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MICKEY MOUSE

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Full Name: Mickey Mouse
Series Name: Mickey Mouse Super Secret Agent
Codename: Pumpkin-3
Nationality: American
Organization: Police International
Occupation Agent

Creator: Walt Disney
Time Span: 1966 - 1966

ABOUT THE SERIES

Mickey Mouse is an agent with PI.

That acronym stands for Police International, which makes it sound like another term for Interpol but studying the mechanics of the organization in the mere three adventures we have, that organization is far closer to that of something like U.N.C.L.E.

Mickey Mouse, of course, needs absolutely no introduction. This world-famous diminutive (compared to humans but not when compared to more traditional rodents) has been a staple of visual entertainment since the first time we watched him pilot a vessel in Steamboat Willie back in 1928. His adventures have taken him all around the world as well as deep beneath the ocean surface and even outer space, and have been told on television and in movies, books, comic strips, and comic books for decades.

With regards to his actions which cause him to be mentioned in this compendium, I mention 'mere three' stories because that is all that exist, apparently, of the adventures that this fellow, and his near constant sidekick, Goofy, participate in as operatives. While the annals of this anthropomorphic rodent are legendary, as are the escapades he finds himself in, only three deal with his brief time working for PI.

Mickey (my normal habit of calling the heroes by their last name seems inappropriate here) and Goofy come to the attention of PI after they make the front pages with their capture of a notorious criminal gang (said adventure going untold). PI was in a bit of a bind because the agent they had planned to use for an upcoming mission was unfortunately no longer available (?living?). Wanting a replacement, the leadership sees one of those newspapers and make an offer to the pair. They agree.

After a brief period of training, the two are sent on that first mission and will engage in two more assignments, both requiring bravery and intrepidity before they, apparently, decide that their time as "super secret agents" had come to an end and other exciting but non-'cloak & dagger' thrills awaited them.

COMIC BOOKS, GRAPHIC NOVELS, AND MANGA

Number of Stories:3
First Appearance:1966
Last Appearance:1966

The history of Mickey Mouse in the comic books is a long and impressive one.

Dell Publishing had an imprint named Four Color which monthly would present a different character from a huge line-up varying from singing cowboys like Roy Rogers to dolls like Raggedy Ann and Andy to comic strip staples like Bringing Up Father. Cartoon characters were very frequent titles. Mickey Mouse had 27 different appearances over a twenty-year period.

In December of 1952, Dell came out with a Mickey Mouse series all on its own, numbered #28 by comics.org. It ran usually bi-monthly for a decade, coming to an end in 1962 with #84

That is when Western Publishing took over the license and began, in its Gold Key imprint, a very long run of Mickey Mouse adventures from #84 in July 1962 to #218 sometime in 1984. After that Gladstone would have the rights from #219 to #256, Gemstone from #257 to #295, and Boom! Studios from #296 to #309.

It was in that long stretch of Gold Key Mickey Mouse adventures that the anthropomorphic fellow would be pulled into the secret agent craze, albeit for just a very short time.

The seque of Mickey and his frequent companion, Goofy, was an odd one in that the opening panel of Issue #107, the first for Mickey Mouse Super Secret Agent, shows the culmination of an adventure in which the two characters, not yet pulled into the cloak&dagger world, helped foil the plans of the Fire-Brand Gang. That adventure was never actually detailed as the previous issue had the two searching "perilous waters for The Giant Pearls of Agoo Island" and the one before that dealt with "Mickey Mouse and his Sky Adventure".

Obviously transitions did not play that important of a role in Mickey's tales as shown by the fact that after the third and last Super Secret Agent adventure, in #109, the next issue has he and Goofy, along with Minnie and Pluto, leading an expedition into "Superstition Mountains" looking for a silver mine and having to deal with "The Ghose of the Conquistador".

Though the move both into and out of the spy-adventure genre was abrupt, the three stories of Mickey as a secret agent are actually darn good!


1 Assignment Time-Lock Assignment Time-Lock
Published by Western Publishing
Contributors: Don R. Christensen (writer), Paul Murry (pencils and inks), Dan Spiegle (pencils and inks)
Copyright: 1966

Published in Gold Key's Walt Disney Mickey Mouse #107, June 1966, 24 pages.
A replacement for PI operative  Pumpkin-3 and seeing the great press that Mickey Mouse and Goofy have just gotten, the leadership choose these two. After a period of training, the pair are sent to look into the amazing abilities of the Predictor Machine to foretell future events. Mickey learns it was really a gimmick to set up the theft in Venice of an invisibility device.
Click here to read the story.

2 Aircraft Carrier at 2 O'Clock High! Aircraft Carrier at 2 O'Clock High!
Published by Western Publishing
Contributors: Don R. Christensen (writer), Paul Murry (pencils and inks), Dan Spiegle (pencils and inks)
Copyright: 1966

Published in Gold Key's Walt Disney Mickey Mouse #108, August 1966, 24 pages.
Someone has managed to steal the aircraft carrier Chickamauga and everybody on it. PI picks Mickey Mouse and Goofy to be their agents to find who caused the huge craft to float away - and get it back.
Click here to read the story.

3 The Mystery At Misty Gorge The Mystery At Misty Gorge
Published by Western Publishing
Contributors: Don R. Christensen (writer), Paul Murry (pencils and inks), Dan Spiegle (pencils and inks)
Copyright: 1966

Published in Gold Key's Walt Disney Mickey Mouse #109, October 1966, 24 pages.
Mickey Mouse wakes on a sand dune in the Sahara, not knowing how he got there but surprised to learn he is being fired upon by tribesmen. He reports to PI headquarters that the last thing he remembered was checking out a mystery meeting on a yacht belonging to Jeeto Fongoon, trying to learn how the man had gotten the money used for "buying his way into power in half a dozen countries".
Click here to read the story.

REFERENCE BOOKS

Number of Books:1
First Appearance:2017
Last Appearance:2017

1 Hero-A-Go-Go! Hero-A-Go-Go!
Written by Michael Eury
Copyright: 2017

This book is subtitled "Campy Comic Books, Crimefighters & Culture Of The Swinging Sixties." It mentions and gives details on a number of Spy Series within! Welcome to the Camp Age when spies liked their wars cold and their women warm and good guys beat bad guys with a pun and a punch. Celebrate the Camp Craze of the Swinging Sixties when just about everyone was a secret agent.

MY COMMENTS

     When a fellow spy-fan and frequent contributor sent me notice of these stories, I started to shake my head in dismay but ended up grinning like the nutcase I often admit to being.

     One thing Disney is known for is good story-telling and while the idea of a large (for rodents) walking about on two legs and having white-gloved hands instead of other legs is preposterous, his adventures are usually quite excellent and the artwork always impressive. This holds true with the - sadly only - three stories about Mickey as a 'super secret agent'.

GRADE

My Grade: B

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