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Señor Martinez the old trusty steed of vaquero Panchito Pistoles, tends to take a much bigger role than most non-anthropomorphic animals in Duck comics, be it for purposes of plot advancement or comic relief.
While unused by Barks, Rosa decided to borrow him from the old newspaper strips of the '40s, when he decided to write a story on the 'Three Caballeros', the trio introduced in the 1945 movie of the same title.
Personality[]
Bold and always eager to work and assist, Martinez often takes an antagonistic stance towards automobiles (especially the 313) or other steeds that propose risk of him being replaced. Regardless of that, he accompanies Panchito for the majority of his daily life, and has been shown to have a very friendly attitude towards the other two caballeros, especially Donald.
His rider's attraction to pretty women seems to have passed on to him. As in, to 'señorita horses'. Not actual women. That would have been somewhat awkward.
While he, amazingly, is able to understand exactly what Panchito is saying and follow his orders accordingly, he doesn't communicate back, unlike various other comic book horses, the most notable being Lucky Luke's Jolly Jumper.
Appearance[]
Initially having no standard color (white, light brown, brown, and grey were used) and a cartooney look, his mane's color finally ended up being white, with a grey skin color.
Panchito introduces Martinez to his amigos.
Don Rosa mostly dropped the cartooney look and adopted a semi-realistic one, though some cartoonistic features still remain (e.g eyes).
Story Progression[]
Panchito initially describes his and Martinez's life as mostly as that of 'wandering the great land of Mexico'. In a later event, he'll admit that work in Chihuahua is scarce and that they barely make by.
Martinez's encounters with the rest of the Three Caballeros center around two attempts at treasure hunting, both of which end up being relatively unsuccesful.
Honh, honh, señorita horses, eh?
However, after a fight with an Indian Chief, during the second hunt, Martinez accidentally acquires his jewel necklace. The same necklace is later turned by Panchito to the Brazilian authorities, after Martinez's agreement. As a result, the two buy a hacienda in Chihuahua. Panchito dreamed of 'Relaxing [...] and watching his kettle grow fat and happy'.
This is the last that we hear of Panchito and Señor Martinez, in Don Rosa's previous-to-last story.
Horse Breed[]
While Señor Martinez's breed is never referred to, his white hair and solid gray coat color are characteristics that could possibly lead to a potential classification. Despite this horse in particular being shown in adventures that have a multiple year gap in between them, his color does not lighten, unlike most gray horses.
A grullo horse.
Some horses with a type of dun hair that is known as "grullo" appear to be solid gray. The fact that dun horses do not get lighter as they age and that dun have mono-color hair (no intermingling of white and dark hairs) , may suggest that Señor Martinez is, if not a member of that breed, supposed to have a close relation to it.
Chronological Confusion[]
Although the first newspaper strips of the mid-40s that he appeared in with Panchito predate the airing of the movie 'The Three Caballeros', he is nowhere to be found in the actual film.
Martinez saves the day.
Furthermore, while Rosa acknowledges Panchito's various adventures with Martinez, he shows the former first introducing Martinez to the other two caballeros in 'The Three Caballeros Ride Again' an adventure taking place in the mid-50s.
That implies that Martinez was first used by Panchito between the time after the movie and the first adventure (~1945-1955) and that the early strips can be ignored or cannonically placed in that period, or that he was simply absent during the time that Donald and José visit Mexico, and was serving Panchito before and after the time the movie takes place in.