''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 (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

History

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 Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

novel ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...

''. 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'' 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 located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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, though most of the work was done by Rube Grossman after the first few issues, and DC humor staff Larry Nalde edited the title. 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 for short) 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-shir ...

and

baseball cap A baseball cap is a type of soft cap, 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 releva ...

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''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

s, and a particularly nasty

hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

named Hamilton. The series ended its initial run when DC decided to concentrate on its line of

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

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

Notes

External links