Mickey Mouse Weekly was a 1936–1957 weekly British tabloid Disney comics magazine, the first British comic with full colour photogravure printing. It was launched by Willbank Publications and later continued by Odhams Press. The comics were said to be "drawn in a slick, smooth style which was clearly influenced by American comics." Mickey Mouse Weekly featured American reprints as well as original British Disney comics material, including the first Donald Duck comic book serial. The magazine also featured reprints of Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse comic strip continuities in full colour on the back cover. 920 issues of Mickey Mouse Weekly were published between 8 February 1936 and 28 December 1957. Publication history Mickey Mouse Weekly was inspired by the 1935 launch of Mickey Mouse Magazine, the first American Disney newsstand publication. It began as a 12-page tabloid, with four pages in colour — the cover pages and the centrefold. The early covers were drawn by Wilfred Haughton — a full-colour comic panel with many characters, with each one saying a joke or a pun. As the American Mickey Mouse Magazine inspired Mickey Mouse Weekly, the new publication inspired a number of European spinoffs, including Switzerland's Micky Maus Zeitung (1936–37) and Sweden's Musse Pigg Tidningen (1937–38), which used Haughton's covers and other British material. The magazine ceased production with its 28 December 1957 issue after Odhams lost the rights to the Disney characters. Disney then published Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse with Vernon Holding; the relatively unsuccessful magazine was renamed Walt Disney's Weekly in 1959 and discontinued in 1961. Non-Disney content was continued in Odhams Press' Zip, a 1958 weekly which merged into Swift in 1959. Strips The De(f)tective Agency The first British Disney serial published in Mickey Mouse Weekly was The De(f)tective Agency — actually "The Defective Agency", but with the F crossed out, and T written in above. This one-page serial began in issue #45 (12 December 1936), and starred Goofy and Toby Tortoise, from the 1935 Silly Symphony short The Tortoise and the Hare, assisted by Pluto. The stories were written and drawn by Wilfred Haughton. The serial had four stories: The Disappearing Kids, issues #45–54 (12 December 1936 – 13 February 1937): The detectives investigate the kidnapping of "the famous Mickey quins", finally finding them with Peg Leg Pete, who begs the heroes to take the brats away again. Spooky Farm, issues #55–63 (20 February – 17 April