A Fatal Occupation, also printed as Mickey and the Wing Ding, is a comic story written by Bill Walsh and drawn by Floyd Gottfredson . It features Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Chief O'Hara, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, Pluto, Minnie Mouse, Morty Fieldmouse, and a cameo by Umbrage and Magnolia in the very first panel. Wing Ding, the Smoke Tigers, the Twitz and the Concavian Cabinet make their debuts in the story.
Plot[]
Weird, unsolicited housework and luxury gifts cropping up all over Mouseton turn out to be the work of a mysterious little gnome by the name of Wing Ding, who whisks Mickey Mouse off to his upside-down homeland of Concavia, a strange realm 5000 miles beneath the crust of the Earth, where he gets mixed up in the war between the Concavians and the invisible Twitz!
References[]
- Wing Ding comes from Concavia, a world 5000 miles deep in the crust of the planet Earth.
- He traveled to the surface, and takes Mickey back to Concavia, using the Earthaplane, a futuristic burrowing vehicle that runs on diamonds.
- On the way to Concavia, Wing Ding stops at his diamond ranch. Once they arrive to Concavia, they visit its capital city of Procrasta.
- The light in Concavia is supplied by Concavia Light Works and their Darkness Pump.
- Wing Ding ends up using a Translator-Helmet to communicate with Mickey, as he doesn't understand English.
- Mickey returns to the surface world through the Uphill River, which turns out to connect to the Old Reliable geyser.
Continuity[]
- As was common with Mickey Mouse's comic strip continuities, this story flows directly from the end of Mickey Takes Umbrage (1953), opening with Mickey seeing Umbrage and Magnolia off at the docks.
- In turn, the next serial, The Kid Gang (1954), opens with Mickey coming back home from the end of this adventure.
Behind the scenes[]
A Fatal Occupation was first printed by being serialized in various American newspapers between February and May of 1954. A remounted, cut version was serialized in the British Mickey Mouse Weekly #751 to #767 the same year, under the alternate title of Mickey Mouse and the Wing Ding. Finally, it was reprinted in full in the twelfth book of Fantagraphis's Floyd Gottfredson Library, with an introduction by Joe Torcivia under the title of Rue Concavia.