Proto - Puss-in-Boots

Cafe Society
1

I recently got my hands on a trove of 25+ year old comics, and have been cataloguing them. I missed an awful lot of these when they first came out, and I have to admit that I never even heard of half these titles. One of the more interesting is one called Swords of the Swashbucklers, and it features Pirates jetting around in science fictiony flying galleons, with all the classic “pirate” trrimmings. It’s an idea that I know has appeared elsdewhere (Disney’s Treasure Planet*, for one, although there are plenty of others). I don’t know who originated it, or who can press claims of plagiarism.
But I saw this cover and it took my breath away:

Yahoo Image Search…+Connect+%C2%BB+Comic+Database+%C2%BB+%3Cb%3ESwords+of+the+Swashbucklers+%3C%2Fb%3E%C2%BB+%237&p=swords+of+the+swashbucklers&oid=96f09f9128284673fe118fdfa33ce30a&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-900&tt=…%2BConnect%2B%25C2%25BB%2BComic%2BDatabase%2B%25C2%25BB%2B%253Cb%253ESwords%2Bof%2Bthe%2BSwashbucklers%2B%253C%252Fb%253E%25C2%25BB%2B%25237&b=0&ni=21&no=14&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=12i1ge3t3&sigb=13qbrqlip&sigi=1266l25ar&.crumb=G.kSrW0OssH
Please note that this appeared in 1986.

Shrek 2 came out in 2004

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0PDoKuDGSZRugMAC5WJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBlMTQ4cGxyBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1n?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3F_adv_prop%3Dimage%26va%3DShrek%2BII%2BPuss%2Bin%2BBoots%2Bimage%26fr%3Dyfp-t-900%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D3&w=389&h=378&imgurl=blogs.orlandosentinel.com%2Fentertainment_movies_blog%2Ffiles%2F2011%2F01%2FShrek-2-Puss-in-Boots-resized.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.orlandosentinel.com%2Fentertainment_movies_blog%2F2011%2F01%2Fthe-films-of-2011-a-pretty-complete-list.html&size=17.2+KB&name=<b>Shrek<%2Fb>-2-<b>Puss<%2Fb>-<b>in<%2Fb>-<b>Boots<%2Fb>-resized.jpg&p=Shrek+II+Puss+in+Boots+image&oid=8ed5f56234b80c9dccb64af068734665&fr2=&fr=yfp-t-900&tt=%253Cb%253EShrek%253C%252Fb%253E-2-%253Cb%253EPuss%253C%252Fb%253E-%253Cb%253Ein%253C%252Fb%253E-%253Cb%253EBoots%253C%252Fb%253E-resized.jpg&b=0&ni=200&no=3&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=13gdsqcla&sigb=13qbif5nv&sigi=133o5ucgs&.crumb=G.kSrW0OssH

I can accept that people came up with the same basic concept for the character, since “Puss in Boots” is in the common fund of ideas, but they’re both wearing the same kind of hat, with a feather, the same kind of boots, the cape, and the belt around the middle. The only differences are the colors of al these, the shirt one cat is wearing, and the guard on that sword.

But it beggars belief that, purely by chance, the cats have the same coloration – orange, with darker stripes on the back, and rings on the tail. I think someone can make a good case for copying here.

And, delicious irony, Marvel is now in the hands of Disney, the rival of Dreamworks.

2

That’s always been the popular image of Puss In Boots. If anything the Dreamworks version is a deliberate take-off of Zorro, hence Antonio Banderas.

3

Nope – please observe that the “Well-Loved” version is fully dressed, and with different coloring.

I’ve seen illustrations of Puss and Boots since I was a kid. I wouldn’t be surprised by somethuing gthat appeared like that cover. But the illustration with its clothes-less, belted, orange-tabby Puss and Boots made me stop and then quickly look for the copyright year.