#Max Fleischer

[enlightenedrobot]

Other Characters you can legally use for your Mickey Mouse project

Mickey Mouse is in the public domain, as is Minnie Mouse and Peg-leg Pete. There's some caveats to that, and I talk about that more in this other post, but for now, let's talk about other characters who you can also use to fill out the cast.

These characters should all be in the public domain, though some characters still have treademarks. I'll get into how to use them safely as we go. Anyways, let's start.

Other Disney Characters

Disney obvciously doesn't advertise this, but there's actually quite a few Disney originals who've actually been in the public domain for a while.

The Mad Doctor never had it's copyright renewed, and so it's very technically the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to enter the public domain. Keep in mind, the version of Pluto featured in the short isn't in the domain just yet, but the Doctor himself is free to use.

What's funny is that Disney would later use a version of Doctor for Epic Mickey. Obviously don't use that version of the character.

Aside from the Mad Doctor, we also have Oswald and Ortensia

Yeah, as it turns out, Oswald's been in the public domain for quite a while, but he's still trademarked by Disney. Easy recommendation... use the original "fat" design of the character and have him go by Lucky.

But before Oswald, we have the Alice Comedies

Everything about the Alice Comedies is Public Domain for a long time, and the Disney corporation very rarely acknowlege these characters existence. Which is a shame because These shorts were some of the first shorts Walt ever produced, and they have the unique gimmick of featuring a live action girl in an animated world.

Everybody already knows about Oswald, but nobody talks about Oswald and Mickey's older brother from these shorts, Julius the Cat

Like... yeah no, it didn't all start with a mouse. Or a rabbit. It started with a cat.

Foxy and Milton Mouse

Both Foxy (top) and Milton (bottom, pictured with his girlfriend Rita Mouse) were characters created by Warner Brothers and Van Beuren respectively to cash in on Mickey's success, and both characters are also in the public domain.

In fact, all Van Beuren cartoons are apparently in the public domain, and I encourage you to find their cartoons and use them as you please.

Fleischer Characters

Betty Boop is probably in the Public Domain, but there's a few caveats with this. From what I can tell, the name Betty Boop is trademarked, but the character herself isn't. Most of the old Betty Cartoons are free to use, but newer incarnations, including the versions used in 1985's The Romance of Betty Boop and 1989's The Betty Boop Movie Mystery are still very much under copyright.

To avoid any legal trouble, I have two big recommendations. Although everybody remembers Betty as having Black hair, in one of the few early instances of Betty being shown in color, she's actually depicted as Redhead.

This is Betty Boop in 1934's Poor Cinderella, and her hair color is pretty clearly red.

The other option is to just make her black.

Though there's been some debate as to whether Betty Boop was intentionally modeled after Esther Lee Jones or not, there's still no denying the influence of Jazz on the character. Betty Boop is a Jazz singer and is often depicted dancing to Cab Calloway. Hell, the Betty Boop musical features Jasmine Amy Rogers as the titular character.

Betty Boop aside, there's an entire world of defunct Betty Boop characters who are definately public domain, including Bimbo and Koko the Clown.

Next year, Popeye's also gonna enter the Domain. So keep an eye out for him too.

Anyways, these are my picks, but obviously this list isn't meant to be comprehensive. There's a ton of old cartoon characters out there who can be freely reinterpreted into newer works. Feel free to add your own favorite public domain cartoon to the list.

[oldshows]

[cosmonautroger]

Max Fleischer

[bungowife]

There's a b&w version too I couldn't decide which one I like more WAAHHHH

[animusrox]

This amazing stranger from the planet Krypton, the man of steel, Superman! Empowered with X-ray vision, possessing remarkable physical strength, Superman fights a never ending battle for truth and justice, disguised as a mild mannered newspaper reporter, Clark Kent.

Max Fleischer’s Superman (1941 - 1943)

[citizenscreen]

Animator/producer Max Fleischer was born on July 19, 1883 #botd

Pictured: Fleischer with his star, Betty Boop. Fleischer Studios’ most famous star made her first appearance in a 1930′s film, “Dizzy Dishes.”

[anawkwardgalnamedtarazan]

Dice Doin' His Best!

(Ft. Henchman😈🐘)

🎲🕺🎶

🔥🔥🔥🔥

Based on this:

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Superman (1942)

[aquamon]

[oswaldskovich]

Bimbo the dog is a fat, black and white cartoon pup made by Fleischer Studios. He is well known for not only being the girlfriend of Betty Boop, but also the partner of Koko the clown. Bimbo was made in 1930 to try and rival Disney's Mickey Mouse. Bimbo was technically made back in 1926 although he was different and named Fitz. He got the name Bimbo because in the 1920s, that word was associated with men who liked to fight. However in 1934, he was discontinued due to Hays Code as the studio feared an anthropomorphic dog dating a woman was seen as too risqué.

[acmeoop]

Happy 36th Anniversary! Who Framed Roger Rabbit was Released on June 22nd, 1988 in North America

[oldshows]

[cosmonautroger]

Betty Boop & Bimbo

[classicanimationart]

Production backgrounds.

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (Fleischer, 1936)

[longwuzhere]

Second half of My Adventures with Superman ep 7 easter eggs and references

Some cool Easter eggs I caught watching My Adventures with Superman that I want to show to people so they can be in on it with comic book readers

My episode 1 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 2 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 3 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 4 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 5 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 6 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 7 first half of easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 8 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 9 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 10 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

(SPOILERS if you haven't seen the show yet):

Mxy knocks over a display case that contains the Helmet of Fate. The mystical, god containing item, makes its first appearance, along with Doctor Fate, in More Fun Comics #55 (1940) the panels were done by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman. The Helmet of Fate is the one controlling the body as it contains the god, Nabu, the Lord of Order. The helmet grants anyone who wears it magical powers and the mantle of the Doctor Fate. Usually the person most associated with the it is Kent Nelson but recent comics had Khalid Nassour take up the Doctor Fate name.

Next we see Mxy pass by the Cosmic Rod of Starman/Stargirl. In the

comics the original owner of the Cosmic Rod was Ted Knigh, the original Starman. The Cosmic Rod he wielded was about the size of a flashlight. It wasn't until Starman #4 (1994) (W: James Robinson, P: Tony Harris, I: Wade Von Grawbadger, C: Gregory Wright, L: John Workman) that his son, Jack Knight took the new and improved Cosmic Rod that his father made and used it for himself to take up the Starman name. The staff would then get passed on to Courtney Whitmore aka Stargirl who at the time took up the name Star-Spangled Kid, when Jack retired the Starman identity to raise his kid. Courtney took up the Starman name as Stargirl and used the Cosmic Rod to carry on the name. The Cosmic Rod gives its wielder flight and energy projection.

Mr. Mxyzptlk then passes over a flight ring in the display. Very good homage to the Legion of Superheroes. Originally the LoSH wore belts to allow their members to fly, but Brainiac 5 was able to make flight rings so they can be less encumbered by the belts as seen in the panel from Adventure Comics #329 (1965) (W: Jerry Seigel, P&I: Jim Mooney, L: David Huffine). The LoSH are a group of young superheroes from the 31st century who are from various parts of the galaxy that fight evil as a team. The group was inspired by reading the history of what Superman did and they want to uphold his ideals and legacy. If they do show up in the show I'll definitely talk more about them.

In another display we see the Soultaker Sword. The sword is associated with Tatsu Yamashiro aka Katana. It and Katana make their first debut in the Brave and the Bold 200 (1983) (W: Mike Barr, P&I: Jim Aparo, C: Adrienne Roy, L: Jim Aparo). The sword was forged by Muramasa, who imbued it with magical properties where whoever kills with the sword, steals the souls of the victim's. Tatsu's husband and children were unfortunately slain by the sword, wielded by her brother-in-law and Tatsu has since then taken the sword and use it to avenged those who were slain by him. Because of the swords magical properties, it can be used to harm Kryptonians. Yes magic is a weakness for Superman.

When we cut back to the League of Loises ship, Jalana goes Flamebird on everyone and name drops Comet. This is a very good homage to Comet the Super-Horse. Comet made his first debut in Adventure Comics 293 (1962) (W: Jerry Seigel, P: Curt Swan, I: George Klein, L: Milt Snapinn) Comet, along with Krypto the Super-Dog, Streaky the Super-Cat, and Beppo the Super-Monkey, formed the Legion of Super-Pets to save the Legion of Superheroes and Superboy from Brain-Globes of Rambat. Give Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow a read if you want to check out a really cool Comet story.

Krypton gets a name drop, Superman's home planet.

Someone on the MAwS team is a Kingdom Hearts fan.

Kryptonite is finally introduced in the show, the most well-known weakness of Superman's. Fun fact Kryptonite made its first appearance not in the comics but on the Adventures of Superman radio show in 1943. It wasn't until 6 years later in 1949 that Kryptonite is introduced in the comics in Superman #61.

At the League of Loises HQ we see MAwS Lois and Mxy walk down the hall with holographic projections of various Loises in the DC multiverse. The one on your left is obviously Lois Prime aka Fleischer Studios Lois the one on your right is Superman the Animated Series Lois. The one next to StAS Lois is Superwoman from Action Comics #60 (1943). The issue was created by Jerry Seigel and George Roussos where Lois dreams of having Superman's powers and saving the day.

As Mxy searches for his hat we see him open up a cache of various weapons that the Loises have collected. Some of them are pretty recognizable like the Card Captor Sakura staff that's by Mxy's head, Guts's giant sword from Berserk above Mxy on the second shelf from the bottom.

As the episode wraps up we see MAwS lois activate the data sphere she took from the headquarters and sees evil Supermen tearing up the city. The first we see is an homage to Overman from Animal Man #23 (1990) (W: Peter Milligan, P: Chas Truog, I: Mark Farmer, C: Tajana Wood, L: John Costanza) and the second is designed after Justice Lords Superman from the Justice League cartoon.

Overman is from a world where all superheroes are part of the government and each one is a clone from him. Justice Lords Superman is from the two-parter episode "A Better World" where his Flash died, Superman kills President Lex Luthor in retaliation and he and the Justice League become dictators. Gotta admit Superman does look pretty cool in that suit.

That will be it for this week's episodes Easter Eggs and references. If you made it this far down the post and want to see the other MAwS Easter Eggs and references post you can find them here:

My episode 1 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 2 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 3 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 4 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 5 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Episode 6 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Episode 7 first half of easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Episode 8 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Episode 9 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Episode 10 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

[citizenscreen]

Max Fleischer and Ko-Ko the clown publicity photo. Ko-Ko was the first animated character introduced by Max Fleischer.