Why in Database: Merton McSnurtle aka McSnurtle the Turtle aka The Terrific Whatzit is an interesting character from the DC universe, a slow and honest store owner.
As a result of the actions of the two characters inhabiting the planet Vulcan, Prince Lowness and Prince Highness, he gained super powers and a new shell (his own was destroyed during landing on Vulcan) with an automatic conscience built into it, to reminds him that he should help others. In addition to helping with a lot of things in his city, zooville, it is known that he fought in Second Weird War.
We divided all his appearances into two groups:
Funny Stuff 01-17 and Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! 4, 8 and 9 as comics in which we see the Super Hero, The Terrific Whatzit.
Teen Titans #031 and DC Super-Pets Character Encyclopedia – not entirely clear mention of McTurtle and an entry in encyclopedia, details of which are described at the bottom of this note.
Funny Stuff #01: We get to know the origin of the character’s superpowers, it is shown how it turns from an ordinary turtle into a superhero! It happen on the planet Vulcan and is the fruit of a bet on whether such powers corrupt a noble and honest turtle. Unfortunately, this thread (characters who made a bet) are essentially abandoned and never reappears in the McSnurtle comics.
Funny Stuff #02: Interesting fact, the protagonist reveals his secret identity, but due to his slow manner of speaking, everyone is asleep. The plot describes a double scam that someone organize to gain more power .
Funny Stuff #03: A story about a boxing scam. Then McSnurtle also appears in the story of the lion, in 1 frame.
Funny Stuff #04 – The hero helps the hippo find a job and stops people who sabotaged his efforts.
Funny Stuff #05: In this story we get to know an individual who can see through walls etc.. The protagonist tries to help him, but he doesn’t want any help.
Funny Stuff #06: The hero is almost falling prey of a scam about women and oil.
Funny Stuff #07: This issue focuses on the consciences of McSnurtle and other characters.
Funny Stuff #08: Another city problems, McSnurtle as a superhero helps to quickly build a factory.
Funny Stuff #09: An interesting story about the problem of competition for the hero’s store and his willingness to fight with them. Additionally, there is the theme of honorary thieves.
Funny Stuff #10: Getting into trouble with financial liquidity, McSnurtle becomes the owner of a restaurant to which he attracts people, promising that Whatzit will appear in it.
Funny Stuff #11: Conscience become a lawyer and wants to represent McSnurtle.
Funny Stuff #12: McSNurtle accidentally (by mistaking the delivery address) becomes the teacher of a rather unrestrained bunch.
Funny Stuff #13: Story focused on Conscience and how he wanted to become a magician.
Funny Stuff #14: The hero organizes a contest, the story is about his adventures related to delivering the prize to the person who won.
Funny Stuff #15: The whole story is McSnurtle’s (rather bizarre) dream.
Funny Stuff #16: The hero is supposed to be on the jury in a food competition, but he overeat – so there is a problem.
Funny Stuff #17: Conscience tries to get for McSnurtle a love of his live.
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! #04: He is mentioned (as the uncle of Fastback, turtle hero of “Captain Carrot (…)” series) and can be seen on the painting
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! #08: He is visible in one frame.
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! #09: As part of problems with time, the above-mentioned hero of the “Captain Carrot (…)” series, Fastback, goes back to the times of Second Weird War (which in its universe is the equivalent of a WWII of course). There, on three pages and in a large number of frames, you can see The Terrific Whatzit.
Superman Family Adventures #012: He appears on five frames, in “new/refreshed” version.
Teen Titans #031: In this issue, the heroine reads comics from the series “Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!” the pages of which an be seen on the pages of the actual comic. In one of the “Zoo Crew” frames we can see a tombstone with Snurtle McTurle written on it – which on the one hand seems to be a reference to the character we are discussing, and on the other hand, not necessarily, because it is a slightly changed.
DC Superfriends #14: At the end of this comic Flash decides, that he should also have a pet. His choice and how he dressed his pet are quite familiar. It is more an easter egg than a real McSnurtle.
DC Super-Pets Character Encyclopedia: McSnurtle, of course, could not be missing from the encyclopedia of super-pets appearing in DC. We see him four times here. First on the group picture, then in a graphic comparing the sizes of various characters, he can be spoted alson in the collections of various comic book covers. Besides, he has a whole page to himself. And this entry is… so far I’m not sure if it’s the same character or completely different. He looks more like Crash in appearance, and is described as holding his costume in a ring and owned by Flash… none of this agrees with almost any of the sources above. However, even aside from names such as “Whatzit”, “Merton McSnurtle” or “Zooville” which suggests that it is the same character, there is also a picture showing what Whatzit once looked like when he was shown in “Funny Stuff”, which i think settles the matter.
Author: XYuriTT
