From my longtime Crack bookofjoe Mississippi Correspondent©®™ Shawn Lea comes a characteristically deep diving investigation into the little-known origins of two great vowel-deprived comic characters of the 20th century, Mr. Mxyztptlk (above) and Joe Btfsplk (below).
Her report follows — and you can bet your bottom dollar that not one word has been.
- Mr. Mxyztplk vs. Joe Btfsplk
Who came first... Mr. Mxyztplk vs. Joe Btfsplk?
Joe Btfsplk preceded Mr. Mxyztplk. Joe Btfsplk's first appearance was June 11, 1942. Mxyztptlk ((roughly pronounced Mix-yez-pit-lick, also nicknamed Mxy) first appeared in September of 1944. Joe's creator, Al Capp, pronounced Btfsplk with a "raspberries" sound, also known as a "Bronx cheer."
Mxyztplk appeared originally as a small bald man in a purple suit, green bow tie and purple derby hat. This was changed to a futuristic looking orange outfit with purple trim in the mid-1950s, although the hat remained. At around this time the spelling of Mxyztplk's name changed (by mistake) to "Mxyz pt lk".
From Wikipedia:
After the establishment of DC Comics' multiverse in the 1960s, it was later explained that the purple-suited Mxyzptlk lived in the fifth dimension connected to Earth-Two and the orange-costumed Mxyzptlk in the fifth dimension connected to Earth-One. The Earth-One version was also retconned into Superboy stories as Master Mxyzptlk.
From www.supermanhomepage.com:
The imp known as Mr. Mxyztplk first appeared in our dimension in Superman #30 (1st series, 1944) in a story by Jerry Siegel with art by John Sikela. For those who haven't seen the original story, you can find it in "The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told" trade paperback. The bald little fellow in the purple suit and green bowtie creates all kind of havoc -- including animating a naked statue he calls McGurk. Mxyztplk describes himself as a "court-jester" from another dimension. The not very bright imp laughingly tells Superman that there is no way he can be tricked into saying the magic word "Klptzyxm" that will return him to his own dimension. Oops. Saying the word, Mr. Mxyztplk vanishes.
A note at the end of the tale says, "If you enjoyed the antics of Mr. Mxyztplk and would like to read of his further encounters with Superman, let us know on a penny postcard." Obviously, Mr. Mxyztplk was a big hit and returned many times.
The imp's name was later changed to Mxyzptlk (for the consonant-challenged among you, the letters "t" and "p" are reversed). He had a long history of antagonizing Superman, supposedly every 90 days, until Superman inevitably tricked him into saying his name backwards. This restored everything back to normal and banished Mxyztplk back to the Fifth Dimension for another 90 days. Until the Crisis On Infinite Earths series rewrote DC history.
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