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Ah, Mickey Mouse...What can you say ? He's supposedly one of the most well-known characters of all time and logo of a huge corporation,,, AND YET , THEY BARELY USE THE TRUE MICKEY ! This is of course really sad since he's been around for years and extraordinarily accessible. A lot of people say they can't stand Mickey Mouse , but I don't think they're even aware of the depth the character has !
Not to mention that if a character can inspire an entire world with a great supporting cast , great villains and adventurous , there must be something he's doing right...You can definitely say that Michael Theodor Mouse is an unknown character that people judge while barely knowing ... Let one that has grown with loads of Mouse and Ducks comics rectify this !

BLACK AND WHITE MOUSE

This is his first design used on "Plane Crazy" and "Gallopin' Gallucho" and "Steamboat Willie" . The third one is the most memorable and maybe that's why people always cite it as the birth of the Mouse (Well it isn't , it is the 3rd really ...) . It was the first animated short to have sounds , so I guess it had something to do with that. Then again, this cartoon is also one of Mickey 's best : he is a mischievous little prick who turns a goat into a phonograph (then again the goat had it comming! It ate Minnie's instruments and partition ...) , throws away a cat by the tail and plays drum on a pig's tummy (that is after kicking the piglets away). While this Mouse is very fun to watch (thanks talent of animator Ub Iwerks), he is still an embryological creature. We still have to wait a certain time before his actual refinining .

FLOYD'S SMARTASS RODENT

In the 1929 short "The Opry House" Mickey gains the gloves that will never leave . His cartoons for the 30's will be a succession of various roles and then team-ups with the newcommers Pluto, Goofy and Donald . Of course , the shorts that are made during this era are a lot of fun to watch , I heartily recommend them .

However , the medium that should be observed is the 9th art . Now to put things in perspective after 15 successful animated shorts starring the character, the King Features Syndicate offered to license Mickey Mouse and his friends as characters for a comic strip. Walt wrote the scripts for the comics that Iwerks illustrated - up until Iwerks left the studio.
Walt continued to write the scripts while Win Smith was given Iwerks' previous position. But Walt was more interested in animation than comics, and before long Smith was left with the responsibility of the entire daily comic strip series - the scripting, the pencil work, and the inking. Overwhelmed by the prospect of doing the whole thing by himself, Win Smith resigned, leaving the comic without a scriptwriter or an artist.
Enter Floyd Gottfredson.
When Walt asked him to take over the comic strip, Gottfredson was disappointed knowing that he wouldn't be able to continue in the field of animation. After Walt assured him that the position was only temporary, Gottfredson reluctantly agreed to be the next writer, artist and inker for the Mickey Mouse comic strip.
AND LEGEND WAS MADE !
Floyd did not just write Mickey , he literally OWNED the character from ears to tails . This is taking the cartoon Mickey and giving him more stability : If the mouse will be eclipsed soon in comedy due to censors, the comics will allow our rodent to let loose : He was brave , loyal , adventurous , tough and fought against the odds without always winning. He also made Minnie a true character on her own right !

FANTASIA: MICKEY APPEARS ... THEN VANISHES FROM THE SCREEN

The revamped design of Mickey was made by Fred Moore for the movie Fantasia , which if I am right was the big return of Mickey on the screen . Yeah , it is a good sequence , great animation and music . But the important thing to retain here is the new face of the mouse and the disappearance of his elasticity , considered outdated by now (especially since more flexible characters have it by now ...) . This design will be also used in the comics ...
One should note though that Mickey will get very few shorts . And even though the ones directed by Riley Thomson are great, it won't stop Mickey's animated career desintegration : the cartoon mouse (with the notable exception of "Mickey and the Beanstalk" written by Frank Tashlin ) , having been too restrained by Walt, became a framing device for funnier and more interesting characters.
The daily strips would be his only mean of survival ...

THE PRINTED MAGIC GOES ITALIAN !

Well, here we are , no more cartoon shorts , but the mouse's printed world still goes ON ! Floyd Gottfredson teams up with Bill Walsh . To me , this is the apex of Floyd's stories : some stories have a lot of heart , some have pretty weird science (Eega Beeva anyone ?) and some are just plain hilarious. This is also to me, the smoothest design of Mickey starting in "The World of Tomorrow" : I love the blue shirt , red trousers and (occasional ) Yellow hat .

HOWEVER , in 1955, the epic stories come to an end , and only daily gags would be accepted . EVEN WORSE, with Floyd's departure , Mickey will be rather mishandled mostly due to character misinterpretation .Post Floyd , the US writers have a facsimile Mickey;the world's greatest detective solving any crime he came across while smugly laughing at Goofy's stupid behavior.Yeah , they really did not get the essence of the mouse ...

BUT GOOD NEWS ! At the exact same time , the italian Disney comics would give us Floyd's Mickey ! (And to whoever reads this text , I beg of you: NEVER listen to snobbish bigots and their putrid elistist blogs ... the european and foreign Disney comics deserve the same respect we owe Rosa , Barks or Floyd ... I will give them their proper dues in time, their body of work just deserves that.) Mousetown will get its own Don Rosa : The tremeduously talented Romano Scarpa ! Mr Scarpa (God bless him !) is every bit a great Mouse writer as he is a Ducks one (especially when teamed with writer Guido Martina but that is a story for another time ) and he literally extended the world set by Gottfredson . His Mickey is every bit as adventurous , reckless and witty and moreover , a balanced protagonist who can be funny ! No, seriously take a look [link] . Also , special mention to the great Disney artist , Giorgio Cavazzano for this among other things [link]

AN ANIMATED BLINK ...

By the late 80's , Mickey will have a very slight return to the 7th art . And ... it will be a great improvement compared ! It starts progressively with him as Bob Gartchitt In "Mickey's Christmas Carol " . Now he may not be the primary focus but this is the first time in decades that we have an ANIMATED Mickey that can be sympathetic (the scene at the graveyard anyone ?)
His next movie " The Prince and the Pauper" will be even better for the Mouse ! It has Mickey as a pauper (I'd say the kinder but more boring of later years) & the prince (who's the REAL Mickey Mouse: mischievous , impatient , can be a prick at times , adventurous but good-hearted ... ). And who can say no to a classic Pete VA Mickey ON-SCREEN ?
But the next short will be THE BEST MICKEY SHORT EVER : Runaway Brain . THIS is the stuff the world wants to see Mickey do ! even people who thought he was bland actually liked this cartoon and even the mouse (when I say people don't know the true Mickey ...). Why ? Because it makes the smart move of using the comics Mickey on the Big Screen ! Why did they not follow on that is anybody's guess ..(fucking censors ...)
The silver lining in american comics is that in the hands of the new Egmont-creators, he was brought back to what he was : an adventurer! The way Gottfredson, the master, had intended it... and by the turn of the century , we will get the consecration of the mouse !

DARK SIDE OF THE MOUSE

THIS IS IT ! The peak of Mickey's range as a character . This (along with L&TOSMD , Dragon Lords etc .. Will make you wonder why they do not make an animated feature of it ).
"Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine " : I have only the 3 first part , 9 to go! And I can tell you , it is one of the greatest comics Disney masterpieces (I'd kill to have the rest ...) .
The story in a nutshell :
" Mickey Mouse leaves Mouseton for Anderville, being involved in the case of his missing young friend Sonny Mitchell. To prove his innocence, being mistaken for a criminal, both from Anderville villains and police inspector Jan Clayton, he faces some dangerous situations, running the risk of being killed. He becomes friend with Little Ceaser, a well-respected, and somewhat rude, bartender, and with his friendly customers. He eventually proves his innocence but he is forced to stay in Anderville, waiting for furthermore investigations."
In other words , this proves once again that the mouse is a genuine badass even when taken out his familiar context.

There we are, guys and gals .I think Mickey's a very engaging and exciting character, but he has to be in the right atmosphere and get writers who DO NOT TONE HIM DOWN. Mickey Mouse may not be the most relatable ,,, but he is easily the guy you'd wish to befriend.

One of my biggest wishes for the future of Disney is that they make theatrical shorts like "Runaway Brain" and then give him an actual dar. Many people don't know Mickey as he should be because they haven't watched the black and white films and they haven't seen "Runaway Brain" and "Prince and the Pauper." I think Disney needs to give the mouse and his universe a chance to truly shine in animation !

Next similar post will talk about the greatest Disney creation ever known to mankind ....

Description
Ah, Mickey Mouse...What can you say ? He's supposedly one of the most well-known characters of all time and logo of a huge corporation,,, AND YET , THEY BARELY USE THE TRUE MICKEY ! This is of course really sad since he's been around for years and extraordinarily accessible. A lot of people say they can't stand Mickey Mouse , but I don't think they're even aware of the depth the character has !
Not to mention that if a character can inspire an entire world with a great supporting cast , great villains and adventurous , there must be something he's doing right...You can definitely say that Michael Theodor Mouse is an unknown character that people judge while barely knowing ... Let one that has grown with loads of Mouse and Ducks comics rectify this !

BLACK AND WHITE MOUSE

This is his first design used on "Plane Crazy" and "Gallopin' Gallucho" and "Steamboat Willie" . The third one is the most memorable and maybe that's why people always cite it as the birth of the Mouse (Well it isn't , it is the 3rd really ...) . It was the first animated short to have sounds , so I guess it had something to do with that. Then again, this cartoon is also one of Mickey 's best : he is a mischievous little prick who turns a goat into a phonograph (then again the goat had it comming! It ate Minnie's instruments and partition ...) , throws away a cat by the tail and plays drum on a pig's tummy (that is after kicking the piglets away). While this Mouse is very fun to watch (thanks talent of animator Ub Iwerks), he is still an embryological creature. We still have to wait a certain time before his actual refinining .

FLOYD'S SMARTASS RODENT

In the 1929 short "The Opry House" Mickey gains the gloves that will never leave . His cartoons for the 30's will be a succession of various roles and then team-ups with the newcommers Pluto, Goofy and Donald . Of course , the shorts that are made during this era are a lot of fun to watch , I heartily recommend them .

However , the medium that should be observed is the 9th art . Now to put things in perspective after 15 successful animated shorts starring the character, the King Features Syndicate offered to license Mickey Mouse and his friends as characters for a comic strip. Walt wrote the scripts for the comics that Iwerks illustrated - up until Iwerks left the studio.
Walt continued to write the scripts while Win Smith was given Iwerks' previous position. But Walt was more interested in animation than comics, and before long Smith was left with the responsibility of the entire daily comic strip series - the scripting, the pencil work, and the inking. Overwhelmed by the prospect of doing the whole thing by himself, Win Smith resigned, leaving the comic without a scriptwriter or an artist.
Enter Floyd Gottfredson.
When Walt asked him to take over the comic strip, Gottfredson was disappointed knowing that he wouldn't be able to continue in the field of animation. After Walt assured him that the position was only temporary, Gottfredson reluctantly agreed to be the next writer, artist and inker for the Mickey Mouse comic strip.
AND LEGEND WAS MADE !
Floyd did not just write Mickey , he literally OWNED the character from ears to tails . This is taking the cartoon Mickey and giving him more stability : If the mouse will be eclipsed soon in comedy due to censors, the comics will allow our rodent to let loose : He was brave , loyal , adventurous , tough and fought against the odds without always winning. He also made Minnie a true character on her own right !

FANTASIA: MICKEY APPEARS ... THEN VANISHES FROM THE SCREEN

The revamped design of Mickey was made by Fred Moore for the movie Fantasia , which if I am right was the big return of Mickey on the screen . Yeah , it is a good sequence , great animation and music . But the important thing to retain here is the new face of the mouse and the disappearance of his elasticity , considered outdated by now (especially since more flexible characters have it by now ...) . This design will be also used in the comics ...
One should note though that Mickey will get very few shorts . And even though the ones directed by Riley Thomson are great, it won't stop Mickey's animated career desintegration : the cartoon mouse (with the notable exception of "Mickey and the Beanstalk" written by Frank Tashlin ) , having been too restrained by Walt, became a framing device for funnier and more interesting characters.
The daily strips would be his only mean of survival ...

THE PRINTED MAGIC GOES ITALIAN !

Well, here we are , no more cartoon shorts , but the mouse's printed world still goes ON ! Floyd Gottfredson teams up with Bill Walsh . To me , this is the apex of Floyd's stories : some stories have a lot of heart , some have pretty weird science (Eega Beeva anyone ?) and some are just plain hilarious. This is also to me, the smoothest design of Mickey starting in "The World of Tomorrow" : I love the blue shirt , red trousers and (occasional ) Yellow hat .

HOWEVER , in 1955, the epic stories come to an end , and only daily gags would be accepted . EVEN WORSE, with Floyd's departure , Mickey will be rather mishandled mostly due to character misinterpretation .Post Floyd , the US writers have a facsimile Mickey;the world's greatest detective solving any crime he came across while smugly laughing at Goofy's stupid behavior.Yeah , they really did not get the essence of the mouse ...

BUT GOOD NEWS ! At the exact same time , the italian Disney comics would give us Floyd's Mickey ! (And to whoever reads this text , I beg of you: NEVER listen to snobbish bigots and their putrid elistist blogs ... the european and foreign Disney comics deserve the same respect we owe Rosa , Barks or Floyd ... I will give them their proper dues in time, their body of work just deserves that.) Mousetown will get its own Don Rosa : The tremeduously talented Romano Scarpa ! Mr Scarpa (God bless him !) is every bit a great Mouse writer as he is a Ducks one (especially when teamed with writer Guido Martina but that is a story for another time ) and he literally extended the world set by Gottfredson . His Mickey is every bit as adventurous , reckless and witty and moreover , a balanced protagonist who can be funny ! No, seriously take a look [link] . Also , special mention to the great Disney artist , Giorgio Cavazzano for this among other things [link]

AN ANIMATED BLINK ...

By the late 80's , Mickey will have a very slight return to the 7th art . And ... it will be a great improvement compared ! It starts progressively with him as Bob Gartchitt In "Mickey's Christmas Carol " . Now he may not be the primary focus but this is the first time in decades that we have an ANIMATED Mickey that can be sympathetic (the scene at the graveyard anyone ?)
His next movie " The Prince and the Pauper" will be even better for the Mouse ! It has Mickey as a pauper (I'd say the kinder but more boring of later years) & the prince (who's the REAL Mickey Mouse: mischievous , impatient , can be a prick at times , adventurous but good-hearted ... ). And who can say no to a classic Pete VA Mickey ON-SCREEN ?
But the next short will be THE BEST MICKEY SHORT EVER : Runaway Brain . THIS is the stuff the world wants to see Mickey do ! even people who thought he was bland actually liked this cartoon and even the mouse (when I say people don't know the true Mickey ...). Why ? Because it makes the smart move of using the comics Mickey on the Big Screen ! Why did they not follow on that is anybody's guess ..(fucking censors ...)
The silver lining in american comics is that in the hands of the new Egmont-creators, he was brought back to what he was : an adventurer! The way Gottfredson, the master, had intended it... and by the turn of the century , we will get the consecration of the mouse !

DARK SIDE OF THE MOUSE

THIS IS IT ! The peak of Mickey's range as a character . This (along with L&TOSMD , Dragon Lords etc .. Will make you wonder why they do not make an animated feature of it ).
"Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine " : I have only the 3 first part , 9 to go! And I can tell you , it is one of the greatest comics Disney masterpieces (I'd kill to have the rest ...) .
The story in a nutshell :
" Mickey Mouse leaves Mouseton for Anderville, being involved in the case of his missing young friend Sonny Mitchell. To prove his innocence, being mistaken for a criminal, both from Anderville villains and police inspector Jan Clayton, he faces some dangerous situations, running the risk of being killed. He becomes friend with Little Ceaser, a well-respected, and somewhat rude, bartender, and with his friendly customers. He eventually proves his innocence but he is forced to stay in Anderville, waiting for furthermore investigations."
In other words , this proves once again that the mouse is a genuine badass even when taken out his familiar context.

There we are, guys and gals .I think Mickey's a very engaging and exciting character, but he has to be in the right atmosphere and get writers who DO NOT TONE HIM DOWN. Mickey Mouse may not be the most relatable ,,, but he is easily the guy you'd wish to befriend.

One of my biggest wishes for the future of Disney is that they make theatrical shorts like "Runaway Brain" and then give him an actual dar. Many people don't know Mickey as he should be because they haven't watched the black and white films and they haven't seen "Runaway Brain" and "Prince and the Pauper." I think Disney needs to give the mouse and his universe a chance to truly shine in animation !

Next similar post will talk about the greatest Disney creation ever known to mankind ....