Terry-Toons Comics #38
Terry-Toons Comics #38 holds a clear and well-documented place in Golden Age history as the first comic book appearance of Mighty Mouse, one of the most enduring funny-animal superheroes of the twentieth century. The character had already completed his on-screen rename from 'Super Mouse' to 'Mighty Mouse' a year earlier, so the comics debut showcased the fully formed, renamed hero rather than any transitional version. As the comic-book translation of a Terrytoons theatrical property that would go on to define Saturday morning television for a generation, this issue marks the point at which the character's multimedia footprint began — a lineage that continues into active feature-film development at Paramount as of 2024. It also represents a mature chapter of Timely's long-running licensed funny-animal anthology, which had been bringing Paul Terry's stable of characters to newsstand readers since 1942.
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Timely Comics launched the Terry-Toons Comics series in August 1942, adapting the theatrical cartoon characters of Paul Terry's Terrytoons studio under license. The studio's characters — including Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, and Dinky Duck — had been the series' mainstays since issue #1, but Mighty Mouse was kept off the comics page until issue #38 (on sale September 17, 1945; cover-dated November 1945), arriving after his animated identity had been fully consolidated under the 'Mighty Mouse' name. The name change from 'Super Mouse' had been driven by a naming conflict with a rival funny-animal character in Nedor Publications' Coo Coo Comics, which caused Paul Terry to retire the 'Super Mouse' name on screen in 1944. Timely retained the Terrytoons license through 1947, after which St. John Publications assumed publishing duties.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First comic book appearance of Mighty Mouse, published by Timely Comics with a cover date of November 1945 and an on-sale date of September 17, 1945.
- Mighty Mouse was originally called 'Super Mouse' in his 1942 theatrical debut (The Mouse of Tomorrow); the name was changed to 'Mighty Mouse' beginning with the 1944 short The Wreck of the Hesperus after a rival 'Super Mouse' character appeared in Nedor Publications' Coo Coo Comics.
- The character was created by Paul Terry for Terrytoons studio; animator Isadore 'Izzy' Klein is also credited by some sources as a co-originator of the concept.
- Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, Dinky Duck, and Rudy Rooster had all debuted in comics in Terry-Toons Comics #1 (1942) and appear here as continuing anthology features, not first appearances.
- The Terrytoons characters — including Mighty Mouse, Gandy Goose, Sourpuss, and Dinky Duck — were initially licensed to Timely Comics in 1942; St. John Publications took over the license from 1947 onward.
- Following his Timely debut, Mighty Mouse graduated to a self-titled Timely comic series (1946–1947, four issues) before moving through St. John, Pines, Dell/Gold Key, and Western Publishing across subsequent decades.
- Mighty Mouse later returned to Marvel Comics in a 10-issue series (1990–1991) based on Ralph Bakshi's revival cartoon, and received a five-issue Dynamite Entertainment series in 2017–2018.
- As of November 2024, a Mighty Mouse animated feature film is in active development at Paramount Animation, produced by Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort Productions with a script by Free Guy writer Matt Lieberman.
Cast · 5 characters
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House ad for Miss America Teen-Life, with a cover reproduction of the October 1945 issue
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).