You know, I've never really liked this mouse.
As recognizable as Disney's #1 guy has gotten, Mickey's always struck me as a particularly bland character. He has almost no defining characteristics of his own beyond those little white-buttoned shorts he always wears. If I were asked to try to describe his personality, I'd probably come up with a description that falls somewhere between Star Wars' Padme Amidala and a saltine cracker.
Then I checked out this bad boy:
I was surprised to discover a Mickey Mouse I had never known existed. This Mickey was young, impulsive, and adventurous. Here is a Mickey who isn't afraid to make mistakes. A Mickey who is capable of throwing a punch, if needed:
A Mickey who, um, repeatedly attempts suicide:
A Mickey who is willing to put on blackface and... wait, what?
Clearly, this is NOT your father's Mickey Mouse. Or your grandfather's. It's more like your racist great-uncle's Mickey Mouse.
Thing is, unfortunate outdated prejudices aside, I think I like this Mickey much better than the one we've got now. Everything about him - from those goofy pie-eyes to his youthful arrogance - makes him so much more than a bland cardboard mascot. Mickey rose to be the mascot of the world's largest animation studio BECAUSE of his personality, and Gottfredson's comic puts that personality on display.
But, seriously, Disney will publish Blackface Uncle Tom Mickey but not Song of the South? How does THAT make any sense?
Most of the comic images actually come from volume 2 of the Gottfredson collection, Trapped on Treasure Island. It's a REALLY good read.
4 comments:
My grandma had some of the really old black & white Mickey mouse cartoons on VHS and I used to watch them over and over. With the exception of Mickey's super annoying voice (this is from the era that voiced Snow White), I loved them. They were a lot more adventurous than the current Mickey movies, and had all these great characters.
She also had Song of the South on VHS. Wish I knew where that was.
xox
Ive got song of the south on vhs.
As a former animation student, I've watched a LOT of early Mickey Mouse. The little guy was quite the scoundrel back in the day. Always trying to put Minnie in a compromising position...
Glad we're converting you to the real Mickey Mouse, S. R. Thanks to some more piecemeal late '70s reprints, Gottfredson's Mickey is the Mickey I cut my teeth on as a kid. It's a labor of love to keep him circulating.
While I could never call him a scoundrel (I only count three cartoons where he pushes Minnie too far—and this never happens in the comics), he's quite the adventurous and defiant little squirt, isn't he?
Collecting the supplementary material that goes in the books is an adventure itself! (Hope you're following our Facebook page... that's where we put the overflow.)
Re: sad racial stuff: Disney Publishing allows us to run the strips unabridged because we're aiming the books at adults, and have extensive text putting that content in context. Luckily, most of what's left is timeless—and that's just how I like it.
—David Gerstein (Series Editor)
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