Relatively understood time – a review of the comic “Mickey travels in time”

Chance rules time

On the hunt for the information of the century for his new article, Miki discovers a lab where two mad scientist brothers claim to have invented a time machine. This is enough to arouse the legendary curiosity of our reporter mouse, who decides to try the experiment herself. But as a result of the accident, Miki hits his head and disrupts the machine. Here he is transported to an unspecified past. Worse, with each new blow to the skull, the mouse will randomly change the era, fighting a tyrannosaurus in the middle of prehistory, in the Colosseum or confronting Christopher Columbus himself! No wonder we have such a selection of mainly European characters, since the comic was created by French and Italian artists.

While the story itself introduces the concept of time, we can feel a certain deja vu. The plot, where Miki travels through the ages, is nothing new. Indeed, Dab’s returns to the series of the same name first published in Journal de Mickeyin 1952. In this series, by Pierre Fallot and Pierre Nicolas, a rodent can easily move along the time line thanks to a drink, and in the latest work, a different specificity allows him to do so. However, we have a very common element – switching eras every time he gets hit in the head. In this new version of Dab’s Miki also gets lost in the corridors of time. At a frantic pace (maybe a bit too much), over 50 pages, the mouse will meet many historical figures, such as the already mentioned Christopher Columbus, Jack London or even Leonardo Da Vinci and the Mona Lisa. The comic introduces them in such a way as to outline to the reader that they are familiar. The fact is known, and the additional attempt to remind the recipient of the comic makes us feel infantilized, like children, who are three years old and know little about life… Despite these few historical references and the frantic pace of the story, the script ultimately does not attract interest because it imposes too fast a pace. There is no time for reflection and reflection.

Humorous graphics

What keeps things going are, of course, the funny characters and a little crisis between Mickey and Minnie. I also like the concept of playing characters in different eras, it’s like Black Peter or Horace the horse are reincarnated. Of course, all this is tweaked with a special, funny line similar to that of modern short animations with Disney characters. Large, exaggerated faces, bulging eyes, or disproportionate bodies that contort with the working of the laws of drawing physics are supposed to make the reader laugh.

As with the previous volumes, now we have received a really solidly made edition, but only visually. Again we have a beautiful, linen binder and purple title letters glued on the main cover. This time, however, there was no additional element in the form of even conceptual sketches. A bit of a pity. I don’t know about the original edition, but such a publication is like a blu-ray disc with a movie, without any special extras. In a word – poverty.