Mr Slicker and the Egg Robbers

Mr Slicker and the Egg Robbers is a 1930 comic story. It features Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, Butch, Snake, Slicker's Accomplice, Marcus Mouse, Margie Mouse, Patricia Pigg, Bill Goat, Wienie, Sporty, Squire Skinflint, Mr Kurrency, Squeaky, Burlap-Bones, Watson, Simon Legree and Eliza, Tom, Miss Van Pork, Mr Wattley and the titular Mr Slicker. Marshal Mouse, Matilda Mouse, Milton Mouse, and Milton's family appear in picture form. Mortimer Mouse, Mr Shingle, Harriet Hen, and Doc Skunk are mentioned. What appears to be prototypes of Annabelle Mink and Barnacle Bill also appear.
== Plot ==
Mickey Mouse, with the help of Wienie, Sporty, and other barnyard animals, opens up his own miniature golf course. The business is successful and attracts many visitors, including the millionaire Mr Slicker. Meanwhile, an unknown egg robber raids the chicken coops of farmer Marcus Mouse, pushing the Mouse family, which includes Margie and Minnie Mouse, towards financial ruin. Things only get worse when Squire Skinflint threatens to foreclose on their homestead. Mr Slicker offers to help the family, but only under one condition: that he be given Minnie's hand in marriage. When Mickey is accused of being the egg robber, he goes on the run. With the help of his friend Squeaky, he makes it his mission to find the real egg robbers and return the stolen goods to Marcus before Minnie has no other choice than to marry Mr Slicker, a man whom she does not love.
===References===
*Minnie Mouse has a grandfather named Marshal Mouse, a grandmother named Matilda Mouse, and an uncle named Milton Mouse who seems to have had a wife and four children. It is unclear if any of them are still alive or not.
*Marcus Mouse mentions having to worry about Minnie's education, indicating that she is still school-aged during the events of the story.
*During the strip in which Squire Skinflint visits Marcus to remind him of when the interest on the latter's mortgage is due, what appears to be a calendar on the wall has the number "1" on it, perhaps implying that the strip in question took place on the 1st of an unknown month. Marcus also states in this strip that "fer five days now, I ain't seen a egg in the coop".
*Bill Goat is a constable.
*The locality where Marcus, Minnie, Mickey, Clarabelle, and others live is called a village by both Mickey and Mr Slicker. The narration box also refers to it as a village. However, signs can be sign that read "City Limits" and "City Dump", leaving it unclear if the place is a village, if it is a city, or if the terms "city" and "village" are interchangeable in this context.
*The Blab is a newspaper that reports on Minnie's engagement to Mr Slicker.
===Continuity===
*According to David Gerstein, the infamous sequence focusing on Mickey's comedically inept attempt to kill himself was partially inspired by the Oswald Rabbit cartoon The Suicide Sheik.
*The first strip of the story references Mickey Mouse in Death Valley as Mickey, after tripping several times, says, "Gee, it sure seems good to get out of those boots and back into the old shoes again!" This is a reference to the boots Mickey wore for a large portion of Mickey Mouse in Death Valley.
**There are further references to Mickey Mouse in Death Valley in the story, such as when Minnie states, "When Uncle Mortimer left, he deposited some money in the bank for me!"
*Similarities can be seen between this story and 1930's The Chain Gang, which also shows Mickey being incarcerated and escaping from prison.
**The appearance of Simon Legree and Eliza in Mr Slicker and the Egg Robbers may be a reference to the pair of bloodhounds seen in The Chain Gang, as both pairs of dogs are police dogs used to hunt criminals.
*The events of this story are referenced in Mickey Mouse, Boxing Champion when a newspaper article about an upcoming boxing match references Mickey's solving of the egg robbers case.
**Mr Slicker and the Egg Robbers is mentioned again when Butch appears, with the story saying, "Remember 'Butch' who went to jail with the egg-robbers?"
== Behind the scenes ==
Mr Slicker and the Egg Robbers was the third major continuity in the Mickey Mouse daily strips, following Lost on a Desert Island and Mickey Mouse in Death Valley. It was written by Floyd Gottfredson with art by Gottfredson and Earl Duvall.
Its first full reprint came in 1932 in Australia in John Sands Comics #1. Heavily abridged versions were reprinted in the U.S.A. in Uncle Scrooge #314 and in the U.K. in Disney Mirror #147 through #150. It was reprinted across Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #629 and #630. This version was lightly edited and was missing some of the opening sequences as well as some panels and strips near the end of the story. It would finally be reprinted again in full in Volume 1 of the Floyd Gottfredson Library.
This story was the debut for many of the characters featured in it, though many of its characters were also one-shots, appearing only in this story.
==Notes and References==
it:Topolino e il bel gagà
fr:M. Roublard et les voleurs d'œufs
el:Ιστορία: Ο Μίστερ Σλικ και το Μυστήριο των Κλεμμένων Αυγών
Category:Stories
Category:Comic Stories
Category:Mickey Mouse stories
Category:Minnie Mouse stories
Category:Horace Horsecollar stories
Category:Clarabelle Cow stories
Category:Wienie stories
Category:1930 stories
Category:Floyd Gottfredson stories
Category:Earl Duvall stories
Category:Patricia Pigg stories
Category:Bill Goat stories
Category:Marcus Mouse stories
Category:Margie Mouse stories
Category:Mr Slicker stories
Category:Squire Skinflint stories
Category:Mr Kurrency stories
Category:Squeaky stories
Category:Burlap-Bones stories
Category:Simon Legree and Eliza stories
Category:Marshal Mouse stories
Category:Matilda Mouse stories
Category:Milton Mouse stories
Category:Uncle Mortimer Mouse stories
Category:Tom stories
Category:Miss Van Pork stories
Category:Mr Wattley stories
Category:Snake stories
Category:Doc Skunk stories
Category:Mr Shingle stories
Category:Harriet Hen stories
Category:Sporty stories
Category:Watson stories
Category:Slicker's Accomplice stories