Mickey Mouse universe
The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving Disney cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, and many other characters. The universe originated from the Mickey Mouse animated short films produced by Disney starting in 1928, but its first consistent version was created by Floyd Gottfredson in the Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip. Real-world versions also exist in Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, called Mickey's Toontown.
| Mickey Mouse & Friends | |
|---|---|
 Mickey Mouse's house at Mickey's Toontown, Disneyland in 2006 | |
| Created by | |
| Original work | Steamboat Willie (1928) |
| Owned by | The Walt Disney Company |
| Years | 1928–present |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | Mickey Mouse film series (1928–1953) See also list of Mickey Mouse films and appearances |
| Animated series | Original shows:
|
| Games | |
| Video game(s) | See list of Mickey Mouse films and appearances § Video games |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Theme park attraction(s) | Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway (2020–present) |
| Related universe | Donald Duck universe |
Since 1990, the city in which Mickey lives is typically called Mouseton in American comics. In modern continuity, Mouseton is often depicted as being located in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota, analogous to Northern California. This fictional state was invented by comics writer Carl Barks in 1952 as the location for Donald Duck's home city, Duckburg.
The most consistent aspect of the Mickey Mouse universe is the characters. The most well-known include Mickey's girlfriend Minnie, pet dog Pluto, friends Goofy, Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, and nemesis Pete. Some Disney productions incorporate characters from Disney's animated feature films, such as Bath Day (1946; in which Figaro from Pinocchio appears as Minnie's cat), Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983), and – most extensively – Disney's House of Mouse (2001–2003).
The term "Mickey Mouse universe" is not officially used by The Walt Disney Company, but it has been used by Disney comics author and animation historian David Gerstein.[1] The Walt Disney Company typically uses terms such as Mickey & Friends[2] or Mickey & the Gang[3] to refer to the character franchise.
Continuity development
The Mickey Mouse universe essentially originated with the debut of Mickey himself in Plane Crazy (1928). Although Mickey's stories included the character Pete, who was created in 1925, the world in which Mickey lives holds a continuity largely independent from earlier films. An exception to this was the reintroduction of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 2010 with the release of Epic Mickey.
In 1930, Disney began a Mickey Mouse comic strip which greatly expanded Mickey's world. The stories then became a work of collaborative fiction with different writers working in different mediums. This sometimes caused continuity discrepancies. For example, while Mickey and his friends largely live in the same contemporary setting, they sometimes appear in exotic settings including period pieces (Brave Little Tailor, The Nifty Nineties) and fantasy films (Fantasia, Fun and Fancy Free).
One way the comics writers explained this discrepancy was to present the characters as "real" cartoon characters who are employed by Disney as actors. Walter J. Ong in his cultural research of Mickey Mouse and Americanism also agreed with this opinion. In short, characters are more human-likely but less animal features in their characteristics.[4] This understanding of the characters leading separate lives was welcomed by Walt Disney who when asked whether or not Mickey and Minnie were married, replied that the mice were indeed married in their "private lives", but that they sometimes appear as boyfriend and girlfriend for "screen purposes."[5] Also, in the World War II propaganda film The New Spirit (1942), Donald Duck fills out his income tax and lists his occupation as "actor", and the film The Three Musketeers (2004) includes a DVD bonus feature of the characters reminiscing on their experience filming the movie.
Animation historian David Gerstein has noted that although the characters will appear in different settings and sometimes even change their names (Mickey's Christmas Carol), the characters are still themselves and behave in a way consistent with their natures.[6]
Generally, Mickey Mouse series movies are for entertainment purpose. Differing from traditional stories like Aesop's Fables, Disney animation generally do not avoid adult or mature scenes. In Hawaiian Holiday (1937),[7] Goofy was in a scene of being in a grave. Disney arranged a laugh scene after that. Its choice of scene creation can be seen as a signature of the attention to entertainment effort.
Places
Mickey's farm
In Plane Crazy (1928), the first produced Mickey Mouse story, Mickey is seen at a farm. In all of his early films Mickey is in a rural setting, but most commonly at a farm. This setting was succinctly presented in the first sentences of one of Mickey's first storybooks:
"This story is about Mickey Mouse who lives in a cozy nest under the floor of the old barn. And it is about his friend Minnie Mouse whose home is safely hidden, soft and warm, somewhere in the chicken house."
— The Adventures of Mickey Mouse: Book I (1931)
In the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, Mickey's farm was most likely located in the midwestern United States, as indicated by characters' comments to have arrived "out west" to Death Valley and to go "back east" to conduct business, etc. This rural setting reflected Walt Disney's own childhood in Missouri and like Disney, Mickey eventually moved to the city, although he never forgets his roots. Mickey sometimes makes references to his life "back on the farm."[8]
Mouseton
Mickey appeared in an urban setting as early as 1931 in the short film Traffic Troubles where he works as a taxi driver. Mickey's city was unnamed until 1932, when the comic story The Great Orphanage Robbery identified it as Silo Center.[9] Some Floyd Gottfredson stories simply called the city Hometown while other Gottfredson stories used the name Mouseville.[10] But the first consistent name for Mickey's city came in 1950s Italy, where it was called Topolinia (from Topolino or 'little mouse,' Mickey's Italian name).
In 1990, Disney Comics launched the new American comic Mickey Mouse Adventures and initially planned to use the name Mouseville there. But due to then-current Mighty Mouse cartoons' use of a city called Mouseville, the new name Mouseton was created for Mickey's town instead; both in Mickey Mouse Adventures and in Disney's contemporary reprints of vintage stories in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories (1991–93).[11] Later publisher Gemstone and the present Boom Studios have continued the use of Mouseton from 2003 onward. Strangely, in-between licensee Gladstone (1993–99) usually left Mickey's city unnamed, or—very rarely—referenced it as Duckburg, better known as Donald Duck's hometown.[12]
Mouseton's location in Calisota and its positioning with regard to Duckburg (the cities being not far from one another) were the subject of speculation early on, but have generally been treated consistently in American publications from 2003 onward.[13]
In Disney comics published by Egmont (Scandinavia) and Abril (Brazil), Mickey lives in Duckburg—even though Mickey and Donald only rarely team up in shared comics adventures. The same tradition extends to Disney comics published in Germany by Egmont subdivision Ehapa (Duckburg is called Entenhausen in German), although the German comics have mentioned possible equivalents of Mouseton as neighboring towns or villages: Mausdorf (German for "mouse village") and Mäuslingen (German equivalent to "Mouseville").
In Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil and Scandinavia, local tradition has it that Mickey's hometown is simply a different district of Duckburg. In Disney theme parks, the Roger Rabbit-inspired Toontown, a district in Los Angeles specifically for cartoon characters, is presented as Mickey's home.
Non-Mouseton continuity
In some 1920s and 1930s Disney press releases and magazines, Mickey was described as living in Hollywood—even though the rural setting of the actual cartoons and comics had little in common with the actual Hollywood.
In the film Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip (1940) Mickey and Pluto live in the real world city of Burbank, California, home of Walt Disney Studios.
In Kingdom Hearts and its sequel Kingdom Hearts II, both the Mouseton and Duckburg characters live in a realm called "Disney Castle."
The Walt Disney Parks and Resorts modeled Mickey's hometown and birthplace as Mickey's Toontown. Occasional modern animated projects reference Toontown as well.
In the TV series Goof Troop (1992–1993) Goofy and Pete live in the fictional town of Spoonerville. The town also appears in the 1993 videogame of the same name and in the two films based on the series: A Goofy Movie (1995) and An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000).
Main characters
Mickey Mouse. An anthropomorphic mouse most often dressed in gloves, red shorts and yellow shoes. While typically given a modest and pleasant personality, he is often an enthusiastic and determined character, seeking new adventures, excitement and mysteries. He often serves as the de facto leader of his friends. He was introduced in 1928.
Minnie Mouse. She is Mickey's female counterpart, an anthropomorphic mouse usually portrayed as his girlfriend who first appeared in 1928. Originally characterized as a flapper, Minnie has often played Mickey's damsel in distress.
Goofy. He is Mickey's goofy but good-natured and well-meaning friend who was first introduced in 1932. Goofy is an anthropomorphic dog who is accident-prone. In some stories he dates Clarabelle Cow while other times he is shown as a single parent. His original name was Dippy Dawg.
Pluto. He is Mickey Mouse's pet dog who was first introduced in 1930 as Minnie's dog Rover and in 1931 as Mickey's dog. Unlike the anthropomorphic Goofy, Pluto is characterized as a normal dog who walks on four legs, and almost never speaks.
Clarabelle Cow. A tall, anthropomorphic cow who is Minnie Mouse's friend and is introduced in 1928. She is prone to gossip and occasionally plays a well-meaning but ineffective parent figure to Donald Duck. She has been known to date both Horace Horsecollar and Goofy.
Horace Horsecollar. A tall, anthropomorphic horse who is Mickey Mouse's friend who first appeared in 1929. He is prone to bragging and practical joking. Before the appearance of Donald Duck and Goofy, Horace was Mickey Mouse's usual sidekick. He is often seen as the boyfriend of Clarabelle Cow.
Pete (also called Peg-Leg Pete or Black Pete among other names). A large chubby anthropomorphic cat and a recurring antagonist who was first introduced in 1925. His character ranges from a hardened criminal to an ethical menace. In the comics he is sometimes paired with Sylvester Shyster.
The Phantom Blot. A mysterious enemy of Mickey Mouse who wears a body-length black sheet. An altered, monstrous version of the character, known as the "Shadow Blot," serves as the antagonist of the first Epic Mickey game.
Max Goof. Max is Goofy's teenage son, who has only made a few comics appearances. (Most have been related to the Goof Troop TV series in which he was first named.)
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. A black rabbit and Mickey Mouse's half-brother. He plays an opponent in the noncomics continuity of Epic Mickey
Chip 'n' Dale. Two chipmunks who are often trouble-makers for Pluto and Donald. However, the chipmunks are often provoked, especially by Donald.
Mickey Mouse family
Felicity Fieldmouse
Felicity Fieldmouse (née Mouse) is Mickey's older sister and the mother of Mickey's twin nephews Morty and Ferdie. The character first appeared in Morty and Ferdie's 1932 comics debut: there, she looks old and is not stated to be Mickey's sister. Indeed, Mickey calls her "Mrs. Fieldmouse" as if she were an unrelated acquaintance, implying that Morty and Ferdie call Mickey "uncle" as a form of courtesy. Danish editor Egmont Publishing used the character again in seven stories published between 2000 and 2008, reimagining some aspects while refraining from declaring the old and the new character the same one. This new incarnation looks younger and is identified as Mickey's sister. She is now named Felicity, a name that was kept in the American localization of these Danish stories. In Egmont production notes her husband is named Frank Fieldmouse, though the character has never appeared in a story.[14]
Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse
Mortimer "Morty" and Ferdinand "Ferdie" Fieldmouse are Mickey Mouse's twin nephews. They first appeared in Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse Sunday page storyline titled "Mickey's Nephews" (1932). Since then they have appeared in lots of comic strips and comic book stories starring Mickey Mouse and Pluto. Morty and Ferdy were first shown as wearing shirts, but no pants or underpants. Pants were later added to their wardrobe.
Ferdie disappeared from the Mickey Mouse comic strip in 1943 because Gottfredson thought the nephews were too much alike. He had plans to bring Ferdie back later as a bespectacled, intellectual, bookworm mouse with an Eton hat and coat with the explanation that he had been away at school. However, Gottfredson never got around to bringing Ferdie back and Morty remained in the strip alone. Morty was occasionally depicted with his best friend named Alvin and a sweetheart named Millie. Both were anthropomorphic dogs. Ferdie never vanished from comic book stories, however. In recent years, some of Morty and Ferdie's comic book appearances have portrayed them as (very talented) football players on the team Riverside Rovers. Their mother is depicted as a supportive "Soccer Mom." Morty & Ferdie are also occasionally pitted against their antagonists Melody, Minnie Mouse's niece and Pete's twin hellion nephews, Pierino & Pieretto. Morty should not be confused with Mickey Mouse's originally proposed name "Mortimer Mouse," or Mickey's ofttimes rival of the same name Mortimer Mouse, or Minnie's wealthy rancher Uncle Mortimer. Morty is a playable character on the PlayStation 2 game Disney Golf.
In pre-World War II children's books produced by Disney, the nephews were usually called Morty and Monty. Earlier books contain three or more nephews with various names, including Maisie and Marmaduke.
In animation, Mickey's nephews first appear in the 1933 Mickey Mouse film Giantland, although the film shows Mickey with as many as 14 nephews at the same time. The following year the nephews appear again in Gulliver Mickey. The following film, Mickey's Steam Roller, is the first to show Mickey with only two nephews, who can be presumed to be Morty and Ferdie, although they are unnamed in the film itself. This was two years after the twins debuted in the comic strip. Morty and Ferdie also make a cameo towards the end of 1938's Boat Builders and appear again in 1983's Mickey's Christmas Carol in speaking roles, albeit at different ages as one of the twins took on the role of Tiny Tim. In 1999 they make a cameo in the two-part Mickey Mouse Works segment "Around the World in Eighty Days", which was used again in Disney's House of Mouse. They also appear in the Mickey Mouse episode "The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular!"[15]
Madeline Mouse
Madeline Mouse is Mickey's blonde city cousin who appeared in "Love Trouble", a strip serial that ran from April 14 to July 5, 1941. While referred to as blonde in the story itself, Madeline has also been coloured with straight yellow fur in some printings of the story.
Melinda Mouse
Melinda Mouse (original Italian name Topolinda) is Mickey Mouse's aunt, created by Romano Scarpa in 1960 for his story The Chirikawa Necklace.[16] Since 2004, she has become a regular recurring character in Italian Disney comics.
Melinda is a tall old lady with a long nose and she dresses in a very formal way. She wears a pair of earrings, but her ears are covered by hair. The colour of Melinda's hair changes according to the colourists, but in recent stories, they appear blond. In her debut story, young Melinda has black hair.
According to The Chirikawa Necklace, Melinda took care of Mickey when he was a baby. But one day, (taking advantage of a moment of distraction by Melinda) a young Big Bad Pete and his girlfriend Trudy Van Tubb kidnapped a baby Mickey Mouse and Melinda was forced to exchange Mickey for her Indian necklace. Years later, Mickey and his friend Atomo Beep-Beep discovered the truth and retrieved Melinda's necklace to her.
She is a lovely and cheerful person, and deeply attached to her nephew Mickey (with whom she shares a passion for mysteries and investigations) but the memory of baby Mickey's kidnapping caused her to develop feelings of guilt, and a too protective attitude towards her nephew.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an anthropomorphic black rabbit who is described metafictionally as Mickey's older half "brother" in the video game Epic Mickey. This is a reference to the fact that Oswald was Walt Disney's primary cartoon star before the creation of Mickey Mouse, though he was owned by Universal Pictures at the time. Disney's removal from the Oswald series in 1928 led to Mickey's creation. In 2006, The Walt Disney Company acquired the rights to Oswald, and have since used him in the Epic Mickey video game franchise. The game is actually unclear on whether Mickey and Oswald are actually brothers; Yen Sid's closing narration merely states that the wizard hopes the two heroes will come to think of each other as brothers.
Minnie Mouse family
Marcus Mouse
Marcus Mouse is Minnie's father. He first appears as a farmer in the Mickey Mouse comic strip story line "Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers," first published between September 22 and December 26, 1930. He has also appeared in some English stories from 1930s Mickey Mouse Annuals.
Marshal Mouse and Matilda Mouse
Marshal Mouse and Matilda Mouse are Minnie's grandparents.
Millie and Melody Mouse
Millie and Melody Mouse are Minnie Mouse's twin nieces. Minnie has had an inconsistent list of nieces. In Europe and Brazil, most often a single niece is depicted, consistently named Melodia (Melody). She is a Disney Studio creation by Jim Fletcher in the mid-sixties whose primary "task" seems to be to drive Morty & Ferdie crazy.
However, in at least one other Italian or Brazilian tale Minnie did have another niece named Zizi (whether this was the name of Melody's twin or just another name for Melody is unknown). In America, Minnie's twin nieces have appeared under two names: Millie and Melody and Pammy and Tammy. Although the writer of these comics is unknown, they were both drawn by Paul Murry, who rarely worked with characters that sported the same names even if they ostensibly were the same characters. In Italy, there is another set of twin nieces, Lily & Tiny, who are in their teen years. These teenage nieces have yet to appear in comics printed in the USA.
It is reported that another name is attributed in American comics giving Minnie's single niece the name of Molly. Another set of nieces appear in an early Mickey Mouse book from the 1940s as triplets calling themselves "Dolly, Polly & Molly," while a lone niece attributed to Mickey appears in the cartoon "Gulliver Mickey" (1934) named "Maisie" (listed in Mickey Mouse: His Life and Times (Harper & Row, 1986)).
The only possible film appearance of any niece is in 1983's "Mickey's Christmas Carol," where Mickey Mouse, as Bob Cratchit, has a daughter. In this film Morty & Ferdie are said to have played Cratchit's two sons (including one as Tiny Tim), and since Melody seems to be the most consistent name used for any niece attributed to Minnie, it is probable that it was Melody who played the role of Bob Crachit's daughter.
Millie & Melody both appear in Minnie's Bow-Toons on Disney Junior, and are voiced by Avalon Robbins.
Uncle Mortimer
Uncle Mortimer is Minnie's uncle from whom she inherits an estate. He is a rancher and first appears in the Mickey Mouse comic strip story line "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley" (1930). After that, he appears in several other Mickey Mouse comic strip adventures in the 1930s. He has occasionally appeared in more modern comics.
Minnie's other nieces
Minnie Mouse has a variety of nieces besides Millie and Melody.
- Angela Mouse (Minnie's best friend)
- An unnamed baby niece (appeared in the 1944-02-26 strip by Bill Walsh)
- Giselle (French niece who appeared in the 1956-11-24 strip by Bill Walsh)
- Mildred (niece who appeared in the 1955-05-15 strip by Bill Walsh)
Supporting characters
Chief O'Hara
Chief Seamus O'Hara is the chief of police in the Mickey Mouse universe. He plays a supportive role in Mickey Mouse's comic-book mysteries, often relying on Mickey's help to solve crimes committed by criminals such as Pete, The Phantom Blot and others. Known fellow officers include his head detective, Detective Casey.
O'Hara also appeared on Mickey Mouse Works and Disney's House of Mouse, voiced by Corey Burton.
The character was conceived by Floyd Gottfredson and Merrill De Maris for Disney's comic strips as a stereotypical Irish cop. He first appeared in the newspaper strips in May 1939, in the serial "Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot". In the Brazilian version of the comics, he is known as "Coronel Cintra", in the Danish versions as "Politimester Striks", in the Finnish translation he is known as "Poliisimestari Simo Sisu" (possibly named after the Finnish concept of sisu), in the French versions as "Commissaire Finot", in the German versions as "Kommissar Albert Hunter" (Kommissar means commissioner in German), in the Italian version as "Commissario Adamo Basettoni" (with "Basettoni" referring to his prominent sideburns, "basette"), and in the Swedish versions as "Kommissarie Konrad Karlsson".
In Italian stories O'Hara has a wife called Petulia. Before her introduction, O'Hara would frequently mention his wife, with the first instance of this being "The Gleam" (1942).
Detective Casey
Detective Casey (sometimes Inspector Casey) is Chief O'Hara's head detective, first appearing in the Mickey Mouse daily comic in the 1938 sequence The Plumber's Helper. The story was plotted and penciled by Floyd Gottfredson and written by Merrill De Maris. Casey disappeared from American comics in the 1950s, but was used frequently in Europe, especially in Italy, afterwards; from 2003, he returned as a frequent player in the American comics once again.
Despite his occupation, Casey is an impatient man of only average intelligence. Thus, while sometimes a successful detective, he is prone to bungling cases as well. Therefore, Chief O'Hara often recruits Mickey Mouse to help solve some of Casey's cases, much to Casey's general irritation.
Eega Beeva
Eega Beeva, also known by his proper name Pittisborum Psercy Pystachi Pseter Psersimmon Plummer-Push, is a human from the future, sometimes also referred to as an alien and first appeared on September 26, 1947 in the Mickey Mouse comic strip storyline titled The Man of Tomorrow. Since then he and Mickey have been portrayed as good friends in subsequent stories. Eega Beeva wears short black trousers, which store a large number of useful items, often helping Mickey Mouse and Eega in difficult situations. Another trademark attribute of the character is his unique speech, adding a "p" at the beginning of most words. In European stories he has been shown to prefer sleeping on top of narrow poles, such as on top of Mickey Mouse's bed post. He eats mothballs for food and is severely allergic to cash; these traits have sometimes been used as plot devices.
Eega Beeva was created by Bill Walsh and Floyd Gottfredson. He was a recurring character in the American newspaper Disney comic strips for nearly three years until July 1950, when Eega abruptly returned to his home in the future.[17] The character was adapted to comics of Italian artists in the 1950s and has since then appeared in various European Disney comic book stories, especially in Italy. He is referred to as Eta Beta in Italian and Gamma in German.
In his debut story, Mickey Mouse and his friend Goofy seek shelter from a thunderstorm and get lost in a cave. There, Mickey suddenly encounters an unusual humanoid who only says "Eega" at first. When Mickey and Goofy find the exit of the cave, Mickey invites the being to stay at his house, to which he gives the name "Eega Beeva", while the character himself states that his name is "Pittisborum Psercy Pystachi Pseter Psersimmon Plummer-Push." At first, Goofy refuses to believe in the existence of Eega Beeva and ignores his presence. In a series of events, two scientists conclude that Eega Beeva is a human from 500 years in the future. At the end of the storyline, Eega saves Goofy from a skiing accident, causing them to become friends.[18][19]
In the next comic strip storyline starring Eega Beeva, Mickey Makes a Killing, his pet Pflip the Thnuckle Booh is introduced.[20] Eega continues being Mickey's sidekick in the American comic strips until July 1950.[21] In the comic strips featuring Eega Beeva, Goofy only makes very few appearances and Eega acts as Mickey's sidekick instead. In the first two strips of the storyline Mousepotamia in July 1950, it is explained that Eega is homesick. Therefore, he returns to the cave where Mickey found him. Afterwards, he did not appear again in the American newspaper comic strips for unknown reasons.[18]
When Eega Beeva was still featured in the American comic strips, he made his first appearance in an Italian Disney comic. It is titled L'inferno di Topolino (lit. "Mickey Mouse's inferno"). The character was newly discovered and defined by Italian comics artist and writer Romano Scarpa with the comic Topolino e la nave del microcosmo (lit. "Mickey Mouse and the ship of microcosm"), published in Topolino issue 167 in July 1957. Rather than his whimsical attributes, this story focuses on the futuristic and fantastic aspects of Eega Beeva and his environment, as do later stories.[18] Some of those stories star Eega Beeva without Mickey.[22] More than half of all comics featuring the character were produced in Italy.[18]
Eega Beeva is depicted as a humanoid being with a wide head, mitten-like hands and a scrawny body. He wears short black trousers. His name is a pun on the idiom "eager beaver". In The Man of Tomorrow, the name is given to him by Mickey, since Eega Beeva originally only said "Eega."[19] In the original conception of the character, Eega Beeva's look was attributed to him being a highly evolved human from 500 years in the future, namely from the year 2447. All humans would have Eega-like proportions.[19]
Older Italian stories often portrayed him as an alien from outer space, but in the most recent Italian stories (post-2000), Italian writers have generally reverted to Gottfredson's original conception of Eega as a future-man, though his precise year of origin is rarely mentioned. New Eega comics produced by Egmont, on the other hand, often refer to his hometown as being the Mouseton of 2447—just as in Gottfredson's original stories.
Atomo Bleep-Bleep
Atomo Bleep-Bleep (Italian: Atomino Bip-Bip, lit. '"Little Atom Beep-Beep"') is a "humanized atom" created by Doctor Einmug, who used a gigantic meson accelerator to enlarge atoms to the size of a human child. Bleep-Bleep is a good-natured, hard-working blue creature with electrons constantly spinning around his large bald head. He was created at the same time as his "brother", a red atom named Bloop-Bloop, who was bad-tempered and lazy. Bleep-Bleep can spit mesons to alter or manipulate the attributes of physical objects. In their first adventure, Atomo and Mickey grew close, and the human atom apparently lived with Mickey for some time.[23]
Atomo Bleep-Bleep was created by Italian author Romano Scarpa, and first appeared in Topolino #206 (May 1959), in "Topolino e la Dimensione Delta" ("Mickey Mouse in the Delta Dimension"). Scarpa wrote and drew a further eight stories with Atomo that appeared in Topolino from 1959 to 1965. The character has been revived occasionally by other authors.[24]
In his appearance as well as his role in the stories, Atomo is very similar to Gottfredson's Eega Beeva, a short, friendly science-fiction character with unpredictable powers that drive the plot.
Mortimer Mouse
Two different characters in Mickey's world carry the name Mortimer Mouse. One is the uncle of Minnie Mouse; another is an unrelated mouse who was Mickey's rival for Minnie's affections. Mickey Mouse himself was originally going to be named Mortimer. Lillian Disney, Walt's wife, suggested the name Mickey instead.[25]
The first Mortimer was created by Walt Disney and Floyd Gottfredson for the comics. He was Minnie Mouse's ranch-owning cattleman uncle. He first appeared in the serial Mickey Mouse in Death Valley (1930). After that, he appeared or was referenced in many other Mickey Mouse comic strip adventures in the 1930s. He has occasionally appeared in more modern comics.
In the 1936 cartoon short Mickey's Rival, the second Mortimer was introduced as Mickey's competitor for Minnie's affections. In the comics, this Mortimer was briefly renamed Montmorency Rodent (pronounced "Ro-Dawn"), in an attempt to differentiate him from the pre-existing uncle, but the new name did not stick. Mickey's rival was once again called Mortimer in later comics — and in the animated series Mickey Mouse Works and House of Mouse, where he utilized the catchphrase, "Ha-cha-cha!"
In House of Mouse and Mickey Mouse Works, Mortimer as Mickey's rival is voiced by Maurice LaMarche, doing an exaggerated impersonation of Jon Lovitz. As Minnie's boss in Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, he was voiced by Jeff Bennett. Mortimer Mouse also appeared in a non-speaking cameo in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode Minnie's Birthday, sitting beneath a tree, playing a guitar. He later appeared in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode "Super Adventure" as a villain where he intends to shrink the clubhouse. Bennett reprised his role as Mortimer in the 2018 Mickey Mouse short "A Pete Scorned". He also appeared in Mickey and the Roadster Racers as Morty McCool.
Doctor Einmug
Doctor Einmug is a scientist who was created by Ted Osborne (plot) and Floyd Gottfredson (plot and art) in the story Island in the Sky, published in the Mickey Mouse comic strip from November 1936 to April 1937. He is a large man who wears a big white beard and laboratory coat.
Doctor Einmug specializes in atomic physics and speaks in a German-like accent which was probably a nod towards Albert Einstein, "mug" also being a pun on "stein". His introductory story, Island in the Sky, raises many issues about the benefits but also the dangers of atomic physics just a few years before the first atom bombs were developed.
After that, Einmug did not re-appear in American comics for almost 50 years, but he was used in Italian ones, starting some 12 years later in 1959 when he appeared in Romano Scarpa's Topolino e la dimensione Delta ("Mickey Mouse and the Delta Dimension"). In this story he had discovered the means to travel to what he called the Delta Dimension, which was effectively an infinite void of nothing, just space.
Setting his laboratory up in the Delta Dimension, Einmug pursued his work and discovered that atoms were in fact living beings. He thus increased the size of one of them to that of a small boy and named him Atomo Bleep-Bleep (Italian: Atomino Bip-Bip). Atomo was highly intelligent and had many supernatural abilities, including turning metal into chocolate[26] or estimating with absolute precision when an object was created.[27] Atomo would accompany Mickey on several adventures as a kind of alternative Eega Beeva.
Einmug himself has also appeared in numerous European Mickey Mouse comics. He is often shown as less secretive and paranoid than in his original appearance, though his discoveries are still coveted by the likes of Pete and the Phantom Blot.
Einmug reappeared in American comics in 1991 in the story A Snatch in Time! in which he had developed a time machine. It was written by Lamar Waldron and drawn by Rick Hoover and Gary Martin. More recently, Einmug has also appeared in American editions of The Delta Dimension and other European-made stories.
In American comics, Atomo Bleep-Bleep speaks with a German accent identical to Einmug's, insofar as Einmug was presented as Atomo's language teacher.
Doc Static
Doc Static is an overweight, clean-shaven inventor with a lab coat, wavy hair and glasses who appears in Egmont comic stories. He serves the same role in Mickey stories that Gyro Gearloose or Ludwig Von Drake have for Donald and Scrooge.
Doc Static first appeared in Plastic Mickey! in 1995.
Ellsworth
Ellsworth started out as Goofy's pet mynah bird but in later stories he became an independent anthropomorphic animal. His full name being Ellsworth Bheezer (occasionally misspelled Bhezer—"beezer" is old English slang for a big nose or beak). He was created for the Mickey Mouse Sunday pages, but has been used in longer comics as well, especially the ones produced in Italy, France and Brazil.
Ellsworth usually wears a red-orange shirt and a green cap or beret. Reflecting a trait of mynah birds who can imitate human speech, he is extremely vain and self-centered, which was originally the spotlight and center of jokes in his stories. On the other hand, Ellsworth is also a bonafide genius with awesome tech and scientific knowledge—the "Y" on his shirt in earlier stories stands for "Yarvard" (a parody of Harvard), his alma mater.
Despite being more or less entirely humanized in more recent stories, Ellsworth retains his ability to fly, a unique trait among the central Disney funny animal cast.
In manner, Ellsworth is often sarcastic and condescending, typically addressing others with statements like "Let's not [do X], shall we?" He is also quick to call others by insulting nicknames. But when push comes to shove, he is genuinely fond of and defensive of his pals Goofy and Mickey.
Ellroy
Ellroy (original Italian name Bruto Gancetto) is Ellsworth's somewhat smaller adoptive son and Mickey Mouse's sidekick in numerous Italian stories. Created by Romano Scarpa in 1975, Ellroy first appeared in American comic books in 2016.
Sylvester Shyster
Sylvester Shyster is a crooked lawyer and evil criminal mastermind who generally teams up with Peg-Leg Pete. The character has been described by some as a weasel or a rat (the latter being Gottfredson's own interpretation), but his ears suggest that he is rather an anthropomorphic canine.
He first appeared in the comic strip adventure "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley", the first real Mickey Mouse continuity, which was partially written by Walt Disney and drawn by Win Smith and other artists, before being taken over by Floyd Gottfredson (plot and art). In this story, Sylvester Shyster was a crooked lawyer who attempted, with the help of his henchman Pete, to deprive Minnie Mouse of her inheritance.
Shyster and Pete have been causing trouble for Mickey and his friends since then. Shyster is generally depicted as the duo's brain, with Pete acting as the brawn. He is probably the only person Pete will listen to without rebellion.
After Shyster's first appearance, Gottfredson made no further references to his profession as a lawyer, apart from his name. Later creators occasionally referenced Shyster's role as a lawyer, with one story ("Trial and Error," 2007) forcing Shyster to defend Mickey himself in an overseas courtroom.
Shyster disappeared for a time after 1934, but made comebacks in 1942, 1950 and again in various 1960s Italian-created stories. More recently, publisher Egmont Creative A/S (in Denmark) revived Shyster as a regular character, a capacity in which he continues today.
The Sleuth
The Sleuth, Sureluck Sleuth in full,[28] is an anthropomorphic canine. He is an English private eye operating in 19th century London and employing Mickey Mouse as an assistant. The character was created by Carl Fallberg (plot) and Al Hubbard (art) for the Disney Studio Program and intended solely for foreign publication. The first story in the series is "Mickey and the Sleuth: The Case of the Wax Dummy". Unusually for material created for the program this story appeared domestically in the Procter & Gamble Disney Magazine giveaway and then was published by Gold Key in "Walt Disney Showcase" n°38 (1977). Given their historical setting, the "Mickey and the Sleuth" stories stand apart from other Mickey Mouse continuities. It is never explained if the "Mickey Mouse" working with the Sleuth is an ancestor of the present-day Mickey or if those stories are to be included in a totally different continuity. Apart from Mickey, no other prominent Disney characters are featured in the stories.
The Sleuth is a good-natured gentleman; wearing a deerstalker hat, smoking a pipe and using a magnifying glass, he is an obvious parody of Sherlock Holmes, Mickey basically playing the part of Dr. Watson. Like his literary counterpart, he also plays the violin (albeit horribly). Unlike Sherlock Holmes, he is totally hopeless as a detective, being sometimes unable to figure out crimes that happen right in front of his eyes. Nevertheless, he always manages to solve his cases — hence ensuring a reputation as a great detective — either by sheer luck, or thanks to his foes' own incompetence, or simply because Mickey Mouse does all the actual detective work for him.
The Sleuth's constant foes are Professor Nefarious (a parody of Professor Moriarty), a London-based "teacher of crime" and his three henchmen-pupils Fliplip, Sidney and Armadillo. Their hideout is a rundown townhouse with the words "University of Criminal Sciences" written on its front door. While Nefarious is reasonably smart (although his own megalomania sometimes hinders his plans), his three accomplices are thoroughly inept comical villains. Mickey and the Sleuth imprison the gang at the end of each story, although Nefarious himself generally manages to escape.
Apart from Mickey no one seems to be aware of the Sleuth's utter incompetence. Nefarious considers the Sleuth — not Mickey — as his greatest enemy. Why Mickey would keep being the assistant of such an inept detective is never explained.
Mickey and the Sleuth stories were produced up until the late 1980s.
The characters of The Sleuth and Professor Nefarious, complete with the University of Criminal Sciences and the henchman Fliplip, were portrayed in an extended sketch in an episode of The New Mickey Mouse Club in 1978. Two Mouseketeer cast members – Lisa Whelchel as the Sleuth's niece Lisa, and Scott Craig as Fliplip – performed alongside the two lead rivals, utilizing puppetry and ventriloquism skills. The setting of the story was England, near the White Cliffs of Dover.
Professor Nefarious
Professor Nefarious (simply known as Nefarious) is a villain who origins in the 1975 comic book, The Case of the Pea Soup Burglaries. He is the Sleuth's arch-enemy. Despite being a criminal genius, he believes the Sleuth is a genius detective, never realizing that the Sleuth is totally clueless and that the Sleuth's assistant Mickey Mouse is the one who actually foils him.
Professor Nefarious sees himself as a "teacher of crime" for his three henchmen-pupils Fliplip, Sidney and Armadillo. Their hideout is a rundown townhouse with the words "University of Criminal Sciences" written on its front door. While Nefarious is reasonably smart (although his own megalomania sometimes hinders his plans), his three accomplices are thoroughly inept comical villains. Mickey and the Sleuth imprison the gang at the end of each story, although Nefarious himself generally manages to escape.
Eli Squinch
Eli Squinch is an evil miser who first appeared as a villain with Black Pete in the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He first appeared in the strip in "Bobo the Elephant" (1934) as the abusive owner of an elephant which Mickey later forced Squinch to sell him. In his second appearance, "Race to Riches" (1935), he teams up with Black Pete for the first time against Mickey and Horace Horsecollar.
Squinch has gone on to appear in additional Disney stories up to the present day, though generally only one story every couple of years—while a recognized character, Squinch seems never to have been one of the most popular villains.
Squinch's most recent United States appearance was in Mickey Mouse #321 (2016), published by IDW.
Doctor Vulter
Doctor Vulter is a villain featured in Mickey Mouse comics. He was created by Ted Osborne (plot) and Floyd Gottfredson (plot and art) in the story Mickey Mouse and the Pirate Submarine, published in the Mickey Mouse daily strip from September 1935 to January 1936.
Dr. Vulter is an anthropomorphic ape, resembling a gorilla. He is a megalomaniacal pirate captain and mad scientist, somewhat modeled after Jules Verne's Captain Nemo character. Using a futuristic submarine and a small army of henchmen, he plagues the seas by stealing various ships which he aims to use for his plans of world conquest. His principal weapon is a machine in the form of a large claw which gives off magnetic-like energy: by placing it against a ship's hull Vulter can turn the whole metal ship into one large magnet which sticks weapons to the wall, making them useless.
Vulter's Germanic-sounding name, his uniform and monocle, as well as his plans of world domination and militaristic gang, are obvious echoes of the Nazi menace of the time.
After being defeated by Mickey, Vulter never appeared again in American stories. He was later used by Italian authors, starting with the 1959 story Topolino e il ritorno dell'artiglio magnetico ("Mickey Mouse and the Return of the Magnetic Claw") by Guido Martina (plot) and Giulio Chierchini (art). The character was further elaborated in this story by the claim that he never drew plans of his inventions but kept it all in his mind; this proved a bit of a problem when he suffered from amnesia. He returned occasionally and is still used from time to time by European authors.
Gideon Goat
Gideon Goat or Giddy Goat is an anthropomorphic goat, a supporting character in the Mickey Mouse comic strips of the 1930s. Gideon first appeared in the 1930, Mickey Mouse Book #1.[29] He appeared in various American and European printed Disney comics until 1938. He was usually characterized as a farmer or the local sheriff. Gideon is married to a female anthropomorphic goat named Gertie (presumably Gertrude) who also appeared in many early Mickey Mouse comics, primarily as a background character.
Promotional materials for the 1935 animated short The Band Concert include Giddy Goat as one of the characters. In the released film, he was replaced by a trombonist dog character.[30]
Floyd Gottfredson made regular use of the character in his comic strips and later artists sometimes borrowed the character.
Arizona Goof
Arizona Goof (original Italian name: "Indiana Pipps") is an archaeologist and a cousin of Goofy, being a clear parody of Indiana Jones. Arizona has a rare habit of not using beds, doors, or stairs. Instead, he sleeps in a tent, enters and exits houses through windows and climbs floors by a rope. Arizona is fond of a specific brand of liquorice candy (the brand is called Negritas in original Italian language version, Tuju in the Finnish language translation), which he never travels without and is addicted to the taste of, but which everyone else finds horrible. Arizona's car is an old jeep which he has named affectionately as Gippippa (Jeep + Pippo, Goofy's Italian name). Arizona has a rival archaeologist, Dr. Kranz, who is greedy and shameless and not above resorting to criminal behaviour. Arizona and Goofy look almost identical, which has been used as a plot device, when Goofy has masqueraded as Arizona to fool Dr. Kranz. For the readers' benefit, there is one small difference: Arizona has hairs dangling from his floppy ears, whereas Goofy's floppy ears are smooth.
Arizona Goof received his English name in his first American comics appearance (1991). In a couple of 2005–2006 appearances, the character was inexplicably renamed "Arizona Dipp". But more recent uses (Disney Digicomics, 2009–2010) have restored his traditional English name.
Gilbert Goof
Gilbert Goof is Goofy's nephew in classic Disney comic book appearances, and a smarter counterpart for Goofy. He was first introduced, with a bang (literally), in the Dell Four Color # 562 when he came to stay with his uncle Goofy for a vacation. When he was late arriving Goofy and Mickey looked all over town for Gilbert. After an explosion occurs at the local Scientific Research Laboratories, Gilbert is thrown clear and land atop his uncle. Tattered and charred scientists give chase to Gilbert and Goofy assumes the worse. Gilbert confesses to causing the explosion, but the scientists extol their amazement upon Gilbert and plead with him to join their crew. Without an ounce of humility Gilbert declines their offer so he can spend time with his "lovable...though dumb...uncle Goofy." Mickey gives Goofy and Gilbert some tickets for a local television program which turns out to be a quiz show. Gilbert becomes a contestant and finds he cannot answer a simple nursery rhyme (what follows, "Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the...."?) It becomes painfully clear that Gilbert sorely lacks an understanding of the simplest of educations and decides he must stay on with his Uncle until he completes his schooling. One morning, after realizing his uncle had not been home all night, Gilbert went out searching for him. Bumping into Super Goof he asks for the hero's aid in finding Goofy. At that same moment the effects of the "super goobers" wore off revealing to Gilbert that his uncle and Super Goof were one and the same. At the same time Super Goof's reputation had fallen into disrepute so Goofy confides to Gilbert the secret of his powers. Gilbert then consumes super goobers and is imbued with super-powers, becomes Super Goof's sidekick and calls himself "Super Gilly" ("Super Goof" #5 in "The Twister Resisters").
Kat Nipp
Kat Nipp (not to be confused with Harvey Comics character Katnip), his name a play on the word catnip, is a villainous anthropomorphic cat. Kat Nipp is an often-drunk countryside tough guy who is a rival of Mickey Mouse.
Nipp made his debut in the animated short The Opry House (1929), in which he posed as a snake for a snake-charming act—continuing to smoke his pipe all the while. Nipp's other two appearances in animation also came in 1929, with When the Cat's Away and The Karnival Kid. The latter film introduced Nipp's habit of physically abusing Mickey, here by stretching out Mickey's nose to a ridiculous length. Kat Nipp is often mistaken for Pete.
Kat Nipp reappeared in a 1931 sequence of the Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip (in which his friend Barnacle Bill, a sailor who is an expert in untying knots, appears). Kat Nipp was also used in the strips produced in the United Kingdom for the Mickey Mouse Annual. The character quickly faded away and has made only a handful of comics appearances since the mid-1930s.
Brick Boulder
Brick Boulder[31] (original Italian name "Rock Sassi", which is a pleonasm as "sassi" means "rocks") is a plainclothes police officer who usually works together with Detective Casey. He first appeared in the story La lunga notte del commissario Manetta (English title: Casey's Longest Night) in 1997, written by Tito Faraci and drawn by Giorgio Cavazzano .[32]
Like Casey, Brick Boulder is a bumbling and incompetent policeman. Curiously though, his intelligence seems to vary, even between stories by the same writer. He is physically more robust than the overweight Casey and likes to dress flashily, often wearing cowboy boots, a stetson and a bolo tie. He has been said to be a parody of Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the latter aspect being particularly obvious in his first appearance, but later toned down.
Brick Boulder is from Texas, United States. In one story, it was revealed that his entire family consists of criminals. Despite this, Brick Boulder is fully law-abiding and has been wanting to be a policeman since his early childhood, much to the disappointment of his family. Another quirk of his is that he is afraid of alligators, as shown in the story "Topolino e lo strano caso di Jack Due di Cuori".
Eurasia Toft
Eurasia Toft ("Eurasia Tost" in Italian) is an adventurer and archaeologist, and a friend of Mickey and Goofy. Her first appearance happened in the story "The Lost Explorers' Trail", written by Casty (who also created the character) and drawn by Giorgio Cavazzano She is a strong-willed character and can react very impulsively. Fans have likened her to Arizona Goof, though she has less personality quirks. Her name and character actually parodies both Indiana Jones as well as Lara Croft (her Greek name is "Clara Loft"). Ever since the end of "Shadow of the Colossus", she is obsessed with Atlantis; in her quest for the lost continent, she has repeatedly confronted a secret society called "Horde of the Violet Hare" (also created by Casty), who want to use Atlantean technology for their own goals.
Charlie Doublejoke
Charlie Doublejoke (original Italian name Vito Doppioscherzo) is a criminal genius with a penchant for elaborate jokes and pranks. Besides his signature laugh "Wah-wah-wah", a characteristic of his is the bowler hat that he does not only like to wear, but that also informs the shape of his transportation devices. He is so manipulative and charismatic that he managed to fool the entirety of Mouseton into thinking he was a good guy more than once, with Mickey usually being the only one sceptical of him (according to his debut story 'The Magnificent Doublejoke', they were schoolmates until Charlie's habits of bullying others had gone so far that he was expelled from school).
Clara Cluck
Clara Cluck debuted in 1934 in the Mickey Mouse cartoon Orphan's Benefit. Since then she has appeared as a semi regular character in the Mickey Mouse cartoons. In the comic books she is shown in Duck universe as Daisy Duck's best friend. Clara has been a member of Mickey's original farmyard gang since the beginning of his career, although she is seen less often than Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar.[33]
Clara's singing is meant to be a caricature of the Bel Canto style of Opera singing popular at the time of her appearance. Some of her arias are clearly modelled on those of Tosca. Her last major appearance was as one of the musicians in Symphony Hour. Curiously, although she is seen in the rehearsal scenes at the beginning, she is not seen in the performance scenes at the end.
As with most Disney characters, she was given small cameos in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). She had some appearances in Mickey Mouse Works (1999), where she is presented as Daisy Duck's neighbor. She appeared occasionally in House of Mouse (2001). In one episode of that series, "Double Date Don", she fell in love with Donald Duck and aggressively pursued him by puckering her lips in front of him, forcing him to dance with her, wearing dresses and posing provocatively to lure him in. At one point she even grabs Donald and forcibly, yet passionately, kisses him full on the lips. She almost tricked Donald into marrying her but Daisy stopped the wedding in time. In Disney comics on the other hand, she has been shown to date Gus Goose on very few occasions, and in the initial appearance of Panchito Pistoles she was the object of his affections. She also had appeared to put Minnie Mouse in jail for driving her car through Daisy's house to deliver a famous apple pie of hers.
Clara made a cameo appearance in the Timeless River world of Kingdom Hearts II with many other Disney characters like Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar as one of the world's citizens. She also makes an appearance in the Mickey's Boo to You Parade and for rare meet and greets at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.
Originally voiced by Florence Gill and later Russi Taylor.
Willie the Giant
Willie the Giant is a giant that appeared in the Disney cartoons Mickey and the Beanstalk (from the film Fun and Fancy Free, voiced by Billy Gilbert) and Mickey's Christmas Carol (voiced by Will Ryan). He has also made cameo appearances in Disney's House of Mouse and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He is incredibly powerful, demonstrating amazing magic powers such as flight, invisibility and shapeshifting. Despite this, he is portrayed as immature and dimwitted, given his fondness for toys and inability to pronounce certain words, such as "pistachio". His favorite dish is implied to be chocolate pot roast with pistachios, given his overweight appearance. In other words, he is much dumber than the original giant that he is based on from Jack and the Beanstalk.
In Mickey and the Beanstalk, Willie serves as the primary villain. He kidnaps a golden singing harp, which sings to make people and animals happy, for his own amusement and so that she cannot escape his clutches, he keeps her trapped in a box with a lock, although the harp seldom sings for her captor. When three poor peasants, Mickey, Donald and Goofy stumble across his castle via a giant beanstalk, Willie catches Mickey, who pretends to read his palm and discover his shape-shifting ability. Willie, delighted, offers to demonstrate this and Mickey, spotting a nearby giant fly-swatter, suggests that he turn into a fly. Willie instead turns into a pink rabbit, which he believes is more cute and catches Mickey, Donald and Goofy with the fly-swatter. Enraged, Willie grabs them, places them inside a small jewellery box, with the golden harp, but Mickey manages to escape and with the help of the singing harp (who sings to put Willie to sleep) makes his way into Willie's shirt pocket and steals the key, accidentally landing in a small box of pepper, making him and Willie sneeze and almost alerting him to his presence in the process. Mickey frees Donald and Goofy and they take the harp, but as Mickey tries to tie the sleeping Willie's shoelaces together, Willie spots him and follows them all the way to the beanstalk. As he climbs down, Mickey and Goofy chop the beanstalk and send Willie plummeting to his apparent death. The end of the short reveals that Willie is actually still alive and searching for Mickey. In one instance, he stumbles across the home of the short's narrator, Edgar Bergen and asks about Mickey. Bergen, startled to see Willie, faints and Jiminy Cricket promptly flees the scene. As Willie continues to search alone, Jiminy avoids being seen by him. On the 1963 television airing, Willie inquires about Mickey to Ludwig Von Drake, who also faints and the instances where Jiminy watches Willie are omitted.
In Mickey's Christmas Carol, Willie is portrayed in a much more positive light than he was in Mickey and the Beanstalk, serving as a supporting protagonist rather than a villain. Here, he plays the role of the Ghost of Christmas Present and helps show Ebenezer Scrooge (Scrooge McDuck) the error of his ways by taking him to the house of his abused and underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit (Mickey Mouse) and showing him that by paying Cratchit so little despite his hard work, Cratchit's son, Tiny Tim, will soon die of his illness. This revelation moves Scrooge to tears, but Willie disappears before he can ask him if he still has a chance to change his ways.
Willie the Giant makes a brief cameo in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit on a poster in a movie theater in Toontown.
Willie is also a minor recurring character in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse children's series. Here, he is friends with Mickey. He still lives in the sky, only this time in a giant farmhouse.
Ortensia the Cat
Ortensia is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit's wife. She appeared in the Oswald shorts starting with The Banker's Daughter, replacing Oswald's former love interest, a much more feminine and sultry rabbit named Fanny in production materials. Ortensia's original name during the production of the Oswald shorts was Sadie (as referenced in the title of the animated short: Sagebrush Sadie). The names for Oswald's love interests were never widely publicized, which is likely the reason she was given a new name in Epic Mickey, following the alliteration pattern of Mickey and Minnie's mirrored relationship. Often in the original Oswald shorts, Oswald would compete with Pete for her affection. She also appeared in Oswald shorts produced by Charles Mintz and later Walter Lantz. In the Lantz shorts, she was called "Kitty". To add some confusion, copyright synopses of some Mintz and Lantz shorts erroneously refer to Ortensia/Kitty as Fanny. Since Fanny lost her hat in her first appearance and never found it Ortensia had her first appearance without a hat and was added it later in the cartoon Sky Scrappers.
The Mad Doctor
The Mad Doctor (also known as Dr. XXX) is a human mad scientist who serves as an infrequent antagonist of Mickey's. He first appeared in his self-titled short, in which he attempted to operate on Pluto by attaching his body to that of a chicken; this entire sequence turned out to be a dream. Many years later, he served as a major antagonist in both Epic Mickey games.
Duffy the Disney Bear
Scuttle
Scuttle is the sidekick and right-hand man of Mickey Mouse's nemesis Pete. He looks up to Pete and thinks of him as the greatest criminal mastermind ever. However, Scuttle himself is not very bright and usually fails to understand Pete's plans and orders, to the latter's annoyance.
Physically, Scuttle is much slimmer than the overweight Pete, and has a long face with a bushy beard.
Some series have shown Scuttle as being more educated than Pete in some areas. For example, one comic book story where the two were stealing art objects showed that Scuttle is an educated art critic, unlike Pete who only cares for the monetary value.
Scuttle has often teamed up with another sidekick-type criminal named Dum-Dum. The two have sometimes worked together as henchmen for Pete.
Scuttle was created by artist Paul Murry and an unidentified writer in 1951. He first appeared in the comic book story Donald Duck Captures the Range Rustlers.
Trudy Van Tubb
Trudy Van Tubb is an obese anthropomorphic cat, the girlfriend of Pete, with whom she usually shares the profession of delinquent. Trudy is not very proficient as a criminal but she is a skilled cook and Pete enjoys her cooking.
Trudy is very devoted to Pete and often gets jealous of Minnie Mouse and other women Pete kidnaps for ransom. When the two get caught, Trudy often gets away with a more lenient sentence because of her lesser involvement.
Trudy was created by Romano Scarpa in 1960 for the story The Chirikawa Necklace.
Glory-Bee
Glory-Bee was Goofy's girlfriend who first appeared in a Mickey Mouse daily strip on June 19, 1969. She was first created by Bill Walsh, and appeared in some "Mickey Mouse" dailies by Floyd Gottfredson, and others written by Del Connell (drawn by Manuel Gonzales). Her predecessor appeared perhaps as early as 1946, in the form of Minnie Mouse's Aunt Marissa (from a multi-part story by Floyd Gottfredson printed in the Mickey Mouse dailies June 17–29, 1946, and reprinted twice in WDC&S #95 and #575, and later seen in a cameo one-page gag love story by Bill Walsh and Manuel Gonzales which also featured Mickey Mouse and Montmorency Rodent (Mortimer Mouse) (Apr. 21, 1946) that has been dubbed "Spring, Love, Monty").
Glory-Bee is a slender, pretty, blonde, and young dognose lady who, while quite good-natured and likable, tends to be somewhat of an "airhead" (a stereotype of the "dumb blonde"), which may explain why she was dropped from Goofy's storyline altogether (though a better possibility is that Goofy will always be the consummate bachelor). While it might be difficult to imagine she had a very strong crush on Goofy, he hardly seemed to notice. Occasionally, however, he did try to impress her, even to the point of trying to reveal his Super Goof identity to her, to no avail. At one point Glory-Bee and Clarabelle Cow were even vying for Goofy's attention, but both failed to achieve their objective (WDS #8). Perhaps it was during this time that Clarabelle dropped her strange attraction to Goofy, and returned to her former paramour and fiancé, Horace Horsecollar.
Glory-Bee has disappeared from comics in the USA and has seldom appeared in foreign comics.
Zapotec and Marlin
Professor Zachary Zapotec and Dr. Spike Marlin are two Italian dogface characters created by Massimo De Vita. They are scientists from the Mouseton science museum. They are the inventors of a time machine which sends Mickey and Goofy on adventures in the past. Zapotec first appeared in "Topolino e l'enigma di Mu" in 1979 and Marlin first appeared in "Topolino e il segreto della Gioconda" in 1985. They also frequently argue but always forgive each other by the end. So far, they have only appeared in a handful of stories in the US.
Non-anthropomorphic characters
Butch the Bulldog
Butch the Bulldog is Pluto's nemesis. He first appeared in the film Bone Trouble where Pluto tried to steal his bone. Ever since then Butch has been antagonizing Pluto. Sometimes, Butch competes with Pluto for the affections of Dinah the Dachshund. At one point Butch even antagonized Figaro the Kitten. Butch appears in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse where his owner is Pete.
Fifi the Peke
Fifi the Peke is Minnie's "prize pooch" and Pluto's girlfriend. In one cartoon Pluto and Fifi even had five puppies together. One of them was eventually named Pluto Junior. Later on Fifi was replaced as Pluto's girlfriend by Dinah the Dachshund. Fifi disappeared from animation but she appeared in the line of merchandise called "Minnie 'n Me" as Minnie's dog. She made her triumphant return in the Mickey Mouse short "You, Me and Fifi".
Dinah the Dachshund
Dinah the Dachshund appears as Pluto's girlfriend although she sometimes dates Butch the Bulldog as well. She first appears in The Sleepwalker. In Canine Casanova, when she winds up in the dog pound, Pluto saves the day, becomes Dinah's hero and the two start dating. In other cartoons such as In Dutch, Pluto's Heart Throb and Wonder Dog, the two engage in further romance, often with Butch the Bulldog as Pluto's romantic rival. Dinah has more recently appeared in several cartoon shorts in the anthology series Mickey Mouse Works and Disney's House of Mouse, where Pluto's Arrow Error shows Dinah as Butch's girlfriend first with no serious interest in Pluto.
Louie the Mountain Lion
Louie the Mountain Lion is a mountain lion who appears as an occasional antagonist of Goofy and Donald. He is usually depicted in Donald Duck and Goofy shorts, in which he often chases after the main characters in an attempt to eat them. Unlike most Disney cartoon characters, Louie does not speak, but instead makes grunting or growling sounds representing satisfaction, disapproval, or anxiety. He is also shown to care deeply about food and is rather intelligent when it comes to planning schemes to obtain things he wants, though his attempts to execute his plans often end in comical failures. Louie's first appearance was in Lion Around where he attempts to eat Donald. In Hook, Lion & Sinker, he is revealed to have a son. He also appears in Disney's House of Mouse.
His classification as a non-anthropomorphic character may be debated, as he speaks in some comics.
Milton the Cat
Milton the Cat is a red ginger Siamese cat and a rival of Pluto. He often competes with Pluto for food. He made his first appearance in the short Puss Cafe with his pal Richard. He next appears in the short Plutopia where he talks in Pluto's dream. He made a final appearance in the short Cold Turkey (1951) fighting with Pluto for a roast turkey but both of them ended up with nothing.
Salty the Seal
Salty the Seal is a seal who shows up in typical seal locations (the circus, the beach, the zoo, the Arctic) and annoys Pluto into chasing him, causing Pluto to get into dangerous predicaments. Salty typically saves him, leading Salty and Pluto to become best friends—until Salty's next appearance, when the cycle begins again. Salty's debut appeared in Pluto's Playmate (1942), Rescue Dog (1947) and the particularly famous Mickey and the Seal (1948). Salty's most recent appearances are in Mickey Mouse Works and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Bent-Tail the Coyote
Bent-Tail the Coyote is a desert coyote and an opponent against Pluto. He always tries to get some food which Pluto is guarding (mostly livestock), but fails every time. He made his first appearance in The Legend of Coyote Rock trying to get at a flock of sheep. From the second short Sheep Dog onward he has a son who works with him. His last two starring shorts are Pests of the West and Camp Dog. An older version of Bent-Tail later appeared in the Walt Disney presents episode "The Coyote's Lament", where he teaches his grandson (who is the offspring of Bent-Tail's son) how humans and dogs have put a coyote's life in misery. Bent-Tail and his son also appeared in several Disney comics.
Pflip
Pflip is Eega Beeva's pet "thnuckle-booh", a mixture of dog, cat, hippopotamus, unicorn, llama, rabbit, and possibly other animals as well. He has a color warning system that turns red to warn Eega of certain danger.
Bobo the Elephant
Bobo is a baby elephant who has appeared as a pet of Mickey Mouse in at least two stories. He was first featured in a self-titled storyline in the Mickey Mousenewspaper comic strip. In the story, Mickey mistakenly purchases Bobo at an auction. Eli Squinch, also making his first appearance in that story, convinces Mickey that he is Bobo's rightful owner. However, Eli actually intends to use Bobo to run his sawmill to save on electricity, using a treadmill which had already killed two horses. Mickey and Horace Horsecollar stall Eli's repossession of Bobo until the baby pachyderm discovers his mother is in a visiting circus. Bobo runs away and is reunited with his mother.
Bobo's only animated appearance was in 1936's Mickey's Elephant. He is given to Mickey by the Rajah of Gahboon. Disney had planned to make Bobo into a recurring character, but nothing ever came of the idea. Storyboard sketches of a planned cartoon featuring Bobo, titled Spring Cleaning, were printed in the book Mickey Mouse: The Floyd Gottfredson Library - Volume 3: Showdown at Inferno Gulch. Bobo returned in the Mickey Mouse (TV series) episode "Safari, So Good".
Dolores the Elephant
Dolores the Elephant is an Asian elephant belonging to Goofy. Serving as a mount to Goofy during a tiger hunt.
Ajax name brand
Ajax, sometimes called the Ajax Corporation, is a name brand which makes several appearances in Mickey Mouse stories. An early example is in Lonesome Ghosts (1937) where Mickey, Donald and Goofy work for Ajax Ghost Exterminators. Other examples include Ajax Locksmiths, Ajax Door Fixers, Ajax Hairbow Wear Sale and Ajax Lost and Found. The name Ajax Corporation makes many appearances in the television series Mickey Mouse Works and Disney's House of Mouse. It is roughly equivalent to Warner Bros.' Acme brand. It bears no relationship to either the real-world Ajax company, a manufacturer of railroad car brake equipment, or the Ajax line of household cleaning products made and marketed by Colgate-Palmolive company, and pre-dates the introduction of Ajax cleanser by Colgate-Palmolive in 1947.
- In Frank Duck Brings 'Em Back Alive (1946), Donald works for the Ajax Circus.
- In Donald's Dream Voice (1948), Donald takes Ajax Voice Pills.
- The Little House (1952) features a company called Ajax Wrecking – Moving.
- In the Disneyland episode "Duck for Hire" (1957), Donald Duck visits the Ajax Employment Agency.
Coincidentally, the Ajax brand was also featured in a Tom and Jerry short, A Mouse in the House (1947), for a pair of pistols used in a duel between Tom and Butch. One turned out to be a novelty gun, whilst the other was a real pistol. This short was originally released by MGM, but it eventually become property of WarnerMedia by proxy.
See also
References
- The Mickey Mouse "Universe" Guide by David Gerstein (1996)
- "Mickey Mouse & Friends". Disney.com. The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- "Mickey & the Gang". Internet Animation Database. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- Ong, W. J. (1941, October 4). MICKEY MOUSE AND AMERICANISM [Editorial]. America, 65(26), 719-720.
- Holliss, Richard; Brian Sibley (1986). Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: His Life and Times. New York: Harper & Row. p. 33. ISBN 0-06-015619-8.
- The Mickey Mouse "Universe" Guide by David Gerstein
- Studios, W. D. (2010, July 27). Hawaiian Holiday. Retrieved from https://m.youtube.com/watch?index=1&v=SdIaEQCUVbk&list=PLA831BC0E127BC123
- Mickey Mouse in Blaggard Castle (1932) is an example of this.
- Mickey Mouse comic strip, February 29, 1932.
- Examples: "Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot," daily strip serial, 1939; "Dr. X," daily strip serial, 1955.
- Examples: "Mouseton, The Eagle Has Landed," Mickey Mouse Adventures 14 (1991); "The 'Lectro Box" reprint, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories 570 (1992).
- Example: "Fantasy Island," Walt Disney Giant 5 (1996).
- Example: "Back From the Brink," Walt Disney's Comics and Stories 661 (2005); Mouseton and Duckburg are identified and seen side-by-side as characters fly overhead.
- "Here's One Major Thing You May Not Know About Mickey Mouse". Huffington Post. 2015-07-18. Retrieved 2017-05-29.
- "The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- "Topolino e la collana Chiriwaka". Inducks. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
- Becattini, Alberto (2016). Disney Comics: The Whole Story. Theme Park Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-1683900177.
- Fuchs, Wolfgang J., ed. (August 2006). "Gamma – Der Mensch der Zukunft" [Eega Beeva – The human of the future]. Heimliche Helden – Band 4: Gamma [Clandestine heroes – Volume 4: Eega Beeva] (in German) (1st ed.). Egmont Ehapa. pp. 4–12. ISBN 3-7704-0693-1.
- "60 Jahre Gamma – Das Wesen aus der Zukunft!" [60 years of Eega Beeva – The being from the future!] (in German). Egmont Ehapa. Archived from the original on 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
- "Pflip Index". INDUCKS. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- "Gamma" [Eega Beeva] (in German). Micky Maus-Magazin. Archived from the original on 2009-07-26. Retrieved 2009-07-30.
- "Search results (stories featuring Eega Beeva but not Mickey Mouse)". INDUCKS. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
- Scarpa, Romano (2018). Mickey Mouse: The Delta Dimension. Fantagraphics Books. ISBN 978-1683960966.
- "Atomo Bleep-Bleep". Inducks. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
- Jackson, Kathy (2006). Walt Disney: Conversations (1st ed.). University Press of Mississippi. p. 120. ISBN 1-57806-713-8.
- Topolino e la dimensione Delta ("Mickey Mouse in the Delta Dimension") by Romano Scarpa, published in 1959
- Topolino e Bip-Bip alle sorgenti mongole ("The Sacred Spring of Seasons Past," 1959) by Romano Scarpa
- "The Great Winks Robbery". INDUCKS. Retrieved 2017-06-03.
- "Gideon Goat". coa.inducks.org.
- "Our "Mouse-tro" Takes the Baton!". D23: The Official Community for Disney Fans. 2010-02-25.
- "Classic Disney Comic Solicitations June 2018 - The Feathery Society - Disney Comics English Fan Forum". featherysociety.proboards.com.
- "Rock Sassi". coa.inducks.org.
- Rovin, Jeff (1991). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals. Prentice Hall Press. pp. 31-32. ISBN 0-13-275561-0. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
