Disney Mickey Mouse

As easy as ABC for those on the Hill

They love them some Mickey.

The Mickey Mouse Club, whose various TV incarnations helped launch the careers of entertainers such as Annette Funicello, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, has been revived again -- this time on Capitol Hill.

The Center for Responsive Politics released a report on Wednesday detailing the media investments of congressional members. The nonpartisan research group unearthed a preference among senators and representatives for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and the rest of Walt's gang.

That's understandable when you think about it. Disney is a magical world full of unforgettable characters, a world of surprise, adventure and occasional danger where the rules of reality don't always apply.

So is Washington.

Disney is by far the most popular media holding among congressional members, far outpacing companies such Comcast, Gannett and News Corp., Fox News' parent company.

Of the 60 senators and representatives with media assets, 30 have a stake in Disney, which also owns ABC, ESPN and possibly the rights to use your likeness in any future animated feature of its choosing.

You might want to check on that.

Surprisingly, Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York, who resigned on Thursday after explicit photos of himself were appearing on the Internet with the frequency that snowflakes appear in January, preferred to invest his money in The New York Times.

Given Weiner's obvious fondness for photographing anatomical expansion, it's peculiar that he turned his back on the company that brought "Pinocchio" to the big screen.

Despite Weiner's absence, the new Mickey Mouse Club has no shortage of well-known members. Mouseketeers include uber-liberal Democratic Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the husband of Pittsburgh ketchup heiress Teresa Heinz, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

Also donning mouse ears is local Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless. He has as much as $15,000 in Disney assets, according to the report.

What does that all mean, besides politicians having an uncomfortably close financial relationship with a company whose subsidiary is supposed to serve as their watchdog?

It means senators and representatives might fight heated partisan battles on the floors of their respective chambers. But regardless of their ideology, at the end of the day they bury their differences and celebrate what truly is important to America: Disney's closing stock price.

Robot Reviews | Mickey Mouse Vol. 1 | Robot 6 @ Comic Book ...

Video game show an interest in making him a viable player in their stable once more.

Even for my generation (that’s Gen X for those of you keeping score), understanding Mickey’s appeal was a tough proposition at times given how bland he seemed to appear in various cartoons and other products we or our parents were expect to shell good money out for. Everything about him stank of goody-two-shoes pitchman. No wonder he eventually faded from the limelight.

Of course, twas not always thus. As has been acknowledged time and again whenever various pundits write about Walt and his empire, Mickey Mouse was something of a rapscallion at first, given to casting a lustful glance towards Minnie, socking an oversize enemy or smacking around barnyard animal s for humorous (and musical) effect. That avenue quickly dried up as Mickey became more popular and dull, until the only place you could see a remnant of that character was on the comics page. There, cartoonist Floyd Gottfredson and a carousel of artists and assistants created a Mickey that was funnier and decidedly ballsier than anything found in other media.

While it would be unfair to say Gottfredson’s work has been ignored by the comics cognoscenti — anyone who’s read the strips has acknowledged Gottfredson as a master of the medium — it’s not like it’s gotten its just due, either. Most attempts at reprinting the strips have been slipshod at best, with only the occasional anthology or FCBD issue to entice readers.

Now Fantagraphics has risen to the fore with “Race to Death Valley,” the first in a multi-volume plan to release most (if not quite all, since the later work shifted to more gag-friendly material) of Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse strips. It’s a pretty spiffy package, sharply designed and full of smart, well-written essays that provide a rich portrait of the artist and his times, as well as some great comics.

It’s interesting to note how many stumbling blocks the Disney crew ran into before they found a formula that succeeded on the newspaper pages. Initially, Disney and animator Ub Iwerks simply attempted to adapt some of their cartoons to a gag-a-day formula. That proved unsuccessful, however, (and little wonder, those initial strips are rather awkward to put it mildly) and the syndicate suggested changing the focus to make it more of an adventure strip, similar to The Gumps , which was the big thing back in 1930. This proved better fare, but Disney found the chore of writing a daily strip too much of an extra burden, he passed the job on to Gottfredson, who managed to smooth out a lot of the strips rough edges (most notably perhaps being Disney’s penchant for making awkward similes).