Number 126

Supermouse in Monsters On The Loose!

Supermouse was a funny animal character who had a decent run in comics, lasting from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. What's even more surprising about Soupie's longevity (and yes, his nickname was "Soupie") is that he managed to avoid being sued out of existence by DC Comics, owner of Superman, and stalwart defenders of their rights not to have their copyrights stepped on. So wha' hoppen? Whither Supermouse?

Supermouse was created in 1942 by Kin Platt, who was apparently some sort of renaissance man of popular culture. He wrote novels* for children and adults, worked in animation and basically all over the place. The character was created for the Sangor comic book shop, suppliers of funny animal stories to several publications that eventually became the American Comics Group (ACG). I can only guess at the non-action by the legal-types at DC Comics, but it's probably because they were after characters they claimed infringed on Superman, like Captain Marvel, and not a mouse that wore a similar costume but got his powers through "super cheese."

This particular Supermouse story is from Supermouse Summer Holiday Issue, a 100-page giant comic from Summer 1957. It was published by Ned Pines, a longtime pulp and comic book publisher under various names and logos. According to cartoonist Jim Engel, the story was drawn by Supermouse's finest artist, Milton Stein.

My interest in this particular Supermouse story, "Monsters On The Loose!" is in the artwork; the story is OK, but the artwork really makes it work for me. The first thing that comes to my mind is that this would make a great storyboard for an animated film. When you look at the panel layouts and the drawings, this is really nice comic art of any genre. I'm especially knocked out by the large half-page panels with the dinosaurs. It is obvious that Stein really liked what he was drawing.

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*Here's a 1971 Platt novel, published by Scholastic: