How about this great cover by Dave Alvarez! I've always admired his work on LOONEY TUNES for DC Comics, and I'm very happy to have a shared-work in common with him.
This one evokes a favorite cartoon of mine, Porky Pig and Sylvester in "Jumpin' Jupiter" (1955), but I digress.
July, 2015, has proved to be "The Month of the Mouse", as we've seen the first two issues of IDW's MICKEY MOUSE title ship over the a period of 22 days!
And a fine pair of issues they've been! You can read about MICKEY MOUSE # 1 HERE - but Mickey isn't about to stay lost in the jungle, as this second issue returns him home to Mouseton and another grand adventure.
In it, you’ll find "The Sound-Blot Plot", an original 2009 story written by Bruno Enna, with lively art by the great Giorgio Cavazzano, translation by David Gerstein, and dialogue by yours truly!
The Phantom Blot, by way of a Detective Casey mishap, gives our hero super-sensitive hearing... UNCOMFORTABLE, often PAINFUL super-sensitive hearing!
Mickey suffers, turns his pain to advantage... and suffers some more in a final showdown with the Blot. For how this all plays-out, read a copy of MICKEY MOUSE # 2 (Legacy Numbering # 311) to find out. I've spoiled enough already!
Some interesting, non-spoiler aspects:
Bruno Enna and Giorgio Cavazzano's Phantom Blot is an interesting version. All the expected fiendish egotism is there, but this Blot goes the entire story UNMASKED!
I don't know how common this might be in modern stories produced in Italy, but it did result in adding this detail to the cover... just to er, "cover" ourselves.
Another wonderfully unusual aspect to this story is the handling of "scene changes". This may be easier to illustrate than to describe - but there are at least four occasions where one scene transitions to the next that are beautifully carried by Cavazzano! Perhaps Enna wrote them that way, or maybe it was Cavazzano's own initiative... we'll never know, but they must be seen to be appreciated!
Here's the only one that does not spoil anything:
Notice how the sound effect "transitions" Mickey from being blasted by the Blot's device, to waking with a start, in his bedroom two days later!
This transitions Page 2 to Page 3. Other such instances are Page 11 to Page 12 (where the scene changes on Mickey and you don't immediately realize it, because there is no caption and you "come in" on a sentence in progress) - one best left unmentioned as it would "spoil something" at the bottom of page 28, and another "sound effect transition" to take us from Page 29 to Page 30!
Look them up and see for yourself! Some of you artists out there like Deb or Dan - or even Jonathan Gray (if you're reading this), in particular, let me know what you think of this technique. Speaking as a writer, I like it very much!
As to the script, I had great fun writing Detective Casey. I just think of Detective Harvey Bullock, particularly as he appeared on BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES - and "Presto!" Think of the Bullock voice! It's a natural for Casey!
This, of course, is odd because Casey PRECEDED Bullock by decades, and I will never shake the feeling that Bullock's creation in the 1980s was "inspired" by the character of Casey - especially as the classic Mickey Mouse tales by Floyd Gottfredson were seriously permeating the public consciousness at or around that time. ...And let's not even think about who had a "Chief O'Hara" character first, Batman or Mickey Mouse!
Another thing is that I FINALLY got to write the Phantom Blot!
But, say you all, didn't you write the Phantom Blot in Boom!'s publication of "The Treasure of Marco Topo"? (Mickey Mouse # 309 and WDC&S # 720)
Well, yes and no. For some reason, the editor at Boom! chose to rewrite all of my Blot dialogue! Nothing else! Just the Blot! It was neither better nor worse, as much as it just seemed to be "change for the sake of change", and editorial prerogative.
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| Boom! "goes" my Blot dialogue! |
You just don't find information like that anywhere else on the Internet, folks!
Finally, I believe that Enna and Cavazzano set up and pull off one of the VERY BEST Mickey and Phantom Blot climactic confrontations / showdowns that I've ever seen!
It runs NINE PAGES, and ends with one of those dynamic scene changes, taking us from Page 29 to 30.
This is one of the very few images I can show from that showdown that does not spoil anything - except the Blot being surprised!
You might say that this scene, from Page 21-29 (of the 33-page story) was something I'd been waiting to dialogue all my life!
I'd like to think I did Enna and Cavazzano proud. I especially love the moment of verbal exchange when Mickey enters and catches the Blot in mid-muse! Do let us know what you think.
The issue is rounded-out by a British one-page Mickey gag from 1933! Talk about rarities! Well done, Archival Editor Gerstein!
We end on another Mickey Mouse comic strip Sunday page, by Bill Walsh and Manuel Gonzales, featuring Ellsworth the Delightfully Sarky Talking Mynah Bird.
Is anyone else thinking "...Pen-goo-ins is prac-tic-cally chickens!" about now?
So, un-Blot your ears... eyes, nose, and throat! Limber up those legs - or just warm up the car, and make for the comic book shop to pick up a copy of MICKEY MOUSE # 2 (Legacy Numbering # 311) from IDW!
As always, once you’ve read the issue, please come back and join the discussion in our Comments Section!
Just remember, I do not speak for IDW, or anyone in its employ. I speak strictly for myself as both a long-time fan and as a dialogue creator – and those opinions are strictly my own.
I’ll meet you back here for another lively comment thread!
...And, so will he!
...And, so will he!
