Eega Beeva
First appearance	Mickey Mouse daily comic strip, storyline The Man of Tomorrow., 1947
Created by	Bill Walsh and Floyd Gottfredson
Aliases	Pittisborum Psercy Pystachi Pseter Psersimmon Plummer-Push

Eega Beeva, also known by his full name Pittisborum Psercy Pystachi Pseter Psersimmon Plummer-Push, is a fictional character from The Walt Disney Company who appears in the Mickey Mouse universe. He is a human from the future, sometimes also referred to as an alien, and first appeared on September 26, 1947 in the Mickey Mouse comic strip storyline titled The Man of Tomorrow. Since then he and Mickey have been portrayed as good friends in subsequent stories. Eega Beeva wears short black trousers, which store a sheer number of useful items, often helping Mickey Mouse and Eega in difficult situations. Another trademark attribute of the character is his unique speech, adding a "p" at the beginning of every word that starts with a consonant.

Eega Beeva was created by Bill Walsh and Floyd Gottfredson. He was a recurring character in the American newspaper Disney comic strips for nearly three years until July 1950, but then Eega Beeva's notable presence abruptly ended for unknown reasons. The character was adopted to comics of Italian artists in the 1950s and has since then appeared in various European Disney comic book stories, especially in Italy. He is referred to as Eta Beta in Italian.

[edit] History

Eega Beeva debuted The Man of Tomorrow, one of the daily newspaper comic strip storylines syndicated by King Features. The strips were written by Bill Walsh and illustrated by Floyd Gottfredson. These strips were published from September 22, 1947 to July 11, 1950, with Eega making his debut in the comic strip of September 26, 1947.^[1][2] In the story, Mickey Mouse and his friend Goofy seek shelter from a thunderstorm and get lost in a cave. There, Mickey suddenly encounters an unusual humanoid who only says "Eega" at first. When Mickey and Goofy find the exit of the cave, Mickey invites the being to stay at his house, to which he gives the name "Eega Beeva", while the character himself states that his name is "Pittisborum Psercy Pystachi Pseter Psersimmon Plummer-Push." At first, Goofy refuses to believe in the existence of Eega Beeva and ignores his presence. In a series of events, two scientists conclude that Eega Beeva is a human from 500 years in the future. At the end of the storyline, Eega saves Goofy from a skiing accident, causing them to become friends.^[1][3]

In the next comic strip storyline starring Eega Beeva, Mickey Makes a Killing, his pet Pflip the Thnuckle Booh is introduced.^[4] Eega continues being Mickey's sidekick in the American comic strips until July 1950.^[5] In the comic strips featuring Eega Beeva, Goofy only makes very few appearances and Eega acts as Mickey's sidekick instead. In the first two strips of the storyline Mousepotamia in July 1950, it is explained that Eega is homesick. Therefore, he returns to the cave where Mickey found him. Afterwards, he didn't appear again in the American newspaper comic strips for unknown reasons.^[1]

When Eega Beeva was still featured in the American comic strips, he made his first appearance in an Italian Disney comic. It is titled L'inferno di Topolino (lit. "Mickey Mouse's inferno"), written by Guido Martini and illustrated by Angelo Bioletto, and was published as a serial comic in the issues 7 to 12 of the magazine Topolino from October 1949 to February 1950. The character gained the interest of Italian comics artists and writers and therefore still made occasional appearances in Italian comics after his disappearance from the American comic strips. He was also irregularly featured in comics published in the British magazine Mickey Mouse Weekly from 1951 onwards.^[1]

The character was newly discovered and defined by Italian comics artist and writer Romano Scarpa with the comic Topolino e la nave del microcosmo (lit. "Mickey Mouse and the ship of microcosm"), published in Topolino issue 167 in July 1957. Rather than his whimsical attributes, this story focuses on the futuristic and fantastic aspects of Eega Beeva and his environment, as do later stories.^[1] In 1960, Eega Beeva started appearing more regular in Italian Disney comics publications. Since the first Italian comics with Eega Beeva, various comics produced for European markets featured this character.^[1][3] Some of those stories star Eega Beega without Mickey.^[6] Eega Beeva is popular among Disney comics readers in Italy and more than half of all comics featuring the character were produced in this country.^[1]

In North America, Eega Beeva has reappeared in Disney comics publications in the late 1990s and the 2000s, such as Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and Mickey Mouse Adventures.^[7]

[edit] Characteristics

Eega Beeva is depicted as a humanoid being with a wide head, mitten-like hands and a scrawny body. He wears short black trousers. His name is a pun on the idiom "eager beaver." In The Man of Tomorrow, the name is given to him by Mickey, since Eega Beeva originally only said "Eega."^[3] In Italian, the name was changed to Eta Beta, a reference to letters of the Greek alphabet, because the meaning of the original English name would not be obvious to Italian readers, while still keeping the same initials. Eega's name in most languages is either based on the English or Italian name.^[1]

Eega adds a "p" at the beginning of every word starting with a consonant in his vocabulary. He is able to obtain a sheer number of useful items from the pockets of his trousers, including huge-sized things that would not physically fit this piece of clothing.^[3][8] His common food in Mickey's world was originally small balls described as kumquats. Since kumquats were not well-known in Europe in the 1950s, Italian and other European writers renamed them naphthalene.^[1][3] Eega is allergic to money.^[8]

Eega Beeva has a dog-like pet named Pflip the Thnuckle Booh. He was introduced in Mickey Makes a Killing. Pflip has a color warning system, allowing him to turn red in order to warn Eega of a sudden danger. He can also recognize if someone is lying thanks to his smelling ability.^[9]

In the original conception of the character, Eega Beeva's look was attributed to him being a highly evolved human from 500 years in the future, namely from the year 2447. All humans would have Eega-like proportions.^[3] When the first American Eega comic strips appeared in Italy, however, translators unaccountably turned Eega into a man from 2000 rather than 2447. As this proved unconvincing for readers, Italian writers generally tried to explain away the unlikely "evolution" by recasting Eega as an alien from outer space. Stories produced by Egmont Creative A/S (Denmark) from the 1990s onward have reverted to the original concept of Eega's coming from 2447, mentioning the year explicitly in several stories.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Eega Beeva at the INDUCKS