| ||||||||
| [Source] | ||||||||
Eli Squinch is a villain from the Mickey Mouse comic strip, introduced in the 1934 storyline which introduced Bobo the Elephant.
Eli Squinch was introduced when, at an auction, Mickey Mouse mistakenly purchased a baby elephant. Eli comes to town and convinces Mickey that he is the rightful owner of Bobo. However, Eli intends to use Bobo to run his sawmill to save on electricity (using a treadmill which had already killed two horses). Mickey and Horace Horsecollar stall Eli's repossession of Bobo until the baby pachyderm discovers his mother is in a visiting circus. Bobo runs away and is reunited with his mother. After unsuccessfully trying to retrieve the baby, Eli reluctantly sells the calf to the circus owner, Mr. Barnling. Eli's next escapade, in the storyline Race to Riches, had him proposing to Clarabelle Cow after learning she had inherited a map to a gold mine owned by her grandfather, Durham. Eli's scam is revealed by Mickey and Clarabelle is steamed. Eli and Peg-leg Pete team up and trouble Mickey & Horace as they seek the gold to save Clarabelle's home from mortgage foreclosure. Eli and Pete have teamed up against Mickey and Goofy in one more Gottfredson story - In Search of Jungle Treasure (1937) - and been shown as a team on several occasions by other authors since then. Eli has appeared sporadically over the years, becoming prominent in Egmont-produced stories since the 1990s.
On a few occasions, it seems that Northern European translators at Egmont have confused Squinch with Sylvester Shyster, another villainous "brain" who often employs Pete as his "brawn." In "The Cavern in the Shifting Sands" (file number D 95122, first published in Anders And & Co. 1996-49), author David Gerstein wrote a role for Shyster as Pete's partner in crime. However, artist Noel Van Horn drew Squinch instead. Gerstein has noted that the character is more active than the disabled Squinch usually is, showing that the role was written for the younger Shyster. Ironically, the German edition appears to have restored Gerstein's original intent in the text, referring to the character as Shyster even though he bears Squinch's face.
Appearances[]
- Bobo the Elephant (1934)
- Race for Riches (1935)
- In Search of Jungle Treasure (1937)
- Donald and Donna (1937)
- Donald and Mac with Squinch and Hydrophobey Bill in A Very Fishy Business (1937)
- The Mystery of Merlyn Towers (1938)
- No Adventures (1939)
- Paperino chiromante (1939)
- Where's the Fire? (1939)
- L'inferno di Topolino (1949)
- Topolino e il tesoro della corona (1965)
- Topolino alla ricerca di un tesoro perduto (1974)
- Topolino e i dieci quintali d'oro (1975)
- Consider The Sorcery (1996)
- Scuttled (2010)
- Escape Artist (2012)
- A Serenade from Squinch (2013)
- Mortgage Misery (2015)