Harvey Eisenberg's Mickey And The Beanstalk

 

I'm not a comic geek but I do consider myself discovering comics especially older ones from time to time. It's kinda fun if they make sense, and has some sense of humor.

This is Harvey Eisenberg's Mickey and The Beanstalk comic from 1947, released the same year as the short film. I found Eisenberg's work to be appealing and he's extremely talented. These comics are easily captivating and I find the lettering and narration to be incredible.

Right away, the introduction scene takes place in Happy Valley. I'm learning alot about this particular location. I'm loving the narrator so far. There's alot more character development and conceptual modifications than I imagined. 

I love the narrator pointing out how we didn't expect Donald controlling his temper, since that's what he's most known for in terms of his actions. 

Next we meet The Golden Harp, I honestly felt like she could've had way more potential, because I really like her concept, but she kinda acted like a normal person, which is fine but I just wasn't too big on her scenes. Alot of unique colors in this page. The mysterious shadow has a good shade of purple and light blues.

This was that one scene I remember watching from the short film I admired the best. It was one of those first experiences I had on liking old-school Disney. In the original Fun and Fancy Free movie, the Happy Valley looked dry and depressing. I could mention that this strip uses a natural and joyous blue background, but to me it doesn't work. Still solid though on the other bits, including that one sign near the cow, that's good detail and slice of comedy.

We almost get the same type of reactions from the movie version, except Donald isn't shouting angrily at Edgar Bergen as he breaks the 4th wall. 

I also loved alot of the camera angles and emotion in that film. The part where Goofy and Donald look immensely at Mickey slicing a bean and they look like their sweating is just masterful. I would like to know who animated that entire 2 minute or so scene. 

https://afilmla.blogspot.com/2018/01/prod-2057-fun-and-fancy-free-iii-prod_25.html?m=1

I can freely thank Hans Perk for the excellent drafts. Very useful! 

Anyways back to the comic.

Donald apologizing to his friends will never not be entertaining to me. It's also now canon the cow has an actual name. 

I absolutely love the interactions of all three of these characters. Mickey, Donald and Goofy together was always one of the best that old Disney had to offer. They inspired my characters, Dredd The Moose, Szac and Phillips Bear. 

We still get some excellent drawings and reactions. 

This is what I like about comics, they're not pushing boundaries like trying to only make people laugh or get invested in only pictures. 

The last scene of this image reminds me of the Three Stooges when they sleep. 

Now obviously alot of the Disney books especially the Little Golden ones try to tell the premise like the original movie. I guess it's because these were made when VHS and television weren't releasing/airing these movies yet, and it was better to adapt it in literature. 

Honestly, I might prefer this over the animated version. I remembered watching the Fun and Fancy Free behind-the-scenes documentary exactly a month ago, this was originally going to be a feature film, but was trimmed down to only half an hour. Kinda disappointing, but it's still something. 

The color choice of the green grass is really interesting. I also love how well-drawn the flowers are. It's not easy drawing flowers at all, you have to really see one in order to make it look real.

I like the design of the frog, we get more natural color schemes. Also the 5th panel below where they show Mickey Donald and Goofy as silhouettes is great. 

So much action in this singular page. I chuckled when Donald said "Ya big sissy!" I could imagine almost all the actors who voiced these timeless characters doing these lines. 

I have no idea if I might make a 2 parter of this, it's just a preview of the entire comic. I wasn't originally planning on making this without Michael Sporn's "splog". Once again thanks to him. I'm learning alot from his website feel free to check it out. 

Here's the link to the comics.

http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=3195

http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=3210

Mickey And The Beanstalk - The Starvation Scene

 

I'm willing to take a break on my posts about my recent drawings and instead delve into an animated short subject from the movie Fun And Fancy Free and in that feature, includes Mickey and The Beanstalk alongside Bongo, but I'm willing to only focus on Mickey and The Beanstalk for now, I'm mainly talking about the beginning 3 minutes of the short. I think it's one of the best story-telling action sequences I ever seen in Disney's war-time era.

It starts off with some nice and whimsical backgrounds until...

It completely reverts itself into miserable and depressing land territory. No plants, no beautiful skies, nothing really stands out here in this image.

That being said, the atmosphere of it all is geniuely appealing. I love the natural and original color palette of the oranges and environmental beige and browns.

Man these skies are massive. They're well-painted and utterly neat for it's time. Gives the story a more threatening but amusing feel to 'em.

The suspense in this scene is unexpected, what could've all happened from this? 

The little house, the cow and how slowly but surely it moves in an appropriate amount of time is truly cinematic for some reason. 

Now we get to see what's really happening inside of that house followed by the cow eating hay and looking at the audience in a noticeable approach.

In the meantime, you gotta love the narration in this. The writing team and Edgar Bergen did a magnificent job on everything in this film. 

Whenever Mickey, Donald and Goofy team in an animated film, they mostly work together in a quick, witty and rhythmical fashion, this is way different to what they were beforehand. I really love this scene entirely, it's not sluggish or painful to watch either.

I'm a person who doesn't really enjoy characters suffering or being starved but there is ways on how to do it right and in an exceptional manner. 

Like I was saying earlier the narration the mood this is going for really makes these  expressions more relatable and easy to understand. 

Especially in more smaller details, all 3 are completely starved and all they have left is a flat loaf of bread and a teensy tiny bean.  

I love Donald's fuzzier hair given in this scene. 

Donald is always great but here he's at his most chaotic ever since his performance in Cured Duck (1945).

The music starts to get more intense too. I love these set of drawings where as in both Goofy and Mickey try to calm Donald down. 

Holy cow, these close-ups of Donald's driven insanity are outstanding.

When I first watched this singular clip when I was still very ignorant with classic Disney films, I seemingly really liked it. It was way different than I thought Disney was mostly known for, princesses, overly played songs, the cringy teen shows, this set off a new level for me and if I'm totally being right here, this might actually be what got me into the old Disney stuff in the first place.

This stuff makes me invested. I love all of their distinct personalities. Mickey in particular is at his best here, these expressions he gives off is stellar. 

When Donald grabs the axe, he walks in the most intimidating and most badass style I ever saw in animation history. I also love how the axe shines for a second. Gives off lots of detail. 

Things get even more crazier when Donald actually wants to cut off the cow's tail. Look at Donald's expression in this. Like seriously, holy moly. 

This is what 2D animation mastered the most. The characters getting more closer and closer.

I was laughing when I first saw this little part of the final bit of this amazing scene. Donald's last stellar expression throughout the film. The constant sweating and suffering. I just really like alot of the acting, so professional yet really simple and not afraid to pull it off at it's finest.

I would highly recommend you watching the full movie this short took place, I think it's severely underrated and is in fact Fun And Fancy. I love Dinah Shore, and Jiminy Cricket is one of my favorite Disney characters. 

This post's sponsor is Toontales. Feel free to experience it yourself or otherwise find other great animated shorts you can freely watch on there.

https://www.toontales.net/short/mickey-and-the-beanstalk/

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