Supermouse (published in comics from 1942 to 1958) was successful for publisher Ned Pines’s comic books. As a callow youth I liked Supermouse, and as a cranky adult I still do. Supermouse had several artists over the years, some of whom, Allan Hubbard and Jack Bradbury among them, have such distinctive styles even a kid would notice. As I was told many years ago when I mistakenly credited a Supermouse story for this blog to artist Gene Fawcette, that the Supermouse artist was considered to be Milton (Milt) Stein. And that is who drew “The Cavemen,” from Supermouse #3 (1949).
“Cheesie” is Supermouse’s airplane. A cute little guy, at that. Why Supermouse needed an airplane was a bit of a puzzle to me, but I admit I liked the stories with Cheesie in them. In this story not only does Supermouse, who can fly like Superman, use an airplane, but is also seen in a car. I then remembered the reason for Supermouse’s super hero powers is supercheese, from “super cows,” which brings out those powers. That's some cheese! Send me a block of it, please. I need all the help I can get.
I don't think that I ever fantasized about being an explorer, perhaps because I was implicitly informed by the culture that opportunities for exploration were vanishing. At the time of my birth, satellite imaging and LIDAR were not yet realities, but cartographers had left few places on land unvisited. The questions of exploratory cartography that now remain seem to be archaeologic. I doubt that a major system of caves is still undiscovered.
ReplyDeleteThose cavemen spoke Pig Latin; that's close to speaking backwards. They were on the cusp of grasping great magical power!
Daniel, I admire those brave people who went where no one had been. I loved lost world stories, then found out that most places in the world had been visited. Watching pictures from the space station brings to earth (literally) places that may not have been seen before. They are right in front of our eyes. That reality more-or-less killed the "lost world" type story. Writers now can go to alternate universes to re-invent the lost worlds, but the old stories are still fun to read. How many times have I brought up Tarzan and all of those "lost" lands and cities in Africa?
ReplyDelete"Ixnay on the ottonray," is a line from Young Frankenstein...? I inkthay, that is. And here, as a child, I was more proficient with igpay atinlay than good ol' American. Ommay was not amused, and said to "knock it off." And I always obeyed my othermay. (I am also an iarlay.)