“Today’s America knows Mickey Mouse as a gentle do-gooder. But in the 1930 heyday, Mickey rose to fame as an epic hero: a bold adventurous scrapper battling mobsters, kidnappers and spies! And Mickey’s greatest feats of derring-do took place in his daily comic strip, crafted by one of history’s greatest cartoonists — Floyd Gottfredson.” [Quoted from the back cover copy.]

If you know Mickey Mouse only from the animated short cartoons and animated features, the comic strips in this volume may surprise you. Comics historian Bill Blackbeard describes the comic strip Mickey as “a death-defying, tough, steel-gutted mouse… who kept the kids of 1933 rapt with his adventures on pirate dirigibles, cannibal islands, and bullet-tattered fighter planes.” In volume one alone (which covers April 1, 1930 through January 9, 1932), Mickey races Pegleg Pete to find a gold mine in Death Valley, is framed for bank robbery and has a fight with a huge heavyweight champ.

These comic strips are from a different world. They are rife with topical references to politics, recent history and popular songs. About a month into the first story, Mickey finds himself locked in a room filled with a variety of cheeses and says, “MY GOSH! What cheese — if only I had a bottle of beer!!!” A bit later, a forlorn Mickey (rejected by Minnie) spends about a week trying (unsuccessfully) to commit suicide. In the end he decides life is worth living, but still, that just not something you’d ever see today! Perhaps surprisingly, that sequence was suggested to Gottfredson (who didn’t think humor could be mined from such a serious topic) by Walt Disney himself.

I’ve discovered that Mickey Mouse has a lot in common with Popeye the Sailor. By the early 1930s, both characters were cartoon as well as comic strip staples, but whereas Popeye started in the comics and made the transition to animated shorts, Mickey started on screen and transitioned to the printed page. Furthermore, both characters were radically different on the printed page than they were on the big screen. “Whereas the screen Mickey was famed for his romantic idylls with Minnie,” says Thomas Andrae in his foreword, “the comic strip mouse had little time for romance: he was involved in life-and-death struggles which could not be won through tricks of animation magic.”

Mickey Mouse in the newspaper was an adventure strip, plain and simple, not so much like Terry and the Pirates, but more like Li’l Abner in the early days or Little Orphan Annie or Popeye (as I’ve already mentioned). Mickey even shares certain similarities with contemporary Dick Tracy or Gasoline Alley. Don’t let what I said about beer drinking and attempted suicide put you off, though; this is vintage Mickey Mouse, a mirror of the era.

I think I might break out some of the old black and white cartoons.

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  • Sounds interesting Jeff. Are you going to post any more thoughts are summaries on the collection?

     

    Is this material related to the Uncensored Mouse? I just heard about that series a month back.

  • I read some early Gottfredson work back in the Gladstone days, and was amazed at what a cool advernture strip character Mickey was "back in the day."  I was a bit less enthusistic about the story selected by Fantagraphics for its Free Comic Book Day offering, but I still plan on picking up this book.
  • ...Relating to what Jason said , I believe this series starts when Gottfredson's run begins , which is a touch past the material collected in THE UNCENSORED MOUSE , I believe .

      Might Fantagraphics put out a " MICKEY MOUSE BETA/0.5 " volume of the pre-Gott. stuff after they've launced the series with two or so volumes ???????????

  • What's the ISBN and official title of this? It sounds interesting!
  • Here's some info, LJ.
  • Sounds interesting Jeff. Are you going to post any more thoughts or summaries on the collection?

    So far I’ve read only the first half, but I may well post reactions to the rest as I continue to read if there’s interest.

    I read some early Gottfredson work back in the Gladstone days, and was amazed at what a cool adventure strip character Mickey was "back in the day."

    I discovered the work of Floyd Gottfredson and Carl Barks at the same time, on the same day, years ago when I saw two huge volumes of each on the clearance table of book store in an outlet mall.

    I was a bit less enthusiastic about the story selected by Fantagraphics for its Free Comic Book Day offering, but I still plan on picking up this book.

    I missed FCBD this year, and by the time I got to my LCS the next Wednesday the selections were mostly picked over. I didn’t see it.

    ...Relating to what Jason said , I believe this series starts when Gottfredson's run begins , which is a touch past the material collected in THE UNCENSORED MOUSE , I believe .

    I am unfamiliar with The Uncensored Mouse, and I’m unsure how long the strip ran before Gottfredson took over, but I have a few sources at home I can check. You’re right though: this volume begins with the story Gottfredson would take over a few weeks in. (The earliest strips were by Walt Disney himself.) The introductory material says that Disney was caught off guard by the syndicate’s request to turn the gag-a-day strip into an adventure strip, but it doesn’t mention how long the strip ran before Gottfredson took over. I thought it might have been just those few weeks, but those strips certainly weren’t gag-a-day.

    The story begins as a kind of haunted house gothic mystery, as Mickey and Minnie search the house her Uncle Mortimer left her in his will. About the time Gottfredson took over, they discover a treasure map and the action shifts to Death Valley.

    What's the ISBN and official title of this? It sounds interesting!

    It's Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Race to Death Valley"

     

    Here's the Amazon listing: : http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disneys-Mickey-Mouse-Valley/dp/1606994417

  • The Mickey Mouse comic strip started in January 1930, so it ran for three months as a gag-a-day strip until the change of direction to an adventure stip.
  • The collection sounds pretty interesting. I've read a fair number of Barks duck stories, but I am totally unfamiliar with Gottfredson's work. Fantagraphics deserves credit for bringing his work to light in such a fine format.
  • I bought the book on Wednesday from my LCS and will start reading it on the plane tonight.  I look forward to reading your thoughts, Jeff.  I remember reading both Mouse and Duck stories in Gold Key comics in the 70s and Gladstone books in the 90s and reading some of these comics strips in reprint books in my local public library.  My love of Barks grew with age, but even as a very young kid, the adventure/mystery stories with Mickey and, often, Goofy were my absolute favorite comics.
  • And I look forward to reading yours! there is a lengthy Micky Mouse section in the Smithsonian Collection from a little later in the '30s which I plan to read as well. Barks is known as "the good duck artitst" and I think Gottfredson would be equally deserving of the title "the good mouse artist" (although I have never heard him referred to as such). In this "Golden Age of Reprints," there's no reason modern readers would have to choose between the two.

     

    I'll finish it up over the weekend and report back here on Monday.

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