The Banal Ballad of Mick Mischief: A Recent Retrofitted Retread!

Mick Mischief came about as a commission from a third party that fell through. The story, which I wrote and drew entirely on my own, was a humorous take on the source material, which was little more than a pastiche of adventure and supernatural pulp hero elements, thrown against a wall rather artlessly, I might add (apart from the contributions of several talented illustrators, who I hope got paid in full, unlike me).

There was never any sort of contract between myself and this third party, and after being jerked around for some months with late payments and finally being stiffed altogether for nearly half the agreed-upon price (after demonstrably holding up my end of the bargain; I was told I could keep whatever money had been paid but that the story would never be published), I decided to repurpose the work into a fair-use parody of said pastiche that is completely and solely my own intellectual property. Thus, Mick Mischief is ™ and © Don Simpson 2023, all rights reserved. 

Fans will see that the story itself is an homage to Will Eisner, whose most famous Spirit story was actually a repurposed John Law, Detective story entitled “Bring in Sand Serif.” So, the origins of Mick Mischief is only (retro-) fitting. Elements such as the waterfront detective agency office, the newspaper boy Salty, the girl Friday Doris, and the fake newspapers The Evening Fishwrap and The Midnight Deadline, as well as the comic strips Dizzy Daisy, Mars Malone, and Boogie Bunny were all my own original contributions anyway, and owe nothing to the rather banal and generic source material, as any fan will be able to discern. 

(Needless to say, I have scrupulously documented emails, a text message thread, and various social media posts to back up everything I am asserting above.)

I hope fans will enjoy Mick Mischief! Please leave your comment(s) below.  

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