In anticipation of the release of the upcoming documentary MOUSETRAP, The Air Pirates War Against Disney (Kickstarter 2025), I will post a few of my Air Pirates pages.
For those unaware, in 1970-71 a loose group of undergound comix artists organized by Dan O'Neill started spoofing Disney characters on purpose, using close likenesses of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Porky Pig and others in very adult circumstances. Besides being funny crude humor, the parody was meant to test the bounds of legality and advocate for the ability of the artists to provide social commentary using well-known, trademarked figures.
To no one's surprise, Disney sued. To everyone's surprise (except Disney), Disney won in the Supreme Court and forced the artists to stop using Disney characters and chilled a generation of social and political commentary. As a lawyer, I find this case fascinating and it hits that (to me) sweet spot of comics and the law. This was likely the most legal attention comics had received since the Comics Code was adopted.
This case is almost universally considered to be decided wrong. The First Amendment should allow parodic use of almost anything so long as there is arguably a social or political context to it (and not just being done to rip off Disney here). The understanding of parody in comics has shifted 180 degrees in the last 50 plus years, and all kinds of comic artists use just about anything in their work.
Of course, the fact that Disney sued brought much more attention to this work than it would otherwise have merited. Undergound comics were not distributed back then and were limited to local comics and head shops. While personally disastruous for many of the Air Pirates artists (eventualy O'Neill told them to settle and he would keep the case going as there was no need for all of them to ruined financially), we are still talking about this work and its meaning in 2026.
Ironically, Mickey Mouse has now entered the public domain, as will many trademarked characters. Superman will follow in a few years. More to come.
