Mickey Mouse Magazine #10 [10]
Mickey Mouse Magazine Vol. 1 #10 (July 1936) marks a concrete turning point in the history of American Disney publishing: it is the first issue produced under Kay Kamen's direct stewardship after founder Hal Horne departed the title, making it the opening chapter of a new editorial era that would eventually evolve into Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. As part of the run that pioneered Disney comics on American newsstands, it carried Donald Duck and Morty Fieldmouse — two characters already beloved from comic strips and animation — into the magazine format at a moment when Donald was becoming one of the most popular figures in all of popular entertainment. The issue sits squarely inside the transitional window that the Grand Comics Database identifies as the first under the "Kay Kamen Ltd" imprint, giving collectors a precise institutional landmark rather than just another monthly installment. Its place in the longer arc from promotional giveaway booklet to the landmark 64-page comic anthology is why the entire run commands attention as the direct ancestor of the Western/Dell Disney publishing empire.
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The third and newsstand-edition Mickey Mouse Magazine was launched in summer 1935 by Hal Horne — formerly a United Artists publicist and prolific gag writer — with backing from Disney merchandising representative Kay Kamen and Walt Disney Enterprises; it was a full-size periodical of illustrated text stories, poems, puzzles, and single-page comic panels designed to promote Disney films and products. By mid-1936, Horne had run into financial difficulties and asked Kamen to buy him out; Kamen reluctantly agreed and took control, with issue #10 representing the first issue fully under his "Kay Kamen Ltd" banner. Contributing artists during this era included John Stanley — later celebrated for his Little Lulu work — and Felix the Cat creator Otto Messmer, while the magazine also ran non-Disney material such as Messmer's strip Bobby and Chip. Kamen would subsequently partner with Edward Wadewitz of Western Printing and Lithographing Company in 1937, setting the publication on the path that culminated in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories in October 1940.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published July 1936 by K.K./Western (Kay Kamen Ltd), Vol. 1 #10 — the first issue of the run produced under Kay Kamen's direct editorial control after Hal Horne's departure.
- Donald Duck appears in this issue; at this precise moment in mid-1936, Donald was one of the most rapidly rising stars in Disney entertainment, already a fixture of the Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip since February 1935 and about to begin dominating the Silly Symphony Sunday strip from August 1936.
- Morty Fieldmouse also appears; Morty (short for Mortimer) and his twin Ferdie had debuted in Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse Sunday strip continuity 'Mickey's Nephews' on September 18, 1932, predating Donald Duck's nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie by five years.
- The magazine at this stage was a full-size newsstand periodical featuring illustrated text stories, poems, puzzles, and single-page comic panels — it would not begin reprinting Disney newspaper comic strips until issue #16 (January 1937), so this issue reflects the pre-comics-reprint format.
- Contributing artists to the magazine during this era included John Stanley (later renowned for Little Lulu) and Otto Messmer (creator of Felix the Cat), with the magazine also running non-Disney material such as Messmer's strip Bobby and Chip.
- Cover price was 10 cents, a reduction established back with Vol. 1 #2 (October 1935), when the price dropped from the inaugural issue's 25 cents to make the periodical accessible to a children's readership.
- The covers of the first 20 issues of this series — including #10 — featured the standard Disney cast (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, Goofy) rather than promoting individual Disney shorts, a cover strategy that would change beginning with issue #21 (June 1937).
- This entire series is the direct institutional predecessor to Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, which launched in October 1940 when Western Publishing rebranded the magazine into what became one of the longest-running comic book series in American publishing history.