Cover: Carl Buettner

Four Color #79

Aug 1945 · Dell · 0.10 USD

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About this Issue

Four Color #79 occupies a genuinely singular spot in Disney comics history as the only Mickey Mouse story ever both written and drawn by Carl Barks — the artist whose Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge work would define the medium for generations. Where Barks's duck adventures leaned into globe-trotting pulp, his one visit to the Mickey universe produced a tight Golden Age noir: doppelgängers, gangsters, a kidnapped Minnie, and a jewel-smuggling scheme dressed up in the clothing of a Warners crime picture. The issue also sits at a publishing crossroads: Dell's Four Color anthology was at this moment evolving from a showcase of newspaper-strip reprints toward original comic-book storytelling, and this issue — a fully original mid-1940s story featuring Mickey, Goofy, Pluto, Minnie, Clarabelle, and Peg-Leg Pete — exemplifies that transition in action. Retroactively counted as Mickey Mouse #1 when Dell launched a dedicated ongoing series in 1952, it anchors the entire numbered run of one of the longest-running Disney comics titles in American publishing history.

In "Mickey Mouse and the Riddle of the Red Hat," a playful misunderstanding over a bright red hat sets off a whirlwind of mistaken identities and sudden danger. When Mickey laughs at Minnie’s new hat, he accidentally confuses a passing girl with Minnie—leading to a "diamond ring" that’s actually a priceless ruby—and soon after, Minnie is taken by Black Pete, a shadowy figure tied to the mystery. Written by Eleanor Packer and illustrated by Carl Barks, this 1945 adventure from Dell’s Four Color series blends humor and suspense, with Barks’ dynamic art and the vibrant colors of the Western Publishing Production Shop bringing the caper to life. The cover, by Carl Buettner, captures the moment of confusion with sharp, expressive lines.

Contains 3 stories

Mickey Mouse and the Riddle of the Red Hat

11 pp · Anthropomorphic-Funny Animals

Mr. Whoosit

In "Mickey Mouse and the Riddle of the Red Hat," Mickey’s playful teasing of Minnie over her new hat leads to a mix-up when he mistakes a passing girl in a similar red hat for her. The girl, thinking Mickey is someone else, hands him a "diamond ring" that’s actually a valuable ruby—just as Minnie is suddenly whisked away by Black Pete, her real captor.

Mickey Mouse and Pluto the Hero

10 pp · Anthropomorphic-Funny Animals

Mickey Mouse and Goofy's Orphans

14 pp · Anthropomorphic-Funny Animals

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Good) $106

CGC 9.8 · 1 in census $6,942*

CGC 9.6 $4,908

CGC 9.4 none in existence

CGC 9.2 · 1 in census $2,400

CGC 9.0 · 4 in census $1,758

CGC 8.5 · 1 in census $886

Show all 17 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 1 in census $801

CGC 7.5 · 1 in census $801

CGC 7.0 · 5 in census $801

CGC 6.5 · 5 in census $371

CGC 6.0 · 8 in census $321*

CGC 5.5 · 4 in census $270*

CGC 5.0 · 3 in census $257*

CGC 4.5 · 6 in census $224

CGC 4.0 · 3 in census $193

CGC 3.5 none in existence

CGC 3.0 · 8 in census $138

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

The issue was published in August 1945 under the indicia title 'Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, No. 79,' copyrighted by Walt Disney Productions, with art submitted April 27, 1945 according to GCD records. Editorial oversight came from managing editor Eleanor Packer, story editor Alice Nielsen Cobb, and art director Carl Buettner, with the Grand Comics Database crediting both pencils and inks to Carl Barks (though with a question mark, as credits for the issue derive from Alberto Becattini's scholarly Disney Index volumes published in Italy in 1992 and 1994). Barks, by his own account someone who found Mickey's heroic, always-right persona less creatively flexible than Donald's flawed temperament, drew on Floyd Gottfredson's established Mickey Mouse comic poses and angles to keep the characters on-model — a standard industry practice — and never returned to the Mouse universe after this assignment.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published August 1945 by Dell Publishing Co. under the indicia title 'Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, No. 79,' produced under license from Walt Disney Productions by Western Printing and Lithographing Company.
Contains the only Mickey Mouse comic story ever written and drawn by Carl Barks — the artist who would become the defining creator of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge in comics.
Lead story 'The Riddle of the Red Hat' is an 11-page noir-tinged adventure in which Minnie's new red hat inadvertently makes her a target for gangsters (led by Pete) smuggling a ruby-concealing diamond ring; Mickey and Goofy must rescue her.
The story begins on the inside front cover in red/black duotone, then continues in full color — an unusual production format noted by multiple sources as a Western Publishing technique for maximizing story pages.
Also contains two additional short stories: 'Pluto the Hero' (Pluto and Mickey become entangled in a kidnapping after Pluto steals newspapers) and 'Goofy's Orphans' (Mickey and Goofy raise money to build an orphanage for skunks), with pencils attributed to Don Gunn on the latter.
Retroactively designated Mickey Mouse #1 in collector notation when Dell launched its dedicated Mickey Mouse ongoing series in 1952 beginning with #28, making this issue the effective start of that numbering lineage.
Reprinted in: The Carl Barks Library (Another Rainbow, 1983 series) #6 (1990); Walt Disney's Mickey and Donald (Gladstone) #17 (March 1990); Gemstone Free Comic Book Day issue (June 2004); Editora Abril's Brazilian Carl Barks collection #37 (2008); and Fantagraphics' Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Vol. 6 — Lost in Lands of Long Ago (November 2014). The story was also included in Fantagraphics' Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 3: Mystery of the Swamp (2024).
Barks referenced Floyd Gottfredson's established Mickey Mouse newspaper-strip poses to keep the characters on-model, a connection acknowledged in multiple scholarly and fan sources as evidence of Gottfredson's foundational influence on all subsequent Disney comics artists.