San Diego Comic Con, 1986: I was chatting with my old acquaintance, Jerry Beck, who I believe was managing the Don Bluth table that year. Sitting next to him was animator and artist, T. Daniel Hofstedt, who started sketching yours truly as a mouse -- apart from the rodent-like affectations, a fairly accurate representation of what I looked like at the time.

This inspired a character I dubbed "Mr. Nice Mouse," who became my critic alter-ego in Apatoons, a fanzine dedicated to animation (which I think is still in publication). Whenever an animated feature needed panning or a studio exec taken down a few notches, this friendly little cheese-chaser was sure to be there, poison pen and toxic typewriter in hand!

Thus begins a mini-flood of Mr. Nice Mouse pics I recently scavenged from the Ancient Archives. Enjoy!