comic – Jeff Milner

Backmasking Reference in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

After watching The L Magazine’s The Evolution of the Modern Blockbuster Movie (via) I got thinking that I had never actually read the famous Batman – The Dark Knight Returns comic series (wikipedia entry) from 1986 that was used as a rough basis for Tim Burton’s Batman (1989).

I remember hearing about Frank Miller’s, soon to be a collector’s item, The Dark Knight Returns and had always wanted to read it, but I was a bit young for its graphic content and besides, I didn’t exactly have any disposable income for comics when I was seven.

However, as I read it this evening, I came across a page that I found pretty interesting. On page 89 of book two, the comic makes a reference to backmasking in Stairway to Heaven. I’m posting it here to show just one more way the legend crept into popular culture. The relevant panels after the jump.

Mickey Mouse’s Suicide Attempts

A recently discovered old comic strip set from the 1930’s shows Mickey Mouse repeatedly attempting to end his own life when it appears Minnie has fallen for another mouse.
Update: Barnacle Press has removed the comics, here’s their explanation:

“Mickey Mouse is gone because, even though those strips were terrific, in the Public Domain, and easily the most popular material on the site, we didn’t really feel comfortable with the attention they garnered from sites that linked to them. We didn’t want to be known as the novelty site where you can see Mickey try to kill himself!”

You can still see a few of the pertinent frames here.

Below is the comic. Click for larger version: