This weekend, while researching the origins of the Mickey Mouse clubs in Australia, I stumbled upon something totally unexpected.

Between April 12, 1930 and December 27, 1930, some Australian newspapers ran a locally-produced Mickey Mouse comic strip, two examples of which are shown here. 

While the strip was non-authorized, it was nevertheless syndicated throughout Australia. 39 stories were released in total. 

Two months after the demise of the Australian strip, in March 1931 another newspaper started running the official / authorized Mickey Mouse strip.

There are always new things to discover when it comes to Disney history!!!

 

This just in from Norman Tveit:

[A vintage Donald Duck poster I don't think you've seen before. Less than five in existence.  It was created by Al Taliaferro in 1941 and produced by the U.S. Government in 1944.]

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[Apparently there will be a special PREP AND LANDING comic story in three Marvel superhero comic books in November and John Lasseter thinks it is great.]

I have to admit that I am really looking forward to being in June to be able to pick up Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Race to Death Valley" (Vol. 1), then in October to get Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Trapped on Treasure Island" (Vol. 2). Granted, I have already read all of the Gottfredson strips, thanks to a half-bootleg edition released in East Germany many years ago, but what will make those two volumes (and the ones that will follow them) special is the quality of the 50-page of editorial content that each will contain. David Gerstein has done a spectacular job lining up the best Disney-comics historians (starting with himself) for the job and the visual documents he has unearthed will bring suprises even to those of us who know most about Disney history.

Can't wait.

Since Jim Korkis made us aware of their existence in an article he released many years ago under the Wade Samspon nom de plume, Paul F. Anderson, David Gerstein and I have been desperatly trying to locate the Disney comic strips created by Disney artist Fred Spencer for The DeMolay Cordon newsletter.

Paul has now stumbled upon 5 of the strips and has started to post them at his blog.

I believe I may have located a library in New York that holds a complete run of those strips and I think that David Gerstein will soon go and check in person whether I am right or wrong.

I have to admit that the number of previously unknown Disney-history-related documents we have unearthed in the past few years never ceases to amaze me.

I released two of those seven strips 4 years ago, but it makes a lot more sense to show all the ones I have in a single post.

On April 25, 1935 and until September 30, 1936, Mickey travelled to Zagreb, capital of Croatia. The magazine Crtani Film that would last little more than a year, had been created by Ivan Zrnic, distributed in both Serbia and Croatia and carried Mickey Mouse Sunday pages on its cover – recreated by little known Serbian artists.

This story is called "Mickey's Wedding" (Mikijeva zenidba) and I am showing here the strips that were released in issues 20 to 26.

I have to admit that I would love to be able to complete someday my collection of locally produced pre-WWII Disney stories from ex-Yugoslavia, especially those from:

- Crtani film
- Oko
- Mali Roman u Stripu
- Zabavnik
- Mika Mis

- Veseli Cetvrtak

Here is a real treat to start the week.

This story featuring Mickey, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Felix the Cat, Popeye, Betty Boop and many Disney characters from the '30s was released in Serbia in 1937 in the magazine Zabavnik #7 and was drawn by a local artist.

Enjoy!

While this is not really Disney history, I enjoyed thise so much that I had to share it on the blog. The French March issue of the fashion magazine Elle contains those great drawings by the extremely talented Disney comic book artist Ulrich Schröder. The idea of course is that Disney characters have been dressed by the most famous fashion designers.

Once more here is a truly exceptional find from Are Myklebust!

[A Chinese comic strip with Walt Disney figures, printed in Shanghai c. 1947.
Tang Laoya (Donald Duck) and Mi Laoshu (Mickey Mouse) are selling the newspaper Zhengqi ribao (Latest events of today).

From the Oriental Collection at The Royal Library in Copenhagen, Denmark.

A redrawn strip from the Mickey Mouse daily strip serial “Editor-in-Grief” (1935) by Floyd Gottfredson.]

Disney Historian Jim Korkis sent the following:

[Back in the late Sixties and early Seventies, two friends named Wayne DeWald and Gary Brown would track down comic book and comic strip artists like C.C. Beck, Al Williamson, Don Martin, Hal Foster and write to them. DeWald and Brown were both members of an apa (amateur press alliance--where each member published a pre-determined number of his own contribution and sends it to a central mailer who picks out one copy from each stack of submissions puts them together in one magazine and sends it back to each member) named CAPA-Alpha (the first comics apa) and would share some of the information they got from these artists. Occasionally, the artists would also do free original art for them. DeWald tracked down Paul Murry who had been an animator at the Disney Studios but went on to greater fame as an artist for the DELL/GOLD KEY comic books, in particular the Mickey Mouse serials in the back of WALT DISNEY COMICS AND STORIES. Murry had been an assistant to Freddy Moore at Disney.

I recently got in touch with DeWald and Brown to ask about Paul Murry. DeWald wrote: “In Murry’s case, I don't know if I wrote him via Gold Key comics or what. In those days I regularly wrote letters to just about every artist I could think of, usually getting at least a note in response. To the best of my recollection I think we were in touch about 1968-1970. He did four or five illustrations for me of Mickey Mouse, Pluto and Goofy and those are also gone although my good friend Gary Brown still has two of the Mickey Mouse ones that he used for his K-a apa zine, “Ibid”. All the artwork Murry did (for free) was done in India ink and it was on art board. My overwhelming recollection is what a nice guy Murry was and how eager he was to talk about his animation days."

With Gary Brown's permission, here are the two Mickey Mouse drawings by Murry that he ran on his K-a zine in 1970 that he said could be shared with Disney fans. K-a had less than 50 members so less than 50 people originally saw this artwork.]

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[With all the great books reprinting comic strips, it might be nice to have book collections of some of the Disney comic strips from the annual Christmas strips to the work of Al Taliaferro on Donald Duck and Floyd Gottfredson on Mickey Mouse and some of the out of the ordinary comic strips.

Link to 1958 Donald Duck daily comic strips.]

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[When is a Don Rosa Duck comic book story not a Disney Duck comic book story? Here is a special two page story that will never be reprinted in any Rosa Disney Duck collection and yet should be.]

This press release just in thanks to Mark Sonntag:

[Boom! Lands Donald, Mickey and the Gang

“Boom! Studios has landed the license for Disney’s standard characters, which for several years found their home with us at Gemstone Publishing. I want to personally congratulate Ross Richie, Andrew Cosby, Mark Waid and their team on picking up these great characters and titles,” said Steve Geppi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gemstone Publishing. “I think the whole industry has observed their initial successes with their Boom! Kids line with great interest, particularly the immediate sell-through on The Incredibles #1, The Muppet Show #1, and Cars #1. It would be exciting to see Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories and Mickey Mouse and Friends, as well as any subsequent titles, follow in similar form,” Geppi said. “When Gemstone took over the license, the standard characters had not appeared in American comics in four years and I firmly I believe that we paved the way back into the market for them,” he said. “We had some notable successes, both in terms of critical acclaim and sales, particularly with The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck. While I am of course disappointed that I won’t be the one publishing these great characters anymore, I believe the future for them is still one of untapped potential.” Gemstone’s Disney back stock presently remains available from the company and from Diamond Comic Distributors.]

This just in from Gunnar Andreassen:

[Enclosed you'll find a Mickey Mouse page from the December 1931 issue of College Humor, probably made specially for this magazine, and one in a series. I can't recall having seen this one anyplace else.

A digression: Two more "humor pages" from this magazine !]

I realize the two ads are off-topic but I could not resist posting them. I do not believe that even the characters in the TV series Mad Men would have dared to create them 30 years later.

This just in from Jim Korkis:

[Numerous reports today that Gemstone, the publishing arm of Diamond Distributors, is ending its Disney license, meaning that the core Disney characters once again have no American publisher.

According to a post on The Disney Comics Blog:

Gary Leach, who has been doing art and editorial work for US Disney comics for over two decades, reported on the DCML yesterday that “Gemstone is not renewing the Disney comics license, and won’t be putting out any more issues”. This sad news means the end of Disney comics in the United States, at least those with classic Disney characters like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Gary added that “Disney is looking for someone else to take the license” and he believes that they do have some candidates, although nothing is nailed down at this point.]

Mark Sonntag has started posting online all the Gottfredson Mickey Sunday pages he has in his collection. This is particularly exciting as those have never been collected in a book (to my knowledge) unlike the daily strips.

Would any one of you know why? (David Gerstein maybe?)