''Mickey Mouse'' (briefly ''Mickey Mouse and Friends'') is a

Disney comic book Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring characters created by the Walt Disney Company, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on, starting with the ...

series that has a long-running history, first appearing in 1943 as part of the ''

Four Color ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

'' one-shot series. It received its own numbering system with issue #28 (December 1952), and after many iterations with various publishers, ended with #330 (June 2017) from

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...

. The book emphasizes stories with Mickey and his supporting cast:

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

Minnie Mouse Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers, and low-heeled shoes occasiona ...

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

and Mickey's nephews

Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving Disney cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, and many other characters. The universe originated from the ''Mickey Mouse'' an ...

. Mickey's perpetual rival is the criminal

Peg-Leg Pete Pete (also called Peg-Leg Pete, Bad Pete and Black Pete, among other names) is a fictional character of The Walt Disney Company. Created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, Pete is traditionally depicted as the Archenemy, arch-nemesis of Mickey Mouse ...

(sometimes "Black Pete", "Sneaky Pete" or "Big Bad Pete"). Other adversaries have included

Emil Eagle This list of Donald Duck universe characters focuses on Disney cartoon and comics characters who typically appear with Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck, but are not related to them. For relatives of Donald and Scrooge, see Duck family (Disney) o ...

, Eli Squinch,

Sylvester Shyster The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving Disney cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, and many other characters. The universe originated from the ''Mickey Mouse'' an ...

, the team of Dangerous Dan McBoo and Idjit the Midget, and the

Phantom Blot The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving Disney cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, and many other characters. The universe originated from the '' Mickey Mouse'' ...

. Two major artistic influences on the appearance of Mickey in comics are

Floyd Gottfredson Arthur Floyd Gottfredson (May 5, 1905July 22, 1986) was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the ''Mickey Mouse'' comic strip, which he worked on from 1930 until his retirement in 1975. His contribution to Mickey Mouse comi ...

, who drew the ''Mickey Mouse'' comic strip from 1930 to 1975, and comic book artist

Paul Murry Paul Murry (November 25, 1911 – August 4, 1989) was an American cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his Disney comics, which appeared in Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics from 1946 to 1984, particularly the Mickey Mouse and Goo ...

, who drew Mickey stories from 1950 to 1984.

Early development

In the mid 1930s original Mickey comic book stories were being produced in Italy and the United Kingdom for local consumption. In the UK, Dean & Son Ltd published the first ''Mickey Mouse Annual'' for Christmas 1930, which was made up of one-page Mickey & Minnie gag cartoons by Wilfred Haughton. Publishing Mickey comic book stories in the United States was pioneered by the third ''

Mickey Mouse Magazine ''Mickey Mouse Magazine'' is an American Disney comics publication that preceded the popular 1940 anthology comic book ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories''. There were three versions of the title – two promotional giveaway magazines published f ...

'' series (1935–1940). Initially published by Hal Horne, it had artwork by John Stanley and text pieces by

Irving Brecher Irving S. Brecher (January 17, 1914 – November 17, 2008) was a screenwriter who wrote for the Marx Brothers among many others; he was the only writer to get sole credit on a Marx Brothers film, penning the screenplays for '' At the Circus'' ( ...

. By mid-1936, Horne turned over the magazine to Kay Kamen, who oversaw merchandising for Disney. Kamen the following year recruited

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...

to handle production and publication. Western added reprinted Disney comic strips to the book's lineup beginning with the July 1937 issue; these included Gottfredson's Mickey daily strips re-formatted and colored for serialized magazine publication. In the words of historian Michael Barrier: "Reprinted newspaper comics were never more than a minor part of its lineup until the very last issue, dated September 1940, when they suddenly took up half the pages". But Barrier has also judged the strip reprints "stood out by virtue of their crisp professionalism". The successor title, ''

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories'', sometimes abbreviated ''WDC&S'', is an American anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chi ...

'' (WDC&S), described by Barrier as a true comic book, began publication with the Oct. 1940 issue and had the Gottfredson serials as a prominent feature. Starting in 1943, Mickey's adventures appeared in a series of

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...

' ''

'' one-shots with the name "Mickey Mouse" prominently displayed on the cover. In 1953, these one-shots evolved into a regular series titled ''Mickey Mouse'', starting with issue #28 and lasting through 1990. Although other magazines called ''Mickey Mouse'' were available in many countries, they often were less like the American title and more resembled WDC&S, acting as the flagship Disney title for its circulation area and thus containing stories of all the major Disney characters as a function of its anthology format.

Classic era

The American ''Mickey Mouse'' title experienced changes in artists, publishers, length, cost, and printing quality over the years. A unique experiment deviating from the norm occurred in 1966: Inspired by the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

spy mania of the period for three issues (#107–109) the comic was titled ''Mickey Mouse, Super Secret Agent'' with stories of Mickey and Goofy becoming international spies and interacting with human characters in realistic settings. While Mickey and Goofy were drawn in the usual "cartoony" style by Paul Murry, the other characters and backgrounds were done by

Dan Spiegle Dan Spiegle (December 10, 1920 – January 28, 2017) was an American comics artist and cartoonist best known for comics based on movie and television characters across a variety of companies, including Dell Comics, DC Comics, and Marvel Com ...

in a realistic manner. Comic book historian Michael Barrier dubbed it an aesthetic failure in a contemporary review. They dropped the concept after three issues. By 1970, contents of the ''Mickey Mouse'' title mostly consisted of the reprinting of earlier stories, sometimes from ''

'' or other Disney publications. The average paid circulation between September 1969 and September 1970, when the comic was published six times a year, and cost 15 cents, was 223,396, whereas in 1960 the figure stood at 568,803.

Modern era

Gladstone

Gladstone Publishing assumed publication of ''Mickey Mouse'' in 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 and included. Issues contained a description of the source of each story, and gave credit to the writers and artists by name — which had not previously been done. Letters to the editor often provided additional story background. Although the circulation of ''Mickey Mouse'' had declined for years, especially compared to ''

Uncle Scrooge ''Uncle Scrooge'' (stylized as ''Uncle $crooge'') is a Disney comic book series starring Scrooge McDuck ("the richest duck in the world"), his nephew Donald Duck, and grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and revolving around their adventures in ...

'', in 1987 Gladstone said it had become their top selling title. 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). The cover price went to 95 cents in 1987 (). Gladstone published many of Gottfredson's Mickey stories that had never been reprinted since the 1930s or 1940s. ''Mickey Mouse'' ceased publication in 1990, with issue #256, when Gladstone lost their license to publish the Disney characters.

Publication hiatus

From 1990 to 2003, no ''Mickey Mouse'' comic book was published in the United States. However, from 1990 to 1991, a new comic book, ''

Mickey Mouse Adventures ''Mickey Mouse Adventures'' was a Disney comic book first published by Disney Comics from 1990 to 1991. It featured Mickey Mouse as the main character along with other characters from the Mickey Mouse universe. Somewhat similar in style to the a ...

'', was published by Disney's then-new comic book imprint, Disney Comics. Disney Comics ceased all publications in 1993. Additionally, the two part "Perils of Mickey" adventure, "Return to Blaggard Castle/Shadows of the Past", by writer David Cody Weiss and artist Stephen DeStefano, was published in two consecutive 1993 issues of

Disney Adventures ''Disney Adventures'' (also short-formed as ''D.A.'') was an American children's entertainment and educational magazine published twelve (later ten) times per year by Disney Publishing Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney Consumer Products, a unit o ...

magazine. This story was a direct sequel to the 1930s Floyd Gottfredson story, "Blaggard Castle", and featured a return to the classic Mickey Mouse art style. The story has been reprinted in ''Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Trapped on Treasure Island"'' (1932–33 dailies; 2011) .

Gemstone

In 2003

Gemstone Publishing Gemstone Publishing is an American company that publishes comic book price guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Geppi in 1994 when he bought Overstreet. Gemstone published licen ...

was granted the license for Disney's comic book characters. They relaunched ''Mickey Mouse'' under an expanded title, ''Mickey Mouse and Friends'', continuing the original numbering from #257. The printing of ''Mickey Mouse and Friends'' was high quality, and the cost was $2.95. Similar to Gladstone's practice, most advertising in the issues was for Gemstone's own products. Gemstone also took over publication of ''Mickey Mouse Adventures'' magazine, converting it to a digest, and announcing that it was the first "Disney controlled" comic publication in Disney comics' 55-year history that had not been not licensed to other publishers such as Dell, Gold Key and Gladstone. In 2006, Gemstone ceased publication of both ''Mickey Mouse Adventures'' and ''Mickey Mouse and Friends'' (along with several non-Mickey titles), leaving ''WDC&S'' as the only outlet for Mickey Mouse comic book stories in the United States until 2009.

Boom! Kids

In 2009,

Boom! Studios Boom! Studios (styled BOOM! Studios) is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher, headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. History Origins In the early 2000s, Ross Richie and Andrew Cosby had been working in Ho ...

assumed the license for Disney's stable of comic book characters and resumed publication of both ''Mickey Mouse and Friends'' and ''WDC&S'' under their ''Boom! Kids'' imprint, continuing the original issue numbering. Boom! Studios' ''Mickey Mouse and Friends'' contains full-issue, multi-part modern stories originally created in Europe and translated to English. Boom! Studios began serializing the multi-part Italian '' Wizards of Mickey'' epic from ''MM'' #296–299. It then spun off into its own title. To date, there have been many "Wizards of Mickey" sagas produced and published in Italy, most yet unpublished in the USA. As with Boom! Studios' other Disney-related titles, two versions of each issue of ''Mickey Mouse and Friends'' were released in early months; one with "Cover A", the other with "Cover B". Aside from the two different covers, the two versions of each issue were identical and had the same contents. The first Boom! Studios issue of ''Mickey Mouse and Friends'' was issue #296, released in September 2009. According to a Boom! Studios press release, the issue sold out immediately upon release. Boom! put the series on hiatus with #299 for several months, with the big #300 anniversary issue to be published September 2010. Beginning with issue #300, the series reverted to a mixture of new and vintage Mickey stories set in Mickey's everyday life. Issue #304 was the last issue to feature two variant covers; from #305 on, each issue has been printed with a single cover design. The original title ''Mickey Mouse'' replaced ''Mickey Mouse & Friends'' beginning with issue #304. In 2011, the Boom! Studios titles changed to Kaboom!, but by October of that year all Disney comics, including Mickey Mouse, ceased publication.BOOM’s Disney Era Officially Ends in October
Kaboom's final Mickey Mouse single issue was #309.

IDW Publishing

In 2015,

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

began publishing new Disney comics. The first new ''Mickey Mouse'' comic was numbered "#1 (310)" and was released on June 3, 2015. IDW also relaunched '' Donald Duck'', ''

'' and ''

'' at the time. IDW issues of ''Mickey Mouse'', generally containing 35–40 pages of comics apiece, are slightly longer than the earlier Boom and Gemstone issues, and tend to feature extended-length adventure stories from two of the best-known Italian Mickey creators,

Romano Scarpa Romano Scarpa (September 27, 1927 – April 23, 2005) was one of the most famous Italian creators of Disney comics. Biography Growing up in Venice he developed a particular love for American cartoons and Disney comics, that, at the time, were ...

and Andrea "Casty" Castellan. Co-stars such as Eurasia Toft and Ellsworth are featured prominently; the former for the first time in the United States, and the second for the first time in many years. Shorter backup stories by the likes of

Noel Van Horn Noel Van Horn (born July 6, 1968) is a cartoonist born in the United States and living in Canada. He mainly produces Disney comics starring Mickey Mouse. He is the son of William Van Horn, a comics artist who is also well known for his work in Di ...

and Lars Jensen have also been included. Some of the title's IDW Publishing run was collected in the hardcover book series '' Timeless Tales''.

Publication summary

* Dell Comics – title began as a selection of ''

'' one-shots, starting with ''Four Color'' #16 ("Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot", 1941). The regular series launched with ''Mickey Mouse'' #28 (Dec./Jan. 1952/1953), and was published by Dell until issue #84 (Jul./Sep. 1962). * Gold Key Comics (1962–1980; ''Mickey Mouse'' #85–204) * Whitman (1980–1984; ''Mickey Mouse'' #205–218) * Gladstone Publishing (1986–1990; ''Mickey Mouse'' #219-#256) * Gemstone Publishing (2003–2006; ''Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse and Friends'' #257–295) * BOOM! Studios (2009–2011 ''Mickey Mouse and Friends'' #296–309, reverting to just ''Mickey Mouse'' from #304) * IDW Publishing (2015-2017 ''Mickey Mouse'' #1 -21 (#310-330)

References

External links

*
''Mickey Mouse (and Friends)''
on Disney Comics Worldwide (DCW)
Cover of all issues of ''Mickey Mouse''
on outducks.org
Scott Shaw on Mickey Mouse, Super Secret Agent
*
Official Mickey Mouse and Friends page at Boom! StudiosExclusive BOOM Preview: Mickey Mouse and Friends #296 at Newsarama
{{Disney comics navbox 1941 comics debuts 1984 comics endings 1986 comics debuts 1990 comics endings 2003 comics debuts 2006 comics endings 2009 comics debuts 2011 comics endings 2015 comics debuts 2017 comics endings Comics magazines published in the United States Boom! Studios titles Dell Comics titles Disney comics titles Gemstone Publishing titles Gladstone Publishing titles Gold Key Comics titles IDW Publishing titles Mickey Mouse comics Magazines established in 1941 Magazines disestablished in 2017 Monthly magazines published in the United States