Pinky and the Brain: April 1997

Cover

Drawn by: Walter Carzon and Mike DeCarlo

Pinky and the Brain are dressed as characters from the Mad Max stories. They're standing on a bleak, barren landscape, under a purple sky, with an armed and armored dune buggy in the background.

Mad Mouse: Lab Warrior

Credits

• Writer: Bobbi JG Weiss and David Cody Weiss
• Penciller: Walter Carzon
• Inker: Mike DeCarlo
• Letterer: John Costanza
• Colorist: Demetrius Bassoukos

Synopsis

Another more or less normal day at Acme Labs...or so it appears. Pinky and the Brain are locked in a box, where they'e spent the last week cut off from everything in an isolation experiment. The Brain has reached the end of his rope, and is demanding to be let out, with the usual helpful comments from Pinky. Suddenly, there is a trememndous explosion, and everything goes dark. They manage to force the box's door, and step out to discover that the atomic apocalypse has happened. After agonizing over the catastrophe a bit, the Brain decides that he was spared so that he could fulfill his destiny and take over the world.

They begin a long, weary journey through scenes of utter destruction, in search of the remnants of mankind. After a great deal of searching and a magical transformation, they finally locate a bastion of civilization in the wilderness: Gimmetown. They enter and declare their intentions, and the crowd embraces them and carries them underground. It seems that Gimmetown needs real electrical power, not the Brain's leadership powers, and so they are forced to run to generate electricity. They break free - though not quite the way the Brain expects - and try to escape, but a falling anvil stops them.

The lights have shut off in Gimmetown because of the escape. The queen demands to see the culprits, and so the mice are brought before her. She introduces herself to them as Auntie Scanty, and explains that she rules Gimmetown. The Brain challenges her leadership abilities, and they agree to share leadership of Gimmetown if he can return with a new power source. The mice strike off once again on a search.

They stumble - well, fall - onto a sports car with a working engine, and find its owner, a mouse genetically enhanced for beauty, rather than intelligence, by another Acme Labs facility.They manage to escape the kids who had captured Melmouse, the car's owner, and drive back to Gimmetown with it. Auntie Scanty immediately falls for Melmouse's charms, and the Brain's claim to the car is rejected. Auntie Scanty decrees that the Brain and Melmouse must fight for its possesion in the Thunderdump.

As the two begin their duel, Pinky is below, monitoring the car's battery charger. He wishes he could be cheering for his friend, and tries to figure out what to do to help. The Brain uses his wits to try to outduel Melmouse, and almost succeeds in his usual manner. As he's escaping the results of one of his tricks, ht sees Pinky cheering for him, and admonishes him to go back to the car. As he gets ready to dispatch Melmouse, the car begins to overload. since Pinky's turned up the power too far, trying to speed up the process. Auntie Scanty declares Melmouse the victor, since he's too cute to lose. It doesn't matter a very short time later, when the car explodes and all the lights go out again. Pinky and the Brain are chained up in the generating plant again, where they plot for tomorrow night.

Did You Notice...

• The title, and plot, are taken from the movies Road Warrior and Mad Max: Thunderdome. Starring Mel Gibson (who Melmouse is drawn to resemble), they are set in a post-apocalyptic future where power is scarce and the strongest rule. Auntie Scanty is a reference to the ruler of the town in the second film, played by Tina Turner (who she's drawn to resemble). The Thunderdump refers to the Thunderdome of the second film.
• Normally, I don't have much to say about the coloring of these stories, simply because when done right, it's not noticeable. This story is one exception: it carries the dark, serious effect of the storyline off very well. Had it been done differently, the story would not have worked anywhere near as well.
• Pinky's sense of loss centers around TV: Vanna White is the gorgeous assistant on the game show Wheel of Fortune, and Bob Saget (who the Animaniacs series seems to delight in taking shots at) hosts America's Funniest Home Videos.
• Soylent Green was an apocalyptic film of the mid 70's, starring Charlton Heston. The film was about an overpopulated Earth whose people eat only products of one corporation. The populace takes to Soylent Green when it's introduced, but Heston's character finds that it's made up of human bodies, leading to the famous quote "Soylent Green is people!"
• The Brain's challenge to Melmouse at the bottom of page 26 is a trick question: the square root of minus one is not expressible in decimals; it's denoted in mathematics by the letter i. (That looks weird in HTML: <i>i</i> ...JM)

Technical nits

• Pinky's speech balloon in the middle of page 3 points to the Brain.
• Where would Pinky learn about pheromones? That's a Brainish thing to say. (page 16)
• The straps and chains move from Pinky's right leg (page 7) to his left (page 11) and back to his right (page 17).
• Melmouse's car failed for him, stranding him among the kids, but it starts right up for the Brain with no tinkering at all...
• The Brain pulls out a ruler at the bottom of page 26. He's holding a slide rule case in the other hand, and the joke would seem to work better with a slide rule.