Mickey Mouse & Friends

Mickey Mouse (titled Mickey Mouse and Friends from issues #257-303) is a comic book series that has a long-running history, first appearing in 1941 as part of the Four Color one-shot series. It received its own numbering system with issue #28 (1953), and is currently published by Boom! Studios under its Boom! Kids imprint.
The book emphasizes stories with Mickey and his supporting cast: Goofy, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Pluto and Mickey's nephews Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse. Mickey's perpetual rival is the criminal Peg-Leg Pete (sometimes "Black Pete" or "Big Bad Pete"). Other adversaries have included Emil Eagle, Eli Squinch, Sylvester Shyster, the team of Dangerous Dan McBoo and Idjit the Midget, and the Phantom Blot. Two major artistic influences on the appearance of Mickey in comics are Floyd Gottfredson, who drew the Mickey Mouse daily newspaper strip from 1930 to 1975, and comic book artist Paul Murry, who drew Mickey stories from 1950 to 1984.

Get a Free Disney Ticket

If you've been thinking about a trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland, 2009 is the year to go. Just show up on your birthday and you can get free admission.

Yep, that's right - free! From January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009, just visit either Disneyland in Anaheim or Walt Disney World in Orlando on your actual birthday to get free admission, provided you pre-register through their website and follow a few simple rules. So you can be partying with Mickey, Minnie and all the Disney characters for a whole day for free.

Simply visit Disney.com and sign up for free Disney admission on your birthday. You can register yourself and any kids in your household. Then plan your trip to either of Mickey's theme parks to celebrate the big day. Two weeks before your birthday, Disney will send you a reminder email which you'll need to print out and bring to the park on your birthday. This free admission offer is only available on your actual birthday, so don't show up one day before or three days later and hope to save money on your admission because you'll be disappointed. If you want to celebrate for free with Mickey, you'll also need to show proper ID to document your birthday - a passport, driver's license, government-issued photo ID or birth certificate. If you're celebrating a child's birthday under the age of 18 and he or she doesn't have a government ID, you'll need either an original birth certificate or a notarized copy of a birth certificate.

If you've already planned your Disney vacation and have multi-day passes or you're an annual passholder, you can still celebrate your birthday in style at Disney. Instead of receiving a one-day pass for free admission to the park, you can receive one of the following alternate gifts on your birthday:

Birth of Mickey Mouse

The birth of Mickey Mouse occurred on a cross-country train ride (a four day journey) in early 1928. Walt was returning from a business meeting along with his wife. At the age of 26, and with an active cartoon studio in Hollywood, Walt had set out to arrange for a new contract for his creation, Oswald the Rabbit, but the backers turned him down. As they owned the copyright, they took control, leaving Walt with nothing. To prepare to announce the unpleasant news to workers back home, Walt gave birth to a sympathetic mouse that he first named, "Mortimer". By the end of the ride, which concluded in Los Angeles, Lillian Disney suggested to her husband that the first name was too stuffy. He was renamed, "Mickey." Walt and his head animator, Ub Iwerks, soon completed their first Mickey Mouse cartoon, "Plane Crazy." But no distributor would buy the film.

Not one to quit, Walt produced a second silent Mickey Mouse cartoon, called "Gallopin' Gaucho." It was less than a year since Warner Brothers had introduced the talkies with Al Jolson as the "Jazz Singer" (late 1927). In 1928, Walt Disney began work on his third Mickey Mouse cartoon, this time a talkie, entitled, "Steamboat Willie." To add sound to the film, Walt had to take the animated portion to New York since West Coast studies did not have the equipment. The young man invested everything he had into the film, and when it was completed, Walt screened it for New York exhibitors.

Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse, originally a theater animation, appeared on the big screen for the first time on November 18, 1928. You have to picture for yourself, the attraction, not only of a delightful cartoon character, but also the lead player in the first ever sound cartoon, at a time when silent films were still playing in theaters.

This was all brand new and innovative, and Steamboat Willie took the public by storm. He was the first animated international personality, who laid the groundwork for the entire Disney empire. He symbolizes everything that Disney stands for in a positive and upbeat philosophy. When other cartoonists were experimenting with innuendo and sexuality, or stealing ideas from one another, the Walt Disney creations became original, enjoyable, and something for the entire family, regardless of age to enjoy together.

 The most delightful and the most enduring, and this is indicated by the strong demand for such items as Disney's Tinkerbell coloring pages and personal items like watches and lunch boxes, which display any number of the Disney animated favorites.