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During the mid-1960s, the influence of author Ian Fleming’s wildly successful super-spy “James Bond” was everywhere – including comic books! DC published what was originally an adaptation of DR. NO for the British edition of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED in SHOWCASE #43; later, they produced seven issues of SECRET SIX. Marvel spun off SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMANDOS into the modern-day spy series “Nick Fury, Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D.”, appearing in STRANGE TALES. Tower’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS took the concept of super-spies to its literal extreme. Harvey published SPYMAN and Archie ran stories featuring “The Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.” Considering all of these, it’s no wonder that even Gold Key/Western Publishing jumped on the espionage bandwagon…but who expected they’d do it with a miniseries-within-a-series as Oddball as Walt Disney’s mickey mouse, SUPER SECRET AGENT? This bizarre concept starred what were essentially the traditional cartoon versions of mickey mouse and Goofy, but instead of reporting to Chief O’Hara, they were now “super secret agents” of an organization known as “Police International”, taking orders from “real” humans and operating on missions set in the “real” world! This gimmick didn’t last long (specifically, for only three issues, from No. 107 through No. 109), but it certainly set the bar for Oddball Comics of the funny-animals-in-a-realistic-world genre to follow, such as Marvel’s HOWARD THE DUCK or Disney Comics’ ROGER RABBIT. What’s even weirder about these stories is that in them, none of the “real” human characters seem to notice anything remotely unusual about occupying space with a three-foot-tall talking cartoon mouse!

This issue’s 24 -page cover-story, “Aircraft Carrier At 2 O’clock High”, was written by Don R. Christensen, laid-out by Dan Spiegle. and drawn by Spiegle (on all human characters, props and backgrounds) and Paul Murry (on mickey mouse and Goofy). It begins in the headquarters of PI (Police International) where agents mickey and Goofy learn of the biggest theft in history – an 80,000 ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Chickmauga, has been stolen – crew and all! Only one injured jet pilot escaped, and he relates how, just south of the Faroes Islands, a strange haze appeared as he attempted to land his jet, which caught the cables wrong and slid over the side of the ship. Even stranger, before a black helicopter attacked him, the hospitalized pilot noticed that every man on the aircraft carrier’s deck was motionless, as though frozen in time! A trawler eventually picked up the man, who was near death. Now, for the past week, the USS Chickmauga remains vanished without a trace! mickey and Goofy’s assignment is to bring in an attractive blonde woman named Kari Narden; her father is Professor Arlo Narden, an “offbeat scientist with all the kooky ideas about anti-gravity and extrasensory perception”. She’s convinced that her father is trying to contact her with “thought transmission” – probably because she’s been having dreams about a stolen aircraft carrier – three weeks before the USS Chickmauga disappeared! Exiting the warehouse that is the “frontage disguise” of PI, the duo heads off on its mission in an air-land-water car called “The Thing”! Soon, in a nearby city, mickey and Goofy arrive at Kari’s fourth floor apartment, where she describes that her dreams have changed somewhat: “The ship is always buried in ice that’s piled a mile high!“ Suddenly, they’re interrupted by a team of gas mask-wearing thugs who fire a gas-filled canister into the room, one that robs their brains of “all free will and decision”. While Kari accompanies them, the mysterious intruders order Goofy and mickey to throw themselves out the window, with the intention of sending them to their deaths! But apparently Goofy’s brain is too small to soak up much of the gas, because he grabs a nearby lamppost and slides downward to safety. Then he breaks through the window of a ground-floor apartment and grabs the mattress out from under its sleeping tenant, then uses it as a safety pad to catch his plummeting pal. His head cleared from the jolt, mickey decides to investigate Kari’s description of her dream. Soon, he and Goofy are flying the “Thing” craft to the mile-high arctic glacier coast of Greenland; the only place on Earth a ship could be hidden under a mile of ice must be among the country’s fjords and towering cliffs. Sure enough, they discover a huge ice cavern when they notice a Navy jet that’s apparently flying into a solid ice cliff-face; inside, they find the stolen USS Chickmauga! They also see Kari Narden disembark from the jet; their speedy “Thing” beat them to the Arctic Circle! They have no problem sneaking aboard, since the aircraft carrier’s crew is under the effects of the will-sapping gas. Inside, they witness Kari being reunited with her scientist father, who’s being held captive by his former laboratory assistant, Harold Fiendster -- now simply known as “The Fiend”! Caught stealing from his employer, Fiendster was sent to prison, but there, he assembled a team of criminals who could assist him in putting his master plan – using Professor Narden’s scientific discoveries-- into effect. Suddenly, the Fiend’s men spot mickey and Goofy, who escape through a ventilation shaft. Emerging on deck, they realize they, too, can control the gas-effected crewmen, and order them to provide interference while they hijack the Navy jet! As they’re fired upon, they escape the ice-cave and land near their “Thing” vehicle, which easily outruns the Fiend’s henchmen. mickey contacts Police International headquarters, which send a Marine Ranger force to rendezvous with them in two hours. Meanwhile, aboard the USS Chickmauga, the fiend forces Professor Narden to activate the final stage of his master plan. Soon, at the point of rendezvous, mickey, Goofy and the Marine Rangers are astounded to see the aircraft carrier floating high in the air! The Fiend sends out a message via visual code: “Nothing can pass through anti-gravity force field! Not radio waves, planes, or even missiles!” As the USS Chickmauga approaches England, the Fiend makes his demand: send a drone plane, loaded with a billion dollars, atop the ship’s force field, or he’ll lower the ship and its force field bubbles just enough to “mow English cities off the map”! To prove he’s not bluffing, the Fiend then uses his force field to create a huge tidal wave, one that leaves the Navy ships on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean torn and twisted. Convinced of the imminent danger, mickey suddenly has a brilliant idea:

mickey mouse:
Our only chance is to make Fiendster turn off that force field.

NAVY ADMIRAL:
But how can we? That surrounding field is like an electro-magnetic armor! Its power is unbelievable!

mickey mouse:
But it IS an electro-magnetic phenomenon, Admiral! Maybe that’s our clue! Remember the old trick with iron filings on a sheet of paper…and a magnet underneath? The filings take on the PATTERN of the magnetic field!

NAVY ADMIRAL:
But an anti-gravity field must be anti-magnetic, too!

mickey mouse:
But still…WITHIN the field, individual high-speed electrons must develop a close-range static attraction! Iron dust…lost of it…that’s what I’m going to try to round up!

Soon, from one of Britain’s great iron foundry centers, a flight of bombers carries carloads of iron dust and filings. After tons of the metallic powder is dumped on the invisible “bubble”, a cloak of clinging iron dust completely enshrouds the anti-gravity field. The Fiend orders the ship to be eased down to the ocean’s surface and its field turned off and tells his gunners to shoot anyone who tries to come aboard. Goofy manuevers their “Thing” close to the vessel, unloading his partner onto the deck of the USS Chickmauga. As mickey desperately searches the ship’s dust-choked passages for the anti-gravity device, the Fiend’s henchmen fire upon Goofy’s “Thing”. Meanwhile, mickey discovers Professor Narden standing near the anti-gravity unit, warning him to move away so he can destroy it. But his voice attracts the unwanted attention of the Fiend and his men. As the former lab assistant draws a pistol to permanently eliminate his rodent problem. Before he can fire the fatal shot, lost Goofy buzzes his “Thing” inside the chamber, crashing into the bad guys! Firing the “Thing’s” sonic blaster, they blow up the anti-gravity unit, then subject Fiendster and his men to his own mind-control gas. Later, a vast conclave of ships, plane and men gather for just one purpose, to recognize another instance of “when so many owe so much to so few” -- namely, mickey mouse and Goofy, super secret agents! But Goofy’s running a bit late to the ceremony; first, he must drape a length of anchor chain around his shoulders -- so he’ll “never run short of good ol’ gravity!” (This story was reprinted in Gold Key’s mickey mouse DIGEST No. 4.)

Also included in this issue of mickey mouse are the following stories and features:

• The “Junior Woodchucks” in “Good Deed Daze”, penciled by Tony Strobl and inked by Tony Liggera. – After Grandma Duck rebukes their offer to help her across a busy street, Huey, Dewey and Louis become frustrated at the lack of good-deed-doing opportunities around Duckburg. Determined to help “somebody who daily faces danger”, they seek out the Three Little Pigs! But when they discover a happy and peaceful scene at the pigs’ cottage, they decide to do a pre-emptive good deed! Sneaking over to the Big Bad Wolf’s run-down shack, they find him asleep and dreaming of pig-catching. To prevent Big Bad from even leaving his home, they booby-trap his door by piling a stack of firewood against it. When he awakens, hungry as usual, Big Bad Wolf finds he’s trapped inside. Resorting to huffing and puffing, he fails to blow down the door, but does manage to blow down the flimsy wall around the door! It lands on top of the trio of Junior Woodchucks, pinning them beneath! As the Big Bad Wolf closes in on the “tender ducklings”, he’s suddenly snared, trussed and trapped by three lassos tossed by the Three Little Pigs! The pigs gratefully thank Huey, Dewey and Louie for giving them the opportunity to save someone for a change! It turns out that the best good deed the Junior Woodchucks have ever done was to let someone else do good for them! (This story was reprinted in Gold Key’s WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES No. 628.)
• “A mickey mouse Short-Short Spy Story”, an inside-front-cover educational feature, “Battle Plan” drawn by Dan Spiegle.
• “Secret Messages – Codes And Ciphers”, an educational page drawn by Dan Spiegle and Paul Murry.
• Two pages (page 1, page 2) of “Goofy’s Secret Agent Antics”, written and laid out by Vic Lockman and drawn by Paul Murry.

ODDBALL Factoid – Cartoonist Don R. Christensen (AKA “Don Arr”) not only was a story man for Walt Disney’s animated cartoons, but wrote and/or drew hundreds of comic book, stories ranging from classic adventure material like MAGNUS, ROBOT FIGHTER to Oddball gems such as WOODY WOODPECKER IN CHEVROLET WONDERLAND! Don is also the man responsible for those bizarre, rhyming roadrunner nephews in Dell/Gold Key’s BEEP BEEP THE ROADRUNNER!

For more from Scott Shaw!, visit his Web site at http://www.shawcartoons.com/.

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