Four Color #562
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFour Color #562, titled 'Walt Disney's Goofy,' holds a firm place in Disney comics history as the debut of Gilbert Goof — Goofy's genius nephew — a character who would go on to appear regularly across Dell and Gold Key titles throughout the late 1950s and 1960s and eventually become the sidekick Super Gilly in the Super Goof run. The central comedic dynamic the issue establishes — a blundering, childlike adult trying to impress a pint-sized intellectual — proved durable enough to sustain stories for decades and gave Goofy a family dimension within the comics medium that his animated shorts never explored. Because the Four Color series functioned as Dell's de facto try-out vehicle for licensed Disney properties, this issue also exemplifies the broader role the anthology played in expanding the Disney comics universe beyond its animated source material.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was published in May 1954 under Dell's long-running Four Color anthology umbrella, a series that devoted each number to a different licensed character as a self-contained one-shot. The Gilbert debut story was written and drawn by Bill Wright, a Disney studio artist who handled a number of the Goofy-centric Four Color entries during this period; editing was credited to Chase Craig, Dell's longtime Disney-line editor. The book appeared during the same year the Comics Code Authority was established, though Dell — producing wholesome, licensed-character content — operated comfortably outside the controversy that roiled other publishers.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Officially titled 'Walt Disney's Goofy,' published by Dell as Four Color #562, cover-dated May 1954.
- First appearance of Gilbert Goof (also known as Gilbert), Goofy's genius nephew, who arrives to spend a vacation with his uncle in the lead story.
- The lead story's core premise — Goofy anxious that he cannot hold the interest of his far-smarter nephew — established a recurring bright-kid/dim-adult comedic formula that drove subsequent Gilbert appearances for years.
- Mickey Mouse appears in the issue alongside Goofy, and Clarabelle Cow is also indexed as a character in this issue.
- Gilbert was created by Bill Wright, who also served as the artist on the issue; Chase Craig edited the Dell Disney line at the time.
- Gilbert later evolved into the superhero identity Super Gilly (or Super Gilbert) beginning with Super Goof #5 (1966), making this issue his ultimate point of origin for that entire storyline.
- The lead Gilbert story was reprinted as 'Relative Genius' in Disney Mickey Mouse (Peachtree Playthings, 2019 series) #1 — confirming the story's continued relevance over six decades after its first publication.
- Four Color #562 is one of roughly fifteen Goofy-headlined issues that Dell produced across the Four Color run, reflecting consistent reader demand for Goofy solo adventures separate from Mickey Mouse's own title.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Cuentos de Walt Disney #74 (1954), Donald Duck #47/1955 (1955), Donald Duck #2/1956 (1956), Donald Duck #11/1956 (1956), Donald Duck #9/1956 (1956), Donald Duck & Co #4/1956 (1956), Donald Duck #22/1956 (1956), Donald Duck & Co #11/1956 (1956), Donald Duck #22/1965 (1965), Mickey Mouse #158 (1975), Gladstone Comic Album Special #3 (1990), Walt Disney's Biggest Big Mickey Mouse #[nn] (1998), Gratulerer, Langbein! #[nn] (2002), Mickey Mouse #6 / 315 (2015), Donald Duck & Co #2/2021 (2021), Walt Disney Series #18
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