“Yesterday’s” Comic> Mighty Mouse #2 (Marvel)

Is there a Superman clone who HASN’T turned evil?

Mighty Mouse #2

Marvel (November,1990)

Actually I’m only guessing. The Grand Comics Database thinks Severin was the inker and has a question mark next to colorist. This is why I hate when the credits doesn’t tell you who did what, or in this case just the last name. If it wasn’t for the back-up feature in this issue I wouldn’t even be THIS accurate. Never do this, writers and letterers.

On to the story: The Glove (one of those villains Bakshi created) breaks out of prison and goes to WPRL to openly challenge Mighty Mouse on the evening news. Too bad Mike (secretly Mighty Mouse) is there and can’t reveal his identity. He is able to trick the Glove into covering his disappearance and Mighty Mouse arrives to fight him. However, Glove has his pal from the Bakshi show, Scrappy, which he uses to blackmail Mighty Mouse into working for him on a crime spree. Mighty Mouse must outthink the Glove and rescue Scrappy from his Bad Mittens while ending his crime wave.

There is also a brief history of Mighty Mouse cartoons, noting that Gallagher was a huge fan as a kid.

What they got right: Since this is set in the Bakshi continuity it’s good that they explained what happened to Scrappy. We also see Mighty Mouse using his head instead of his fists. Until it’s time to use his fists.

What they got wrong: So what happened between Mighty Mouse and Scrappy? The boy became a video game addict. This was not a thing in 1990 (it’s a more recent problem with longform games that talk certain people into playing way too long, although most gamers can actually go outside or watch non-interactive entertainment once in a while) and it just comes off as a swipe against video games. It was Glove’s arcade, so why not blame it on some kind of mind-control to keep the kids playing? That would make for an interesting evil plan depending on the end goal. Also, the chronology just barely mentions the Filmation series which was not only my introduction to Mighty Mouse all those years ago but one of my introductions to the world of serials, “Mighty Mouse in The Great Space Chase“. Instead it’s one panel mentioning doing a show with Heckle & Jeckle (another Terrytoons production) and some environmental thing that I don’t even remember and wasn’t in the reruns when TV Land aired some of the old episodes. Of course, they also dropped Heckle & Jeckle and original concept Quackula.

Recommendation: This was a fun story that did a better job (to me anyway) with Bakshi creations than Bakshi. Pick this one up.