Disney Masters

Fantagraphics launched the Disney Masters Series with Vol. 1: The Delta Dimension in May 2018. Since then they have published a few new volumes in the Disney Masters series each year. Volumes have been alternating between the central character and story being Mickey Mouse related or Donald Duck/Uncle Scrooge.

Fantagraphics presents Disney Masters – acclaimed artists from around the world working in the grand Walt Disney tradition. Many of these stories are new to American readers and appear here for the first time in English. Fresh new artwork, fresh new adventures, and fresh new laughs!

Disney Masters Vol. 21: The Monster of Sawtooth Mountain

Book Description:

In this collection of comics stories, Mickey and Goofy are trapped in cold and snow with a monster below!

Adventure-seeking Mickey doesn’t usually regret being Chief O’Hara’s freelance detective ― but all bets are off when the Chief pitchforks Mickey and Goofy into saving Cousin Frosty’s winter resort from a monster! From snowballs to cliffside falls, deadly accidents have Sawtooth Mountain in an uproar … and if a man-eating yeti isn’t responsible, who is? And “Sawtooth Mountain” is just the start! Mickey confronts mystical elves in “Pineapple Poachers”… and is forced to reform the villainous Pegleg Pete in “Mickey’s Strange Mission!” A recreation of the stories’ original Dell Comics color is icing on the cake.

Disney Masters Vol. 21: The Monster of Sawtooth Mountain was released by Fantagraphics in October 2022.

This volume of the Disney Masters series is 184 pages and features Disney Master Paul Murry. This is the fifth Disney Masters volume to feature Paul Murry (Volumes 3, 7, 13, 15, and 21).

A short biography on Paul Murry is included in the back of the book. There is also an article that discusses how Mickey Mouse stories changed during this period from previous eras of Mickey Mouse comics.

Disney Masters Vol. 21: The Monster of Sawtooth Mountain is available in hardcover and Kindle\Comixology versions. A link to buy this book can be found at the end of this review.

Included Stories

There are 8 stories included in Disney Masters Vol. 21:

• The Fantastic Fog
• The Threat of the Stone-Eaters
• The Monster of Sawtooth Mountain
• Alaskan Adventure
• Pineapple Poachers
• The Trail to Treasure
• Mickey’s Strange Mission
• The Moon-Blot Plot

In The Fantastic Fog, Mickey and Goofy try to take a day off from their private investigating work to get in a day of fishing, but they are being tracked down by Chief ‘O Hara. A get away car driven by a driver who sees them trying to escape the chief takes them out of town and drives through a fog cloud to his boss who wants to hire Mickey and Goofy for some nefarious work. The boss mentions that Gyro Gearloose is also working for him. It turns out Chief ‘O Hara wanted to take Mickey and Goofy out on his new boat, but that will have to wait until after they solve this new mystery that fell into their lap.

Mickey and Goofy are sent on an exhibition to the South American Andes by a museum to search for a missing explorer, Dr. Artifact, in The Threat of the Stone-Eaters

Mickey and Goofy are invited to Chief ‘O Hara’s cousin’s ski resort to help solve a mystery in The Monster of Sawtooth Mountain. Could the culprit terrorizing the ski resort be the Abominable Snowman?

Mickey and Goofy while on a fishing trip in Alaska stumble upon a mysterious tropical oasis in Alaskan Adventure. The local inhabitants believe that they are after their gold mine.

Mickey and Goofy take a trip to Hawaii to visit a friend’s pineapple plantation which is having a problem with Pineapple Poachers. The two detective are on the case with the help of the Hawaiian Menehune.

While digging his new backyard swimming pool, Goofy unearths a stone tablet from the caveman days which will hopefully point to treasure in The Trail to Treasure.

Mickey is hired by Blackstone P. Percival to track down Mickey’s own mortal enemy Black Pete in Mickey’s Strange Mission. Blackstone claims to be a relative of Black Pete who is owed a huge inheritance. The catch to earn the inheritance is that Black Pete must earn an honest living.

The notorious Rover Rogue Boys gang force Gyro Gearloose into making them a formula that will block out the moonlight so that they can successfully carry out their schemes in The Moon-Blot Plot. It is up to Mickey, Goofy, and Gyro to race them to the moon to stop their plan.

Final Thoughts

This is the fifth volume (Volumes 3, 7, 13, 15, 21) of Mickey Mouse Paul Murry illustrated stories in Fantagraphics’ Disney Masters collection. If you have been collecting and reading the Disney Masters collection from the start, you will have a really nice library of Paul Murry’s Mickey and Goofy adventures. I am sure that this library will continue to grow.

I love the Disney Masters series because we get treated to stories and illustrations from more great Disney comic creators besides the legendary Barks and Rosa. We may have never had a chance to read these stories outside of Fantagraphics’ Disney Masters series.

I am definitely looking forward to reading future volumes of Fantagraphics’ Disney Masters series. A big thank you to Fantagraphics for sending us this book to review so that we can continue our education and journey through the history of Disney Comics.

You can purchase Disney Masters Vol. 21 at the link below:

Order: Disney Masters Vol. 21: Mickey Mouse: The Monster of Sawtooth Mountain

The next new release volume in the Disney Masters series has already been announced and is available for preorder:

Order: Disney Masters Vol. 22: Uncle Scrooge: Operation Galleon Grab

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