Dynamite Entertainment 2017
Written by Sholly Fisch
Illustrated by Igor Lima
Coloured by Mohan
Lettered by Tom Napolitano
Aliens are invading Mighty Mouse’s hometown of Mouseville - but he can’t save the day while he s trapped here in the real world! To make things worse, Mighty Mouse and Joey don t suspect that there’s a planet-level menace waiting to threaten our Earth too...and it s not just the bullies who are after Joey!
I cannot begin to describe just how incredible this story really is. The way that Sholly has managed to blend Mighty Mouse’s world with Joey’s is simply a dream come true. While on some level it has that feel of a story from a boy in a coma who’s dreaming this is real life there’s also just this feel good nature about it as well.
Yes Joey is a lonely boy who has many fears and is socially awkward, his single mother works too hard and isn’t around and his desire for a friend and saviour has brought Mighty Mouse to him somehow. Physics be damned it’s happened and the world has seen this and now suddenly there’s a sense of urgency to get Mighty Mouse back home. While Joey doesn’t understand how this all happened and listening to Mighty Mouse doesn’t help much what they go through together still has this amazing friendship quality to it that defies logic and explanation.
Igor and Mohan really found that perfect way to blend the two universes as well. Leaving Mighty Mouse the cartoon version while still being in “our” universe while feeling like a colourform still works. Then to see the action figure of Mighty Mouse next to the genuine article was a nice touch. The attention to detail here is amazingly well done. The use of page layouts through their angles and perspective make reading this a joy and the utilisation of backgrounds just make it all so complete.
I think that Sholly taking this route with the series instead of trying to modernize or make Mighty Mouse more realistic, yes like DC has done with the Hanna Barbera line. Instead we get to see the importance of heroes, even the ones from our childhood cartoons, and the influence they can have on our lives. To those lonely children who have no friends, are bullied for being different and not sure how to cope this has that flair for something more. That it gets better and to use your imagination and creativity to make your own world better will get you through those hard times.
It’s heartwarming and depending on who you are you’ll take away from this story something different than I may but nevertheless it’ll be something you can feel good about. I’m moved and touched in ways I never could dreamed of and i’m so much better for it.