Disney-comics digest #725.

[Larry Gerstein]

        MIKE:
        [Mickey Mouse] "is the "Mister Average" of Disney universe . . . he
had no 'bad' personal traits such as temperament or lazyness or bad luck .
. ."
        Eh?  In my stories, Mickey holds no steady job (such as one at Zoom
Transport), and Minnie is frequently after him to get one -- only his love
of excitement makes most jobs seem boring to him.  Mickey is jealous when
Montmorency Rodent starts dropping names and trying to outdo him at things.
 Mickey's love of excitement tends to overwhelm his common sense, so while
he's smart, that doesn't prevent him taking silly risks (as Minnie's only
too glad to point out).  And Mickey's consistently a smart-aleck, although
that doesn't extend to being constantly sarcastic or anything.
        No need to work with the Mickey of the 1950s, Mike!  You can have a
high time writing Mickey ten-pagers with the colorful Mickey of 1941.  (You
can read my article "Why Real Mice Aren't Perfect" on the WWW-page for more
of my jabber about my favorite rodent.  I will note that Egmont has not
actually published the article yet, thus officially endorsing it -- but
they have taken six stories from me so far in which Mickey acts this way.) 
What's more, any writer who so wishes can request MM to be drawn in his old
red shorts now, too!  (I do!)

        Best,
        David Gerstein
        <9475609 at arran.sms.ed.ac.uk>
        "Have a chestnut, boys! . . . OW!"

gerstein at math.ucsb.edu