''The Three Mouseketeers'' is the name of two separate

talking animal A talking animal or speaking animal is any non-human animal that can produce sounds or gestures resembling those of a human language. Several species or groups of animals have developed forms of communication which superficially resemble verbal ...

comic series published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Golden Age version

The original ''Three Mouseketeers'' were published in DC's humor series ''Funny Stuff'', first appearing in ''Funny Stuff'' #1 (Summer 1944). The strip was drawn by Ronald Santi. The series was a loose parody of the classic 1844

Alexander Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer. ...

novel ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight ...

''. In this case, the lead swordsmice were named Aramouse, Amouse, and Porterhouse (with young accomplice D'Artagmouse), and had various adventures while serving King Looey XIV. Their arch-enemy is Duke Bazook. The series ran in ''Funny Stuff'' until early 1948, after which the characters remained unseen for years. The Mouseketeers were revisited in a 1982 ''

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew ''Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!'' is a DC Comics series about a team of talking animal superheroes called the Zoo Crew. The characters first appeared in a 16-page special insert in '' The New Teen Titans'' #16 (February 1982), follo ...

'' time-travel storyline in which it is revealed the Mouseketeers are historical figures in Earth-C's version of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

during the 17th century.

Silver Age version

The second ''Three Mouseketeers'' series appeared in a comic title of the same name, which ran from 1956 to 1960 for 26 issues. They were created by

Sheldon Mayer Sheldon Mayer (; April 1, 1917 – December 21, 1991) was an American comics artist, writer, and editor. One of the earliest employees of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications, Mayer produced almost all of his comics wor ...

, though most of the work was done by Rube Grossman after the first few issues. Though the title was clearly inspired by Alexandre Dumas' novel ''

'', nothing else about the characters was, with no similarities to the earlier Golden Age series. The stories revolved around three mice, all members of a club. There was the pompous, self-styled leader, Fatsy, who was obese and wore a sailor's uniform similar to Donald Duck's, then Patsy, tall and dim-witted (also the only Mouseketeer to go without clothing), and last of all Minus, short, dressed in oversized

t-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

and

baseball cap A baseball cap is a type of soft hat with a rounded crown and a stiff bill projecting in front. The front of the hat typically displays a design or a logo (historically, usually only a sports team, namely a baseball team, or names of relevant c ...

with the bill pointing to one side. Of the group, Minus was the most likely to get into trouble (a running gag had him getting many demerits from Fatsy) though this was usually not of a malicious nature. The mice met at a clubhouse, which was an old tin can with the open mouth covered by a leaf. The mice rarely used this entrance, preferring an underground secret entrance. Their adventures involved dealing with humans (whom they referred to as the Bigfoots), neighborhood

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s, and a particularly nasty hawk named Hamilton. The series ended its initial run when DC decided to concentrate on its line of superhero comics. The series did get a revival when it was reprinted for seven issues from 1970 to 1971; later, in the 1980s, ''Mouseketeers'' stories were reprinted in digest format along with other classic DC talking-animal characters under the ''Funny Stuff'' banner.

References

External links

Toonopedia article on the Golden Age ''Three Mouseketeers''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Mousketeers DC Comics titles 1944 comics debuts 1948 comics endings Comics characters introduced in 1944 Comics set in the 17th century Fictional mice and rats Fictional fencers 1956 comics debuts 1960 comics endings Humor comics

Golden Age version

Silver Age version

See also

References

External links