Playing devil’s advocate, Disney has actually done a decent job of giving Mickey a personality in the past decade with the new shorts. I feel these comics were heavy inspiration.

The characters have always had more personality in the comics. Though growing up in Norway, our mascot for Disney isn't Mickey Mouse, but rather Donald Duck. Donald duck comics, Donald duck "pocket" (booklets), there were those somewhat mature PK comics, and pretty much everything relating to Mickey Mouse and his stories were folded under the Donald Duck-comic umbrella

The Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comics are very popular over here in Europe. (Most of the artists who draw Mickey for comics in these days are probably even European.) The German translations (mainly of Carl Barks stories) by Erika Fuchs even managed to get comics in general a better reputation by implementing many idioms and references to literature and general knowledge.

The influence of Gottfredson's work on the European and South American comics is unmeasurable. Here in Italy "Mickey Mouse Reporter" and "Outwits the Phantom Blot" are considered so povotal for the character and his supporting cast that the two canonically accepted jobs for Mickey are detective and journalist. Granted, the modern version of Mickey is quite watered down compared to Gottfredson's work, but it's still far more characterized than the animated version. Two little factoid for you all. 1) The reason why Mickey's comics weren't banned by the Fascist government was, allegedly, that Mussolini's children loved the character. 2) In the 1970s one of the main author that worked on the Italian comics for Mickey and Donald was Jerry Siegel. The story goes that the then director of the weekly magazine Topolino met Siegel during a trip at L.A. Having curated the Italian edition of Superman for a few years, he knew about Siegel and his predicament, so he offered him a chance to go back at writing comics.

The original Popeye in his comic strip remarked often on his attraction for women, his sense of justice and his willingness to bop anyone on the nose for it. Mickey liked to drink beer. The more popular they became, the greater the pressure to make them for all ages. Sometimes I think only Bugs Bunny escaped this fate.

I'm so happy for this episode, covering the much neglected funny animal part of American comics history. Mickey has, of course, continued to be published in comic books here in Europe and still is, and especially in Italy there has been lots of high-action adventure - we Scandinavians preferDonald, for vaguely the same reasons people prefer Batman and Wolverine to Superman and Cyclops. ;) But when I grew up in Sweden, if you had asked me, as a kid, to name the greatest detective in comic books... it would have been Mickey Mouse, not Batman.

Given the timing of Steamboat Willie entering the public domain, I was hoping you'd spend some time talking about The Uncensored Mouse, when in the 1980s Eternity mistakenly believed that some of the strips had entered the public domain, started reprinting them, and then naturally got sued by Disney.

The 2d animated cartoons from just a couple years ago were shockingly great, and Mickey definitely had a personality in them!

You FINALLY covered Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse! Yeah this version of the character really surprised me. He reminds me of belgian comic heroes like Tintin and Spirou. Are you gonna cover E.C.Segar's version of Popeye, one day?

Wow. You uploaded at the exact moment I searched for a Comic Tropes video. That's service!

I would love to see you getting into how Topolino evolved and Italy became the "house" for a lot of Disney comic works.

You said Gottfredson didn't give a supporting cast to Mickey as Barks did to Donald, but it's not true: other than Eega Beeva, his pet Pflip and Morty and Ferdie he created Chief O'Hara, detective Casey, colonel Doberman, Mortimer Mouse, Patricia Pigg, Doctor Einmug and shined in the creation of villains like the Phantom Blot (who is said to be Walt Disney caricature), Joe Piper, the Rhyming Man, Dr. Vulture and Kat Nipp, of course... Mickey needs a static cast of co-stars less than Donald imo because, as an adventurous character as you pointed out, after the first story-arcs of the 30s set in the rural America of the great depression, these became more international: there is sci-fi as you pointed out, but there is also mystery, crimes and travel other than humour, there are criminals, thieves, royalties, spies. Mickey in the comics is more like Tintin, or a movie character played by Jimmy Stewart.

One of my big regrets is that I lost my reprint of the Phantom Blot debut. That was a good story. 6:56 Later in that story, Mickey picks up a gun and basically says: "I'll make 100% sure it's a ghost."

This is another case of where the IP has evolved into something more than when it was in its creators original hands. I have read a few of Mickey's Adventure Comics which to me felt like early Ducktales, but it was cool to see the mouse doing something outside of just being an ambassador for his company, or being a good natured guy! Mickey pretty much was your average Joe character, that when push comes to shove, he isn't taking anything down and was more than willing to fight for what he believes in! Thank you for revisiting Mickey and reminding us that he used to be more than just a happy go lucky character. Also, last time I ever saw a Mickey with a gun was the animated shorts where he was hosting a orchestra band( with broken instruments thanks to Goofy) and he forced Donald to get back to playing the drums! It was hysterical!

The history of early Disney and Mickey Mouse is so fascinating, amazing to finally get an in depth look at that history in terms of the comics and the people that made them.

It’s interesting how much Mickey evolved from his early years. The most recent I can think of when he had a personality closest to the comics was in the Mickey Mouse shorts from 2013

Another great episode! You've probably covered it, but how about Buck Rogers, and how wildly popular it was, and how the knock off (Flash Gordon) was better drawn, and seems to have longer lasting impact? Maybe an episode about comic book 'clubs' promoting comics, decoder rings, and other ephemera? Have you thought about converting your best viewed scripts into a book? (you've already done the research)

*I never realized that Mickey had such a personality.* 😊

Mickey still has a personality in the European comics, even if he isn't as nuanced of a character as Donald Duck. Mickey's more of a generic good guy character with no major personality flaws so he isn't as interesting by himself as Donald. But he still has a lot of good stories where he goes on an adventure or faces off against a villain (in a lot of his stories Mickey is either a reporter or a detective, which provides good opportunities to have him travel to different locations and interact with different characters). Mickey is a character whose stories are defined by the people and places he interacts with, in contrast to Donald who, while also having stories like that, he a lot of stories driven by his personality (specifically, his personality flaws, like being hot-tempered and having a tendency to let things go to his head whenever he succeeds in something, leading to him inevitably messing up).

I have that whole reprint collection! I’ve always loved Floyd Godfredson‘s work and have felt that he has been largely ignored. My favorite tales included the Pirate Submarine, The Foreign Legion, as well as Island in the Sky. And the Bar-None Ranch!

Growing up in India I read a lot of Mickey Mouse comics. They were one of the most common American comic digests alongside Archie and King’s comic characters like Phantom at the time. Mickey Mouse comics were fun! A lot of Western setting from what I remember. It’s kinda sad that Mickey had turned into such a mascot and brand logo that Disney doesn’t even make new shorts.

I read tons of Mickey Mouse comics when I lived in Italy. Mickey Mouse is a lot more interesting as Topolino. There he is an adventurer and a spy at times, the stories are adventure based and Goofy is his clumsy sidekick. They are still popular to this day. On a side note, Donald Duck has a super hero persona in Italy, he's Paperinik.

I'm just going to step in to say, Mickey does have a personality in other media, most notably in the 2013 Mickey Mouse cartoons, where he gets angry, jealous, greedy etc. He's still portrayed as a good boy, but that's our Mickey. Also in every single Mickey Mouse special feature I've seen him in (House of Mouse, Three Mousketeers), he was a pretty relatable protagonist. I don't take Mickey slander lying down, not in my clubhouse.

Slight correction, the fantagraphics release only collects up until 1955, after which it became entirely gag a day instead of the earlier 50s mix of gag a day and adventure strips. Gottferdson went up until 1970, but these last 15 years were not collected

I hate this idea that characters like Mario, Mickey, or other mascot characters in their same vein have “no personality”. Do king, courageous, and mischievous not count as personality traits?? People only seem to make this argument of a character “finally having a personality!!” When it’s a depiction of them that’s cocky, arrogant, or mean. In the very clip before you even claim he’s “generic”, you see Mickey mocking Pete and quickly going stiff when he sees, showing him being a whimsical coward, a pretty distinct trait.

Glad to see Mickey going public domain is leading to people discovering some of the more obscure aspects of the series

We had a phrase in the 90s that wed use to help those who were maybe a bit too sensitive to things... "Buy a helmet".

Characters in the 30s (or, as certain politicians would have you believe, the good ol' days) were always trying to save an orphanage. This was such a common trope, I'm not sure which is worse, the fact there were so many orphans or that the orphanages were always on the verge of being foreclosed on.

Really appreciate that you highlight these more obsucre corners of comic history! Ive learned so much more about the art forms history and interconnected nature than I ever thought

I love Gottfredson's art. In a weird way, it felt more authentic than the animations Disney was producing. Glad his designs have entered public domain so we can breathe some attention to the way he's impacted countless.

Floyd Gottfredson was a fan of Roy Crane's Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy and Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates and portrayed Mickey as a teenaged adventurer even giving Mickey an adult mentor, Captain, later Colonel, Doberman, like the boy heroes of the other newspaper strips.

This character development & universe expansion actually continued into the Walt Disney's Comics & Stories comic books, to differentiate them from the strip, which remained gag-a-day until the Disney Renaissance, which sparked the return of the adventure format, but these strips have almost never gotten reprints. The series ended in July 1995. There's a lot more stuff about the Disney comics that could be fun to cover; the Renaissance brought a few changes for example.

10:48 In 1932, there was a movie "Doctor X," based on the stage play from 1931, might be another influence for Doctors XXX, X, XX, and XXX, but they probably all fall into the "mad scientist" archetype. In the movie, there is a transformation machine that the killer uses to commit his murders unrecognized.

I don't understand why the Disney company often denies comics, especially where Mickey Mouse and friends are much more represented than in cartoons. If only people somehow knew more about it, especially the Phantom Blot who is Mickey's main rival. It's really sad how Disney turned the main characters into mascots. If only Disney would make animated adaptations of Disney comics, but I highly doubt that will happen. Good analysis.

Floyd was born in a town about 20 miles north of Salt Lake. I grew up in the same town Don Bluth is from and these were both local art heroes to me when separate times they came and talked at schools I attended. I def didn't have access to all these old comics but I love the clean artwork.

I think Mickey has a personality especially Wayne Allwine’s Mickey, Kingdom Hearts, Three Musketeers, and the 2013 Mickey series in my opinion.

Learning about and being fascinated by things I’ve only been slightly interested in is the reason I love this channel. Keep up the good work, Chris!

Please please please make a video about Calvin and Hobbs

I disagree that Mickey in Steamboat Willie is generically nice. He's definitely generic, but I'd say he leans towards selfish. He only cares about entertaining some girl, and is willing to assault a bunch of animals, and shirk his boat duties, to do so.

Great Video Man! I've never read the Floyd Gottfriedson Mickey comics, but I'll definitely check them out. One thing that slightly bothered me though was how you talked down the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons a bit. As someone who's a big Golden Age of Animation fan, I like a lot of the classic Mickey Mouse cartoons. While the early Mickey cartoons from 1928-1931 don't have much plot or character and are more a showcase of synchronized sound, the cartoons from 1932-1938 are actually REALLY GOOD, particularly the B&W cartoons from 32-35. Cartoons like The Klondike Kid (1932), The Mail Pilot (1933), Shanghaied, Gulliver Mickey, and Two-Gun Mickey (all 1934) are action-packed adventures, that feel like animated versions of Gottfriedson's comics. There's also the aforementioned The Mad Doctor (1933) which is such a deliciously dark cartoon, as well as Mickey's Good Deed (1932) a surprisingly touching Depression-era story. There are also some fun ones like Barnyard Olympics, Touchdown Mickey (both 1932), Camping Out (1934) and Mickey's Gala Premier (1933) which is a great time capsule featuring celebrity caricatures of the 30s. In 1935 the Mickey Cartoons went to Colour beginning with The Band Concert - which is probably the best of his classic shorts - and he starred in some really good solo shorts like Thru the Mirror (1936) and Brave Little Tailor (1938) - but the focus of his cartoons began to shift to Donald and Goofy, particularly in the excellent trio shorts like Mickey's Service Station (1935) Moving Day (1936) Clock Cleaners and Lonesome Ghosts (both 1937). I think when people say "Mickey Mouse in Boring," I think they're mostly referring to the cartoons from 1939 and onward (co-insiding around the time Fred Moore redesigned Mickey with his more modern look). Since these cartoons tend to get shown a lot more often than the Black & White cartoons, I think that's damaged the public perception of Mickey. Still I would recommend the above-mentioned cartoons.

1) 3:06 - I think "Animal Comics" is where the strip "Pogo (by Walt Kelly)" got it's start, *before* appearing in newspapers... 2) I'd start by balancing Mickey from the cartoons (of the era) and the comic books, to create the basis for Modern Mickey... 3) I *definitely need to get these books...

One of my favorite comic stories growing up was a Mickey Mouse story called "The Gleam" in some issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories my dad had, featuring Mickey having to catch a jewel thief while being presented with mounting evidence that Minnie is his accomplice. This even though it took me several years to finally get the third and final part of the story.

Believe it or not, Walt Disney himself was the one who suggested the suicide plot line.

15:06 Mickey does the "I'm outta here" from sonic cd.

Haven't watched yet but... HAD?! Pretty sure he STILL have a personality in the comics; He's infinitely more interesting there

I love that you're exploring the deeper history of comics, particularly the era of the strips. I think there's some fascinating parallels between the formats of the daily or weekly comic strips from the invention of the form to the development of the comic book that mirror developments and formats in webcomics over the past 20 years and into today, and I wonder about what we can glean for the future by examining the past. I look forward to seeing what you hit next!

Mickey Mouse comics (and Donald Duck) were probably the first comics I got as a child, and of course they were much newer but art style was very much based off this guy's work, and although Mikey was not as trigger happy as his past self, there are still was a lot of adventure and mysteries

Love the gottfredson Mickey comics faves are the bat bandit and 7 haunts

Not cruel or meanspirited, perhaps, definitely thoughtless, insensitive, and othering.

Friendship ended with Horace. Now Goofy is my best friend.

This was great! I would love to see Carl Barks get the Comic Tropes treatment some day!

Here in Australia we often had local comics that were reprints of American comics and Mickey was one of those titles. I remember enjoying the many detective Mickey stories and his battles with the Phantom Blot among others. Originally by Floyd they were added to in the comics by Paul Mury. Also fun was the brief super spy era, using a very different realistic style for all the other characters besides Mickey and Goofy.

Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey comic strips were pretty fun. I read a bunch of them when I was a little kid and Gladstone comics was republishing them The recolored version of Blaggard Castle looks creepy as hell (the story itself is much more light-hearted) Yoo gotta do an episode on Carl Barks' duck comics!

Thank you for covering this work...I have the Fantagraphics hardcovers and was collecting these strips through Gladstone Comics years ago. Lifelong love for this strip.

I am surprised that in this episode you did not mention one of the major influences on the strip and the artist is Roy Crane Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy which started in 1924. Which the artist and historian have mention was a major influence on the artist.

Really good episode, Chris! I think it would be great if you featured more comic strips. There are so many you could be doing a deep dive into; Dick Tracy, Terry and the Pirates, Tarzan, Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Prince Valiant, Secret Agent X-9, etc. There's so many out there and some great creators that you could talk about. I'm excited to see what you come up with!

The 2013 shorts also gave Mickey a personality

*The Phantom Blot* was one of Floyd Gottfredson characters created in 1939. He was still around in the magazines I read in my childhood. I think I've read most of those old adverntures from the 1930s and 1940s. ...if not all of them. I'm a big fan. "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley", "The Great Orphanage Robbery", Mickey Mouse in the foreign legion, as a whaler, as a farm worker who helps with the grain harvest, and the many stories where he is a pilot. It's all great.

Wow, thank you for bringing these wonderful strips to my attention. The first thing I did after watching your video was order Fantagraphic's first volume of the dailies.

Honestly, I think it's only more recent shorts that make him so generically nice, and even the 2013 series deconstructs it, but early shorts make him very mischievous and occasionally mean. Edit: The silent versions of Plane Crazy and Galloping Gaucho are also public domain.

Thanks for shedding light on these strips. Seem like fun and worth the purchase.

"Hand over that map or I'll run you so hard you'll wear out eight habeas-corpuses trying to get back!" Holy fucking cow

How can you sit here and say that Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie is "generically nice" when he spends the majority of that cartoon sadistically torturing animals and is constantly seen as being pleased by their squeals, extreme discomfort and suffering as he constantly hits, abuses, and very clearly hurts them to produce pained sounds from them which he's overjoyed at? The way I could describe him in that cartoon is as a psychopathic sadist.

You should cover the phantom comic strips...I always found the legacy character concept to be an interesting one 0:56

You know a comic that I really enjoyed when I was a kid? When Donald duck was a superhero. Donald was Superduck! At least that's how he was known in those covers. The story depicted a Donald that was far more intelligent than anybody gave him credit for and one that secretly worked using gadgets invented by Gyro Gearloose, who also modified Donald's car and was kind of a Lucius Fox to him. The story changed lore in the two comics I read as a kid, but I remember that in one, Superduck is believed to be a ghost by the public (and known as Fantomius), and Donald uses his alter ego to get even with Scrooge McDuck and Gladstone Gander. I hope you can find those comics and get the chance to talk about them in a future video.

"Now I'm gonna break you with my naked hands." - Mickey muthafuckin Mouse

“I’ll try not to get demonetized.” Says that same man casually showing the swastika without censoring it first.

I got a collection from the late 40s which some granny gave me as a kid. Its in a bad shape but I consider restoring it. Mickey does things we'd never see again, its more like Indiana Jones. Like there's that legendary ghost comic where smugglers disguise as ghosts and Mickey friggin fires a gun at them to see if they're fake.

Wow. I enjoyed that much much more than I thought I would. Thanks again!

I've been away bc I was more driven into politic content to try and educate myself. I was just reminded of how cool is your content.

It's also worth mentioning that the creators on the comics were kept secret. They wanted to make it appear like Walt personally did all of them, even having his signature. Carl Barks was known as the Duck man and Flyod Gottfredson was known as the Mouse man. His identity was revealed in the mid 60s by a fan.

I had no idea Mickey was such a great comc ! I have been reading some now from the 40 s , and its funny as hell, and very entertaining! So you did it again Chris , i learned something that gave me such fun !!!! Thank you Brother !

As a 70's kid we watched a very simplified Popeye on TV, and it was a shock if you managed to find the Segar strips. The only mainstream hint of them was the Robin Williams movie that had so much more character and flavor than the cartoons.

I feel like people really need to check out the 2013 Micky Mouse shorts and the Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse follow up. Kids these days don't think of Mickey as having no personality. They think he's so nice that it shoots around the moon and becomes funny again.

Why is it that Print and Black and White Books can get away with the Craziest and Edgiest developments and spectacles?!?

1:18 I actually had an interesting idea about that. I came up for a concept for a Steamboat Willie movie. So it’d be live action taking place in a Victorian era world. The characters are all human and Willie (The Mickey character) is a mischievous, slightly greedy type that gets himself into trouble, he lives on a barge boat with Patrick (Pete from the cartoon) and they basically deliver animals and other random cargo to various places, one day an actress needs to catch the barge before she gets caught by the gangsters pursuing her, her name is Millie (Minnie) and it turns out she stole a mcguffin from the criminals that they murdered her father for. (It might be evidence, a map, an ancient object idk) and basically it’d be like a better version of Dolittle with a ship full of animals as they race to get wherever they’re going. Willie is kind of crazed like Jack Sparrow and for a fun joke reference Patrick says “I’m not even going to tell you what he’s done to the pigs!” But that’s all the ideas I’ve had so far for a concept. I think we could use an adventure film in the same vein as Pirates of The Caribbean or Jumamji The Next Level. Like let’s bring adventure films back! lol 😂(thank you for reading this long idea)

Thanks Chris

Thank you for this great episode. I am a big fan of early Disney comics.

Chris, Thank you so much for this episode, it was wonderful, and I love Mickey Mouse -> sharing his adventure stories with my sons these days! Would love to see an episode about Hanna Barbera crossover into Comics (jonny quest etc.) and/or Alex Toth. Also, you mentioned Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watson, that would be amazing! And every time you’ve brought up Donald Duck, I get excited for the potential ComicTropes episode exclusively on Carl barks and all the world-building of Duckburg! Can’t wait to find out who the mystery bizarre golden age comic book hero is next episode and until then keep up the great comic !

Holy Crap I didn't know my home state and not to mention near were I live that Floyd was from Kaysville, now that I think about it I think some of his family still lives in Utah but I could be wrong.

Love this, Chris! Well done!

My grandfather had a tonne of old mickey mouse comics. My favourites were The Phantom Blot ones with the death traps he would set to try to kill Mickey. So much fun!

i adore gotfredsons strip and he did a lot for world buiilding let alone he invented the phantom blot and chief o hara both are still used and famous in disney comic today

Mickey Mouse's sci-fi phase sounds so interesting. Have to try to look for those stories. Another great episode Chris! Have a great 2024, man!

Loving the shelf this time around. All copies of your vampirella cover 😂 The cover looks great

Yeah, the newer Mickey Mouse shorts by Paul Rudish give Mickey so much personality that he turned into Chaos Mickey

Awesome episode, Chris! Now I want to read the Fantagraphics books.

Great video as always! Me and my friend are actually planning to make our own Mickey Mouse series someday where we bring him back to his roots where he's a globe trotting adventurer.

Love love love your delightful history lessons!

4:34 i never knew that the famous Hollywood letters once spelled out Hollywood Land.

Great video as always on Mickeys strip work. As you alluded in the outro comic books are different, but the Mickey in Walt Disney Comics and Stories is much more the dynamic adventurer of the strip than the mouse of animation. WDC&S was a quality book with Barks Donald and adventure Mickey!

Mickey is still popular in Europe. Was in Netherlands last year and it was the only American comic you can find in their airport. Localized of course.

For comic strips, I always remember Prince Valiant being hard to get into because it felt like I had to jump into the middle of a story I had no context for. I had no idea it started like 45 years before I was born.

Great content as always! Those CBC Awards are looking good, too. 🙂👍👍👊

What a great episode! Thanks for this, Chris. I'm curious if Mickey's comic adventures changed in the 1950s due, in part, to the rise and popularity of The Mickey Mouse Club and how he was presented to the public through television at the time.

YES IM SO GLAD U DID THIS! ub and win and all the staff took care to make this universe definitive

Great episode!

Mickey Mouse comics and Donald Duck comics were very popular in Mexico when I was a kid (80's). I was more into superheroes but I I remember those Donald and Mickey comics to be very entertaining. Great episode, Chris!

fun episode! thanks chris

I got a positively huge book for Christmas one day, it was all Gottfredson stories. It was in French and there was a bit I never understood, thinking back it's probably American slang or some pun that they simply failed to translate properly. IIRC it was Mickey on the Farm, helping out during WWII, when he was too small to be a soldier and is sent to a farm to do his bit for the nation. Many of these stories were printed in Europe, making them extremely popular and we knew about Carl Barks around the end of the 1970's. I have a Dutch Donald Duck 50th anniversary book that mentions all the collaborators who worked on Donald Duck including Barks.