Donald and Mickey Quarterly #4 IDW prelim - Mickey, Pluto, and Eega Beeva

1928-2018

Mickey Mouse is 90 years old.

Created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, this is one of the most iconic characters ever created, recognizable by everyone in the whole world even by his silhouette only, a character that changed the story of Disney that later, in the Disneyland anthology TV series, said:
"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse."

First appeared in the silent short cartoon “Plane Crazy” on May 15, 1928, to a test screening in a theater, then publicly debuted the same year on November 18 (now considered the official birthdate while it has been September 28, when the trademark granting Disney the name Mickey Mouse was issued, for a certain period of time) with the premiere of “Steamboat Willie”, one of the first animated shorts with sound.

He appeared in many animated shorts and movies, voiced by Walt himself, such as “The Band Concert”, “Clockwork Cleaners”, “The Brave Little Taylor” and “Fantasia”, and also a star of comic strips and comic books where many artists defined his world and gave him life throughout all these years, Floyd Gottfredson being here surely the most important one.

So, let’s celebrate the great little mouse.

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This is the published cover prelim of IDW Donald and Mickey Quarterly #4, inspired by the story, written and illustrated by Andrea Castellan (Casty), "The Terrifying World of Tutor!", first published in Italy on Topolino magazine in 2010.
The story sees Earth animals progressively disappearing, and Mickey and Eega Beeva will discover they're being (somewhat willingly, they vote to leave or remain on the Earth) transported to the world of Tutor, a giant robot that was built to do every kind of daily activities and make people's wishes come true.
Mickey and Eega Beeva (and Pluto) will find a way travel to this world and try to get the animals back on Earth.

I tried to not give too many details on the story, it's one you should read, one of Casty's best.

I really couldn't resist to Freccero drawing a cover inspired by one of Mickey's best recent stories... and it's also a way for me to celebrate Mickey's 90, since most of the people around the world know the character from his Golden Age period but not from his Modern Age. Here's a little piece of that.

Mickey Mouse is an outstanding character, it's not by coincidence the symbol of Disney, and it baffles me that many people (probably not so much here in Europe, but in the US for sure) perceive him as something of the past, something almost forgotten. He's not. He's alive and well and hopefully he'll be for many, many years to come.

Huge thanks to Andrea and Giacomo!!!


Paper size: 21 x 29.7 cm