Friday, January 13, 2012

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, Floyd Gottfredson, and Fantagraphics Books

I've gushed about Gottfredson's Mickey before, focusing chiefly on the rodent's originally sympathetic character. But if there's one aspect to Gottfredson's work that Fantagraphics raises in high relief, it is his artwork. Fantagraphics' reproductions of the original strips are the cleanest and truest to date, bringing to the fore Gottfredson's mastery of pen and ink, shading, and melodramatic exaggeration. Contrast this strip, an 80s reproduction, with Fantagraphics' reproduction:



Fantagraphics' reproductions in these first two volumes of Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse are an endless source of wonder and revelation. In examples like this . . .



. . . we see the rough sort of cross-hatching and stippling that caught the eye and inspired Haight Street ne'er-do-wells like Robert Crumb and Vaughn Bodé — Fantagraphics' original meal-ticket.

Returning to the “Mickey Attempts Suicide” subplot, we also see the artist's pacing and perspective put to effective use. By the fourth panel, as our confused and dejected hero finally succumbs to despair, Gottfredson gives us only the back of Mickey's head . . .



. . . a self-consciously discreet point of view that filmmaker Martin Scorsese later exploited in Taxi Driver, when Travis Bickle gets dumped (via pay-phone) by his love interest.



When Mickey finally resolves to end it all, his vulnerability and lack of stature are grotesquely emphasized by the elements in his living room, including a framed picture that seems poised to fall on him:



These first two volumes are full of such stylistic discoveries, which seemed to occur to Gottfredson at a Pre-Cambrian rate. By the 40s, Gottfredson has all but traded in his pen for a sable brush, ditching the baroque cross-hatching and endowing the rodent with a more plastic environment, which readers no longer recognized as their own, but as exclusively Mickey's. Gottfredson's work was never again as affecting as the Depression-era stories.

I still hope Fantagraphics continues publishing the strips: Sky Island and World of Tomorrow are two later adventures I'd love to see receive the Fantagraphics treatment. As it stands, I've scanned and enlarged so many frames for contemplation, the current two volumes have extremely well-worked spines. Which gets me thinking: as much as I appreciate the devotion to scale, how much cooler would it be if these physical books were also sold with a DVD-ROM which could be explored for just such minutiae?

Ah, but copyright issues probably bar such a practical solution. Too bad! But don't let that be your excuse for not purchasing these fabulous volumes — now, while supplies last.



Fantagraphics Books
Amazon

8 comments:

paul bowman said...

A fine case for clicking through to "checkout" and explaining the impulse buy to oneself later. I would love to have these books.

I really don't know Gottfredson well at all. Occurs to me, prodded in part by your observation here, that he gave more to space, furnishing & architecture, landscape, &c, than Barks did, maybe. It's a question I'd be interested to see talked out some.

Whisky Prajer said...

Barks is next -- stay tuned!

ramapith said...

Very glad you like what we're doing—stay tuned, "Island in the Sky" (Gottfredson's preferred title, even though it was almost never published with it) is coming in book 4.

David Gerstein, co-editor

Whisky Prajer said...

Excellent news -- thanks for the word!

said...

These are great. Have you seen Anger's 'Mouse Heaven'? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAYplGF-wo0
I hope you don't mind if I post one of these on my Tumblr. Peace!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that was a scholarly review of the early Mickey Mouse comics. Very interesting! I never knew you were so knowledgeable about this.

Whisky Prajer said...

To get the tattoo you had to pass a test!Yeah not quite. But least one Winnipeg mayor made things difficult for tattoo artists in the early 80s. There was was no walking in off the street, you had to make an appointment, dammit! Consequently tattoo artists were quite difficult to find -- people typically went out-of-province for their tattoos.

Having said that one of my nicer Winnipeg memories is letting a skinny long-haired fellow through the front door of our Westwood house. He was selling a book of coupons. "I've been sucking on a candy and my mouth is really dry. I just need a glass of water."

I mutsv'e been getting ready to shower because I answered the door in my pants. I turned around to help this young man out and --

"Hey, nice tatt! Did you get it from The Swede?"

I didn't know but I doubted it. My tattooist had dark hair, and I was only guessing, but "The Swede" was probably blonde.

"Oh, he used to have dark hair!I've got a hundred tattoos. The Swede practiced on me." Including a little b+w and banner with the words, "Harley Davids" emblazoned on the flag. Apparently The Swede had run out of room. "I got that one free!" said my visitor.

Whisky Prajer said...

Meant to type "a little b+w skull". Oh well.