“I hope we never lose sight of one thing,” Walt Disney often
said of his cartoon empire, “This all started with a Mouse.” And
great Disney comics started with Floyd Gottfredson, who became Mickey’s
newspaper strip auteur in the spring of 1930. “Only” an
artist at first, Floyd was soon asked by Walt Disney to write the stories as
well. And what stories they were! Stories Gottfredson scripted through 1932 and
plotted long afterward; stories full of adventure and emotion, often introducing
new supporting players to Mickey’s world. This month, Walt Disney’s Comics
and Stories #667 — a $6.95, 64-page trade paperback now on sale at most
comic shops — brings you a thrilling later Gottfredson adventure in its
first-ever North American reprint. And a passel of other Disney greats… but
we’re getting ahead of ourselves!

“Pflip’s Strange Power,” a
two-month 1948 opus, is reprinted in full this issue, and that’s what all the
shouting is about. Eega Beeva, Mickey’s friend from the future, is visiting
again with his dog Pflip, and Mickey makes the unwise decision of taking the
twenty-fifth century pooch for a stroll downtown. Attracting others with his
crazy psychic abilities, Pflip also catches the eye of a mysterious
somebody — a renowned Mouse enemy who believes he can strike Eega
through Pflip, and Mickey through Eega! Scripted by Gottfredson colleague Bill
Walsh, this is a tale you won’t want to miss. (And hey… if you missed our
previous 4-page Gottfredson tale in WDC&S #665, it’s not too late to
order it online. We’re going to print more of the great Mouse Man’s stories in
the coming months, and we’d like to make sure you don’t miss a
trick!)

Chief among our supporting features comes “Taking Things
Litterly,” a new William Van Horn Donald Duck ten-pager in time for Earth
Day. When street cleaner Donald catches a jet-pack training session ticket on
his litter pole, he can’t wait to ditch his job and try an up-close and personal
trip to the sky. Unfortunately, while he’s up there Donald creates an
unprecedented litter blight!

Speaking of blights, many of us have income
tax due next month, and that leads us to our next feature: Goofy in Sarah
Kinney’s “Esteem for a Day!” Upon being rebuffed as a tax
preparation expert, Goofy thinks people don’t care about his opinion. But this
ain’t necessarily so! Visiting an alien planet, Goofy is asked to become the
Great Reasoner — a sage whose every opinion is the last word. Can Goofy’s views
keep an entire planet running smoothly? What do you think?

Two classic
shorts fill the middle of the book. We enter the world of Disney’s Lady and the
Tramp in “Making Like a Mole,” a vintage tale by Al Hubbard. When
Scamp finds underground trails leading to a huge bone stash, he divides them
among his family and friends, not knowing the bones are really Jock’s! Then, in
“Straight Shooters,” classic duck man Al Taliaferro adapts a classic
cartoon, with Donald as a carny showman and Huey, Dewey, and Louie as his
foils.

“Gadabout Gadget” is part two of Per Hedman, Pat
McGreal, and Flemming Andersen’s Formula One serial. Flying over the jungles of
Brazil, Donald loses Gyro Gearloose’s B-472/204 Veeblefetzer — the
one-of-a-kind gadget that makes his super racecar run. There’s nothing for it
but a treacherous jungle cruise… where retrieving the doohickey puts Donald
face-to-face with smugglers!
Rounding out the book is another look at
Easter, the holiday looming in your future. We’ve all played musical chairs as
kids — the game of swapping places until the music stops. This time it’s Big
Bad Wolf who plays “Musical Eggs,” swapping a real egg with a
paperweight in an effort to fool Brer Bear. But it’s not the bruin who gets egg
on his face. Dutchmen Wilbert Plijnaar and Dick Matena present a comedy that
will keep your sunny side up.

Gemstone is your source for new and vintage
Disney greats. Order our titles online at http://www.gemstonepub.com/disney
or http://www.walmart.com. Find them at Rite Aid or
your local comics shop. And if you can’t find a comic shop, no need to go asking
at Brer Bear’s farm (you don’t want to get near that big, wooden club… trust
us). Call Diamond Comics’ Comic Shop Locator Service at
1-888-COMIC-BOOK.