Spøk og Spenning #17/1941
Spøk og Spenning #17/1941 represents a historically significant early chapter in Scandinavian comics publishing: it brought both Mickey Mouse (listed as 'Mikke Mus') and Goofy to Norwegian readers for the first time within this weekly anthology, carrying their continuing strip adventure in serialized form. The issue appeared on 30 August 1941, squarely within the Nazi occupation of Norway, making this particular slice of American popular culture a quietly defiant presence on Norwegian newsstands at one of the country's darkest moments. As part of the wider Spøk og Spenning run — the subject of an extraordinary wartime copyright dispute that a Norwegian court had to adjudicate in February 1942 — the issue also sits at the very legal and commercial foundation of the modern Norwegian comic-book market.
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Spøk og Spenning was launched in 1941 by Magasinet for Alle and ran until 1945, with content licensed through Bulls Pressetjeneste A/S — the Norwegian arm of the Stockholm-based syndicate that had been distributing King Features and Disney material to Scandinavian publishers since the early 1930s. The magazine was printed by Emil Moestue A/S in Oslo, and its 1941 issues each ran to 16 pages. Shortly after this issue appeared, a rival publisher, Damm & Søn, sued Bulls, claiming that their own exclusive contract covered all American comics Bulls could supply; the court ultimately ruled in early 1942 that Spøk og Spenning was a serialized magazine supplement rather than an independent comic book, allowing Magasinet for Alle to continue publication. Some covers for the 1941 run — assembled by cover artist Gunnar Tandberg — were drawn from strip panels that were never actually reprinted inside the magazine itself.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published 30 August 1941 by A/S Magasinet For Alle; printed by Emil Moestue A/S, Oslo; Norwegian copyright held by Bulls Pressetjeneste A/S.
- The Mickey Mouse and Goofy story in this issue is a reprint of the King Features Syndicate Mickey Mouse Sunday strip originally dated 21 March 1937.
- Both Mickey Mouse (as 'Mikke Mus') and Goofy appear together in the anthropomorphic funny-animals section, the only Disney characters indexed in this issue.
- The issue contains eight serialized strips in total, including Tillie the Toiler, Radio Patrol, The Lone Ranger ('Præriens Sorte Maske'), Huckleberry Finn, and Sappo — all sourced from King Features Syndicate Sunday pages.
- Spøk og Spenning ran weekly in 1941 (16 pages per issue), but paper rationing under the German occupation forced a shift to fortnightly publication starting with issue 15 of the 1942 run, with a further reduction to 12 pages from issue 33 onward.
- The Mickey Mouse story in this issue was later reprinted in two additional Norwegian publications: Mikke Mus 365 historier fra 1932–1942 (Hjemmet/Egmont, 1979) and Donald Duck & Co #11/2003 (Hjemmet/Egmont, 1997 series).
- Goofy had been a recognizable Disney character since 1932 (debuting as 'Dippy Dawg' in Mickey's Revue) and was an established sidekick in the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip by the time this Sunday page was first published in 1937.
- The Spøk og Spenning series became the subject of a landmark Norwegian copyright ruling in February 1942 when Damm & Søn sued Bulls Pressetjeneste; the court found the magazine was a serialized publication, not a stand-alone comic book, acquitting Bulls and securing the series' survival.
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Mandrake er blitt tilkalt for å oppklare noen mystiske tildragelser i historisk museum. (fra heftet)
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).