The World To Come

 

                                                        (I want this page as a poster. Epic)

I will be completely honest (well, I always strive for honesty), it will be extremely difficult to remain objective about this story. “The World to Come” holds a special place in my Mickey Mouse comic fandom. It was the first non-Gottfredson story that I ever read. It informed me that there was life beyond Gottfredson. That my Mouse comic experience wasn’t going to cease when the Floyd Gottfredson Library concluded.

A little background about the story and its English publication. It ranks #79 (as of August 2022) on INDUCKS. Casty wrote the tale in 2008 with Mazzon aiding on inking. Boom Comics first printed the tale back in 2010. The translation and dialogue for this edition was handled by a trio: Jonathan Gary, David Gerstein, and Francesco Spreafico.

It was recently reprinted in the latest Disney Masters book: Trapped in the Shadow Dimension. (I heartily recommend the purchase). The same trio is listed on INDUCKS as performing the dialogue but there is a twist.

David Gerstein’s comments as published on the Facebook page The Disney Comics Fan Group:

“The book's main backup story, "The World to Come," was originally Casty's first publication here, serialized in several 2010 issues of WDCS. But the translation—by Francesco Spreafico, Jonathan H. Gray, and myself, approved by Casty—was heavily altered by Boom upper management at the last minute, sometimes in ways that distorted it.

This new edition uses our original translation as written, restoring our intent.

(It also adds a few revisions from Casty, so that Dr. Gunther Gutenabend is no longer Americanized as the more traditional inventor character Doc Static; we all thought that was a good idea in 2010, but Casty today prefers that he be a separate character.)”

Now comes the question: which translation proves superior? Both have their strong points. Yes, Disney comics are not The Divine Comedy, but shouldn’t the wishes of the original author be respected? Casty approved the original script in 2010, the one ready for printing before the Boom upper management altered it. His satisfaction regarding that original script works for me. Often the debate over translation becomes too heated regarding Disney comics. But I think it is important to remember that the comics are 1. In a fragile state in America. 2. The translation team cares deeply about the stories. They are not looking to change everything but to ensure a faithful translation that speaks to the local market.

Another key difference in the stories resides in the Illusitania royal family. (By the way, observant eyes will notice Medioka borders the country to the east.). In the BOOM edition, Crown Prince Nikolai is the son and the brother of King Kontinento and Princess Silvy. For the Fantagraphics printing, Nikolai is rendered the nephew of the king and consequently he and Silvy are cousins. I assume that the latter familial relationships were present in the original Italian edition. If true, I prefer the original intent being translated, but I do believe that the betrayal does come across stronger when it is father/son and brother/sister.

Also, I asked the question on the Feathery Society which received little discussion, but the robots and the general plot seem inspired by the 2004 movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

With all background information neatly handled, time for the tale itself.

The story starts in the frigid Antarctica where two scientists patiently await the word for launch. They are visited by three suspicious hired guns and a striking fellow in noble grab. A little persuading yields the desired password and the name of Dr. Gunther Gutenabend. The two scientists then beat a hasty retreat into the winter wilderness. The code is handed to the leader, and in response he rhymes! (Spoiler alert: It is the Rhyming Man!)

This was the Rhyming Man’s first major appearance since his debut in “The Atombrella and the Rhyming Man.” And in his case, his portrayal is stronger here than the first showing. Unlike “Atombrella” his presence arrives from the start and lingers over the whole tale. In that story, the Rhyming Man suddenly appears halfway through and lampshades his appearance with his rhyme of “And now there comes upon the scene/a master spy, well bred but mean.” I have the theory that  eccentric writer Bill Walsh during the serial’s run abruptly conjured up the character from the vasty deep of his mind and injected him into the story. It works but it did chop the story into two distinct halves while “World to Come” stays consistent from start to finish.

Additionally, his status in “World to Come” differs from his kingpin position in “Atombrella.” There, he served as the main villain with two memorable henchmen. Here, he appears first as the main guy, is later revealed to be working with Crown Prince Nikolai, but is really plotting his own agenda. No room for henchmen when you are supposedly playing the role of the henchman. Of course, the robotic guards are the main henchmen for both Nikolai and the Rhyming Man, but they are no Machine Gun Myrtle!

After that exciting introduction, the story goes to Minnie helping the good doctor write his memoirs. The writing process is broken up by the modern day Ezra Pound’s appearance. Doctor G tears out a page from a book, hands it to Minnie, tells her to run, and then takes a sleeping powder to prevent a G-rated interrogation. Poe playing the role of C. Auguste Dupin (usually handled by Mickey) puts together that a fugitive has the information he seeks. (The Quackintosh gag in the BOOM version is replaced with Facebeak. A superior pun.)

Seeking help, Minnie heads to Goofy’s house. Just kidding. She, of course, rushes to Mickey’s abode and explains how she heard the villain speaking in rhyme. (Another BOOM/Fantagraphics difference regarding the in-text citation: BOOM mentions the Atombrella story. FG uses a rhyme to hint at the foe’s identity. Once again, a superior decision.) They find the address on the paper and head into the desert.

At the abandoned warehouse, the only present information is a giant number 4 painted everywhere. Rather than assume it was the abandoned hideout of the Fantastic Four, Minnie types in the code into a numerical pad inadvertently awakening a giant robot. The metal monstrosity grabs Minnie and announces its destination of Central America. Mickey gives chase but the robot flies away. To compound his trouble, agents show up and arrest him.

He is taken to a hideaway in the mountainside and is subjected to an ineffective interrogation. Which is interrupted by Mr. Eega Beeva himself! Yes, everyone’s favorite pspeaking man of the future is here. He saves Mickey from the screwball agents and explains they are at A.B.R.O.A.D. Which stands for American Bureau of Really Outlandish and Astonishing Developments.

Eega Beeva gives Mickey the rundown on how things work at A.B.R.O.A.D while throwing in a Scooby Doo reference and shows off the Chekhov's Gun of the Hypnoswirl. After this explanation, it is time for the Exposition Briefing. If Casty has one pattern, it is often dropping lengthy paragraphs of pseudo history/science into the story. Sometimes this works (This story for example. The backstory takes two pages), other times like in “Fire Eye of Atlantis” it derails the energy. One note: the satellite is mentioned as going up in 1983. We missed out on a 1984 reference. Which is interesting since we will receive one later.

As Eega and Mickey browses the archives, Minnie, and the robot land in the rainforest. She attempts to make a run for it but is captured by T.S. Eliot and his forces. Mickey receives a text message in rhyme telling him to come to the roof. He and Eega race to the roof to encounter a callback!

In an awesome line which made me geek out like a four-year-old seeing her favorite Disney princess (No judgment. I did the same when meeting Elsa. She is just so cool.), E.E. Cummings reintroduces himself to Mickey and Eega.

The line: the same one he used to make his introduction in the “Atombrella”: “And now there comes upon the scene/a master spy, well bred but mean.”

Turns out, it is a hologram of Mr. John Milton. Mickey tells him to forget about obtaining the passcode. But Edmund Spencer reveals via wide shot that he has Minnie and if Mickey wants to see her again, he needs to handle over the passcode. During this dispute, Eega studies the background of the hologram and says he knows where the villain is.

They ask the head honchos of A.B.R.O.A.D. for mission permission. The leaders explain that they can’t intervene because Illusitania like Switzerland, Andorra, and Sealand are beloved by everyone and King Kontinento II has more Nobel Prizes than Gandhi. Mickey and Eega, knowing how evil male Sylvia Plath can be, decide to embrace the Dirty Harry mindset and go rogue. The A.B.O.R.A.D. leaders eavesdropping provide a delightful bit of political commentary. If Mickey and Eega depart on their own, they can deny any involvement and the problem will be solved! If it works for the CIA....

So, our duo suits up with Mickey rocking some stud pilot googles. He wears the same googles on my Mickey Mouse shower curtains. (The only piece of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse merchandise I will ever own. I pretend the curtains are based off “Island in the Sky”). And it is time for another script change. The guard in charge of plane security (receiving word to let them pass) tacks on weirdo in his response to Eega Beeva’s Hypnoswirl. He doesn’t use the insult in the BOOM version. Either way, Mickey and Eega thinks the hokey tactic works. Just like defensive coaches think the prevent defense is genius! Amidst some wonderful sight gags, they find the Disposable Duoseater and take off to save the world.

Meanwhile in North Macedonia Illusitania, protestors are calling for a new government. This being the Disney version of the Balkans, they are peacefully calling for new government and not threatening violent revolution. Prince Nikolai, displaying true villainy, drugs his uncle, King Kontinento’s chamomile tea. (Chamomile tea is sacred.). Nikolai keeps his uncle in bed and out of the loop and pulling a SPECTRE holds a meeting with his advisors. They explain how the building of buildings (that is a Mickey Mouse short reference for you mousewise folks) is progressing but the citizens are not pleased by the destruction of the tourist attracting natural habitats.

As the meeting concludes, Philip Sidney arrives with Minnie Mouse. Nikolai is happy with a hostage but is not pleased that his hired gun reports no robots founded. Which, of course, is a falsehood. Minnie is not pleased either. Chaucer lied! Hostage taking and thievery are sins enough but lying is too far!

Mickey and Eega land in Illusitania to discover construction unions! Yes, there is more building than downtown Orlando! Fortunately, some folky civilians explain how the crown prince is responsible for the modernization. But any disagreement is censored as the newspapers and the billboards showcase the cult of Big Brother Nikolai.

(One quibble. In the newspaper, the Rhyming Man appears in the background of a photo. Why would he allow himself to be photographed? I can see Nikolai in his ruling arrogance not caring but the Rhyming Man is a spy at heart. It is not as if the story needed a reason to reveal him as the villain. Mickey and Eega already know his involvement.)

Mickey and Eega decide to break into the castle. Eega pulls a chainsaw out of his pants (what an example for the children. He and Stitch are role models!) only to be immediately seen by Princess Silvy. Mickey tries the Hypnoswirl. It doesn’t work but Eega Beeva provides a pair of glasses to the nearly blind princess. She explains how she is supposed to be the heir to the throne (Salic Law disagrees) but Nikolai convinced King Daddy that she should be the captain of the royal guard instead. Mickey tells her to look outside the walls and forgot about guarding the royal gardens. She discovers that Nikolai has been reconstructing downtown Manhattan.

Sufficiently alarmed, Silvy takes the heroes to meet with the king. Mickey mentions the World to Come protocol and the king believes him because he was the one who planned the mission! Which means it is time for a flashback! The King relates how Gunther Gutenabend and a team of scientists created a formula to create an utopia on Earth. But the data needed for the project took too long to process and most of the scientists gave up on the dream. (Hey, I waited 20 years for a Pittsburgh Pirates winning season. They could have waited for a world-changing utopia.)

As Mickey tells the King that one of the denumerization robots has been activated, Silvy trips over a cord and the heroes follow it up the stairs to a model city. Which leads to the one change in dialogue that I lament being changed.

Boom Edition:

Mickey: “Huh. But where are we?”

Silvy: “Nikolai’s playroom! From when he was a boy!”

Mickey: “Who’s playing in it now?”

Nikolai: “Still me!”

Fantagraphics Edition:

Mickey: “Huh. But where are we?”

Silvy: “Nikolai’s playroom! From when he was a boy!”

Mickey: “Is this a model of Europe?”

Nikolai: “Indeed, it is!”

I just loved the hammy response in the BOOM version. It sounded like something a 1960s comic villain would say. It fit Nikolai’s floppy, melodramatic character.

Dialogue changes aside, Nikolai reveals his Bond villain plan to take over the world and build roads and factories across every bit of nature. (NPS employees will be out of work!). Mickey and company are not taken by this plan to eliminate Fort Wilderness nor am I. Fedora wearing Robert Frost reveals himself with a captive Minnie and brokers a trade with Mickey: Minnie for the code. After the transaction, Minnie, quite awesomely, immediately rats out that John Donne already found all four giants.

Nonplussed, the real Big Bad of the tale rants how he will use the World to Come formula to cause floods and quakes to become the new world leader. Nikolai calls for his robotic guards only to discover that Dante has reprogrammed them for his benefit and chortles about it using a Mickey Mouse Club reference! He flies away retaking Minnie as hostage. Minnie hilariously says, “Again?!”

Mickey calls for the Duoplane and they give chase. But the ground opens to reveal a massive airship. (“The Mail Pilot,” anyone?) as the triumphant rhymer takes to the skies and showing some 1950s traits puts Minnie to work in the kitchen! Not to fear, Mickey and Eega are still chasing in the Duoplane.

The setup: a rhyming villain in a sleek airship is fighting a mouse and a man of the future in a Duoplane to prevent manmade natural disasters.

Oh boy, do I love Mickey Mouse comics!

Petrarch is well-prepared and has plenty of anti-aircraft guns to repel the Duoplane. A couple of hits are scored, and it appeared that the most profitable character in Disney history is cosigned to the watery depths. (Sell your stock now!) The villain takes pleasure in Minnie’s grief, and I am disappointed that he didn’t take time to utter a mocking ode about Mickey’s demise!

Of course, the duo didn’t die. They camouflaged their movements with the plane crash and are now on the roof. It is decided that Eega goes to stop the bad guy while Mickey saves Minnie. Mickey asks if there is a weapon in Eega’s magic pocket, but the only useful item is a bumbershoot (what happened to the chainsaw?). Ralph Emerson prepares to activate the robots only to discover that Eega is jamming the communications! (Should have placed guards by the antenna!)

Meanwhile, Mickey races down the corridor and utters a reference that excites every 95-year-old and diehard Disney shorts fan by saying, “Oh, to hear my little Minnie’s Yoo-Hoo.” At the same time, Thoreau appears to growl and howl like the cannibals just as Minnie sideswipes him with the kitchen door. Of course, this angers Bertran de Born (now wearing Napoleon style headwear) who decides to engage Mickey in a sword versus bumbershoot duel. Minnie has a fine moment where she finishes a rhyme while simultaneously spraying lime juice into the villain’s eye.

The mice head to the roof because custom dictates all airship climaxes must end on top. Mickey and Minnie tumble into a precarious situation clinging to a rope only one sword swipe away from a Disney Villain death. But help arrives as Yeats (English majors will understand the connection) has his sword shot to pieces (should have aimed lower) by the King and Silvy who arrive in a green plane followed by the royal guard. Wordsworth responds by sending out his robotic air force.

It just hit me that Casty borrows the same format for the ending of “Darkenblot”: a human force versus robotic enemies.

As the X-Wings and droid fighters duke it out in the air, Mickey and Minnie are rescued by Eega Beeva who stole borrowed Kipling’s aircraft. Eega revealed that he tampered with the airship’s engines, so a big-time explosion is incoming. But Wilfred Owen is seen heading over the top to fix the signal antenna. The flying fortress plunges into the water and the heroes assume that their foe has gone to Davy Jones’ locker (body checking isn’t allowed in fiction otherwise sequels would be hard to come by) but a grasping hand suggests otherwise.

Thus, the day has been saved, the heroic trio receive keys to the city (clever financial maneuver there to avoid paying out reward money), Doctor Gutenabend and friends arrive, Silvy is restored to the line of succession, and Nikolai receives a similar punishment as Prince John and friends in the 1973 Robin Hood movie.

Minnie and Silvy propose finishing the World to Come program, but the King and the professors wisely decide no. They are not gods or masters of the world. Mickey ends the Fantagraphics printing by saying toots (isn’t that more of a Donald to Daisy term of endearment?) after Minnie says something about pretty smart for a small human. The BOOM edition concludes with Minnie talking about how the world is already what it is supposed to be, and Mickey agrees.

Is the story worthy of the high ranking on INDUCKS? Absolutely. It touches upon complex themes and respect that complexity. The relationship between Mickey and Minnie, often taken for granted or ignored in other stories, drives much of the narrative and the climax. Mickey’s main motivation through the much of the comic is about retrieving Minnie. He doesn’t hesitate at all to exchange the code for her.

Especially sincere and unique is the environment message.

Now I am an Eagle Scout and, in the Boy Scouts, one of the biggest messages is environmental stewardship. We are taught Leave No Trace and to always clear up a campsite. I have picked up more litter than a garbage truck. But I can’t stomach most environmental narratives in media. They are generally poorly written, contain one-note villains, and anvilicious. Captain Planet was the worst offender. “The World to Come” skips those flaws. The scientists aren’t portrayed as always correct but tragically misguided in their assumptions. But they are also not mad chemists seeking to dominate the world. They are just people who got caught up in their dreams. We should live in harmony with the Earth and not seek to remake it in our image.

Regardless of what printing you pick up, (I recommend the Shadow Dimension volume. You will receive three great Casty stories while the BOOM book gives you “Peg Leg Pete and the Alien Band” (forgettable) and previews of other Disney comics (insignificant).), you are reading one of the finest Mickey Mouse stories around.

When I think of Mickey Mouse comics, the terms: action, epic, heart, drama, emotion, and inspiration readily come to mind. This story has all those ingredients blended in a tight narrative. Whenever the future holds in our world to come, this story will remain a testament to stewardship, hope, and how great Mickey Mouse comics can be!

Two Ears Up!

(Editor's Note: Entry was revised to clarify comments on script.)