10

There are certainly plenty of people in those comics, but a lot of them are anthropomorphic birds and anthropomorphic mammals.

I do remember a lot of people who looked similar to humans back when I read those comic books, but I don't remember closely inspecting them to see if they were drawn like comic book humans or like one or more species of anthropomorphic mammals.

So I ask if the majority of human-looking characters in Duckburg or Mouseton and in the wide world are humans or anthropomorphic mammals in the mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comic books.

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  • In Quack Pack (the TV show), Duckburg was entirely populated by humans; youtube.com/watch?v=6aNzzyTbMEw
    – Valorum
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 18:06
  • @Valorum we don't talk about Quack Pack.
    – Broklynite
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 18:12
  • Just like most comic book series, whomever draws the comic makes the decisions. Modern artists will often include humans, sometimes as Easter eggs, sometimes as homages (especially to characters from outside their "universe"), occasionally as mistakes. It seems the original or definitive artists for Disney comics tried to avoid humans. Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 21:45

4 Answers 4

7

There are several human characters in the comic-book Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck universe.


Hard Haid Moe - A "hill-billy" first seen in the italian Topolino - Goofy: It's Music? (1964)

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Firmina - Moe's maid (and future would-be love interest) first seen in Urtigão #80 - Uma Intrusa Especiar (A special intruder)

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Eega Beeva, a "human from the future" debuting in Mickey and Donald: Mickey Mouse and the Man from Tomorrow

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Nereus - A human wizard first seen in Wizards of Mickey #1

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The Red Wasp - A human superhero seen in Mickey Mouse and Friends: The Red Wasp Mystery

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Karylissa - A human female first seen in Topolino #1846 - La guarnigione segreta (The secret garrison)

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Barzan - A parody of Tarzan first seen in Super Goof #3 - The Giant Windoola Jade

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  • Is the Red Wasp a man or a woman? Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 19:15
  • 1
    @DCOPTimDowd - That wasn't a great picture. I've found a better one of him
    – Valorum
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 19:19
  • Technically, this doesn't tell us about the majority of the "human-looking characters", as asked by the OP. It points out that there are at least some characters that are human, rather than anthropomorphic animals.
    – RDFozz
    Commented Feb 7, 2018 at 15:28
  • I note that most (all?) of these are from foreign sources. Commented Feb 7, 2018 at 16:07
  • 1
    @Quasi_Stomach - Several were also published (latterly) in the UK and US but you're not wrong. Human characters seem far more common in Spanish and Brazilian Disney comics
    – Valorum
    Commented Feb 7, 2018 at 16:13
6

Carl Barks, the creator of Uncle Scrooge (and most of the extended Duck family) was usually careful to make all of his supporting characters into animals. Most important characters were ducks, (or the occasional goose), and most secondary characters were dogs.

Unfortunately, the time during which he did most of his stories was a time of strong implicit racism, and many of his most racist characters were indeed human, but might be considered sub-human enough that it made it past the Artist's notice and that of the censors as well.

scan of "Voodoo Hoodoo"

When Gladstone Publishing reprinted the story Voodoo Hoodoo in their Comic Album series, editor Geoffrey Blum wrote a commentary on the initially very racist characterizations, and how the censorship process changed over time.

"Voodoo Hoodoo" was originally published in 1949. Then...it...vanished. Had [the zombie] been a white zombie, he might have returned before now; but Bark's comic was packed with black stereotypes. The Disney Studio was understandably reluctant to reprint images which in later years could give offence. For this reason, old-time readers will notice some changes in this edition. Facial features have been retouched, sharpened teeth are gone, and to downplay the elements of caricature further, all the blacks have been given dog noses like their white counterparts.

scan of later reprint of "Voodoo Hoodoo"

The images above were taken from

https://inducks.org/fr/richard/barks/censored.html

Several other images can be found there, as well.

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  • 2
    I vaguely remember (source = old comic book I probably can't find) that Carl Barks once had a story rejected because, except for Donald and his nephews, all the characters were human. He said he was surprised, because many of his stories had featured humans previously.
    – user1197
    Commented Feb 7, 2018 at 17:09
  • 1
    @barrycarter That's interesting. If you ever find that reference, I'd love to see it. I wonder if it was like the example above or if it was some sort of anachronistic story where Donald was in the Land of the Large Pink Monsters. Commented Feb 7, 2018 at 19:26
6

Anthropomorphic mammals.

While there are some standard humans (as noted in Valorum's answer), most of the people we see (aside from the primary cast) are humanoids with some vaguely canine features (the nose, mostly), rather than actual humans:

There's Chief O'Hara (no relation) in the Mickey Mouse stories:

Mickey's friend, Chief O'Hara

There's the Beagle Boys, of course (their dog-like noses are a bit more prominent than usual, probably tied to their name):

The Beagle Boys (and Scrooge)

And, in the Barks and Rosa comics in particular, these same creatures tend to populate crowd scenes:

Donald and Scrooge "falling" through bus Donald and Scrooge on celing, over crowd

(These last two images from the Don Rosa story "A Matter of Gravity").

1
  • 2
    This answer more fully addresses the question in the body of the original post. Commented Feb 7, 2018 at 16:10
0

As a fan and a collector of the Hard Haid Moe Brazilian comic (he was kind of "adopted" by our studio, probably because of his constant interactions with Fethry, another favourite of us), I would like to complement the first answer and say that not only Firmina, but almost all the characters at the "Moeniverse" are human beings.

Also, in the "Spy Mickey" set of stories, he and Goofy were the only anthropomorphic animals in a world of human beings.I believe they were drawn by Paul Murry.

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  • 2
    Hi, welcome to SF&F. Can you add any images from these, especially the Spy Mickey stories? It would make this a much better answer.
    – DavidW
    Commented Feb 2, 2021 at 0:16
  • I believe I would need an account to post an image, but here is a link to some panels: one of these stories is "Aircraft Carrier at 2 O'Clock High", published at Commented Feb 2, 2021 at 22:45
  • Sorry for the badly posted comment. Here's the full text: ----- I believe I would need an account to post an image, but here is a link to some panels: platypuscomix.com/otherpeople/worstcomixever/00mickey11.jpg ----- The story from which it came from is "Aircraft Carrier at 2 O'Clock High", firstly published in 1966 at "Mickey Mouse" 108. ----- Here's a link for its "Inducks" page: inducks.org/story.php?c=W+MM++108-02 and here's a quite funny review, with plenty of pictures: platypuscomix.com/otherpeople/worstcomixever/doubleomickey.html Commented Feb 2, 2021 at 23:17

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