MM Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine
Encyclopedia
MM - Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine is a Disney
comic, published in Italy
from May 1999 to March 2001, about Mickey Mouse
and his investigation in the city of Anderville.
The series, a noir story starring Mickey Mouse
as the main character, is composed of only twelve parts, and it is regarded by fans as one of the best Disney series ever, together with PKNA
. It is often called MM or even MMMM and it's set in Anderville, a chaotic metropolis, modelled on the city New York
. Anderville is a deceiving city, full of criminals. In this new setting, Mickey Mouse has a hard life, because he has no friends and because the authors wanted to break traditional cliché of his adventures in Mouseton, featured in Italian comic Topolino
. Villains are different from Black Pete
and even from Phantom Blot
, often unsuspected, and even friends act in a rude way toward Mickey Mouse, who often feels disoriented in the big city.
These stories were directed to a more adult reader, trying to bring to a new life the "old style Mickey Mouse" of the 1930s and 1940s stories, written and illustrated by the late Floyd Gottfredson
.
Mickey Mouse leaves Mouseton for Anderville, being involved in the case of his missing young friend Sonny Mitchell. To prove his innocence, being mistaken for a criminal, both from Anderville villains and police inspector Jan Clayton, he faces some dangerous situations, running the risk of being killed. He becomes friend with Little Ceaser, a well-respected, and somewhat rude, bartender, and with his friendly customers. He eventually proves his innocence but he is forced to stay in Anderville, waiting for furthermore investigations. He finds out that his friend left to him an investigation agency: Mickey Mouse becomes a detective and, during all the series, was involved in very dangerous events, which led him to act in a more violent way than the usual Mickey Mouse.
First number of the series was written by Tito Faraci and illustrated by Giorgio Cavazzano
. They created Anderville, through many sketches and decided a specific range of color to use for the stories, preferring the dark and cold tones to the light and warm ones.
MM showed the talent of Francesco Artibani and Tito Faraci, main writers of the series, and was a showcase for the talent of some young, at the time, drawers: Silvio Camboni, Corrado Mastantuono
, Paolo Mottura, Marco Palazzi, Alessandro Perina, Claudio Sciarrone, Stefano Turconi, Silvia Ziche
and Giuseppe Zironi.
There were also two side stories
: one featuring the weird journalist Chester Soup, a comical one, and one called Anderville Confidential.
Though fans were pleased about these new Mickey Mouse stories, reactions from Disney were not so enthusiastic. Modern Mickey Mouse was a character far away distant from that of the 1930s and the 1940s, and main readers of his adventures on Topolino
, in Italy
, were considered being mostly kids. MM tried to change the classic beloved cliched Mickey Mouse. For that reason, from the second number to the fifth, we see Mickey Mouse watching the end of each episode in a theater screen, as if the stories were movies, with him as the main character, not being an official development of Mickey Mouse. Those reasons, together with the low sales pushed for the premature closing of the series. Fans were disappointed and MM was considered a great experiment which was not given any good chance to survive.
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
comic, published in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
from May 1999 to March 2001, about Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
and his investigation in the city of Anderville.
The series, a noir story starring Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
as the main character, is composed of only twelve parts, and it is regarded by fans as one of the best Disney series ever, together with PKNA
PKNA
PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures is a Disney comic, published in Italy from 14 March 1996 to 20 December 2000, about the new adventures of Paperinik, the superhero created in 1969 by Guido Martina, Elisa Penna and Giovan Battista Carpi, which served as Donald Duck's secret identity.The first issue...
. It is often called MM or even MMMM and it's set in Anderville, a chaotic metropolis, modelled on the city New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Anderville is a deceiving city, full of criminals. In this new setting, Mickey Mouse has a hard life, because he has no friends and because the authors wanted to break traditional cliché of his adventures in Mouseton, featured in Italian comic Topolino
Topolino
Topolino, is an Italian digest-sized comic series featuring Disney comics. The series has had a long running history, first appearing in 1932...
. Villains are different from Black Pete
Black Pete
Pete, also called Peg-Leg Pete, and Black Pete among other names, is a cartoon character created in 1925 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. He is a licensed character of The Walt Disney Company and often appears as a villain in Mickey Mouse universe stories...
and even from Phantom Blot
Phantom Blot
The Phantom Blot is a fictional character featured in various media by The Walt Disney Company. He is an enemy of Mickey Mouse. He first appeared in the Mickey Mouse comic strip adventure Mickey Mouse Outwits The Phantom Blot by Floyd Gottfredson, which was published in the form of daily strips...
, often unsuspected, and even friends act in a rude way toward Mickey Mouse, who often feels disoriented in the big city.
These stories were directed to a more adult reader, trying to bring to a new life the "old style Mickey Mouse" of the 1930s and 1940s stories, written and illustrated by the late Floyd Gottfredson
Floyd Gottfredson
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He has probably had the same impact on the Mickey Mouse comics as Carl Barks had on the Donald Duck comics...
.
Mickey Mouse leaves Mouseton for Anderville, being involved in the case of his missing young friend Sonny Mitchell. To prove his innocence, being mistaken for a criminal, both from Anderville villains and police inspector Jan Clayton, he faces some dangerous situations, running the risk of being killed. He becomes friend with Little Ceaser, a well-respected, and somewhat rude, bartender, and with his friendly customers. He eventually proves his innocence but he is forced to stay in Anderville, waiting for furthermore investigations. He finds out that his friend left to him an investigation agency: Mickey Mouse becomes a detective and, during all the series, was involved in very dangerous events, which led him to act in a more violent way than the usual Mickey Mouse.
First number of the series was written by Tito Faraci and illustrated by Giorgio Cavazzano
Giorgio Cavazzano
Giorgio Cavazzano is an Italian comic strip artist. He started his career at age 14, as an inker for Romano Scarpa...
. They created Anderville, through many sketches and decided a specific range of color to use for the stories, preferring the dark and cold tones to the light and warm ones.
MM showed the talent of Francesco Artibani and Tito Faraci, main writers of the series, and was a showcase for the talent of some young, at the time, drawers: Silvio Camboni, Corrado Mastantuono
Corrado Mastantuono
Corrado Mastantuono is an Italian comic book artist.Born in Rome, Mastantuono worked in the animation field until 1989, and then started to work for the Italian magazine L'Eternauta...
, Paolo Mottura, Marco Palazzi, Alessandro Perina, Claudio Sciarrone, Stefano Turconi, Silvia Ziche
Silvia Ziche
Silvia Ziche is an Italian comic book artist and writer.Silvia Ziche is mainly known for her work on the Italian Donald Duck comics. Her drawing style is simplistic and comical, and includes many funny facial expressions on the characters...
and Giuseppe Zironi.
There were also two side stories
Side story
A side story is a story that occurs alongside established stories set within a fictional universe. As opposed to a prequel, sequel, or interquel, a side story takes place within the same time frame as an existing work....
: one featuring the weird journalist Chester Soup, a comical one, and one called Anderville Confidential.
Though fans were pleased about these new Mickey Mouse stories, reactions from Disney were not so enthusiastic. Modern Mickey Mouse was a character far away distant from that of the 1930s and the 1940s, and main readers of his adventures on Topolino
Topolino
Topolino, is an Italian digest-sized comic series featuring Disney comics. The series has had a long running history, first appearing in 1932...
, in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, were considered being mostly kids. MM tried to change the classic beloved cliched Mickey Mouse. For that reason, from the second number to the fifth, we see Mickey Mouse watching the end of each episode in a theater screen, as if the stories were movies, with him as the main character, not being an official development of Mickey Mouse. Those reasons, together with the low sales pushed for the premature closing of the series. Fans were disappointed and MM was considered a great experiment which was not given any good chance to survive.
Main characters
- Mickey MouseMickey MouseMickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
- Sonny Mitchell
- Jan ClaytonJan ClaytonJan Clayton was a film, musical theatre, and television actress.-Career:...
- Patty Ballestreros
- Little CaesarLittle CaesarLittle Caesar may refer to:* Little Caesar , a 1929 novel by William R. Burnett* Little Caesar , a 1931 film based on the novel* Little Caesar , a hard rock band* Little Caesars, a pizza chain...
The Story Through The Issues
- MM#0 Anderville: the first issue of MM. Mickey Mouse leaves Mouseton to Anderville, being involveed in the case of the missing of his old friend, Sonny Mitchell.
- MM#1 The Link:
- MM#2 Estrelita:
- MM#3 Lost & Found:
- Lo Scoop:
- MM#4 Mousetrap:
- Corsa Semplice:
- MM#5 Firestorm:
- Una Questione Di Principio:
- MM#6 Calypso:
- Spy Story:
- MM#7 Black Mask: Mickey is now free to return to Mouseton. He will leave Anderville aboard a new train, in its inaugural trip. The train, named Black Mask is controlled by an A.I.Artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
. During the trip, a killer is sent to kill Mickey. When he misses his target, the blast of his weapon causes the A.I. to malfunction. and Black Mask becomes unstoppable. With a surprising idea Mickey save the train and finds the killer.- Prima Pagina:
- MM#8 Victoria:
- Anderville Confidential - Patty Chiari: an unusual love story for the toughest detective ever, Patty Ballesteros.
- MM#9 Run Run Run:
- Anderville Confidential - Maryam + Jan: the first encounter between Jan Clayton and his future wife Maryam.
- MM#10 The Dark Side: a parallel police acts in the shadow against villains in Anderville.
- MM#11 Small World: the final adventure of Mickey Mouse in Anderville. A pyromaniac is coming from past to menace the old members of a firemen squad.
Detailed List Of Issues
| Title | Writer | Penciller |
| MM #0 Anderville | Tito Faraci | Giorgio Cavazzano Giorgio Cavazzano Giorgio Cavazzano is an Italian comic strip artist. He started his career at age 14, as an inker for Romano Scarpa... |
| MM #1 The Link | Tito Faraci, Ezio Sisto | Alessandro Perina |
| MM #2 Estrelita | Francesco Artibani | Giuseppe Zironi |
| MM #3 Lost & Found | Tito Faraci | Claudio Sciarrone |
| MM #4 Mousetrap | Francesco Artibani | Giuseppe Zironi |
| MM #5 Firestorm | Tito Faraci | Alessandro Perina |
| MM #6 Calypso | Francesco Artibani | Claudio Sciarrone |
| MM #7 Black Mask | Tito Faraci, Ezio Sisto | Corrado Mastantuono Corrado Mastantuono Corrado Mastantuono is an Italian comic book artist.Born in Rome, Mastantuono worked in the animation field until 1989, and then started to work for the Italian magazine L'Eternauta... |
| MM #8 Victoria | Augusto Macchetto | Stefano Turconi |
| MM #9 Run Run Run | Riccardo Secchi | Paolo Mottura |
| MM #10 The Dark Side | Tito Faraci | Marco Palazzi |
| MM #11 Small World | Francesco Artibani | Silvio Camboni |
See also
- Mickey MouseMickey MouseMickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
- PKNAPKNAPKNA - Paperinik New Adventures is a Disney comic, published in Italy from 14 March 1996 to 20 December 2000, about the new adventures of Paperinik, the superhero created in 1969 by Guido Martina, Elisa Penna and Giovan Battista Carpi, which served as Donald Duck's secret identity.The first issue...