The Mickey Mouse Villains

[David Gerstein]

    Hi Jonathan (and everyone),

    Couldn't resist a chance to weigh in on Mickey's enemies.

> Pete is indeed most like the Beagle Boys, but unlike them he has a MUCH MORE
> vicious streak. Especially Gottfredson's Pete.

    Agreed fully on Pete's viciousness‹ though I also agree with Nils Smeby,
who points out that the Beagles can be genuinely ruthless and at least
offhandedly vicious when they want to be.
    For me, one of Pete's scariest moments is also from the "World of
Tomorrow" era, though I don't remember if that's the exact story (and alas,
I don't have my refs nearby to check). The scene I'm thinking of has Pete
trying to "percolator grind" Mickey in the blades of an airplane propeller.
    Not a nice fellow.

> As far as the Blot goes - I think Romano Scarpa is the only person who has
> ever come close to catching the essence of Gottfredson's Blot.

    If you're thinking of the classic "Blot's Double Mystery", do note that
Guido Martina is the plotter and scripter there. Scarpa wasn't 100%
responsible.
    Otherwise, I absolutely agree with you. There ARE many other great Blot
stories, but in most of them the Blot is treated rather differently than
Gottfredson treated him.

> As far as the rest go - I've always been compelled to wonder why Sylvester
> Shyster was replaced by Eli Squinch.

    Gottfredson used Shyster from 1930-1934 and Squinch from 1934-1937, but
he also brought Shyster back in 1941‹ so nobody replaced anybody. And both
Shyster and Squinch survive independently in today's Egmont Mickey stories.
The distinction between the two of them is like the distinction between any
two villains: it's just what makes character each good for a different and
specialized purpose, IMHO.
    Sylvester is smart, sly, and full of sophisticated legal knowledge (as
befits his being a lawyer): good for hatching elaborate criminal master
plans, both with Pete and other thugs. Sylvester also has a great Achilles
heel‹ romantic yearnings for Minnie, just like Pete's.
    Eli, meanwhile, is a small-time hustler whose worst enemy is his own
outrageous temper. He can't think up complex schemes like Sylvester's, but
his own brand of crooked dealings (and "competitive" adventures, like
treasure hunts) can be just as good in their own way.

> And as far as Ecks, Doublex, and Triplex goes, have any new stories been
> done with the trio barring that rather silly one Disney did where they
> merged the Ecks and Doublex? :P

    Sure! At Egmont, we've been doing about one story a year with the trio.
Gladstone published two that I wrote in 1998, in WDC&S 629 and 632. (The 632
story, a birthday story, also included both Sylvester and Eli...)

    David