Mickey Rat

A illustration of Mickey Rat, a parody of Mickey Mouse inside a circle with a red background. The circle sits on a yellow background. 

Cartoonist Robert Armstrong created Mickey Rat initially as an image to use on T-Shirts. The image was so popular that Armstrong eventually branched out from T-Shirts to comics. Mickey Rat appeared in L.A. Comics #1 in December 1971. The comics were drawn by Armstrong but were scripted by Chester C. Crill. Mickey Rat was not only drawn crudely, he was also portrayed as sleazy, opportunistic, shallow, and incapable of subtlety. Kitchen Sink Press put out the second issue of the comic in which Armstrong drew and scripted the cartoon. The third and fourth issues of the comic were put out in 1980 and 1982 by Last Gasp Eco-Funnies.