I’ve long complained that Disney has been been letting their flagship character be squandered, not putting him to any sort of meaningful or relevant use, letting him be squandered as a mere corporate logo. His scant appearances on Disney TV shows like “House of Mouse” were lame, and his modern incarnation was equally bland. That’s why I was excited to see that a 2010 videogame Epic Mickey looks to bring a bit  of the fun and badass Mickey from the Steamboat Willie days of 1928 back in action.

According to the NY Times article that broke the story…

Epic Mickey, designed for Nintendo’s Wii console, is set in a “cartoon wasteland” where Disney’s forgotten and retired creations live. The chief inhabitant is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character Walt Disney created in 1927 as a precursor to Mickey but ultimately abandoned in a dispute with Universal Studios. In the game, Oswald has become bitter and envious of Mickey’s popularity. The game also features a disemboweled, robotic Donald Duck and a “twisted, broken, dangerous” version of Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World.” Using paint and thinner thrown from a magic paintbrush, Mickey must stop the Phantom Blot overlord, gain the trust of Oswald and save the day.

There’s such a great wealth of Disney and Pixar characters, it’d be nice to see Disney pull the trigger on a Mickey feature film that involves most of the Disney Universe, ala Roger Rabbit. But until then, maybe this videogame will do.

CLICK HERE to read the entire NYT article