Introduction/ Review of “Ghost Town Airport”

Hello folks, welcome to my corner of the internet. The name I’ll be going by is Clapton, pleasure to meet you. Alright let me tell you about my little blog here. I am an avid fan of Disney Comics and I plan to do a retrospective of Gladstone 1’s run on WDC&S along with other miscellaneous reviews. Unfortunately, I am missing the first 4 issues of Gladstone 1’s run of WDC&S so I decided that until I get them I should get my feet wet with some other comic reviews. So I’ve decided to look at the lead story from the 6 issues of Mickey Mouse from Gladstone’s 1 run that aren’t Gottfredson reprints.

 

With that out of the way let’s take a look at “Ghost Town Airport” written and drawn by Bill Wright and reprinted in Mickey Mouse #240. Bill Wright was Gottfredson’s inker for a time and filled in for Manuel Gonzalez while he was in the army on the Sunday page. Other than that I don’t really know much about Wright. I’m sure the essay in volume 7 of Fantagraphic’s Gottfredson collection about Wright would help in my quest for obscure Disney comic’s knowledge. But, I’m holding off for the Vol 7/8 boxset for a few reasons (1. I like the slipcase, 2. It comes out in December so it’s like I’m buying myself a little Christmas present and 3. It’s Cheaper, well not much but I’m a very frugal man.) Anyways, Onward!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this helicopter comes out of nowhere and snatches Mickey. Turns out it’s the work of Mickey’s old pal former Captain, now Colonel, Doberman. Doberman, while his personality isn’t very distinct, was a likeable mentor in the Gottfredson serials and it’s good to see him again. Though I hate to brake it to him but a phone call would have been must faster than getting a helicopter to kidnap Mickey but, it was an effective way to immediately get reader sucked in to the story.

 

Right here you see why Wright’s mouse stories (or at least the ones I’ve read) are much better than what his Western Mouse Comic contemporizes were churning out: he understands Mickey’s adventurous spirit. If you take away Mickey’s dive for adventure you’re not left with much of a character, as we found out in many of the Fallberg/Murray stories that dominated American Disney comics for the 50s, 60s and 70s. Not trying to undermine Wright’s understanding of Gottfredson but… Goofy and Captain Doberman already met in the Gottfredson classic “Sky Island”. This “continuity” error is not really a big deal since back then Wright probably didn’t have access accesses to Gottfredson’s earlier work at the time and was going off memory. Anyways, with the exception of when Gottfredson moved from serial to serial there was never really any continuity in these comics so… who really cares?

 

I have a feeling that the minute Goofy and Mickey leave the room Doberman remembered Goofy and realizes the terrible mistake he just made by letting him in.

Mickey and Goofy arrive in Spectorville and run across Doc Wombat, whom is obviously a bad guy.

This cracks me up! Wright along with understanding Gottfredson’s Mickey also understands Gottfredson’s Goofy. It’s easy to cast him as an annoying idiot or, to another extreme as he was often portrayed in Murray/Fallburg’s “adventures” a boring side kick. But nah man, Bill, gets it. Goofy’s not an idiot he just has his own inside-out upside-down logic that makes no sense to anyone but himself.

Alright back to Doc Wombat who is to quote myself “obviously a bad guy”, repeatedly tries to dispose of our heroes who are somehow completely oblivious of his real intentions.

Good Gosh, Goofy’s got some bent up aggression! I wonder how often this comes up in his everyday life.

(Goofy and Mickey are at a Burger King.

Goofy: “Excuze me mister sandwich man but I said no mayyonase on my burger”

Cashier: “Sorry bud I already made it. Now pay up!”

Goofy: “But…But… you said I could have my way. You said I COULD HVE IT MY WAY YA @#$%!”

Waiter: “Dear god he’s foaming at the mouth. Somebody help me!

Mickey: “Groan! I’ll get the tranquilizer darts. Fer gosh sakes Goofy this is the fourth time this has happened today.)

So Pete’s here now and later that night he over hears Mickey revealing to Goofy why there rally there.

That night Mickey and Goofy receive some guests in the form of a Ghost and a Ghost Plane.

Doberman sends one of his pilots into Spectorvile to refuel. While the pilot has trouble landing and taking off its shown that a skilled enough pilot can manage, thusly explaining how Mickey didn’t crash going in. But wait a gosh durn minute… why did Doberman’s men have crackups if they were also experienced and more perplexing than that why didn’t Mickey have any problem landing at all?

 

So from this point on wards I can basically stop summarizing the plot because it’s totally predictable. Obviously Pete and Doc are behind the crack ups through magnets and projectors and get caught. That said Bill Wright takes this very basic ending and has fun with it through the unexpected burning of Mickey’s plane, the details of Pete’s plans and the fun action packed conclusion.

Overall while this story isn’t great it is consistently fun. This is mainly due to the Gottfredson-esque characters, the great artwork along with good humor and a perfectly paced plot, despite some of the minor logical gaps. If anyone doesn’t have this issue I highly suggest you get it and if you already have it please post a comment expressing your opinion. And while you’re at give me your honest opinion of this entry. I’ve never written a blog post before so the only way I’ll learn is if someone explicitly tells me what I’m doing wrong.