COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Four Color 1084 Universal
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Grade:
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9.2
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Page Quality:
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OFF-WHITE TO WHITE
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Certification #:
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0255867022
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Owner:
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4GEMWORKS
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Speedy Gonzales 3-5/1960 First and only Speedy Gonzales Four Color.
Covber Art: Pete Alvarado
Script: Carl Fallberg
Pencils: Pete Alvarado
Inks: Pete Alvarado and Steve Steere
Table of Contents
0. [no title indexed]
Speedy Gonzales
1. Bean Baggers
Speedy Gonzales
2. Do or Diet
Speedy Gonzales
3. Seashore Show-Off
Speedy Gonzales
4. Watch My Dust
Speedy Gonzales
5. Well Peppered
Speedy Gonzales
6. Slow But Sure
Speedy Gonzales
7. Traveling Salesmouse
Speedy Gonzales
8. Have Strings...Must Travel
Speedy Gonzales
9. Imagine "Touring" England for only 10¢
American Geographical Society
Don Markstein did an excellentg summary of the life of Speedy Gonzales befiore he passed away:
Like many cartoon characters, the so-called "fastest mouse in all Mexico" wasn't quite himself in his first appearance. The film that is generally reckoned his initial outing, Warner Bros.' Cat-Tails for Two (1953), directed by Robert McKimson, shows him looking like a hick, scrawny and buck-toothed. It was in his second cartoon, Speedy Gonzales (1955), directed by Friz Freleng, that he was re-designed as the sleek little speedster we all know today.
That cartoon is also the first to pit him against his best antagonist, Sylvester Pussycat. It won an Oscar, and set the tone for dozens of cartoons to come. Among them are three more Oscar nominees — Tabasco Road (1957), Mexicali Schmoes (1959) and The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (1961).
Freleng remained Speedy's sole director until 1965. His last use of the character was It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the House, which was also the first to pair Speedy with Daffy Duck. It was an unfortunate partnership, but an enduring one — for the remainder of his career as a cartoon star, Speedy shared billing with Daffy. The last theatrically-released cartoon in which either character appeared was See Ya Later Gladiator (1968).
Speedy did not fare well in comic books, appearing in only one — Dell's Four Color Comics #1084 (1960).
Speedy Gonzales has not been a prominent part of the Looney Tunes revival (he didn't even have a speaking role in Space Jam), possibly because of fears that he might offend members of the Hispanic community. In fact, Cartoon Network, which since 1999 has been the only television venue for the old Warner cartoons, has removed him from the daytime schedule — he can now be seen only late at night, in obscure time slots, and even then, only rarely.
Such fears are apparently misguided, as Speedy is seen by Hispanic Americans as having many positive attributes. He is intelligent, he has a strong sense of justice, he is very good at what he does, and he has a healthy sense of humor. He is certainly no more offensive than Gordo, who has won his creator considerable recognition for promoting international friendship and understanding. In fact, the large and growing "Free the Mouse" movement has very strong support among Hispanic groups.
In a world where even the egregiously sexist Pepe LePew can be viewed by children, it's hard to believe this popular classic will be off the daytime schedule for long. — DDM
Copied and used with specific permission from GiGi Dane, the widow of the late Don Markstein. Please visit their site: http://www.toonopedia.com/articles/susie-q.htm
Some data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a Creative Commons Attribution license. http://www.comics.org/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
http://www.comics.org/issue/201751/
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