I think that Disney is making a serious mistake in re-printing racist material. It’s wrong, and the press will have a field day with this.

I think that this project is long overdue. It’s about time Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse strips were reprinted in such a collection, and judging from the quality of their other collections of classic newspaper strips, Fantagraphics is the perfect publisher for this project. Aiming them squarely at collectors rather than mixing them with the European-produced kiddie fodder that Boom is running is a good move for this material. Speaking as a fan of the early Mickey, I’d much rather see the strips reprinted exactly as they were drawn. Mickey Mouse, Floyd Gottfredson and Walt Disney are a part of pop-culture history, and I feel that this work should be allowed to accurately reflect the time period it was created in, especially in a project targeted to collectors and archivists.

Good idea! I think that completly is one of the biggest thing in the comics world!

And ih hope that alla well be reprinted, this mean ALL! Even this casesentive material, there is historical values!

Racist? This material is not. Never has been, despite what Disney itself reckons.

I couldn’t help but reply to this thread – the material itself is no different than anything else that was published back then. Stereotypes were very prominent in vaudeville and in the culture. They were wrong. Ignorant definitely – racist!? I wouldn’t go that far. For example, Al Jolson performed in blackface. However, some of his best friends were black and he did alot of civil rights work.

Besides Disney hasn’t even said anything about the deal with Fantagraphics or about reprinting the strips. Only Fantagraphics.

I don’t see Disney or Fantagraphics making a big deal. I only see this becoming a problem if some overtly anally PC individual or group with a fanatical agenda wants to bitch or moan about it. Hopefully this doesn’t happen otherwise I see every member of this website’s hopes being dashed!

Beyond that I seriously doubt that anyone will make a big deal out of it. The Popeye reprints have tons of stereotypes & UnPC stuff in em’. Olive Oyl getting strangled & hit – Popeye smacking around indians.

Disney has been doing a lot of damage repair lately to some of their fans after all the censorship when their movies were reissued to DVD… Make Mine Music, Melody Time, Saludos Amigos, Fantasia, Clock Cleaners. The Walt Disney Treasures. Saludos Amigos will be released as a special feature on the Waking Sleeping Beauty DVD in a couple months.

Gary Leach made a comment about this on the DCML – I don’t remember what he said but it seemed to reflect the past and the current situation very accurately.