TIAHBlog at 16 Presents 16 Covers -- Number Six: M-I-C-K-E- WHY?

C'mon, sing it with me... "Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me?  M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-U-S-E!"  

Yes, MICKEY MOUSE... M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-U-S-E!  I daresay the most oft spelled character name in animation and comics history!  ...Agreed?  ...Sure!

Then how do you explain the cover of MICKEY MOUSE #159 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: October, 1975) and its unforgivably-flawed story-describing caption?  

 "MICKY explores an undersea pirate stronghold..." 

Well, I'm not quite sure who "MICKY" is, but I hope "MICKEY", along with GOOFY, is close behind to rescue him if needed!  Who knows, they might have to rescue "GOFY" as well!   

A most uncharacteristic front-cover-faux-pas from a publisher not known for making "Charlton-esque" errors!   

I can't just let Gold Key sit out there with such a blunder to its credit, so let's find reasons to get it off the hook...

Being underwater, the "E" that should have been in "MICKY" dissolved in the salty brine, or imploded from the intense undersea pressure?  Maybe it even drowned!  

 BLUB! BLUB! BLUB! ...Eerie silence!  

Perhaps the caption was the work of a German-born copy-writer, from where they spell the character's name as "MICKY MAUS"?  

 Ah, I've got it... It was the first manifestation of the REBELLIOUS SENTIENT COMIC BOOK CAPTIONS from Casty's magnificent sci-fi/horror send-up "Night of the Living Text"... My personal favorite of every Duck and Mouse story I've ever worked on!  

It would seem that, as far back as 1975, these evil expeditors of exposition were plotting their eventual all out assault on Mouseton and our hero - and the unthinkable misspelling of his name on a cover was but a test run for something big that finally broke in WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES #733 (IDW, Cover Date: July 2016)!  

Since 1975, the captions were dormant "Sleeper Agents" just waiting for the right time to strike... and when CAPTIONS are "Sleeper Agents", they are literally  LETTERED... "ZZZZZ!"

 YEAH! THAT'S IT... and I'm STICKIN' WITH IT!  

So, one more cover "in the books"! ...Cover?  ...Books?  ...Get it?  Cover Number Six: MICKEY MOUSE #159...

...With just a smidgeon of sabotage from a stray sentient caption, that accomplished the deed with... (wait for it)... the Greatest of "E"s! 

Come back again tomorrow for... who the heck knows!  Not me, and I run the joint!