Introduction (Mickey and Me)

 

Mickey Mouse conjures up a variety of thoughts for people. For many, he is a corporate icon. More mechanized merchandise than actual character. John Kricfalusi famously labeled him, “the ultimate bland character.” He has been satirized by internet comedians as the Simon Pure of flavorless character. While most of those criticisms deal directly with his animated persona, the same charge could be leveled against his comic book/strip antics. Paul Murry’s version, for all his nostalgic fans, has come under fire for limiting Mickey’s personality. While that charge will be considered in due time, the effects have lingered.

But who is Mickey? Is he a Crème of Wheat character or is he still, as Sergei Eisenstein put it, “America’s most original contribution to culture.” This question is what I am going to explore as I review comic stories from Gottfredson to Casty.

The comic Mickey has been praised for keeping his original sense of adventure and excitement that was generally whittled away in the animated shorts. The animated Mickey by the early 1940s played second fiddle to Donald Duck, Goofy, and even his own dog Pluto. By the mid-1950s, he disappeared from the screen. However, in comics, the gritty Mickey survived in comic books courtesy of American and Italian authors. As time moved on, generally, that Mickey became more and more sedentary entrapped in routine detective stories. A revival was soon at hand. European artists, once again, resurrected the Gottfredson Mickey; a bold and determined spirit. The Mickey Mouse Adventures line in the early 1990s gave America back a Mouse driven by action. As we enter into 2020 and beyond, that version of Mickey continues to flourish. Retro merchandise campaigns by the Disney Company have returned the old Mickey to the forefront.

My journey with Mickey Mouse, like many, started as a young child. My family travelled to Walt Disney World nearly every year of my childhood. As such, my brothers and I quickly gravitated to certain characters. Myself to Mickey. The middle brother to Pooh and the youngest brother to Pluto. But I only knew of the animated and park Mickey; usually cast in the role of a cheerful maestro of ceremonies. House of Mouse provided glimpses of a mischievous Mickey and the various animated specials; Once Upon a Christmas and The Three Musketeers gave further peaks into a deeper character. Fantasmic, the fantastic park spectacular, featured a besieged Mickey who bravely fought back against a legion of Disney villains.

It wasn’t until I discovered the Fantagraphs Volume One of Floyd Gottfredson’s comics that I learned about the comic strip Mickey. I was on a NYLC trip to Washington DC. A group of us visited the Library of Congress and in the gift shop the volume was for sell. Immediately intrigued, I purchased the volume without looking at the price tag (a rarity for my thrifty soul) and dug in with fervor. I was instantly charmed. The Mickey Mouse present engaged in fast-paced adventures carrying a gun! His perils were swift and merciless. They ranged from desert treasure hunts to domestic troubles to a boxing match. This Mickey didn’t sit back and let others take point. No, he seized the momentum and moved forward.

As such, the Fantagraphs volumes were added to the wish-list. I started digging even more and discovered a whole world that I never knew existed, of a Mickey Mouse I never knew existed. My comic collection grows yearly. The Disney Masters series has introduced me to Paul Murry, Roman Scarpa, and the Ice Sword Saga. As my knowledge of Mickey Mouse comics grows, I will share my insights with others.

 As Walt Disney famously said, "Mickey speaks to that deathless, precious, ageless, absolutely primitive remnant of something in every world-racked human being.”