HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Squeak the Mouse'' is an Italian
adult An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social an ...
black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
and later
comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
created by artist Massimo Mattioli. The comic depicts attempts by its title character, the
anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...
Squeak the Mouse, to outwit a cat who is chasing him. The comic satirizes cartoon series such as ''
Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...
'', taking the content to extreme levels, which includes gory, horror, violence, and explicit sexual content. Two issues of a ''Squeak the Mouse'' comic book were produced in 1984 and 1992, the first written from the perspective of the cat, who murders the title character, and the second, written from the perspective of Squeak, who murders the cat. Each issue features a
zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...
plotline and a
pornographic Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings ...
section depicting one of the main characters in an
orgy An orgy is a sex party where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex. Swingers' parties do not always conform to this designation, because at many swinger parties the sexual partners may all know each other o ...
with several funny animal women. On April 18, 2019, a third issue was published on a new collection titled ''Squeak the Mouse: The Trilogy''.


Overview

''Squeak the Mouse'' is a parody of the cartoon series, ''
Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...
''. Although the style of the drawing is typical of children comics, ''Squeak'' indulges in graphic violent, gore, splatter and pornographic scenes.Domenico Marinelli, "Biblioteca storica: Squeak the Mouse", ''Sbam! Comics'', Vol. 8, April–May 2013, p. 36. The first issue of the series is written from the perspective of the cat, who is aggravated by Squeak the Mouse, and ultimately murders the title character. The cat goes to a party and unsuccessfully attempts to have sex with his girlfriend, and instead sleeps with another girl he meets at the party, Squeak the Mouse returns from the dead as a
zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...
and murders every one of the guests at the party, until the cat stops the mouse by murdering it with a blender. When the cat returns home, each of the party guests, revived as zombies, attempt to kill him, leading him to kill each of the undead in self-defense. The next day, the cat engages in an
orgy An orgy is a sex party where guests freely engage in open and unrestrained sexual activity or group sex. Swingers' parties do not always conform to this designation, because at many swinger parties the sexual partners may all know each other o ...
with a number of beautiful women, but Squeak the Mouse returns once more and slaughters each of the women, leading the cat to kill Squeak once more before chasing after another mouse. The end of the issue assures readers that Squeak is really dead and will not return. The second issue, ''Squeak the Mouse 2'', begins with a duck who revives Squeak from the pages of the first ''Squeak the Mouse'' comic book. Squeak proceeds to read his own comic, and is horrified by his own murder, and decides to track down the cat and murder him. However, when Squeak confronts the cat at a screening of ''
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2'' (also known as ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2'') is a 1986 American black comedy slasher film co-composed and directed by Tobe Hooper, and written by L. M. Kit Carson. It is the sequel to ''The Texas Cha ...
'', the cat tricks Squeak into feeling sympathy for him, which allows the cat to briefly escape before being murdered by the mouse. As Squeak boards a plane heading to a tropical island, the cat returns as a zombie and crashes the plane, killing all of the passengers except Squeak, who escapes, and swims to the nearest island, where a pair of women awaken him by performing
oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth). Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vu ...
on Squeak, leading to another orgy sequence. The cat turns up on the island and slaughters the women, and Squeak destroys the cat, leaving only its separated bones, which are found by a
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
-loving child, who brings the remains home and reassembles them. The skeleton cat slaughters the child and his family, and once again goes after Squeak, who finally gets rid of the cat for good, but decides to antagonize another cat. In the third issue, ''Squeak the Mouse 3'', an alien watches the events at the ending of the second issue, and gathers the remains of the cat to revive for amusement. Meanwhile, Squeak has sex with a random woman he meets while out walking, but is abducted by the alien. The alien laughs until the cat manages to catch Squeak again and kills him before knocking out the alien. In return, the alien freezes the cat and Squeak's remains, and returns to its home planet. The alien gives the cat to another alien as a gift to cook, but the cat wakes up and murders the other alien. Squeak meanwhile revives and kills the alien who abducted them. The cat escapes the planet using the alien's craft, but is soon attacked by the zombie alien, and ends up having to decapitate it. Just then, Squeak attacks the cat, but is tricked into being shot out of an airlock before the spaceship crashes. The cat is attacked by worm-like monsters before fleeing to the ship, and being attacked by the zombie alien once more, ends up feeding it to the worm monsters. An alien explorer rescues the cat, but is killed by Squeak. After a long chase, the cat manages to evade Squeak and steals the explorer's ship to escape, while another alien explorer lands and is killed by Squeak. Squeak chases the cat in the other explorer's ship, and the cat crashes on another world, being revived and then having sex with his nurse. Soon, Squeak kills the hospital staff, and the cat once again steals a ship to head to Earth. However, Squeak sneaks on board, and the ship crashes on Earth. The cat and Squeak get away in escape pods, and after landing, the cat finally kills Squeak before chasing after another mouse.


Publication history

The comic was first published in the underground comics magazine ''
Frigidaire Frigidaire Appliance Company is the American consumer and Commercial area, commercial home appliances brand subsidiary of multinational company Electrolux, a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. History ...
'' starting from 1982. The stories were later collected in an eponymous volume in 1984 by
Éditions Albin Michel Éditions Albin Michel is a French publisher. In January 2019, the new President and CEO is Gilles Haéri. In January 2022, the director is Anna Pavlowitch, the daughter of Paul Pavlowitch. History It was founded in 1900 by Albin Michel. They ...
and it was initially intended to be an ended series. It had a sequel (''Squeak the Mouse 2'') published in 1992 also by
Éditions Albin Michel Éditions Albin Michel is a French publisher. In January 2019, the new President and CEO is Gilles Haéri. In January 2022, the director is Anna Pavlowitch, the daughter of Paul Pavlowitch. History It was founded in 1900 by Albin Michel. They ...
and Sefam, Paris.
Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...
released all of the stories in a collection on April 12, 2022.


Controversy

On August 1, 1985, New York harbor officials confiscated the comic publication on the grounds that it was pornographic, but a court later overturned that decision. According to Bernd Metz of Catalan Communications, the book's USA publisher, ''Squeak the Mouse'' was ruled not obscene "because it failed the third test of the law... the
Miller test The ''Miller'' test, also called the three-prong obscenity test, is the United States Supreme Court's test for determining whether speech or expression can be labeled obscene, in which case it is not protected by the First Amendment to the Unite ...
as it's called... in that it did not exceed the community standards."


Legacy

The comics are considered to be an apparent inspiration for
Matt Groening Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is best known as the creator of the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Futurama'' (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2 ...
's ''
The Itchy & Scratchy Show ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show'' (often shortened as ''Itchy & Scratchy'') is a Story within a story, fictional animated series featured on ''The Simpsons''. The cartoon depicts a Sadistic personality disorder, sadistic mouse named Itchy who repeat ...
''.


See also

* ''
The Itchy & Scratchy Show ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show'' (often shortened as ''Itchy & Scratchy'') is a Story within a story, fictional animated series featured on ''The Simpsons''. The cartoon depicts a Sadistic personality disorder, sadistic mouse named Itchy who repeat ...
'' * '' Happy Tree Friends'' * ''
Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...
''


References

{{Underground comix 1982 comics debuts 1992 comics endings Italian comics titles Italian comics characters Black comedy comics Horror comics Satirical comics Pantomime comics Parody comics Humor comics Erotic comics Obscenity controversies in comics Parodies of films Parodies of television shows Anthropomorphic cats Anthropomorphic mice and rats Comics about anthropomorphic cats Comics about anthropomorphic mice and rats Zombies in comics Comics about death Underground comix Comics characters introduced in 1982 Comics about talking animals