Favorite Mickey Writer?

[berri]

Who's your favorite Mickey Mouse comic writer? Personally, I adore Floyd Gottfredson's original comic strips from the 30s, but I'm also a big fan of Stefan Petrucha and Byron Erickson's work.

Note: I originally posted this in the wrong thread by mistake; disregard that post.

[corrado]

I think the most important Mickey-writers are Gottfredson, Osborne, de Marris, Walsh, Scarpa and Casty

[berri]

Yes, I agree. Those writers definitely made a huge influence on Mouse comics.

Can't go wrong with any of the Italian writers, I'd say (I'm no expert, though!).

[tashlinfan44]

Unquestionably Osborne and Gottfredson as a team. Some of those mid-30s serials are jaw-droppingly superb.

I’d like to add Walsh and Scarpa on here, but I sorta know that a good chunk of their stories that I’ve read are full of plotholes and stupid stuff that really shouldn’t be considered alongside the best of the newspaper strip. Doubtless that their stuff ranks among some of my favorite all-time stories.

[Rrr]

Its a hard question for me, but i would probably say Gottfredson.
Even without his writer team he had a already well knowledge of how Mickey is as a character, and his portrayal helped fundamentally to how he is seen as a character in comics today (sorry for my poor choice of words) Other writers who have written well MM stories in my opinion: Bill Walsh, Guido Martina, Romano Scarpa, Casty, Silvano Mezzavilla, Tito Faraci, Francesco Artibani

[Dr Ivo G Bombastus]

Gottfredson naturally is the number one for me.

I'm a big fan of Byron Erickson's Mickey stories and for a long time considered him my second favorite Mickey writer. Nowadays I lean more towards Faraci and Casty.

[deb]

I would say the writing team from the Mickey Mouse newspaper strips until they went to a gag-a-day format, followed by Romano Scarpa and his revolving group of writers who continued the Gottfredson tradition, and then Casty. Certainly a nod to David Gerstein and his team for keeping Mickey and his friends sounding like themselves in English, as well as Gerstein’s original stories as well.

[mousemaestro]

Aug 23, 2023 13:40:06 GMT tashlinfan44 said:

Unquestionably Osborne and Gottfredson as a team. Some of those mid-30s serials are jaw-droppingly superb.

I’d like to add Walsh and Scarpa on here, but I sorta know that a good chunk of their stories that I’ve read are full of plotholes and stupid stuff that really shouldn’t be considered alongside the best of the newspaper strip. Doubtless that their stuff ranks among some of my favorite all-time stories.

Osborne is unfairly overshadowed. 

His Mickey stories are among my favorites Mouse Tales, and for good reason. 

Walsh is a rollercoaster. His peaks are incredible, but fer gosh sakes, does he take some plunges. 

[mousemaestro]

Ken Hultgren never produced enough stories to be a favorite but The Seven-Colored Terror! is an excellent story and he expertly handled Mickey. I only wish he had the opportunity to pen more than three full-length Mickey tales.

[rasterax]

Hard to decide between Osborne and De Maris as Gottfredson's best writer. The former has more classics to his name, but if "The Gleam" and "Goofy and Agnes" are any indication, De Maris was pretty much just getting started. The ensemble dynamic between Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, O'Hara, and Casey in "The Gleam" is so delightful, I would've liked De Maris to have a go at about a dozen more stories in that vein.

Walsh's run is nearly always entertaining and often fascinating, but he wasn't a great writer by any stretch of the imagination. If Gottfredson had continued to plot the stories, something Walsh had no idea how to do or interest in, that could've been interesting. As it is, Walsh's stuff is often enjoyable moment for moment until you step back and realize nothing hangs together. "Dr. X", for example, has a fine set-up, lots of intrigue, half a dozen great set-pieces, and many funny moments - it could've been among the best stories ever had Walsh bothered to make it make a lick of sense.

[Rrr]

Sept 1, 2023 10:08:33 GMT rasterax said:

Hard to decide between Osborne and De Maris as Gottfredson's best writer. The former has more classics to his name, but if "The Gleam" and "Goofy and Agnes" are any indication, De Maris was pretty much just getting started. The ensemble dynamic between Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, O'Hara, and Casey in "The Gleam" is so delightful, I would've liked De Maris to have a go at about a dozen more stories in that vein.

Walsh's run is nearly always entertaining and often fascinating, but he wasn't a great writer by any stretch of the imagination. If Gottfredson had continued to plot the stories, something Walsh had no idea how to do or interest in, that could've been interesting. As it is, Walsh's stuff is often enjoyable moment for moment until you step back and realize nothing hangs together. "Dr. X", for example, has a fine set-up, lots of intrigue, half a dozen great set-pieces, and many funny moments - it could've been among the best stories ever had Walsh bothered to make it make a lick of sense.

I really like your point of view :DD I agree that it would be interesting to have Merrill de Maris at more stories, The Gleam was one of the first , if not the first, Gottfredson story i read, and as you say theres really a charming character dynamic in the story, along with the more urban setting compared to some of the earlier serials from some years ago IMHO. I also agree with you on Walsh, because his “zany” fast paced style of writing fascinates me a lot but as you said the many loose and unexplained pieces of the story sometimes put you off, like in Doctor X as you mentioned above, i kinda got annoyed by all the unanswered questions, even though the whole story is still really fascinating and intriguing , especially the first part IMHO