Decades before Odhams were publishing Smash!, Pow! and the other Power Comics the company had a big hit with another comic that mixed American reprint with all-new British strips. Mickey Mouse Weekly was the standout comic of its time; glossy tabloid pages, four in full colour photogravure, and a more modern look than its contemporaries.
This issue of Mickey Mouse Weekly is No.122, dated June 4th 1938. The topline informs us it's the Whitsun Holiday Number although as the strip shows, Mickey isn't going anywhere as he's helping Minnie with the Spring cleaning. Behind the strip, the beaming sun and below it Goofy, Donald, Pluto and Minnie on a seafront promenade are the only things resembling a holiday theme in the comic.
It's still an excellent issue though, as the weekly always was in its early years. A few new stories began that week, including the text stories The Mystery of the Marshes...
...and Skimpy's Scouts...
My favourite artist from this comic was Basil Reynolds, who drew Skit, Skat and the Captain. I've said it before but I'm sure Reynolds must have been an influence on Ken Reid. Look at some of the expressions for example, and the sweat beads flying from the heads of the characters. I also think that Basil Reynolds was about 20 years ahead of his time. For a 1930s strip this looks remarkably advanced in its layout and features more dialogue than most British strips of the era.
The centre pages of the comic were a nice full colour selection of strips...
...including a reprint of the strip adaptation of Disney's Snow White drawn by Hank Porter...
The strip was re-coloured and slightly edited for the UK reprint but you can see scans of the original American printing at this website:
Over the page, another prose story in the form of a chapter of Shuffled Symphonies: Time Machine starring Donald and Mickey, - and more splendid artwork by Basil Reynolds. This was an all new Disney story produced for UK readers.
On page 9, another new British strip, Flashing Through, illustrated by Hugh Stanley White. You can find out more about his work at the Comic Vine website.
The inside back cover held a mixture of items including puzzles, the editorial, and a profile on comedian Sandy Powell...
On the back page, an advert for music and songs from the then-new Snow White movie. The records were released on the HMV (His Master's Voice) label, long before they had a chain of High Street stores. The company still uses a variation of Nipper the dog and the gramophone as its icon to this day.
Beneath the ad, Floyd Gottfredson's great artwork for the Mickey Mouse serial which was a reprint of the page that ran in American Sunday papers at the time.
So there you have it; a few selected bits and pieces from the issue of Mickey Mouse Weekly that would have been in the shops 77 years ago this week. To put it in perspective, when this issue appeared The Dandy had only been around for six months old and The Beano No.1 was still several weeks away from publication!
Here are some previous blog posts I've written on other issues of this great comic:
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