Beagle Boys

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Eyes: Black
Hair: None
Race: Dog, beagle


Occupation: Career criminals
Legal status: U.S citizens with a criminal record.
Marital Status: Single
Identity: Publicly known
Known relatives: Grandpa Beagle (grandfather)
Base of operations: Duckburg, USA


Story: The Beagle Boys is a group of criminals, mostly known for their perseverance in trying to steal Scrooge McDuck's money.


Equipment: Assorted tools for breaking and entering.


Continuity: Disney
Publisher(s): Columbia Pictures
First app.: Comics: Walt Disney Comics and Stories #134 (1951)
Creator(s): Carl Barks
Country of origin: USA


Background notes: The Beagle Boys is one of Carl Barks' most famous creations. They first appeared in Walt Disney Comics and Stories #134 from 1951, where they tried to steal Scrooge McDuck's money. For the most part, that is what they have been doing ever since.

In the original version, there was not fixed number of members of the gang, and they all looked alike with no numbers or discernible differences. Barks kept using the characters, and they were picked up by other writers at the time, and somewhere along the line they started being identifiable and differentiated. Also the number of recurring members ended up usually being three, though a larger number is still seen on occasion. The three recognizable Beagle Boys are 176-167 who likes poetry and is leader of the clan, 176-671 who is is generally the smarter and tougher one, and 176-761 who is known his appreciation of prunes and his peculiar culinary tastes. Later, especially in the mid 1960s, the gang was expanded, but not with more identical members. Instead they got a number of family members like Grandpa Beagle, the Beagle Brats and Intellectual-176, and pets like the dog Ottoperotto.

The Beagle Boys are one of the few examples on comic book villains having sufficient popularity to have their own title. In 1964 the series The Beagle Boys started, published by Gold Key. The series came out on a quarterly basis and lasted 47 issues before being closed down in 1979. A second series from Whitman Publishing started in 1979. This series lasted 12 issues, and was published monthly.

The transfer from comics to cartoons came fairly late, considering the popularity of the characters. The Beagle Boys did not appear in cartoons until DuckTales aired in 1987. These Beagle Boys were not really the Beagle Boys from the comics. There was a general resemblance, but for all intents and purposes, this was not the Beagle Boys from the comics.

When computer games started taking off, Disney was quick to release games based on their characters. DuckTales having started in 1987 and still being produced at the time meant that games based on the cartoons were obvious, and when making a game with Scrooge McDuck, you also need his greatest adversaries, the Beagle Boys. The game was made for the NES and Game Boy platforms. So far, this game and Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers from 2000 are the only two game found with the Beagle Boys.

Like the transfer to cartoons, the transfer to merchandise has been a lot less than what would be expected. Mostly it has been figurines, but in Italy, some toys has been made, and red T-shirts with the Beagle Boys signature convict numbers.


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