Paul Murry


Paul Murry was an American cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his Disney comics, which appeared in Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics from 1946 to 1984, particularly the Mickey Mouse and Goofy three-part adventure stories in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories.

Biography

Like many Disney comic book artists, Murry started his career working at the Walt Disney Studios. During his time there he was an assistant to legendary animator Fred Moore.
Starting in 1943, Murry worked on Disney newspaper strips, beginning with several installments of the Sunday-only José Carioca strip. This was followed by a number of episodes in the 1944-1945 Panchito strip, which replaced José Carioca's, as well as some Mickey Mouse strips in 1945. Murry then provided pencil art for the Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit strip from the first installment on October 14, 1945 through July 14, 1946.
After leaving the studio in 1946, he began to work for Western Publishing doing stories featuring the Disney characters. Dell Four Color No. 129 featuring three Uncle Remus stories penciled by Murry was the first comic book containing his artwork.
Murry drew many Disney characters, including Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Brer Rabbit, The Sleuth, and others. The Phantom Blot and Super Goof comic books contained many Murry stories. Besides Disney, Murry also drew Woody Woodpecker comics, the 1951-1953 Buck O'Rue comic strip, and gag cartoons.
He is best known for his rendition of Mickey Mouse, especially the Mickey/Goofy adventure stories, mostly in Mickey Mouse, and three-part serials in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. Murry's first published Mickey Mouse story was "Mickey Mouse and the Monster Whale," in Vacation Parade #1. Murry next wrote a couple of Mickey Mouse stories for Dell's One-Shots: "The Mystery of the Double-Cross Ranch" in issue #313 and "The Ruby Eye of Homar-Guy-Am" in #343.
Murry and writer Carl Fallberg began their run of Mickey Mouse and Goofy serials in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories with "The Last Resort", in issues #152-154. Murry and Fallberg continued to produce 3-part Mickey/Goofy adventures consistently from 1953 to 1962, and then occasionally from 1963 to 1972. When Fallberg moved on, Murry continued to draw single-part Mickey/Goofy adventures for Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and Mickey Mouse until 1984, retiring after more than 30 years of producing these stories. Murry died five years later, in 1989.

Reprints

In 2018 Fantagraphics Books began publishing a hardcover series titled Disney Masters, in which Paul Murry has to date had three volumes dedicated to his Disney works.
In 2019 The Library of American Comics released the fourth volume of , ISBN, in which the complete Silly Symphony comic strips José Carioca and Panchito, both pencilled by Murry, were included.