A few GOOFY comments and a question

[H.W.Fluks@telecom.tno.nl]

Daniel J Neyer:

> However, there was an odd part in the Black Crow Mystery that made me
> think there had been a little censorship. Mickey spots a 
> strange-looking
> farm hand during a fire, and queries a farmer about him. The dialogue
> seems oddly weak, though it occupies an entire strip, and 
> stranger yet,
> nothing more is made of the strange-looking farm hand. The farm hand
> looks very much like the caricatured "Jap" typical in WW2-era 
> propaganda,
> so I wonder if the original sequence contained some 
> anti-Japanese slurs?
> There certainly seems to be a joke or punch line missing in 
> the two-strip
> sequence. Was the presumed anti-Japanese joke removed when 
> the story was
> published in "Mickey Mouse Weekly" (the British magazine from 
> which all
> the albums' stories seem to be taken), or was it removed when Horst
> Shroder edited the volume for United States audiences?

I can only compare with Schröder's b/w xerox collection, but I think that collection is just like the originals.
The "Jap" strips are exactly as you describe. In the 2nd strip, Mickey says "I don't like the looks of that guy!".
I think this Japanese guy was originally planned to appear several times again, becoming the prime suspect during the story. And then in the end, he would turn out to be innocent.
My theory is that the writers or editors changed their minds while the story was being published, because they would have to show that a Japanese was innocent! 8-)
Anyway, they apparently decided not to refer to the Japanese guy again, so these 2 strips are all that remain.

--Harry.