MIGHTY MOUSE INTERVIEW! (Patreon)

Hello, Patrons! 

I recently completed an interview about my work on the MIGHTY MOUSE comics through the years. Here are some pertinent questions.

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Question: Wikipedia states you are “a cartoonist, animator, comic book artist, writer, painter, and storyboard/layout artist.” All awesome accomplishments!  What three projects are you most proud of and why?

I'm awed when I go to storage and look at the mountains of art I've made over 42 years of work in the profession. There's always a lot I even forget I did.

Of the high-profile work,I am particularly pleased with the four segments of THE TWISTED TALES OF FELIX I directed. The paintings I've done over the last ten years, since turning to that with interest. And the creation of my own comic characters, SLUG AND GINGER, HUGO, and MIDNITE THE REBEL SKUNK. [I forgot to mention my 10 years of adaptations for the GRAPHIC CLASSICS series.]

Question: What writers and/or artists influenced you to choose your career path?

The now-well known Terrytoons animator, Jim Tyer was an obsession since I was five and didn't know his name. Tried to imitate his work ever since. Dan Gordon, animator and especially his comic books with their snappy, cynical writing (SUPERKATT and COOKIE, 1940s). Jack Hamm, the creator of the must-use manual CARTOONING THE HEAD and FIGURE. Will Eisner. R.F. Outcalt's expressive work on the BUSTER BROWN strip. And many more, in and out of cartoons.

Question: What inspired you to write and pencil the story “The Mind of Mighty Mouse” for 1987’s Mighty Mouse #1?

A way to explore Mighty Mouse fighting a unique challenge; his basic goodness manipulated by Oil Can Harry, whom I really dig. Through using the stupidity of the media, he gets away clean at the end. 

[Here is that story.]

Question: Do you have a favorite Mighty Mouse cartoon?  If so, what is the title and why?

My favorite is LAW & ORDER (1950). It's set in the “big city”, which are my favorites, with big dumb villain Pinhead Schlobotka. It was full of zip like the best of director Connie Rasinski's. And the shootout with the cops is peak Tyer.

Question: Did you read any of Mighty Mouse’s/Terrytoons’ large inventory of stories published during the Golden Age by a myriad of publishers?  If so, what were your favorites?  Your least favorites?  Why?

I remember as a child that dug THE HECKLE & JECKLE SHOW very much, wishing I could get images of them that were the same as the half hours I saw at 7:30 on Saturday mornings. This was in the late '60s when, outside of home movies, one couldn't see images of the oldies outside of the time they were aired on TV.  There was never the option of watching one twice in a row; it could be a month until it ran again. The Gold Key comics weren't the same; all their adaptations were sanitized.  So discovering a coverless copy of a St. John's MIGHTY MOUSE comic was a revelation. Of course I didn't know the names, but I knew the artists were the real deal. I loved a story by Connie Rasinski (with even a sexy Mitzi Mouse) and seeing a HECKLE & JECKLE by “the Stretchy Artist”, Jim Tyer, was a dream come true. Up to then, I had never seen a “funny comic” that actually looked like animation. From then until the 80s, a bias against authentic animation style had arisen; cartoons were one thing, but comics were supposed to be comics. Dell had always had that going, and so did the others. Harvey was delivering their own unique compromise. (I had my own differences at the publishers for this reason; though they were doing animated characters, the styles were not authentic.)

Tyer wrote his own comics, and they were outlandish whimsicality. Sometimes it seems like he improvised them. Indeed, the original art I own of a climax has a completely different set of panels on the reverse, undrawn, but lettered in his own style.

Rasinski's comics had the big-eyed, loopy-and-pretty style of his animation. Carlo Vinci as well, and Art Bartsch. I found his work good but a little too even-tempered.

Interesting me least were the straight MIGHTY MOUSE adventure stories with The Claw.

I feel the art was fine from '47 to '49 was great, then lulled for years. The pages seemed rushed and the inking was weak. After 1955 when CBS had bought the studio, the art reached its peak. The care given to them was obvious.

Question: You are the only writer/artist that successfully transitioned from Spotlight’s Mighty Mouse to the Marvel series, starting with #6.   How did that happen?

I was trying to get work wherever I could. I forgot exactly how I connected with Spotlight; possibly at a con.  Or it may have been through friends. I had done my own books, HUGO and MIDNITE and got around. It was simple then; I asked for work and in that case the answer was yes.

I had done freelancing for Marvel before (One of my first jobs, CRAZY magazine in 1980, HEATHCLIFF.) I was always hanging about trying to get work. Somehow I connected with the editor. Everyone who knew me knew I sang the praises of Terrytoons. There was no connection between the jobs. Many animators worked on licensed characters and ended up returning to them years later. It just happened.

Question: You parodied Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man #1 when you illustrated the cover for Mighty Mouse #6.  Was that your choice or an editorial directive?  Anything else you recall?

Believe me, everything on those jobs were editorial directives. The SPIDERMAN parody was so specific, I didn't know half the gags I was drawing. I disliked Marvel's need to tie superheroes into all the humor they did.

Question: In your opinion, what are Mighty Mouse and Terry-toons’ impact on American Pop Culture?

“Here I come to save the day” is one of the most familiar quotes in America. Everybody knows it and what character sang it. And most adults recognize Farmer Al Falfa & his mice.