#super mouse

[tymime]

Public Domain cartoon characters from Golden Age comic books

Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit going (mostly) into the public domain is a pretty big deal. In the next ten years a lot of animation from the 1930s will wind up in the hands of all artists who want to use them. But did you know there's a huge amount of cartoon characters from the 1940s that are totally free to use? It isn't just cartoons that starred on the silver screen that have fallen out of copyright. (Of course, I'm using the word "cartoon" somewhat loosely...)

See, when US copyright law was revised in 1976 and went into effect in 1978, works created before 1964 were required to have their copyright renewed before the end of 1980, or else they would become public domain. Hundreds if not thousands of Hollywood movies and other types of media had been made by studios and publishing companies that went bankrupt and were completely dissolved decades prior to this new law. This included the cartoons made by studios such as Bray, Van Beuren, and many others- but it also included comic books.

If you weren't a big comic book company like DC or Marvel, chances are you shuttered your doors sometime in the 1950s or early 1960s. And during the 1940s, with the rise in popularity of Looney Tunes, Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry, and Droopy, comic book publishers were printing tons and tons of comic books starring wacky, slapstick-oriented animal characters. Most of these titles went out of copyright, and there are lots of fun and interesting characters to be found in them.

One of the most historically notable is Supermouse. When the first Mighty Mouse cartoon premiered, he was called Supermouse, but what they didn't know was that Pines comics had already taken the name, and successfully sued for copyright infringement even though they were both parodies of Superman.

One of the most interesting titles I've come across is Funny Films. The conceit of the series is that these are actually cartoons you can watch in a movie theater, except it's a comic book. A bit confusing, I know.

The end result is a series of fourth wall breaks so absolutely thorough in their scope that the fourth wall really doesn't exist anymore, barring actually jumping out of the page (or your computer screen) and blowing up your living room. They talk to the audience, jump out of the screen, and even show up late for the cartoon to start. This is of course the bookends to a whole bunch of slapstick gags and goofy dialogue.

Another interesting series, especially if you're a fan of Archie, is Hi-Jinx. They basically took the premise of teeny-boppers in high school and made them into funny animals. Most of the stories have something to do with swing music and dancing.

And although they're crudely drawn, one of the more unique character concepts is Pussy Katnip, found in various titles scattered across the mid-1940s, usually buried amongst a bunch of more normal stories with ordinary human characters. Pussy Katnip looks like one of your classic film noir glamorous beauties, except she's an anthropomorphic cat. Think Minerva Mink but feline. She may appear to be a femme fatale at first, but she's actually a crimefighter. To do this she chugs a mysterious beverage that gives her enhanced strength and intelligence. She's sort of a mystery-solving superhero.

Her appearances are random and kind of hard to find. Here are the titles of the ones currently circulating online: All Your Comics (1944 issue) All Top Comics (one-shot) All Good Comics Everybody’s Comics (1944 issue) Green Mask v1 #11 Ribtickler v1 #1 All Great Comics (1945 issue) Book of All-Comics Green Mask v2 #2 Rocket Kelly #2 Zoot Comics #1

Often these comics, especially in the early '40s, remind me of the artwork of underground comics of the '70s- not quite rubberhose, not quite Looney Tunes. The kind of thing you might find on a punkabilly album cover.

And ocassionally you'll come across characters with a suspiciously familiar name:

One thing to watch out for is the occasional Donald Duck knock-off, some more obvious than others.

Now you may be asking: Where can I read these comics? Simple: https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/ Just be sure you have the right software to read them. I use cooViewer. Another incredibly useful resource is www.comics.org.

So if you're like me and you're too impatient to wait for Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to fall out of copyright, and you want to do something more unusual and unexpected, there are dozens and dozens of comic books with silly, wacky characters that can be utilized in your own original stories, cartoons, and what have you- and you can monetize them too!

[mewnette]

Vintage Mouse Flying Cheddar Cheese Cape RARE novelty scatter pin brooch Enamel

[no1monstersimp]

Super Mouse and Shiverhuahua doodles

[rat-detector-24]

Mouse detected again. Super mouse now.

I TRIED TO CONVERT A NON-FUNCTIONING VIDEO IN VEGAS AND IT FUCKED UP

[grizley]

Im a simple person, a see a lil guy - I decide they're my fav <3

I enjoyed the musical, especially the puppets. I legit saw Ragweed and went WHAAA THATS SO COOL they're come such a long way since Starship

[mice-rats-daily]

Today's mouse is Super Mouse from One-Punch Man!

[embean91]

I put kirby music over silly rodents

[rat-detector-24]

Thank you for the tag! I do believe I have detected this one before, so we have a new super mouse in our ranks! Mouse detected.

A RARE FABERGÉ JEWELLED CITRINE MODEL OF A MOUSE, ST PETERSBURG, CIRCA 1900

[choccy-milky]

⭐ HL x animal crossing ⭐

something for fun bc why not......i have free will their personality types?? maybe?? : seb = smug clora = peppy poppy = normal/sweet imelda = snooty ominis = lazy (or cranky tbh) leander = jock natty = sisterly

[no1monstersimp]

Livin' under house, guess I'm livin', Supermouse.

[rat-detector-24]

Mouse detected again. Now a super mouse.

[m00nbuggies]

scarrrrrrrr

[dandelion-roots]

[ID: a digital drawing of riz gukgak from fantasy high. in the front is a relatively small drawing of riz juggling books that are falling out of his hand and a phonecall, and he has a huge backpack on. he looks a bit overwhelmed, hair flying in all directions, and has a nervous smile on. in the background is a large shadow of riz, only one glowing eye and a shining gun visible. the background is red, giving an eerie feel. End ID]

Kill your best friend

Cheat your way to your rogue teacher

Announce your presidential campaign

Don't let them know how angry you are

LEARN TO RECOGNIZE A MONSTER

[rat-detector-24]

Mouse king and his spider brother detected. I detected that one photo before, so they are now super mouse and super spider.

oc art dump

Some of these are old

[calllynx]

Ancients and Iterators

Text (if you can't read it):

Panel 1: "Not that anyone has asked, but..." Panel 2: "If you were wondering about the scale of iterators in comparison to us ancients," Panel 3: "We call them "puppets"" "As in-" Panel 4: "Hand Puppets."

[skialdi]

Deep down, there’s a light that never goes out !!