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<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Marmaduke Mouse </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=310 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=338 WIDTH=300 ALT="Marmaduke Mouse. Artist: Ermie Hart." SRC="marmadkm.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"> <H1>MARMADUKE MOUSE</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic books <BR><B>Published by:</B> Quality Comics <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1944 <BR><B>Creator:</B> Ernie Hart <FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> <A href="quality.htm">Quality Comics,</A> which published comic books of quality from the late 1930s to the middle '50s, offered a typical line It started with mostly anthology titles (e.g., <I>Smash Comics, Military Comics</I>), and spun off a lot of single-feature  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> titles (e.g., <I><A HREF="spirit.htm">The Spirit,</A> <A HREF="torchy.htm">Torchy</A></I>) as time went on. Of the single-feature ones, the longest-lasting were <I><A HREF="blakhawk.htm">Blackhawk</A></I> and <I><A HREF="plas.htm">Plastic Man,</A></I> which strikes most people who know the company at all as fitting and proper. After all, those were probably the company's two most prominent features. <P> From that point of view, it's curious to note that Quality's third-longest lasting single-feature title was <I>Marmaduke Mouse,</I> which ran a full decade, and which most of those people have never even heard of. <P> Marmaduke (<A HREF="marmaduk.htm">no relation</A>) made his first appearance in <I>Hit Comics</I> #35 (Spring, 1944), where <A HREF="eternity.htm">Kid Eternity</A> was well established as the cover-featured star. That issue saw a minor shake-up in the back pages, as Bill the Magnificent and Stormy Foster disappeared, and Marmaduke Mouse and Egbert & the Count, both by <A HREF="glossary.htm#cartoonist">cartoonist</A> Ernie Hart (<A HREF="superrab.htm">Super Rabbit,</A> <A HREF="atomctot.htm">Atomictot</A>) replaced them. <P> Marmaduke debuted fully formed — that is, he didn't change very much over the years, except near the end. He worked for King Louie, a lion, doing odd jobs — which included anything from cutting the lawn to getting the king out of truly extraordinary jams. Apparently, his position was something along the lines of head minion or lackey-in-chief. The most striking (in fact, only distinguishing) thing about Marmaduke's appearance was that he always wore a diaper, a quirk he shared with at least one other fully adult <A HREF="glossary.htm#funnyanimal">funny animal,</A> <A HREF="acg.htm">ACG's</A> Super Katt, who also wore a baby's bonnet. In neither case was an explanation given. <P> Egbert was gone the next issue, but turned up sporadically for a few months more. Marmaduke, too, was dropped after #41 (July, 1946), but by that time he'd already moved out into his own title. <I>Marmaduke Mouse</I> #1 was dated Spring, 1946. Egbert & the Count, as well as a few other Hart-created features such as Prince Pinky & Pudd, were in its back pages. <P> <I>Marmaduke Mouse,</I> diaper and all, was published on a mostly bimonthly basis until Quality Comics itself gave up the ghost. In fact, its December, 1956 issue (#65) was part of Quality's final batch of releases. In very late, apparently post-Hart issues, Marmaduke moved out of Louie's castle and led a more sitcom-style life. One more came out, but it was an unauthorized reprint — Israel Waldman's <A href="iw-super.htm">Super Comics,</A> which subsisted entirely on unauthorized reprints, did it in 1963. <P> <A HREF="dc.htm">DC Comics</A> purchased Quality Comics properties — only a limited (but undefined) number, say knowledgeable sources, but since nobody seems to object when DC lays claim to whichever ones it wants, it's become the <I>de facto</I> owner of the entire line. But what DC doesn't want from Quality seems to include Marmaduke Mouse. With its own funny animal line (<A HREF="petrpand.htm">Peter Panda,</A> <A HREF="dodofrog.htm">The Dodo & the Frog,</A> etc.) mostly on its last legs by 1957, the company apparently didn't (and still doesn't) feel a need to add another. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! 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