Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Race to Death Valley" (Vol. 1) (Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse) [Hardcover]

Floyd Gottfredson (Author), David Gerstein (Editor), Gary Groth (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2011 | Series: Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse (Book 1)

One of the most eagerly-anticipated projects in comics.

Today everyone knows Mickey Mouse as the cheerful ambassador of all things Disney. But back in the 1930s, Mickey gained fame as a rough-and-tumble, two-fisted epic hero — an adventurous scrapper matching wits with mobsters, kidnappers, spies, and even (gulp!) city slickers! And Mickey’s greatest feats of derring-do took place in his daily comic strip, written and drawn by one of the greatest cartoonists of the 20th century — Floyd Gottfredson.

For its first quarter-century, Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse was a rip-roaring serial: the most popular cartoon-based comic of its time, a trendsetting adventure continuity aimed at both kids and grown-ups, and the foundation on which all later Disney comics grew — including the adventures of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge by Gottfredson’s Disney colleague Carl Barks.

Glimpses of Floyd Gottfredson’s masterpiece have been reprinted over the years, most famously in Bill Blackbeard’s classic Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics. But the whole strip has never been comprehensively collected in English — until now! Fantagraphics Books is proud to bring this classic Disney creation to a 21st century audience in its entirety, starting from the strip’s 1930 launch. Relive Mickey’s race to a gold mine with Pegleg Pete hot on his heels; Mickey’s life on the lam after being framed for bank robbery; even Mickey’s ringside battle with a hulking heavyweight champ! The premiere volume features a dozen different adventures starring Mickey, his gal Minnie and her uncle Mortimer, his pals Horace Horsecollar and Butch, the villainous Pegleg Pete, and the mysterious and shrouded Fox.

Gottfredson’s vibrant visual storytelling has never been more beautifully reproduced; we promise the best reprinting the strip has ever seen, with each daily lovingly restored from Disney’s original negatives and proof sheets. “Death Valley” also includes more than 50 pages of fascinating supplementary features, including rare behind-the-scenes art and vintage publicity material from the first two years of the strip. Critics, scholars, seasoned Disney archivists, and fellow cartoonists provide commentary and historical essays on the strip’s creation and execution.

Walt Disney often said that his studio’s success “all started with a Mouse” — Walt himself wrote the Mickey Mouse strip before turning it over to the able hands of Gottfredson — and today Mickey is among the world’s most recognizable icons. Now it’s time to rediscover the wild, unforgettable personality behind the icon: Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse. 260 pages of black-and-white comic strips

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Floyd Gottfredson... created an enduring classic and the most fully-formed depiction of Disney’s most important character…. Gottfredson had an animator’s knack for storytelling, and his layouts remain clear no matter how busy they get. Much of the humor is stilted by modern standards, but you’ll be too enthralled by the exciting plots and likable characters to care.” (Garrett Martin - Paste )

“Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: Race To Death Valley by Floyd Gottfredson will be warmly received by comics aficionados but should also intrigue Disney animation buffs who aren't necessarily plugged into comic strip history…. I have a feeling that this book, crafted with such obvious care, will earn Gottfredson a new legion of admirers.” (Leonard Maltin )

“It should go without saying that Fantagraphics has done their usual stellar job in regards to editorial presentation and design... [O]ne of the Great Comic Strips Of All Time.” (Patrick Markfort - Articulate Nerd )

“We’ve already seen the gorgeous treatment that Fantagraphics has given to books like Peanuts... so there’s no doubt that Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse will get the same. Kudos to them for bringing the work of a legendary artist back to today’s readers in a way that will honor his memory and contributions to the medium.” (David Wolkin - Comics Alliance )

“…[I]t’s not just a great Mickey Mouse comic, it’s one of the best comics of all time.” (Chris Sims - Comics Alliance )

“Mickey Mouse is one of the most important and revered characters in pop culture, and no other creator has written him so human, so interestingly, so uniquely fun and vibrant as Floyd Gottfredson has. The cover price is too little to ask, as the stories in this book are a treasury of the highs sequential art can hit.” (Rafael Gaitan - Comics Bulletin )

“I was astounded to discover that once upon a time, Mickey Mouse comics were really good! And exciting!... Plenty of good background material puts it all in context for the new reader, previously unaware of this strip or Gottfredson’s skill. I haven’t had a better adventure read this year, in sheer 'I don’t want to put this down!' desire to find out what comes next.” (Johanna Draper Carlson - Comics Worth Reading )

“Great lover, scholar, soldier, sailor, singer, toreador, tycoon, jockey, prizefighter, automobile racer, aviator, farmer. Mickey Mouse lives in a world in which space, time, and the law of physics are nil. He can reach inside of a bull’s mouth, pull out his teeth and use them as castanets. He can lead a band or play violin solos; his ingenuity is limitless; he never fails.” (Time Magazine (1931) )

“The stories are dense, packing plenty of dialogue into the strips — and the themes are darker than the bright-eyed, factory-sealed tales of today. Mickey is multi-dimensional in the first volume....  This dynamic look is a revelation in the life of the character who started it all for Disney.” (Alex Carr - Omnivoracious (Amazon.com) )

“Can you believe that the tapioca-plain Mickey Mouse was… once a high-spirited adventurer...? He was in the original comic strips... It's one of the classics.” (David Allen - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin )

“...[O]ne could not have asked for a better presentation, with the reproduction about as good as it gets for 80-year-old comic strips, and a veritable plethora of extras.... To sum up, anyone who likes Disney, cartoons, or comic strips will find tons of things to love about this.... A terrific book, highly recommended.” (Sean Gaffney - A Case Suitable for Treatment )

About the Author

Hired as a short-term replacement on the fledgling Mickey Mouse daily strip in 1930, Floyd Gottfredson (1905–1986) went on to draw the feature for the next 45 years.

David Gerstein is a comic book writer/editor and animation historian specializing in the Disney Standard Characters. His books include Mickey and the Gang: Classic Stories in Verse and Walt Disney Treasures—Disney Comics: 70 Years of Innovation.

Gary Groth is the founder of The Comics Journal and also the co-founder and co-publisher of Fantagraphics Books. He lives in Seattle.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics; Reprint edition (June 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606994417
• ISBN-13: 978-1606994412
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 10.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best comic strip reprint book I have ever seen, June 1, 2011

By 

Frank Bergdoll "LFD" (Calgary, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Race to Death Valley" (Vol. 1) (Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse) (Hardcover)

This is a must-have item for anyone interested in comic strip reprints, Disney history, or just plain good-times!

I am a collector of comic book reprint hardcover material - of which there has been a great number lately. They vary in quality and it really comes down to three things:

1) do you like the character/comic?
2) is the artwork complete, reproduced well, and authentic?
3) are there any value-added materials in the book - such as essays, photos, etc?

If you are reading this review - then I must assume you have some interest in Mickey Mouse and/or Gottfredson's artwork - so #1 is a given.

As for #2 and #3 - wow. Just wow.

This book does an excellent job of printing the material on a nice, heavy, white paper that makes the art look fantastic (and it is fantastic art to start with). The paper is matte, so there is no glare, but it is quality paper that is crisp and doesn't fade or "smudge" the work. It looks wonderful.

As for #3 - this is where this book may be the best comic strip reprint book I've ever seen.

The essays and photos are top-notch and enlightening. I am especially impressed with the short essays introducing each "chapter" or story that the volume holds. You really get context and interest as you embark on the next pages. There is some material that I haven't seen reprinted since "The Censored Mouse" - a very short-lived comic in the 80's (2 issues?). I am glad to see some of that material here - where it can be treated as part of a cultural heritage, in the context of the times it was created with appropriate information and essay explanation.

This book is just rich in material - both reprinted strips and supporting information. I cannot think of a better example of what a strip collection could be. It's fantastic and I look forward to every published volume finding its way into my collection.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disney's Biggest Star Gets the Star Treatment, June 6, 2011

By 

E. David Swan (South Euclid, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Race to Death Valley" (Vol. 1) (Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse) (Hardcover)

Ah, Mickey Mouse; that vacuous smile, that soulless laugh. His silhouette is literally a corporate logo. When I was young I used to watch Popeye and Warner Brothers cartoons after school because Disney didn't syndicate. Even when Disney started producing new cartoons for syndication in the late 80's Mickey Mouse was always conspicuous by his absence. The Disney Corporations intention may have been to protect their most famous property but in my mind it made Mickey seem snobbish. However in the first three decades of his existence Mickey was extraordinarily accessible in cartoons and the newspaper dailies. The cartoons were fun if a bit repetitive and shallow but the newspaper comics were where Mickey was really given the opportunity to develop as a character and Floyd Gottfredson was the man who made it all happen.

The first storyline featuring Gottfredson's talents was `Mickey Mouse in Death Valley' upon which this book is named. Walt Disney himself wrote the first third of the story and let me just say that Disney may have been a brilliant businessman but as a writer he was lacking. Disney's Mickey seemed to only talk in puns and stale jokes and the story was all over the place. When Gottfredson took over writing he initially emulated Disney and it wasn't until the second story, `Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers', that Gottfredson began to find his own style and by the time `Mickey Mouse Boxing Champ' rolled out Gottfredson had made the character his own. He slowed the stories down to a pace more appropriate for a daily comic and his art style improved to the point where it was just off the charts magnificent. Whereas the first story felt hokey, frantic and dated Gottfredson changed the series to feel funny, well paced and edgy. Hard to believe that Mickey could once be described as edgy but for a pipsqueak he could dish out (and take) some punishment. The town bully actually snipped off the end of Mickey's tail and tied his nose in a knot. That's pretty hardcore.

I am a HUGE fan of Elzie Segar's Popeye but the character was never intended as a role model. Mickey on the other hand was a legitimate good guy who was resourceful, brave and big hearted but Gottfredson to his credit didn't make him perfect. When Mickey believes that Minnie is in love with another *ahem* rat he attempts to commit suicide... repeatedly. Mickey is not above using alcohol to get one over on an enemy and even pulls out a pair of pistols in order to motivate the "heavy light weight champ" to train harder. Like Popeye, the early Mickey Mouse was a product of the depression era and lived a simple small town life. From starting a war with the town bully to fighting a local boxing tough guy Mickey's adventures generally kept him close to home and I liked that. With every story I read I enjoyed this book more and more and Gottfredson's art style is some of the most aesthetically pleasing ever to grace a comic strip.

I have yet to purchase a collection from Fantagraphics that wasn't top notch quality and this one is no exception. From the cover to the binding and the additional material on Gottfredson this is a fantastic book and one that will look lovely on a bookshelf. My ONLY issue is that the comics themselves are shrunk a bit and I occasionally had some difficulty reading text. Most of the time it's not an issue and the images look terrific. I can unreservedly recommend this book to fans of comics in general and or fans of Disney. As long as Fantagraphics continues to produce these Mickey comics by Gottfredson I'll continue to purchase them.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Stunning, June 3, 2011

By 

Tim Hewitt (Columbia, SC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: "Race to Death Valley" (Vol. 1) (Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse) (Hardcover)

I'm really just stunned at the quality of newspaper comic strip reprint collections coming along these days. It seems that all of the publishers have stepped up their game to make these collections the best they can possibly be. Fantagraphics has outdone themselves with "Race to Death Valley." The book itself is a beauty, just the right size without being too large or too small. Some might complain that the strips (3 to a page) are too small, but to my eye they appear just about right, emphasizing Floyd Gottfredson's art to the best advantage (and the reproduction quality is outstanding). The stories are just great, movie serial, pulp style adventures. In addition to the comics themselves, Fantagraphics has again gone one step beyond in providing a wealth of background material, including essays on the genesis of the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, Floyd Gottfredson, analysis, appreciations and more, with lots of color illustrations from the Disney archives. Each story sequence has it's own introduction, and there's an additional section at the end of the book that reprints the very first sequence of the comic strip (by Disney himself and Ub Iwerks) from just before the arrival of Floyd Gottfredson and "Race to Death Valley." In fact, there's so much background material crammed into this book, I'm not sure Fantagraphics can maintain this level through future volumes (but I hope they can). If you've loved these strips before, this is a collection you'll absolutely want to have on your shelf. If you've never read Mickey Mouse's "Indiana Jones" style adventures before, this is a great opportunity to dive in and see what you've been missing. With Amazon's price, it's beyond a bargain and a worthy addition to the growing library of quality newspaper strip reprints.