Paul Terry's Mighty Mouse Comics #54

(August 1954)

Why Just Wish for the Things You Want? (Table of Contents: 1) (Expand) /

Wallace Brown, Inc. / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

[Saved at the Sawmill] (Table of Contents: 2)

Mighty Mouse The Perils of Pearl Pureheart / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

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Pencils

Art Bartsch (signed)

Inks

Art Bartsch (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

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First Line of Dialogue or Text

Episode 3 At the old Beaver River Station, we find the helpless Pearl bound and gagged, a victim of Oil Can Harry.

Feature Logo

Mighty Mouse The Perils of Pearl Pureheart [St. John Logo 1]

Genre

anthropomorphic-funny animals; superhero

Characters

Mighty Mouse; Pearl Pureheart; Oil Can Harry

Synopsis

Oil Can Harry kayos Mighty Mouse with a spray gun of DDT, and ties him to the railroad tracks as a train approaches. Mighty Mouse frees himself, has a swordfight with Harry, and saves a "log-tied" Pearl from the whirling blades of a sawmill in the nick of time.

Reprints

• from Mighty Mouse Comics (St. John, 1947 series) #10 (April 1949)

Keywords

DDT; early example of a series; heroics; melodrama; railroad tracks; sawmill; swordfight; train

Indexer Notes

This reprint of the THIRD entry of the "Perils of Pearl Pureheart" subseries is suitably melodramatic, as entries in the series go, but is far from as outrageously absurd as later examples of the series would become.

Foiling the Fox (Table of Contents: 3)

Mighty Mouse / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

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Pencils

Connie Rasinski (signed as CR)

Inks

Connie Rasinski (signed as CR)

Colors

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Letters

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First Line of Dialogue or Text

I just saw him! I saw him with my own eyes!

Feature Logo

Mighty Mouse [St. John Logo without Character]

Genre

anthropomorphic-funny animals; superhero

Characters

Mighty Mouse; little chick; lots of disbelieving chickens; goat; Snaggletooth (fox); costume store proprietor

Synopsis

A little chick sees Mighty Mouse flying overhead, but none of the other chickens believe that there is such a being as "Mighty Mouse". In a slight switch on the "Chicken Little" fable, Snaggletooth the fox rents a Mighty Mouse costume and hoaxes the chickens into believing that "the sky is falling". Entering (rather clumsily) disguised as Mighty Mouse, Snaggletooth plans to lead the chickens away from the danger of the "falling sky" and into his stew pot.

Reprints

• from Mighty Mouse Comics (St. John, 1947 series) #10 (April 1949)

Keywords

chickens; disguise; farm setting; fox; heroics; hoax; imposter; meta humor; one-character-desiring-another-as-a-meal; panic; skepticism; wrong impression

Indexer Notes

Meta Moment: As the disguised Snaggletooth bursts heroically into the chickenyard, he paraphrases Mighty Mouse's signature phrase by saying: "Here I am to save the day!".

The Snow Man (Table of Contents: 4)

Mighty Mouse / text story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

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Pencils

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Inks

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Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Johnny sat on the window seat in his bedroom with his nose pressed flat against the pane.

Genre

anthropomorphic-funny animals; superhero

Characters

Mighty Mouse; Mitzi Mouse; Johnny (Mitzi's nephew); Snowman (in dream sequence); Bill (Mighty Mouse's childhood friend in dream sequence); Bob (Mighty Mouse's childhood friend in dream sequence); Terrible Tom (cat in dream sequence)

Synopsis

Little Johnny, Mitzi's nephew, is too excited by the outside snowfall, and the fun he will have playing in it tomorrow, to fall asleep tonight. Mighty Mouse tells him the story of a dream the hero once had about a childhood winter experience.

Reprints

• from Mighty Mouse Comics (St. John, 1947 series) #10 (April 1949)

Keywords

anticipation; dream sequence; kids-at-play; sheer joy; snowman; telling-a-story; winter setting

Indexer Notes

According to this story, Mighty Mouse did not possess any superpowers a a boy.

Ski Meet (Table of Contents: 5)

Mighty Mouse / comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

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Pencils

Art Bartsch (signed)

Inks

Art Bartsch (signed)

Colors

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Letters

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First Line of Dialogue or Text

The great champion of justice speeds down a snowy slope outside of Terrytown in answer to a call for help --

Feature Logo

Mighty Mouse [St. John Logo without Character]

Genre

anthropomorphic-funny animals; superhero

Characters

Mighty Mouse; lots of skiing mice; skiing cat; other cats

Synopsis

When a cat joins a ski race for mice, Mighty Mouse sticks around to see that things remain on the up-and-up. ...Guess what? They don't!

Reprints

• from Mighty Mouse Comics (St. John, 1947 series) #10 (April 1949)

Keywords

competition; race; skiing; ulterior motives; winter setting

"Yesterday I Knew Nothing About Music... Today I'm Actually Playing!" (Table of Contents: 6) (Expand) /

U.S. School of Music / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Who Is Mighty Mouse? (Table of Contents: 7)

Mighty Mouse / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

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Pencils

Jim Tyer

Inks

Jim Tyer

Colors

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Letters

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First Line of Dialogue or Text

Is the great mouse real?

Genre

anthropomorphic-funny animals; superhero

Characters

Mighty Mouse; Atlas Mighty Mouse; (ancestor of Mighty Mouse); Don Quixote Mouse; (ancestor of Mighty Mouse); Sir Bois De Breathless Mouse (ancestor of Mighty Mouse and featured character in this story); medieval townspeople; king; wise men; scullery maids; knights; one brave knight [Sir Bois De Breathless Mouse]; Dracula Dragon; royal blacksmith

Synopsis

The story of Mighty Mouse's ancestor, Sir Bois De Breathless Mouse - our hero's great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather, and his mighty battle with the feared Dracula Dragon to save an oppressed kingdom.

Reprints

• from Mighty Mouse Comics (St. John, 1947 series) #10 (April 1949)

Keywords

ancestors; comic absurdity; dragon; duplicate title within same feature; far-off land; heroics; knights; medieval setting; sword

Indexer Notes

Jim Tyer depicts the battle as nearly four full pages of prime comic absurdity, culminating with Sir Bois cutting off the dragon's head, only to have it grow back... repeatedly - with dragon heads flying all over the place accompanied by the following caption: "...But our brave lad will not surrender and eight hundred and sixty seven horrible heads bite the dust. (Count 'em.)"

Additional Tyer Touch: As our brave knight strides resolutely toward Dracula Dragon's lair, he is first met by a series of warning billboard signs, and then by the skeletal remains of previously-vanquished knights. As the remains grow more plentiful with each step, Tyer gives us three skeletons hanged - with the tops of the hangman's ropes tied to the top border of the panel!

A similarly-titled - but different - story exists in Paul Terry's Mighty Mouse Comics (St. John, 1951 Series) #25 (April 1951).

Buzz Baxter Rides Again! (Table of Contents: 8) (Expand) /

Artistic Card Co. / comics-form advertising / 1 page (report information)

New! 1954 "Space Commander" Vibro-Matic Walkie-Talkies (Table of Contents: 9) (Expand) /

Consumers Mart / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Men-Women-Boys-Girls Prizes Given (Table of Contents: 10) (Expand) /

The FUNman / advertisement / 1 page (report information)