, Editor-In-Grief, Race for Riches, The Pirate Submarine, Joins the Foreign Legion, The Seven Ghosts, Island in the Sky, and Monarch of Medioka. An embarrassment of treasure. If you think Mickey Mouse is a bland, colorless corporate logo, and incapable of actual character, these two volumes will immediately change your mind. Discover a heroic underdog, a tenacious mouse fighting back against a world much bigger than him. 

Volume 5&6 Box Set

The quality isn't as consistent as the previous box set, but the most important and arguably best story in the canon, Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot resides between its covers. But there are plenty of other engaging tales, Mighty Whale Hunter, The Plumber's Helper, Bar-None Ranch, Bellhop Detective, Love Trouble, Supersalesman, Hidden River, and The Gleam.

Mickey Mouse: The Greatest Adventures

A special one-off (unfortunately, volume two appears to be but a dream) of Technicolored Gottfredson adventures. The first Mickey serial, Death Valley headlines, but the colored versions of Island in the Sky and The Gleam are worth the expenses. Read Bill Walsh's two best stories in the Mickey's Dangerous Double - introducing Mickey's doppelganger Miklos, and The Atombrella and the Rhyming Man - starring the verse-chanting Rhyming Man.

Casty

Andrea "Casty" Castellan is the most notable modern Mickey writer going. An Italian master, his work has translated brilliantly with American audiences. He has been noted for creating dynamic new female characters while refreshing Mickey's personality and rescuing him from moldy, rote detective plots. 

Timeless Tales III

The final hardcover in the regrettably, shortened IDW run, Timeless Tales III collects issues #13-21. The headliner story, Darkenblot, begs for an animated adaptation. The story seamlessly ties together a futuristic setting with timeless Mickey themes of detective work and not being taken seriously by authority. Featuring the return of an old foe, the future is now! Mickey faces off against a new villain in The Magnificent Doublejoke and hunts for Napoleon's buttons. 

Disney Masters: Trapped in the Shadow Dimension

The Disney Masters series offers a sampler pack of a Disney artist or writer. Casty's volume features the title story but more importantly it contains the ideal translation of The World to Come. I read the first English translation after I finished the Gottfredson Library. The second translation is even better. Sharing similarities with the underrated movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, World to Come confronts the balance between environmentalism and science progress and how easily the latter can be hijacked by well-meaning and evil forces. 

Romano Scarpa 

Scarpa, an Italian creator, literally picked up in the 1950s where Gottfredson left off. When the syndicate turned the Mickey Mouse comic strip from serials to a gag-a-day, Scarpa started writing his own epic. Italian audiences, enthralled, assumed they were new Gottfredson. Decades later, Scarpa's stories still delight. His Mickey is more mature but remains driven for justice and adventure. 

Disney Masters: The Man from Altacraz

The title story is a fun yarn, but the highlight in this volume is Kali's Nail. A brilliant homage to Outwits the Phantom Blot, Mickey deals with a foe that forecasts Scooby Doo villains, and struggles to undercome a complexing mystery. 

Paul Murry

Murry's online reputation isn't as positive as the other creators. Despite his writing resume only consisting of one page gags, he shoulders the blame for why the American Mickey turns formulaic and staid in the 1950s and 1960s serials. However, his Disney Master volumes have been the series' tentpoles. He has a dedicated fan base and the reason isn't mysterious. His art work is polished and comforting. The Mickey & Goofy as detective partners formula is like grandmother's mashes potatoes; similar but delicious. 

Disney Masters: The Monster of Sawtooth Mountain

This is the best collection of his Disney Masters volumes. The stories are brisk, entertaining, and Mickey even displays some uncharacteristic behavior different from his stock personality in this era. Murry's stuff isn't solely carried by nostalgia. 

Miscellaneous 

Mickey Mouse: The 90th Anniversary Collection

2018 was somehow eight years ago but this assortment of tales has aged perfectly. Covering Gottfredson to Casty, Mickey's entire life is chronicled. 

Mouse Tails 

Another smorgasbord of creators, this collection has Carl Barks' Mickey tale (he was a better Ducks dude than Mouse man), and a great story by Ken Hultgren - a talented writer with a curriculum vitae much too short. 

Any suggestions? Feel free to add them in the comments below!

Stickers

You just never know when Disney comics will make an unexpected appearance among the vast sea of Disneyana material. I recently discovered a book of Disney stickers at a bargain outlet and flipped through the pages. To my great delight, inside the pages were several stickers from Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse comic strip! 

Now, only if the Disney Store will sell some more merchandise! 

The stickers, from memory, appear to draw from "Death Valley," "The Crazy Crime Wave," "The Boxing Champion," "Jungle Treasure," and "Editor-in-Grief."

If any Mousekeeter recognizes more strips, comment below! 

I would love to know what fan(s) in publishing gave us this treasure. 

P.S.: I recently saw another Disney sticker book in Walmart. It had more Mickey comic material but $27 was too high to justify the purchase for ten stickers.  

Ripples in Time (Part I)

Well, it has been a fun week - I use that term loosely. My primary computer's screen turned an ugly shade of fuchsia and pistachio leaving me to write this (delayed) review on a backup laptop. But, like Mickey Mouse in the Foreign Legion, I soldier on! 

Fantagraphics' second Mickey Mouse issue was recently released and its main story, Ripples in Time (Part I), features the Rhyming Man (yay!) as the main villain and time travel (eh) as the setting*. Joe Torcivia returns as the translator and dialogue man. Francesco Vacca wrote the story and Marco Mazzarello provided the artwork. The tale was originally published in Italy (shocker, with those names, I would have guessed Iceland!) in 2022 - so it is a fairly new tale. 

Vacca is a recently chronicler of Disney comics and this joint is his first American printing as well as his first time handling the Mouse. Are we seeing a new burgeoning new master of verse or witnessing some narrative doggerel? Let's find out! In Rhyme!

"The story starts not in Mouseton but where the Pharaohs play,

On the banks of the Nile down Egypt's way

First, we see a Pharaoh with a sense of humor

Causing all his advisors to rumor

How his joy in rigging buckets of honey

Is humorously right on the money!"

You see Minnie Mouse, too, right?

"When, suddenly who should appear in the air

But Minnie Mouse wearing a wig of blonde hair!*

Actually, no dear readers, this is Uma,

Who travels through time like a puma,

In search of history research, 

Watching events from a perch,

She receives an assignment from the head of T.O.O.T

And heads out in route"

I like villains who narrate out loud

"The scene then shifts to our rhyming villain,

Who sits in a library chilling, 

Over a specific book 

Of which he takes a nasty look

And carve out its pages in a literary killing."

Interesting how Vacca used Pete as a disposable villain

"We see our hero Mickey Mouse

Capture Peg-Leg Pete, that awful louse

With a flying tackle so apt 

He treated Pete like an opposing quarterback,

As he continues to enjoy his life

Mickey has a sense of growing strife

He fears he is being spied upon,

And the strange vibrations keep going on"

Gotta love how Mickey takes everything in stride. "End of the world? To the tunnels!"

"The Rhyming Man continue to narrate 

And his rhymes, while simple, are first rate!

Uma appears to Mickey and Goofy to explain the situation

Of course, the entire scenario causes quite the sensation!

She warns about the impending trigger event

Which our heroes must circumvent,

Least, the world to come

Should end up undone!"

"They navigate through Mouseton's ancient tunnels

Its twisting ways serve like a funnel

To where captured scientists are tied up with rope

Mickey, Goofy, and Uma are their last hope!

Mickey rushes at the Rhyming Man

Who continue his verse on command

He heads into the time machine

And quickly flees the scene."

2053: the year the Raiders finally win the Super Bowl!

"The scientists discover he has headed to the future

To rip apart the timestream like a torn suture 

What will heroes do?

Find out in March with part two!"

End verse

Not too much action happened in this installment but the pieces have been laid out nicely. Uma is a spunky character and slots nicely with Mickey and Goofy without overshadowing them, as Eurasia Toft (who I greatly like) occasionally does. The Rhyming Man always livens up the party with his witty verse and Torcivia does a great handling the rhymes. The villain's opening rhyme call backs to his first-ever couplet in "Atombrella and the Rhyming Man." The art is manageable. Mazzarello's portrayal of sweat weirds me out. 

And Joe, I saw the Murry Street inclusion!

The bimonthly calendar does sting when dealing with two part stories. I'm not a patient reader!

Mickey Mouse and the Amazing Lost Ocean

It is easy to become cynical about Disney comics, and really life in general. The comics have traveled an interesting path from saving the company's finances in the 1940s, to leading the industry in sales during the 1960s, to suffering a massive fall as Gold Key left the brand desiccate, to a resurgence under Gladstone, to a brief but impactful run with IDW, and now a marriage with Fantagraphics. Disney has been satisfied to par out the license despite owning Marvel - the preeminent comics company. 

Yet, if one steps back from the abyss, and objectively analyzes everything, you realize life isn't gloomy as your feelings think, and American Disney comics in 2026 are healthier than in previous decades. 

Perhaps, the current Mickey Mouse line isn't monthly and maybe never will be, but the banner has produced multiple hardcover collections, including publications of the Gleant one-shots. Those types of one-offs wouldn't have occurred in previous eras. Fortunately, they have been greenlighted and while the prices are hefty for a single story, the production and artwork are divine. 

The idea behind the line is granting elite European creators free access to operate in the Disney comics universe. Unshackled by typical guidelines and standards, the results have been awe-inspiring and unique. 

The series started with Mickey's Craziest Adventures - a pastiche concept revolving around "lost" 1960s Mickey and Donald comics purportedly being found with the caveat that several issues weren't uncovered. The overall gimmick mixed with interesting artwork didn't endear me to that volume, but the next story, "A Mysterious Melody" struck the right cord of character and narrative. I reviewed "Zombie Coffee" and greatly enjoyed the 1930s throwback. 

"Mickey Mouse and the Amazing Lost Ocean" arrived in early 2025 and ended up being surprisingly hard to obtain. It is currently out of stock on Fantagraphics and Amazon quickly ran out of copies. I hunted around and purchased came from Barnes & Noble. The sticker price of $24.99, combined with shipping costs, was high for 64 pages, but the artwork and story were well worth the acquisition and the numerous out of stock websites suggests others agreed. 

The story was written by Denis-Pierre Filippi and illustrated by Silvio Camboni (Gregory and the Gargoyles) and translation/dialogue was handled by Jonathan H. Gray. 

The idea revolves around Doctor Einmung, instead of leaving Earth after the incident in "Island in the Sky," decides to share his discoveries. Of course, his noblesse oblige backfires (otherwise, there is no plot!) and the modern Earth becomes a beautifully, ravaged steampunk world. Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy scavenge rare fuel while fighting villains like Steampunk Pete. 

I love Disney comics!

Does the story live up to the intriguing concept and title? Let's dive in and find out! 

The tale starts with this prologue, "The Great North Mediokan Mountain Range, 17 years after The Great War." Mickey is a WW1 veteran, as seen by "The Barnyard Battle" and the heavy summary lays a firm gravity for the story's stakes. 

Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy (a most useful third wheel) are searching for a freighter frozen beneath the ice containing 400 pounds of corallite. Mickey prepares to diving into the freezing waters while Minnie frets over his impending journey. The character touches are nicely done. Mickey is the recklessly adventurer, Minnie is the optimistic but lays down the law when needed, and Goofy is, well, a bit more mechanically sound than usual. 

Look at this artwork!

The main mouse drives into the water and see an absolutely gorgeous illustration of the undersea utopia. The artwork is absolutely breathtaking. I want to see this story animated. 

Mickey is working on the ship when Steampunk Pete arrives in his oversized Hindenberg. Pete unreleases his jumbo-sized grappling hooks (only $99.99) and swipes the ship. Minnie and Goofy can't reach Mickey on the radio and understandably fear the worst. Of course, Mickey isn't dying in the prologue (or any chapter) and pops to the surface with a fuel tank. 

The action leaps off the page

Unfortunately, back at the set of Waterworld, the trio discovers the tank only contained a 1/4 pound of corallite. Pete arrives in his blimp to brag about harvesting 40 pounds. Minnie has a funny meta line about "Don't give trills attention. It's what they want."

Goofy, befitting his increased savviness, reveals he salvaged a brainwave guidance transmitter and they decide to finish their robo-diver to enter a tech competition. 

Chapter One begins with Mickey testing the robo-diver, which works as a virtual reality simulator, similar to the movie Avatar. Pete has the same tech and ambushes Mickey's robo-diver, and in the resulting confrontation, both fall into a trench. Minnie disconnects Mickey to fool Pete and the trio sails away. 

The steampunk aesthetic shines through

They try again at 4 a.m. and discover that Pete, like all good villains, has spying henchmen. The robo-diver pulls up a granite cube with the letter E on it. 

Chapter Two starts with the trio visiting Doctor Einmug at his floating lab. Professor Portis is also present sporting a smug look. They present the cub to the good doctor but he dismisses it as a stupid piece of granite and reveals its retrieval was a test. Cryptic scientists are basically the Riddler. 

Einmug's role harkens back to his first appearance

Einmug offers the trio the choice of leaving with the reward or putting their skills towards the good of mankind. He needs the robo-diver to neutralize a lost weapon and prevent the Great War from resuming. (Not sure why he is worried, he has five years before WW2 starts.) The trio talk it over while Goofy worries about how his tea was served (Goofy's love of tea is a running gag). I would take the cash up front and that is why I am not on a game show or Mickey Mouse. 

They hook Mickey up to the machine and he heads into the depths. He dives into some beautiful illustrations when suddenly everything goes pitch black and the book gives the reader a magnificent splash page.

1930s!

Chapter Three opens with Goofy watching Mickey awaken from his slumber. He walks out of a treehouse to find clouds with sharks and a world of water. I must say, that I hope Mickey's uttering of "Great Gigasqueak" never becomes commonplace. 

I want that treehouse!

Mickey starts to drown but Minnie arrives and hands him a breather originally seen in the Phantom Menace and so ends a short but dramatic chapter. 

Chapter Four has Mickey enraged and curious about how the ocean got lost in the sky. Pete walks in and Mickey is ready to throw down with the villain but Minnie, playing the role of the UN, intervenes and explains the situation. 

Einmug lied about the situation, hired Pete to hack the robo-diver, and manipulated the trio as part of his plan to obtain corallite - a rare power source but essential to his technology. Everything went haywire when Einmug thinned the sea around the corallite with his invention that causes water to lose its gravity. Pete managed to free himself but Mickey remained trapped. Portis made his play (shocker!) and accused Einmug and company of disrupting the government lab. Goofy, Minnie, and a surprisingly unselfish Pete saw an opening, grabbed Mickey, and ran as the planetary disaster raged around them. 

The page shakes with drama!

And here is the whammer: they have been fugitives for five years! Good thing, they are functionally immoral! 

Of course, everything has gone wrong during the last five years (if it went right, no story!) and Portis seized control. (I assume he defeated and executed the Phantom Blot and Doctor Vulture off-panel) Our heroes have a plan to reverse everything and it doesn't involve an Infinity Gauntlet (a little cross-country promotion for ya!). They are going to reverse restore the water's gravity and creating a new energy source from the new moss growing everywhere (electric cars won't be happy). 

Mickey, despite sleeping for FIVE YEARS, is ready to spring into action and that is why we love him. 

Chapter Five has the gang making progress on their inventions when the hideout's lookouts discover three of Portis' sentries approaching. The X-Wings (sorry, Portis' sentries, but they really do look like X-Wings. Don't believe me? Read the book!) approach and the heroes decide to pull a Rebel Alliance on Hoth and perform a fighting evaluation. Pete's weapons shoot down Luke Skywalker and friends, but the cameras pick up two mice, a large cat, and a lanky dog. Pyrrhic Victory confirmed. 

Explosions!

The quartet flees through the jungle, and to repeat myself, this story is PERFECT for animation. Mickey and Minnie share a brief romantic moment which is ruined by Goofy's comedy. The fixes are completed for the polarity-reverser, setting the stage for the climax. 

Fleeing through the woods

Chapter Six starts with Mickey having an idea about using Goofy as bait (don't interrupt romantic moments, Goof!) and the sentries spring the trap and are eliminated. They take the broken X-Wing and re-install it with their tech. Mickey takes control of the machine and flies full Anakin Skywalker into the superstorm. 

Reworking the tech

Portis, reaching the realization of all great villains that henchmen will always fail and you must do it yourself, jumps into his TIE Fighter and prepares to go absolute Darth Vader. He mutters a great line, "I have to do everything myself." 

Portis is about to snipe Mickey when Pete, playing the role of Han Solo, saves the day by sniping Portis from the ground like the Australian artillery shot down the Red Baron. Mickey saves the day by reengaging the rain's gravity, sending Portis' plane plunging to the ground. 

The Epilogue sees Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy explaining how the world will return in normal soon enough. (I can't imagine the transition will be easy but Marvel never really explained how the reverse snap worked either.) They discover Pete pulled a Long John Silvers and stole the data. Except Goofy anticipated that and replaced the data on the stolen clip with viruses and ET for Atari. They all laugh as Portis sits in his submerged ship working on his revenge plan for the sequel. 

Back to normal, sort of.

Mickey Mouse and the Amazing Lost Ocean delivers epic action, genuine thrills, immaculate artwork, and raises questions about the limits of scientific endeavor. It uses the new-aged Pete, who is generally portrayed as a frenemy, to its best work. I am not generally a fan of that dynamic; I prefer the outright villainous Pete, but this story handles the concept by invoking the greater good angle. 

Find a copy and enjoy! 

Two Ears Up

The Next Issue: Mickey Mouse #332 features a familiar foe/who has caused the Mouse much woe!

The Phantom Blot's Double Revenge

Happy 124th Birthday to Walt Disney! Without his imagination and drive, this review would not exist. 

The return of a monthly, well, bimonthly Mickey Mouse comic has been the most welcome news of 2025. Fantagraphics' entry into the arena has me feeling positive about the future. Since Marvel seemingly has no desire to launch Disney comics outside of cosplaying one-shots, let Fantagraphics and its excellent history of hardcover success restore Mickey to his comic glory. IDW's Mickey Mouse venture petered out after 21 issues and three Timeless Tales volumes. For a short-lived run, it accomplished plenty of important goals, introducing important characters and stories (i.e. Darkenblot), and firmly establishing Casty as one of the major Mickey Mouse creators of the 21st century. 

It makes good business and creative sense that Fantagraphics would launch their #1 issue (legacy #331) with a Casty tale in the headlining position with a Gottfredson Sunday and a frivolous Super Goof tale adding cherries to the sundae. Did Casty's story deliver a home run on Fantagraphics' first at-bat? Let's find out!

What a cover to celebrate Mickey's return! The artwork is exquisite with the right touch of foreboding mystery. The arcane lettering screams horror movie thrills. 

The Phantom Blot's Double Revenge or for my Italian readers, Topolino e il duplicatrone, is one of Casty's earliest works dating back to November 2005. 20 years later, it finally received an American printing. Casty scripted the story with Roberto Vian drawing. Veteran wordsmith Joe Torcivia handled the translation and dialogue with his usual superb flair. 

The tale begins with Mickey and Goofy competing to see who can find the largest mushroom and fish. Those two certainly live on the edge! They both land prized examples but also find multiple duplications. They shrug the situation off as luck but the presence of rare woodpeckers suggests something chicanery is afoot. 

The next day Mickey and Goofy are having a BBQ, and yes, Goofy is cooking. For the sake of the plot, there is no incident. Goofy's neighbor, wonderfully named Mooch McPooch, (seriously, what parent wanted to doom their child) wonders over and devours their food. He apparently reappears twice and Mickey exhibits some understandable frustration at his utter lack of manners. Mickey thinks he has twin brothers but the hungry, hungry hippo claims to be an only child. 

Mickey, having lost his appetite, strolls downtown with Goofy and sees a series of duplicates roaming Mouseton, causing accidents and breaking up marriages! Sensing a possible case, Mickey heads to the police station to get his fixing by seeing Chief O'Hara and discovers there are THREE chiefs. It turns out the Phantom Blot has developed a cloning device and will only restore singularity if the city hands over a million dollars. There is a nice bit where the Blot demands the money be placed in a phone booth and O'Hara lampshades their possible existence in our cell phone era. 

Chief O'Hara decides to lay a trap and let's face it, while clever, this plan won't work. 1. It is too early in the story. 2. He isn't Mickey. A bunch of Blots appear, as our heroes realize he must have duplicated himself, and Mickey, in a rather naive comment, trusts GOOFY to stay and guard the money. Holy cheese! 

Of course, a random stranger (three guesses as to his real identity) walks up and asks what is amiss? Goofy spills the beans faster than Lightning McQueen about the situation. The stranger asks if he could use the phone booth to call his father to lock the doors. The Blot (shocker!) walks away with the dough and says to "give Mouseton's finest a million thanks." Mickey returns to hear the bad news and realizes who the stranger was. 

The next day, the duo returns to the police station with Goofy still burned up about being tricked (he must be mad all the time!). The O'Hara duplicates have vanished but now there are three Detective Caseys (one was enough) and the Blot has extended his blackmail game. C'mon, O'Hara, this is Police 101! If you give a master criminal a million dollars, he will want another million to go with it!

Mickey and Goofy ponder the situation and the mouse realizes the funky situation with the mushrooms and fishes might be a connection while discovering said items have disappeared! The duo heads back to the lake and discover an old castle and, I kid you not, the Blotmobile.

I love Mickey Mouse comics!

Mickey and Goofy investigate (it is only trespassing if you are a villain) and come across the Blot. Vian's Blot has these marvelous eyes and he feels very animated. Great stuff. 

The Blot stalls and offers to surrender saying he doesn't stand a chance in a 2-on-1 fight. He shows them his magnificent machine which is actually his home cooling system. I could see Goofy falling for that gag but Mickey? Anyhow, the distraction gives the Blot time to duplicate himself and gives the reader a fun and chaotic fight. 

Mickey is cornered but saved when another Blot knocks the threatening Phantom. Turns out, it was Goofy in disguise obtaining revenge for the earlier prank. 

O'Hara and Casey show up after the danger is over to receive the explanations for the police reports. The Blot's cloning machine was flawed with all duplications fizzing out after 24 hours, thus preventing him from duplicating money and requiring the ransom bit. 

I do have to say why couldn't the Blot just duplicate and spend quickly? And it is kind of terrifying to think of the possibilities of mayhem? What happened if one of the clones disappeared while flying a plane? Aw, I am overthinking a fun Silver Age plot. 

Mickey, Goofy, and O'Hara head to the Blot's cell to gloat and realize that they captured a clone and not the genuine article. The situation does lead to this dastardly clever line by O'Hara, as written by Torcivia, "Patience, Lad! I can always rely on Mickey Mouse to outwit the Phantom Blot!" Beautiful! 

I wouldn't place the story among Casty's best. It is a fun jaunt with some clever twists but the stakes are rather low. However, you can feel Casty figuring what works best with the characters. It is a solid story to reopen Mickey's endeavors into the single issue arena. 

Two ears up! 

Next issue: Mickey Mouse faces a foe/who has caused him much woe/with his clever phrases/and plots that amaze/no one else can/but the Rhyming Man!

What If? Mickey and Friends Became the Fantastic Four

It is a strange time to be an American Disney comics fan. Notice I didn't say bad. Because it isn't bad. FantaGraphics continues to produce deftly done hardcovers with its Disney Masters branding, along with special one-off translations. A fan can't claim we are wandering the Wasteland, forever seeking a small cup of water. Yet, we do lack the monthly publications of the Gladstone, Gemstone, and IDW eras - however, recent news says that will shortly change. Instead, we are given lots of peculiar Disney-Marvel crossovers. Like today's story, which dares to explore what would happen if Mickey Mouse and friends became the Fantastic Four? 

If you have been paying attention to Disney Comics in America (and anyone reading this blog has), then this kind of cross-pollution is nothing new. Marvel has been casting Donald Duck as Wolverine and Iron Man, Goofy as Spider-Man (Max could play the role), and Minnie as Miss Marvel. Oh, they have also done two separate Uncle Scrooge stories, where, guess what? They let Scrooge be Scrooge! With a helping of multiverse shenanigans because normal stories are too radical! 

It has taken this long for Marvel to mine the Disney comics tradition. There was some hope at the time of Disney's purchase of Marvel that the company would publish Disney comics. Rumor had it that Marvel simply was uninterested. After all, they already cornered the market on comics for kids. Since Disney uses Marvel and Pixar as its "boys" brands and hasn't prioritized comics since the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, the opportunity passed. 

Mickey Mouse and Friends, as a brand, currently exists in a weird place. The preschool shows continue with great success, and ShopDisney routinely releases new adult apparel. It feels as if Disney expects people to become Mouse fans at age three and then rediscover their childhood love as a paycheck-drawing adult. I shouldn't complain too much. After all, the current era still beats the Sixties and Seventies drought when Mickey, outside of an amazing disco album and lending his name to the Studio's Christmas Carol adaptation, essentially became a theme park curator. As someone who grew up with Mouseworks, House of Mouse, the excellent Three Musketeers movie, and more, it does feel like Mickey's presence has reverted to corporate icon. 

Firstly, the art for this story rocks. Lorenzo Pastrovicchio endows the scenes with frantic energy. It fits with the whole superhero style. 

The story opens with the Fantastic Four already established in Duckburg. Each character is busy hanging out when a flaming 4 appears in the sky. Minnie, playing the role of the Invisible Woman, disappears on Clarabelle, Donald, representing the Thing, throws aside his laundry. Goofy, as the Human Torch, helps Horace before his smoking exit, and Mickey, as Mr. Fantastic, doesn't appear until he saves Goofy after he burns out. 

Minnie fits as the Invisible Woman, and Donald is close enough as the Thing, but Mickey is not the arrogant Mr. Fantastic, nor is Goofy the cocksure Human Torch. Perfect parallels are rare, even in the Italian tradition of Grand Parodies, but the differential stands out. 

After the team reunites, we are given the backstory on how they gained those fantastic powers! While Gyro Gearloose works in his lab, Mickey and friends are at the amusement park, where Donald and Goofy serve as the third and fourth wheels. 

They board a space ride where cosmic rays from Gyro's antenna strike the wildly flying machine. The ride vehicle flies into Grandma Duck's pumpkin patch. For those interested, Mickey refers to her as Grandma Duck. I know that thing matters to some. 

As they try to remove the ship from her pumpkin patch, the Great Pumpkin does not make a long-awaited crossover debut; each of their powers activates. Goofy's power is the last to burst forth, and he takes the concept of INTERNAL COMBUSTION much more smoothly than most! They immediately decide to form a team and fight crime and not travel the world in a circus. No Dumbo crossover for you!

They realize a bunch of earthquakes are happening and set forth to give the readers an amazing splash page! 

Arriving at the hole, a three-headed monster (the Hydra?) pops out! Mickey turns into a slingshot and, with his teammates' help, vanquishes the beast, but on the ricochet, accidentally sends Donald and Minnie hurling away. Another earthquake sends Mickey and Goofy falling into the ground, where, after a few hours, they awake to meet the Underminer Mole Pete! 

There is some great dialogue where Mickey asks why Pete is going all San Francisco earthquake on Duckburg, and Pete answers, "Glad you asked! I'm tired of telling this story to my subjects!" I enjoy it when a story lampshades clunky exposition. 

Pete discovered an abandoned lab, fell into a hole, and used his radio to control the underground denizens. Silver Age comic tomfoolery at its finest! Because Pete tamed the monsters, the Terryferminas crowned him as their ruler, and they resumed causing earthquakes. But he isn't a popular ruler, as they complain about having to listen to his endless, rerun stories. 

Minnie and Donald arrive during Pete's monologuing, but Mole Pete isn't worried. He reverses the song, and the monsters return to fight! The Terryfermians decide that if Pete wins, they will have to listen to his stories forever and promptly change sides. It is like the Israelites and the Golden Calf! 

The two sides team to crush the monsters, and Mole Pete decides to burrow out, but an invisible Minnie trips him up (is this mimicking the original comic?), and Mickey wraps him up. 

The surface dwellers reach detente with the Terryfermains, and the team departs in the Fantasticar as the story ends. 

It is a fun little tale. I assume the story is largely following the original Fantastic Four script. I have never read a Fantastic Four comic, though I know enough of each character's personality and power. It is nothing groundbreaking, but an enjoyable romp. Two ears up!

My biggest question is this: What is the endgame, pun intended, for these What If stories? The Disney company has been pushing IPs across all its sectors. Everything seems designed to maximize profits. Theme park rides have to be based on a movie or show. Endless remakes are paraded across the screen and Disney+, and the animated schedule is filled with multiple sequels. 

The What Ifs are fine for an occasional break or a halftime show, but please let Mickey be Mickey and Donald be Donald. Both characters' best stories reside in the comic sphere. They just do. The Sorcerer's Apprentice segment and the Brave Little Tailor short are magnificent, but their storylines pale to Mickey's determination and isolation in "Joins the Foreign Legion" or his grappling with nuclear power in "Island in the Sky." During Mickey's 90th birthday, fan art bloomed, and most of his "hats" were typical: Steamboat Willie, the Sorcerer's Hat, the Mousekeeter ears, etc. A whole fan base is largely unaware of his amazing work in the comics. 

What if Mickey and Friends were themselves?

Mickey Outwits the Phantom Blot (Children's Book Version)

It is one thing to adapt lesser stories or write new adventures for the Mouse, but distilling the most famous and arguably greatest Mickey story into a children’s book requires some stones. Yet, Lee Nordling’s edition of “Blot” perfectly represents Gottfredson’s finest moment.

A little history lesson first. Back in the early 1990s, the Disney company realized that Mickey was turning into an icon that didn't do anything and plotted a series of campaigns designed to return the Mouse to his action-packed roots. Thus, "The Perils of Mickey" branding was born. Drawing upon several of Gottfredson's serials, a vast array of merchandise was heaped upon the public. A surplus of goods can be found on eBay. 

(Jim Korkis' great article: https://www.mouseplanet.com/12763/The_Perils_of_Mickey_Mouse)

                                                         (1930s Mickey was the best, Mousekeeters!)

The success of the campaign is debatable. It, unfortunately, didn't launch a Mickey TV series, but it raised some awareness of a Mickey with more than a cheerful smile and an easy-going attitude. Beyond the "Perils" scene, a series of children's books were launched around the same timeframe. The writers and artists weren't fly-by-the-night journeymen. The series landed one Disney Legend in Floyd Norman and noted comic figure, Lee Nordling. The investment in quality paid off as we will see here. 

The artwork screams atmosphere. The Blot retains the foreboding menace that characterized his debut story. His mannerisms in stalking haven’t been equaled by any other family media except the ghosts in Scooby-Doo Where Are You. And those monsters had the blessing of animation and music to enhance their horror. The Blot had no soundtrack, just Floyd’s artwork. Nordling keeps the atmosphere of a grim affair intact.

To expand the Scooby Doo parallel, the story's opening scene has the Blot’s shadow creeping along the wall like the Phantom Shadow. Now this adaptation was written decades after the Scooby episode came out. Perhaps, Nordling was influenced. The Blot certainly moves like a Scooby villain, a lurking specter seeking to corral our hero.

                                                                (A touch of similarity, no?)

In the original version, Mickey doesn’t have a personal stake in the outcome. He is hired to track down the camera-smashing culprit by the police commission. In this rendition, Mickey’s shattered camera launches his quest for justice. I do love how overdramatic the narration is about the crime. Mickey hadn’t even taken a single photo yet but the loss of the camera fills him with rage! 

So the Mouse heads to the police station and Chief O’Hara (who, as of the book’s creation, was still waiting for his animated debut with Mickey) explains about the crazy crimes of cracked cameras.

Since Idol was on hiatus, Mickey decides to take the case. O’Hara hands him a pristine camera to study. While on the way home, the Blot appears to follow Mickey. He swipes the camera, breaks it, leaves the item behind, and disappears. The artwork is impressive. The Blot’s cloak blends perfectly with the puddles.

The next day Mickey reads the paper (not the Daily Wardrum*, just the Daily). It turns out that more cameras were broken and there was a jewel theft in Japan. To Mickey, the description of the mysterious thief sounds like the Blot. (That is profiling, Mickey.).

* OGs will understand this reference. 

Mickey hits the docks and stores trying to track down information on the cameras. While at Sam’s Camera Shop, he runs into the Blot (you think the police would have been stationed there!) and is captured. The story is full of choice descriptions, but this one takes the cake, “but he was soon tied up tighter than one of Minnie’s birthday presents.”

The Phantom Blot takes Mickey to an abandoned warehouse. Now anyone who has read the original story knows it is deathtrap time. And this method of death was to be by hanging. This story slightly bowdlerizes it. The setup with the heights and framework is kept the same but this time if Mickey falls asleep he won’t be left with a broken neck but buried in wet cement. Fer gosh sakes, that is brutal. Sleep well, Mousekeeters!

His escape is kept virtually the same. Mickey uses the nail to break free and swing to safety. He heads back to the police station and compares notes with O’Hara. They realize that only one camera remains from the original shipment. O’Hara reveals he purchased the final camera to replace his grandson’s broken one. The Blot appears and steals the camera while leaving behind a three-dimensional photo of one. The photograph clicks the final piece for Mickey.

The next day, he and O’Hara head to the museum to see the Faith Diamond (an obvious parody of the Hope Diamond, Mousekeeters). O’Hara is confused about what the Blot plans to do, but Mickey has it figured out. 

He sees a bearded man moving towards the diamond and immediately tackles the man. Mickey demands the diamond which confuses everyone. The diamond is still on the stand, after all. Performing a legally dubious search and seizure, Mickey reaches into the unmasked Blot’s pocket and pulls out the goods.

It turns out that the Blot planned to use the 3-D photograph to trick everyone into thinking the diamond was still there while he made his getaway. He needed the special 3D camera to pull off his heist, but he lost the camera in the shipment. Thus, he had to check every available camera. In a great twist of the original tale, the Blot is locked up in his costume fully masked. While in the original ending, his unmasking is the conclusion. By the way, his mustache in the original version resembles Walt’s and mine!

                                (Gotta love how the Blot isn't unmasked in jail but Mickey is holding his supposed real face.)

“Outwits the Phantom Blot” has stood the time for a reason. The atmosphere was terrific, the villain lurked, and the mystery was amazing. Despite being a version for grade school children, the original chills and sense of adventure still shine through. Mickey remains the determined hero and the Phantom Blot stands resolute as the master thief. You can tell that Lee Nordling knew his craft and respected what Gottfredson and Maris created. 

Two Ears Up!