Zenobia is a fictional character created by the Disney comic book artist and writer Romano Scarpa.
She was Goofy's girlfriend who appeared for the first time in 1983, in the history of Mickey Mouse and the African Queen, as Zenobia II, sovereign of an African statelet, which attempts, with dishonest methods, to make Goofy her consort. Subsequently, abandoned the throne, reappears in 1984 in the history Mickey and frogs leaping, where she is kidnapped by Black Pete, Trudy, and Plottigat, who want to know the whereabouts of the African kingdom and its treasures. A third story has the following year, 1985, Mickey behind the curtain: here Zenobia is an actress, and is involved in the discovery of an unpublished play by Shakespeare, The Taming of indomitable.
In all three stories, unfolds a love affair between Zenobia and Goofy, articulated through various modulations and not a few ambiguities. Initially in love herself Goofy, in later stories seem progressively show nothing but a strong liking.
Zenobia appears briefly in what Scarpa defines strip stories: Mickey and the enigma of Brigaboom (1989) and Mickey and men Wasp (1991). In the second in particular, the characters look like Zenobia managed to make Goofy "more staid", less inclined to follow Mickey in every adventure (in fact, these two stories the steady partner of Mickey Mouse is Brutus).
Zenobia left the group in 1992 in Hello Minnotchka: the end of the story moved to Paris to help the former king of Selvanja, Ilja Topòvich, in the management of his hotel, without many regrets by Goofy nor Zenobia same. Although he and his friends were sad to leave her, Goofy and his friends knew she was making the right choice to help and promise to reunite with her one day.
Since then it has never appeared in any stories, although Scarpa had declared that sooner or later he would make it back to Mickey Mouse. However, Zenobia appears again, albeit briefly, in the 1993 story Poverty and Nobility (Miseria e nobilità, an adaptation of homonymous Edoardo Scarpetta's play ) part of the cycle of stories The Alambrah Theatre presents, published on Topolino 1955: she is seen entering the stalls along with the other spectators. At the end of the show, Goofy is in his dressing room a bunch of flowers.
In October 2013, the character was revived by Enrico Faccini and used for adventure comic Mickey is the mystery of Borgospettro, a story set in costume in Switzerland in the nineteenth century.
Appearances
- Topolino e la Regina d'Africa (1983)
- Topolino e le rane saltatrici (1984)
- Topolino dietro il sipario (1985)
- Topolino e l'enigma di Brigaboom (1989)
- Topolino e gli uomini vespa (1991)
- Topolino in: Ciao Minnotchka (1992)
- 60 anni insieme con Topolino (1993)
- Pippo on line - Vacanze solitarie (2012)
- Topolino e il mistero di Borgospettro (2013)