Miss Mam'selle Hepzibah
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Miss Mam'Selle Hepzibah is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic skunk from the classic Walt Kelly comic strip, Pogo. In the animated film, Pogo's Special Birthday Special, she was voiced by June Foray.
Miss Mam'Selle Hepzibah is a female Cajun skunk, though a little more of the French persuasion. The curvaceous Hepzibah was supposedly modeled after creator Walt Kelly's former mistress and, eventually, second wife.[citation needed] Her fur is the standard black and white skunk color scheme, though her hair is completely white. She wears a short skirt just about everywhere she goes, though she has several with varying patterns.
[edit] Personality and character history
Like most animated skunks, in addition to being French, Hepzibah is also very flirtatious. She has a crush on star-character Pogo, and is rarely very shy about it. A running gag within the comic had to do with the citizens of the swamplands wondering when Pogo and Hepzibah would get married, much to the discomfort of the shy Pogo Possum.
Though a bit on the flirty side, Hepzibah is generally a very sweet, gentle skunkette with a charming personality. Her most notable trademark is her mind-boggling speech patterns. Speaking in a form of (extremely) broken English, figuring out exactly what she is trying to say can be a bit perplexing. Her less-than-perfect mastery of the English language also tends to result in the loss of subtlety to her feelings; usually expressed most often, and awkwardly, when courting the timid Pogo.
As if to contrast Hepzibah's sweet and sunny attitude, the perpetually-grumpy Porky Pine, another denizen of the swamp, is very much in love with her. Though, being the grouch that he is, telling her so does not always come easy, especially considering that Hepzibah seems to only have eyes for Pogo. In the animated movie, Pogo's Special Birthday Special, he did manage to express his feelings in a gentle way, presenting her a magnificent gift which he'd accidentally tied to his finger and carried around all day. Hepzibah was more than pleased.
[edit] References and homages
Though not as well-known as other fictional skunks, Miss Mam'Selle Hepzibah was popular enough to inspire an homage by author Chris Claremont in the Marvel Comic series The Uncanny X-Men. A humanoid skunk-woman named Hepzibah of the Starjammers would prove to be a returning character to the title (though the skunk aspect of her character would eventually be dropped in favor of her becoming a catgirl).
