This is a panel from “Air Pirates,” depicting Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
“Air Pirates,” featured a lot of cursing and adult situations with Disney characters.
There were strong sexual undertones throughout the series.
In 1971 a group of cartoonists created two editions of underground comics entitled Air Pirates. Founder Dan O’Neill regarded Mickey Mouse as, “a symbol of conformist hypocrisy in American culture” (Levin 2004). The comics focused on Disney characters and included depictions of Goofy, Donald Duck, Minnie and Mickey Mouse doing drugs, performing lewd sexual acts and cursing. He kept the original names of all Disney characters so as to not, “dilute the parody” (Levin 2004).
O’Neill aimed to attack Disney’s consumerism and adoption of dozens of European and American folklore and tales. Just months after Air Pirates released, Disney sued for copyright infringement, trademark infringement and unfair competition. O’Neill was very defiant throughout the suit because he had strong distaste for Disney’s control of the media. All of the other creators and distributors settled with Disney on O’Neill’s advice. The irony of the situation is O’Neill and others began selling original artwork, mostly of Disney characters, to pay for their lawyers and defense. O’Neill and company violated restraining orders set against them by Disney by continuing to create inappropriate Disney looking characters. The court, through appeals and all surrounding the case, continued to support Disney.
Works Cited
Disney’s War Against the Counterculture. Reason: Free Minds and Free Markets. December 2004 Issue.
Happily Never After 
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