Mickey Mouse (comics)

"Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse" comic book is a long running series emphasizing stories with Mickey Mouse. Goofy and Minnie Mouse make regular appearances, and other Disney characters occasionally do. Mickey's perpetual rival was the criminal Black Pete. Two major influences on "Mickey Mouse Magazine" were Floyd Gottfredson who wrote and drew the Mickey Mouse daily newspaper strip and, staring in 1950, the drawing of Paul Murry. [http://art-bin.com/art/murryeng.html] Gottfredson's daily strips were used to create early comic book stories, however Gottfredson never did work directly for the comic book. His strips were given to publishers, the black and white drawings cropped, expanded and colored for the comic book format. [Floyd Gottfredson "Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse in Color", Pantheon Books 1988 ISBN 0394575199]

There were changes in artists, publishers, length, cost, and printing quality over the years. Later years were often reprints of earlier stories, sometimes from "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories" or other Disney publications. Although magazines called "Mickey Mouse" were available in many countries, they were not necessarily translations of the American publication, but included their own stories and artists.

By 1950, the format from Dell Comics was 52 pages, with one or two stories, with two one-pages stories at the end, and one at the front. There were no other features or advertisements. The cover price in 1950 was 10 cents (roughly 75 cents in 2007 dollars). By 1957, the total number of pages had dropped substantially, there were full-page advertisements and other text features.

Before 1963, Gold Key Comics assumed publication. These issues continued to have new stories. In 1966 there were three issues, drawn by Paul Murry and Dan Spiegle, where Mickey became a secret agent and was given suitable attire; excepting Mickey and Goofy, the entire story was drawn in an un-Disney realistic cartoon manner (issues 107 to 109). [http://art-bin.com/art/murryeng.html] By 1972 the issues mostly contained reprints. The average paid circulation between September 1969 and September 1970, when the comic was published six times a year, and cost 15 cents (roughly 80 cents in 2007 dollars), was 223,396. ["Walt Disney Mickey Mouse", Issue No. 129, April 1971]

Gladstone Publishing had assumed publication by 1986, still publishing reprints, but which were recolored, taking advantage of more modern inking and printing techniques. Stories from foreign Walt Disney comic books were also translated. Issues included a description of the source of each story, and gave credit to the writers and artists by name — which had not been done previously. Letters to the editor often provided other story background. Although the circulation of "Mickey Mouse Magazine" had been going down for years, especially compared to "Uncle Scrooge", in 1987 Gladstone said it had become their top selling title. ["Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse", Issue No. 222, January 1987] Even so, in late 1987 Gladstone announced they were cutting all their publications back to eight issues per year (because comics sell less well in fall and winter). ["Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse", Issue No. 232, November 1987] The cover price went from 75 cents to 95 cents in 1987 (roughly $1.25 to $1.60 in 2007 dollars).

In 2003 Gemstone Publishing began publishing the "Mickey Mouse Adventures" magazine, announcing that was the first "Disney controlled" comic publication in Disney comics' 55 year history that was not licensed to other publishers such as Dell, Gold Key and Gladstone. ["Mickey Mouse Adventures" Issue No. 1, June 1990] The paper and printing were high quality, and the cost was $1.50 (about $1.70 in 2007 dollars). Similar to Gladstone's practice the only advertising was for their own Disney products. However, as of 2008 they had stopped printing "Mickey Mouse Adventures" and "Mickey Mouse and Friends", leaving the comic books emphasizing Mickey Mouse out of publication.

Publication History

* Dell Comics Numbers reaching nearly 400, renumbering starting #1 about 1952.
* Gold Key Comics
* Gladstone Publishing
* Gemstone Publishing, starting 2003

References