The Walt Disney Company
In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a mouse character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California, drawing up a few simple drawings. The mouse was later renamed Mickey Mouse (Disney's wife, Lillian, disliked the sound of 'Mortimer Mouse') and starred in several Disney produced films. Ub Iwerks refined Disney's initial design of Mickey Mouse. Disney's first sound film "Steamboat Willie", a cartoon starring Mickey, was released on November 18, 1928 through Pat Powers' distribution company. It was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho". "Steamboat Willie" was an immediate smash hit, and its initial success was attributed not just to Mickey's appeal as a character, but to the fact that it was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound. Disney used Pat Powers' Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee de Forest's Phonofilm system. "Steamboat Willie" premiered at B. S. Moss's Colony Theater in New York City, now The Broadway Theatre. Disney's "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho" were then retrofitted with synchronized sound tracks and re-released successfully in 1929.
Mickey Mouse Adventures
Mickey Mouse Adventures was a comic book first published by Disney Comics from 1990 to 1991. It featured Mickey Mouse as the main character along with other characters from the Mickey Mouse universe. Somewhat similar in style to the animated series "DuckTales", it was based on the continuity of earlier print material starring Mickey, mainly Floyd Gottfredson's stories in the comic strip. These stories usually featured Mickey, with the help of longtime friends Goofy, Donald Duck, Pluto, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horsecollar, and Clarabelle Cow, having adventures in or out of Mouseton against adversaries such as The Phantom Blot, Big Bad Pete, Emil Eagle, and even newcomer villains like Wiley Wildbeest, Ms. Vixen, and Prince Penguin. The main feature was written by contemporary writers such as Michael T. Gilbert, Marv Wolfman, and others. The back-up features were reprints of classic Mickey Mouse comic stories. The comic ran for 18 issues from April 1990 to September 1991.