Notes on Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew #1

CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW No. 1
March 1982

Cover Credits

STORY

"The Pluto Syndrome!" (27 pages)

Credits

Feature Characters

Guest Star

Villains

Guest Appearances

Supporting Character

Other Characters

Cameo Appearances

Synopsis

(Story continues from the Preview issue.) Traveling across the skyline of Gnu York City, Captain Carrot proves his worth as a hero to Superman when he stops an airplane from crashing after its pilots are hit by the "devolution ray." The two then head for the space barrier from which the rays seem to be coming, but upon reaching it Superman suddenly disappears, transported away. Cap is unable to burst through the space barrier under his own power and falls to earth.

The falling Captain Carrot is, coincidentally enough, caught by Piggsburgh's Pig-Iron, a super-strong and invulnerable hero who tells Cap how he gained his own powers from one of the fragments of the strange meteor which gave Cap his powers. Captain Carrot and Pig-Iron travel to Mew Orleans, which is in full celebration during the Mardi Gras Festival, to find another new, magical superhero named Alley-Kat Abra. The devolution ray strikes there as well, forcing the three into action to stop the affected Mew Orleans citizens from hurting each other. After Cap and Pig-Iron hear Abra's origin, all three travel to Kornsas, where they meet up with a fourth superhero named Fastback, a super-speedster who also reveals his origin story. The group of four then go immediately to Follywood, Califurnia, where the devolution ray is causing havoc on the L.A. freakway system, and meet its new native super-heroes, the super-stretchable Rubberduck and the magnetically-powered Yankee Poodle, who reveal their own origins after the six new heroes prevent numerous car accidents on the freakway.

The group of six team up and return to the space barrier, where, like Superman earlier, they are all transported to the planet Pluto. Upon that distant planet they discover a building in which Superman is being held captive under the influence of Kryptonite by an old JLA foe named Starro the Conqueror. After each trying to subdue the villain on their own, and failing, they listen to Captain Carrot's suggestion to use teamwork and are finally able to defeat Starro and release Superman. At the conclusion of this adventure they decide to remain as a team, given the name "Zoo Crew" by Superman.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Mallard Fillmore receives an ultimatum from a criminal organization known only as A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C. but is unaware that he is being watched by the head of that group. (Story continues in issue #2.)

Annotations

COVER: The phrase, "Have no fear...the Zoo Crew is here!" is a reference to Underdog's battle-cry, "Have no fear, Underdog is here!" Underdog was, of course, a very popular cartoon which ran from 1964–1973 and for years afterwards in syndication.

PAGE 1: The title, "THE PLUTO SYNDROME!" may be a reference to The UFO Syndrome, a 1979/80 documentary exploring existence of UFOs and the possibility of them having visited earth in the past.

Captain Carrot once again calls Superman "Supermax."

Credits: "A new breed of animals in action by Roy Thomas, writer & Scott Shaw!, penciller. Assisted and occasionally ambushed by Bob Smith, inker. Todd Klein, letterer. Carl Gafford, colorist. Dick Giordano, editor. With special thanks to Ross Andru."

PAGE 2: Panel 2: Captain Carrot shouts "Leapin' Legumes!" as an exclamation.

Panel 3: "Trans-Woof Airlines" is a pun on Trans World Airlines.

Panel 4: The plane's pilots are, ironically enough, an ostrich and a kiwi, two kinds of flightless birds.

PAGE 4: Panel 7: Nip, the parrot of the DC funny animal comic feature Nip and Chip can be seen in the foreground. I have no information on their first appearance.

J. Rufus Lion can be seen in the foreground. He was a DC funny animal who first appeared in Funny Stuff #1 (Summer, 1944).

Panel 8: Rudy and Rollo, The Raccoon Kids, can be seen in the background. They were DC funny animals who first appeared in Animal Antics #1 (March-April, 1946) by Otto Feur and later starred in their own series.

The plane Captain Carrot stopped was a "7-11."

PAGE 5: Panel 2: Carrot says "pain-in-the-cottontail" in place of "pain-in-the-butt."

Panel 4: A male dog in a business suit is chasing a female cat in a dress, both de-evolved, up a lamppole.

Panel 5: A poster of the Just'a Lotta Animals is posted on the wall. From the left, the top row is Batmouse, Wonder Wabbit, and Super-Squirrel. The bottom row is the Crash, Green Lambkin, and Aquaduck.

A note on the wall says, "Roger—Late again! —Dick," referring again to Dick Giordano.

The Inkpot Award For Outstanding Achievement in Comic Arts is a yearly award presented by the San Diego Comic Convention (a non-profit organization devoted to furthering the recognition of comics as an American art form).

PAGE 6: Panel 1: When Superman calls the earth of his universe "Earth-One," Carrot replies, "'Earth-One'? Kinda stuck on yourselves, aren't you?"

Panel 2: A cartoonish crescent moon in its first quarter can be seen to the left of Superman, drawn in the style of the profile version of the Man in the Moon.

PAGE 8: Nutsy Squirrel can be seen in the foreground. He was a DC funny animal who first appeared in Funny Folks #1 (April-May, 1946) by Rube Grossman and later starred in his own series.

Captain Carrot exclaims, "Sizzlin' celery-sticks!"

Pig-Iron is called the "Swine of Steel."

PAGE 9: Panel 1: "Adam and the Anteaters" is Earth-C's version of Adam and the Ants, a popular British punk rock/pop music band of the late 1970's and early 1980's.

Panel 2: Carrot refers to Superman as "Supersam" once more.

Panel 3: Peter Porkchops was one of DC's better known funny animals, first appearing in Leading Comics #23 (February-March, 1947) by Otto Feur and later starred in his own series.

Panel 5: The "Eyewitless News" is a pun on the "Eyewitness News," a popular, local evening news format common in the U.S.A.

Panel 7: "Duck Rogers" is a pun of Buck Rogers, a comic-strip character which debuted in January 1929 and spawned radio, television, and film versions. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, the world's first sci-fi comic strip, was based on Anthony Rogers, a character whose story appeared in pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories in August 1928. Michael Norwitz points out that, "The entry on 'Duck Rogers' really should mention 'Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century'," the futuristic alter ego of Daffy Duck (which featured appearances by Marvin the Martian).

PAGE 10: Panel 3: The Mardi Gras Festival taking place in Mew Orleans is based on the famous Carnival celebration in New Orleans. According to this New Orleans Public Library page, Mardi Gras in took place on February 23 in 1982 (March 1 in 1981), placing this story in February, although next issue supposedly takes place in March even though only two days pass from the Preview issue to the 2nd issue.

A sign can be seen on a building in the background saying, "Shelly for Mayer." Shelly Mayer was a DC cartoonist and editor who created many of DC's humor characters and worked on several funny animals, as well as Sugar and Spike.

"Frog Quarter" is a pun of New Orleans' French Quarter. A "Frog" is a derogatory slang term for a Frenchman.

A large "Koala Cola" poster is on the side of one building, with the slogan, "The taste from down under."

In the Mardi Gras parade can be seen a float with the character Emperor Nero Fox, a DC funny animal who played the saxophone and was a jazzed-up, Earth-C version of the 1st century Roman Emperor Nero. Nero Fox appeared in several early issues of Leading Comics (in issue #15 and afterwards) and Funny Stuff. The name "Nero Fox" came not only from the Roman emperor but also as a sly nod to Nero Wolfe, a popular fictional consulting detective in the mystery series by Rex Stout.

Panel 4: A T-shirt says, "Dick Duck Fan Club." Brad Walker points out that:

I think Dick Duck is a ref to the Comic strip "Dick Duck, Duck Dick" which ran in The Comic Reader [in the early 1980's] and was drawn by Jim Engel (who shows up later in the CC run). Dick Duck was a duck detective who generally solved his cases. Besides TCR, he also had an issue of EB'NN (Cover by Engel) with a full-length story—his mentor, Dashiell Hamster [a pun on fiction author Dashiell Hammett, creator of the hard-boiled detective genre], has been kidnapped.
PAGE 11: Panel 1: A billboard sign on a building in the background says, "Giordano Ink, Inc." This is a reference to Dick Giordano's reputation as one of the best inkers in the comic-book business at the time of this publication.

Panel 2: Alley-Kat Abra calls her magic wand, "Magic Wanda."

Panel 3: The statue of the green magician pig may or may not be an existing character I'm not familiar with. In my opinion, the character is probably original in this comic and is likely named something like "Pig-Laddin" after the mythical character Aladdin and the pseudo-language of Pig Latin.

"Manduck the Magician" is a pun of another comic-strip, Mandrake the Magician, which was created by Lee Falk (creator of The Phantom) in 1934. Michael Norwitz points out that, "'Manduck the Magician' was also the name of the MAD COMICS parody of the character." Click here to see a panel from the "Manduck the Magician" story by Bill Elder in Mad #14 (August 1954).

Panel 5: "Felina" is a pun-name combining "feline" with "Selina." The villainess Catwoman from the Batman comics was named Selina Kyle. Also, as T. Campbell points out, "'Felina Furr' is almost certainly a pun on the name of actress 'Felicia Farr,' but this pun appears to be name-only: Felicia Farr had no interest in martial arts or mysticism that I could determine." Thanks for the heads up. Felina Furr certainly does seem to also be somewhat visually based on this pretty actress whose heyday was in the '50s and '60s.

PAGE 12: Panel 1: "Kat Fu" is the funny-animal version of "Kung Fu," a catch-all term for Chinese martial arts and in this case also a television program called Kung Fu, which starred David Carradine and ran from 1972 to 1975.

Panel 2: Felina Furr is reading Cosmic Truths by "Baba Robin." I think this may be a reference to a real-life person, although I haven't been able to figure out who. The name "Baba Robin" sounds somewhat similar to Baba Yaga, the dreaded witch of Russian folklore.

Panel 4: "Kornsas" is a pun of the American state, Kansas. This refers to actual corn, which is often grown throughout Kansas, and "cornball," a term used to describe both an unsophisticated person as well as a form of music embodied by Spike Jones (the "King of Corn") and his City Slickers from the early 1940's into the 1960's, who often acted as local yokels in performances.

Panel 5: Alley-Kat Abra's magical phrase is "Alley-kat-zam...in Kornsas we am!"

PAGE 13: Panel 1: Fastback exclaims, "Gallopin' Galapagos!" The Galapagos Islands in the Pacific were named after the Spanish word for the large, 500-pound turtles there, galápagos.

PAGE 14: Panel 1: "Tallahatchee" is a pun on Tallahassee, Florida.

Panel 2: Timmy is singing "Goin' to Kornsas City...Kornsas City here I come", the Earth-C version of the 1950s rhythm and blues song Kansas City, which was recorded by Wilbert Harrison and others.

Panel 3: The sign on the bus says, "Greathound Bus Lines" (Greyhound Bus Lines) with the slogan, "Leave the driving to Gus" (a variation on "Leave the driving to us). A sign behind the moving bus says, "Gus Stop."

"Abalone" is Earth-C's Abilene, Kansas. Wikipedia's entry for an abalone states that:

Abalone is the American English variant of the Spanish name [Abulón] used for various species of shellfish (mollusks) from the Haliotidae family (genus Haliotis). The abalones belong to the large class of gastropods (Gastropoda). [...] The number of species range from about 100 to about 130 species (due to the occurrence of hybrids), characterized by a richly coloured (on the inside—the outside is rough and mostly brown) shell yielding mother-of-pearl. This is also commonly called ear-shell, in Guernsey ormer (Fr. ormier, for oreille de mer), perlemoen in South Africa and paua in New Zealand. Abalone is also prevalent in Australian and South African coastal waters and is highly valued. The meat of an abalone is also considered an expensive delicacy in SE Asia, although it has a high cholesterol content.

Panel 4: The newspaper blowing in the wind caused by Timmy is the "Daily Beagle", a pun on the Daily Bugle, the newspaper where Peter Parker works for J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man comics. The Daily Beagle is also the workplace of Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham of the comic by the same name, a comic which had many similarities with Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew (but which didn't have Scott Shaw!).

The text on the building to the left is difficult to make out, but it seems to say something like the "Urby Arms." Possibly the "Furby Arms"? If this speculation is true, it may be referring to Jack Kirby.

The building on the right is called the "Infantino Legs." Carmine Infantino was the principal artist of the Flash during the Silver Age and much of the Golden Age.

"J.C. Henny-Penny's" is a pun on J.C. Penney, the department store, and Henny Penny, the character whom Chicken Little meets in the fairy-tale "The Sky Is Falling".

Panel 5: Fastback is called only "Timmy the Terrapin" here. Later on he's known as Timmy Joe Terrapin.

PAGE 15: Panel 1: "Albu-Turkey" is a pun on Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The police police officer who gave Fastback a speeding ticket in Albu-Turkey off-panel between last page and this panel appears in person in issue #4, page 19, panel 4, although Fastback manages to elude him the second time around.

Panel 3: The "Follywood" sign can be seen in the hills in the background.

The "L.A. Freakway System" is a pun, parodying the Los Angeles Freeways.

PAGE 16: Panel 1: "Saint Bernardino" is a pun of San Bernardino, California.

Panel 2: Roy Thomas mentioned, I believe, in a later letter column in this series that he disliked the character Yankee Poodle, and was not at all fond of poodles in the first place.

Seth Finkelstein also points out that, "The panel where Rubber Duck says 'How do you spell "RELIEF"?' is a reference to line from a commercial for 'ROLAIDS," a commercial which was popular at the time."

Panel 4: A cat wearing clothes is chasing an equally-sized mouse also wearing clothes in a reversion to type.

PAGE 17: Panel 3: "Byrd Rentals" is Earth-C's version of actor Burt Reynolds (presumably the real Burt Reynolds has no stretching powers), describing himself as a "star of stage, screen, and screeching tires," probably a reference to Reynolds' film Smokey and the Bandit, which involved several car chases.

"Rova Barkitt" is Earth-C's version of Rona Barrett, the Hollywood gossip columnist.

Panel 4: The "Hog's Angels" are Earth-C's Hells Angels.

"Crashing Boars" is probably a pun on a real film, although I haven't been able to figure out which one as yet.

Panel 5: "Beaverly Hills" is a pun on Beverly Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles, California.

Panel 7: "Heaven's Gator" is a pun on the film, Heaven's Gate, called Michael Cimino's folly, the expensive 1980 film which was lambasted by critics and almost single-handedly put United Artists out of business.

PAGE 18: Panel 3: Yankee Poodle's power of "animal magnetism" is another pun.

PAGE 19: Panel 1: A yogi is an adherent of Yoga philosophy, a Hindu theistic philosophy teaching the suppression of all activity of body, mind, and will in order that the self may realize its distinction from them and attain liberation.

Panel 2: "Yogi barrier" is a terrible pun, referencing a yogi, the space barrier they are at, Yogi Bear, the animated television character which first appeared in 1958, and also Yogi Berra, the baseball player after whom Yogi Bear was named. Rubberduck groans at this pun (and rightly so).

Panel 5: Captain Carrot says, "Uh...somehow, Turtle, I don't think we're in Kornsas any more!" This is a reference to the classic line from MGM's 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz (adapted from the L. Frank Baum novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) in which Dorothy (played by Judy Garland) says, "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."

PAGE 20: Panel 1: Alley-Kat Abra refers to Superman as "Superdan."

Panel 2: "Fangbusters" is the Earth-C equivalent of the term "gangbusters," which means, according to the Merriem Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, "with great or excessive force or aggressiveness."

Gang Busters was also a dramatic radio program (originally under the name G-Men) which ran from 1935 to 1957.

Pig-Iron refers to Superman as "Superham."

"Barbee Dolls" is a pun on Barbie Dolls. An editor's note in a caption below says, "Yes, they have them there, too. —D.G."

PAGE 21: Panel 1: Starro (a giant, extraterrestrial starfish, or sea star with fantastic powers) was last seen in Adventure Comics #451 (May-June, 1977), in an Aquaman story. This Starro was actually regenerated from a part of the original Starro after he was "blasted to smithereens by the hero Aquaman in a free-for-all nobody remembers" and drifted through a "chartreuse hole into this universe [of Earth-C]." The rest of Starro regenerated and made its next appearance in Justice League of America #189 (April, 1981).

According to Wikipedia's entry on Kiwanis:

Kiwanis International is a service organization whose mission is "Serving the Children of the World". The organization was founded on 21 January 1915 in Detroit, Michigan and is now headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Its original purpose was to exchange business between members and to serve the poor. The debate as to whether or not to remain a networking organization or a service organization was resolved in 1919 when Kiwanis adopted a service focused mission.

Panel 2: Starro's nickname for Captain Carrot, "Hopalong," is a reference to Hopalong Cassidy, a cowboy hero in stories, novels, comic-books, and television.

Panel 4: Captain Carrot refers to Superman as "Supersnap."

PAGE 22: Panel 2: Superman inadvertently names this group of funny animal super-heroes the "Zoo Crew."

PAGE 23: Panel 3: The sound effect, "WHOOOM!" causes Starro to remark, "I always thought there were only two 'O's' in 'WHOOOM!'", which only goes to show that Earth-C's silliness may be contagious even to outsiders here for a visit.

PAGE 24: Panel 4: Captain Carrot refers to Superman as "Super-Whozit."

Panel 5: Starro calls Captain Carrot by the name of Captain Klutz, a character created by Don Martin as a parody of the Batman TV show for Mad magazine's 1967 Signet book, The Mad Adventures of Captain Klutz.

Gold Kryptonite is that particular type of Kryptonite which can take away Superman's powers, in effect turning him into an ordinary human being. I thought T Campbell's comments on this panel and the ones on the next page deserved to be heard:

I know, I know, it's just a comic book, and an aggressively silly one at that—but I'm still trying to figure out just why Starro waited until now to pull out his combination Gold-K/reversion attack. To create dramatic tension, I guess.

PAGE 25: Panel 2: The scene of the Zoo Crew battling Starro is an homage to the cover of The Brave and the Bold #28, the first appearance of the Justice League of America.

Carrot calls Superman "Superslam."

PAGE 26: Panel 2: The Zoo Crew's defeat of Starro the Conqueror prompts this question by T Campbell:

Did they just KILL Starro? Okay, sure, he tried to destroy their world, and I suppose that would bring a death penalty, but 1982 super-heroes very rarely killed anyone... and they certainly weren't so blase and cheerful about it. "There! All done! Starro's shriveling up already!" Let's watch his corpse dessicate for a while longer and see if anything falls off! Cool!

In The Official Justice League of America Index #6, the Comment for Justice League of America #190 (May 1981) states that: "One of the two Starros becomes involved in the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, but it is uncertain which one." The reason for this is that, as the previously noted, the Starro who appeared behind the scenes in the Preview issue and in this issue is the second of two portions of Starro which regenerated after his last appearance. It is our opinion that the regenerated portion of Starro who remained in the Earth-1 universe is the one who participated in the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Panel 3: After Yankee Poodle frees him, Superman says, "Thanks! I guess a Superman's best friend is his Yankee Poodle, eh?" She replies, "You sure talk weird!"

Panel 4: Superman here apologizes to Captain Carrot for underestimating him and his friends, to which Captain Carrot replies, "No sweat! You're only human, right?" T Campbell notes about this scene:

"Only human," of course, carries a very different connotation in Earth-C than on Earth. In fact, given that later CAPTAIN CARROTs portray humans as bestial, ravenous animal-eaters, this is even more insulting than Superman's earlier comments about Earth-C... the loose equivalent of saying, "Don't sweat it, man, you're only a n****r." Of course, this sails right over Superman's head, like most everything ELSE about Earth-C culture.
PAGE 27: Panel 1: The team first calls themselves Captain Carrot and his amazing Zoo Crew.

Panel 2: This is the first reference to the name of this earth, Earth-C, "C" standing for Cartoon, not Captain Carrot as sometimes believed.

Earth-C's White House is seen.

I'm not sure if "Kennelworth" is a reference to anyone or not, although it may just be the Earth-C equivalent of Kenworth, which (coincidentally or not) is a truck manufacturer—an ad for a Monogram Models plastic truck kit for a Kenworth W-900 can be seen on the inside back cover of this issue. Incidentally, "Kenworth" is not a proper surname but a combination of Kenworth founders Harry Kent and Edgar Worthington.

Panel 3: "A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C." brings to mind the organizations which plagued the spy agencies in the entertainment of the 1960's, such as S.P.E.C.T.R.E., from Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and films, and T.H.R.U.S.H. from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. However, they don't know what it stands for. As Brad Walker points out, "Words like 'U.N.C.L.E.' and 'S.P.E.C.T.R.E' are more properly called acronyms. An acrostic is a poem where the initial letters of each line spell a word or phrase." Josh Marquart adds:

The definition of "acrostic" is - A poem or series of lines in which certain letters, usually the first in each line, form a name, motto, or message when read in sequence. (www.dictionary.com)

So the joke behind A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C. is that every time it appears, the acronym means something else: Arrogant Cutthroats Repeatedly & Outrageously Subverting This Innocent Country, A Corporation Recently Organized Solely To Instigate Crimes, and so on.

Panel 4: The F.B.I. is mentioned, although I'm not certain at this point whether or not it stands for "Federal Bureau of Investigation" on Earth-C.

Panel 5: "President Mallard Fillmore," the current American President on Earth-C, lives a century and a half later than his real world counterpart of whom his name is a pun: Millard Fillmore (1800–1874), 13th President of the USA from 1850 to 1853. Michael Norwitz also points out that, "'Mallard Fillmore' is an obvious pun which is also the title of a right-wing cartoon strip (which I find unfunny, but that may be my political bias showing)." The cartoon strip Mallard Fillmore, which King Features has carried since 1994 and which cartoonist Bruce Tinsley has been drawing since about 1990 may or may not have been influenced by the character from CCAHAZC, which of course predated it by at least a decade.

The villain watching Fillmore on a screen in a darkened room brings to mind villains in the mold of Ernst Stavro Blofeld (head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E.) from the James Bond films.

Panel 6: The next issue blurb says, "Next issue: ACertain Really Ominous Secret Throng Inevitably Christened... A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C.!"

TEXT PAGE: "A CANDYGRAM FROM CAPTAIN CARROT AND CREW by Roy Thomas"

Mighty Mouse as Super Mouse first appeared in Terrytoons animated shorts in 1942, at about the same time as Supermouse appeared in Coo Coo Comics #1 (October, 1942), so the Terrytoons character's name was quickly changed to Mighty Mouse to avoid confusion.

Super Duck first appeared in Jolly Jingles #10 (Summer, 1943), published by MLJ Magazines (Archie Comics), and eventually starred in his own comic-book title.

Super Rabbit first appeared in Comedy Comics #14, published by Timely Comics (the precursor to Marvel Comics).

Hoppy the Marvel Bunny first appeared in Fawcett's Funny Animals #1 (December, 1942), published by Fawcett Comics.

Atomic Mouse, published by Charlton Comics, first appeared in Atomic Mouse #1 (March, 1953). Atomic Rabbit first appeared in Atomic Rabbit #1 (August, 1955), also by Charlton.

The Terrific Whatsit (alias McSnurtle the Turtle) first appeared in Funny Stuff #1 (Summer, 1944), created by Martin Naydel, who also drew many of the adventures of the original Flash. Note: although this text spells McSnurtle's superheroic alter ego as "The Terrific Whatsit," the correct spelling is actually "The Terrific Whatzit," with a Z.

All-Star Comics #30, "The Dreams of Madness," featuring the Brain Wave as a villain, was one of the strangest JSA cases, in which the Flash encountered a group of funny animals who treated humans as humans treat animals. (See the splash panel from that issue here.)

Final Comments

As a debut issue, this first issue left a lot to be desired. While all the appearances of such classic DC funny animals as Nutsy Squirrel and the Raccoon Twins were welcome, the plot of this story seemed very weak—more like a vehicle for the secret origins of the individual Zoo Crewers than an actual story. This issue did not have the overall thematic theme (beginning with issue #3's homage to monster movies) that the series was known for, and the result was little more than standard superhero fare like a typical issue of DC Comics Presents, albeit with funny animals. As a foe, Starro the Conqueror seems to have fallen on hard times since his debut outing against the JLA, and as noted above the Earth-C atmosphere seems to have gotten to him, since he seems as silly as any Earth-C Universe denizen. The depiction of Earth-C in the Preview and this issue also seems much more cartoony than in the rest of the series (the portrayal of outer space, for instance); it is as if the creators were not yet sure how to balance the humorous and superheroic aspects of the series. Unfortunately, the second issue would not be any better due to the absence of Scott Shaw!, and the series would not begin to hit its stride until the third issue. One wonders if the series would have lasted longer than it had if things had been done well from the beginning. Certainly the success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1984 proved that there was a market for superhero funny animals.

Thanks to Brad Walker, Michael Norwitz, Josh Marquart, Seth Finkelstein, and T Campbell for information and/or comments provided on this page.

Relevant Web Sites

Madreporite Nexus - A webpage with scientific information about starfish.

Wikipedia's entry for Pluto - An informative and ever-expanding article on the 9th planet in our solar system.

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