Thursday, March 13, 2025

Adventures in Comic-Boxing: Somebody Stole Donald's Gag!

When the great editor Julius Schwartz was in charge of certain Silver Age DC Comics titles, he used to say (...and I'm paraphrasing as best I can) that the story should, in some way, highlight - or otherwise showcase - the particular hero's individual powers.  

The Flash's powers are "showcased" in... SHOWCASE!  

Meaning that a FLASH story should be geared toward velocity, a GREEN LANTERN story should feature "power ring" stunts, and an ATOM story should involve its star becoming very small!  

Otherwise, you just have a generic story that could be told for any old generic hero.  

I'm reminded of that when I read the Inside Back Cover Gag from ADVENTURES OF MIGHTY MOUSE #151 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: July-September, 1961) titled "The Free Book", with art by Dan Gormley...

More than simply not catering to Mighty Mouse's powers - or his very existence as a super powered mouse - this gag doesn't even need to star a superhero!  

We'll enlarge it below for your reading pleasure... 
In fact, this gag would seem to be best suited to DONALD DUCK, what with his impatient nature and trademark slow burn, and would have made a dandy one-page gag for a Dell or Gold Key comic, or an Al Taliaferro Donald Sunday newspaper strip.  

This cover, which I'd like much more if Carl Barks or Tony Strobl had drawn it, will give you an idea of what I mean! 

You could even pare it down to four panels and make it a weekday strip.  


But instead it is MIGHTY MOUSE who usurps Donald's gag.  And, hey... It's not like, in return,  Donald could... you know, like become a superhero and "Save the Day"... 

...Aw, skip it!  

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