Austin J. Jenkins

 Mickey Mouse; Mortimer’s Birthday (1978)

Synopsis: It’s Mortimer Mouse’s birthday, but it seems like Nobody remembered (or really cared), so He seeks revenge on the gang.

O Aniversário do Ranulfo (B 780052) | I.N.D.U.C.K.S.

“O Aniversário do Ranulfo” comes from the exciting Country known as Brazil, a place filled with weird and interesting stories that rarely gets the love they (mostly) deserve. And this one’s no different, as it stars the underrated Mortimer Mouse. While most really only remember him from “Mickey Mouse Works” (and later on “House of Mouse”), he was pretty solid in the comics starting in the 70s. The good thing was that he (least in this story) was as in-character as you can expect from him. 

The plot’s a take on that very tired, overused trope that’s regularly used in mediocre to bad kids shows, where it’s someone’s birthday, but everyone around him or her pretends they don’t care, making the person depressed for ¾ of the segment until SURPRISE! They remembered after all!  It’s stupid, it kinda makes the friends, who don’t want to spoil the surprise, end up looking like dickheads and after awhile, the birthday kid being sad starts to become over-dramatic. I feel like this comic unintentionally pokes fun at this, with Mortimer deciding to take his frustrations out at the gang instead of being sad. But, because nobody told him they might be hiding something, now EVERYONE had to suffer the consequences when you act like you have zero interest in someone you like. Now, I don't believe that was the idea when this was being written, but it makes the story alot more funnier, at least to me.

Since this was completed during the 70s, the artwork is similar to alot of the S-code stories, which were usually drawn by people like Jack Bradbury and Tony Strobl. The layouts were usually drawn more on-model, being modeled off of what the characters were supposed to look like for advertising during the time. I will say that, for this story, it’s not TOO restrained, making the layouts on-model but still have some loose and solid poses.

Now, to be fair, Mort, I REALLY don't know what you expected to happen. You know how many times you tried to take Mickey's girl away from him? Especially since said girl's RIGHT THERE?!

Yeah, you just KNEW I had to add him doing his signature laugh!