[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pertwillaby_papers_3372.jpg]]
In 1971, fifteen years before he started his career in [[ComicBook/DisneyMouseAndDuckComics Disney Comics]], and while he was still studying engineering at the University of Kentucky, Creator/DonRosa created this comic.

First published in the campus newspaper, ''The Pertwillaby Papers'' follows Lancelot "Lance" Pertwillaby, a gifted but rather dense aspiring scientist and adventurer, who goes on expeditions around the world with various eccentric professors and his rather airheaded girlfriend, Feather Fluffnuthin, always closely followed by his two sworn enemies, Schuyler Roatch III, RichBastard extraordinaire, and Professor Viktor Dimitrius Smyte, [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain who is definitely not a former Nazi scientist and high-ranking SS officer in hiding]], who are hoping to cause "[[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident an unfortunate accident]]" for our hero.

Don Rosa would later [[RecycledScript reuse quite a few of the series' story elements]] for his Duck Comics.
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!!The Pertwillaby Tropes:
* AdolfHitlarious: [[spoiler:An elderly Adolf Hitler is revealed to be the villain of one story. Notably, Hitler actually retains quite a bit of menace throughout the story; the gags that happens him around are often played for BlackComedy at other's expense rather than Hitler's own, and it is only his defeat and death at the end of story that is portrayed as truly humiliating for him personally.]]
* AbsentMindedProfessor: Lance works with quite a few of these.
* TheCharmer: Lance has a way with words that exempts him from most of the expenses that college students have.
* DarkFic: As a one-off gag, Don Rosa made one with of ''Series/HogansHeroes'' called "The Last Episode of Hogan's Heroes", the form of a single panel comic, wherein Sergeant Schultz presents Viktor Smyte to the titular heroes as the new commander of the POW camp. The implication of the title being that Smyte would [[DownerEnding probably neither be as incompetent or willing to put with the prisoners' shenanigans as his predecessor]].
* DitzyGenius: Lance.
* DumbBlonde: Feather at first. Don Rosa tried to give her a more even-handed portrayal in later comics by making her CloserToEarth to play off Lance's DitzyGenius.
* FreudianSlip: Professor Smyte constantly lets out stuff about his past, usually followed by a frantic attempt to cover it up
* LeftHanging: The ''Knighttime'' StoryArc had two additional chapters planned, but Don Rosa never got around to finishing these. The later Duck comic ''The Once and Future Duck'' can be considered a spiritual successor.
* MostDefinitelyNotAVillain: Don't let the accent or the Luger and SS papers in his desk drawer fool you. Professor Smyte was definitely born in "Coüncil Bluffs", Iowa, and is as American as "Apfelstrudel".
* MsFanservice: Feather.
* NaziGrandpa: Besides Professor Smyte, [[spoiler:Adolf Hitler himself, now quite elderly, also makes an appearance]].
* NonIndicativeFirstEpisode: The first series revolves around Lance's attempt to cheat himself into college, and contains elements of satire over UsefulNotes/TheSeventies' politics. The rest of the series is about his adventures around the globe.
* [[HatDamage Shirt Damage]]: Lance's shirt tends to get ripped to pieces OncePerEpisode. He even lampshades it.
-->"I gotta stop buying these cheap shirts..."
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When Smyte attempts to hijack their plane, [[ThoseTwoGuys Ted and Frank]] unanimously decide that they aren't going to bother with it, so they put on their parachutes and jump out the cabin door.
* SpeechBubbles: Every character's speech bubble has a notably distinct style.
* {{Spoonerism}}: Professor Artemis Phoebus, a quirky scientist character from the story "The Vortex", constantly speaks in those. This becomes particularly embarrassing when he tries to call the president a "smart fella".
* StupidJetpackHitler: [[spoiler:Doing the last few months of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the Germans managed to invent and produce a prototype nuclear submarine and six nuclear warheads labeled V3. They were, however, lost in the Arctic Sea, until our heroes find them again, that is.]]
* TakeMeInstead: ExploitedTrope. Smyte volunteers for a questionable and potentially lethal experiment and Lance ends up offering himself as a test subject instead. Smyte [[InvokedTrope fully expected]] this to happen, as he knows that Lance is [[GoodIsDumb too much of a goody-two-shoes]] to allow another man to put himself in danger and hoped that Lance would perish in the experiment.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Pilot Ted and co-pilot Frank, whose work often brings them in some form of indirect contact with our heroes.
* ThoseWackyNazis
* WalkingTheEarth
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