A CANDYGRAM FROM CAPTAIN CARROT AND CREW by Roy Thomas
This first issue of CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW! which you hold in your eager hands (or paws, or tentacles, or whatever) has a long, long genesis—at least back to the 1940's.
The idea of a "funny-animal super-hero comic-book"—a lot of hyphenated words, there!—is hardly a new one, certainly. It goes back at least as far as Mighty Mouse, the Terrytoon terror who was originally called Supermouse (though rumor has it that a certain Decidedly Correct comics company objected to that name at the time). Later in the '40's there were likewise Super Duck (from the Archie people), Super Rabbit (from Timely/Marvel), and even another Supermouse, unrelated to the first. And of course, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny, who recently made his first comic-mag appearance in three decades.
In the 1950's, just to herald the changing times, there was even an Atomic Mouse, followed soon by an Atomic Rabbit. The more things change, etc.
DC Comics, however, has been involved in the funny-animal super-hero biz a lot longer than most of the above, even if you ignore the fact that they're all ultimately inspired by Superman anyway.
Or didn't anybody out there ever hear of The Terrific Whatsit?
The Terrific Whatsit, also known as McSnurtle the Turtle, was a major feature for a couple of years there in a DC mag called FUNNY STUFF, which debuted in summer of 1944. Before long, a duo called The Dodo and the Frog took over the book, but that doesn't concern us here. What matters to us is the Terrific Whatsit, because he was one strange dude.
He was, as I said, a turtle—a mild-mannered shopkeeper who, in time of peril, shed his shell and donned an outfit virtually identical to that of the original Flash (now of Earth-Two), winged helmet and all. His one and only power, of course, was super-speed.
The oddest thing about the Whatsit, though, was that—though I don't recall a single reference ever in his strip to the Flash himself—the artist of the feature was one Martin Naydel. And Martin Naydel was also, at that time, the major artist of the Flash feature in both FLASH COMICS and ALL-FLASH!
So far as I know, it's the only case in comics history where an artist regularly drew both "serious" and "funny" versions of the same character. Matter of fact, being a cartoonist with a relatively simple, one might almost say crude style, Naydel was better fitted to draw McSnurtle than Jay Garrick's swift-footed alter-ego.
And then, while the Whatsit was still racing around in FUNNY STUFF, something else happened which—when combined with McSnurtle and other, less weighable factors—led by a circuitous route to CAPTAIN CARROT and his beastly buddies.
That something was ALL-STAR COMICS #30, published for Aug.-Sep. 1946. For in that issue of what was easily the favorite comic of my childhood, a villain called Brain Wave (who's been back a time or two since) tricked the fabled heroes of the Justice Society of America into allowing him to manipulate their dreams. Unknown to the stalwart JSAers, Brain Wave intended to use nightmares to drive his old enemies stark, staring mad—and he more or less succeeded, though that's another story.
What counts is that the Flash solo chapter in that issue, drawn by one Martin Naydel, put the Fastest Man Alive in what the copy called "the most bizarre setting of his slam-studded career."
For the Flash, who was drawn in Naydel's usual cartoony style, suddenly found himself in a dream-world of funny animals quite similar to those he was drawing in FUNNY STUFF, at the same time! In fact, the splash page even featured a turtle... doubtless a distant relative of McSnurtle's, checking up on things. The Flash was driven virtually insane over the next few pages, but of course he recovered by issue's end, and Brain Wave was locked up for the umpty-leventh time.
Then came DC COMICS PRESENTS #34, and—
But, that story-behind-the-story will have to wait till next issue. For now, we'd just like to state the one most important way in which, at least to Scott Shaw and Bob Smith and Dick Giordano and Yours Truly, CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW! is different from most if not all previous funny-animal super-hero comics and cartoons.
To us, Earth-C is real... an alternate earth, as true in its comic-book way as Earth-One or Earth-Two or Earth-Shazam, let alone all the various Earths and Universes and Multiverses floating around between full-color covers these days. Cap and the guys just happen to live in a world with slightly different set of rules than ours, that's all.
How different? Well, keep watching, and you'll find out. It'll take a while to unfold, but we kind'a think the wait will be worth it.
Meanwhile, let us know what you think of CAPT. CARROT #1. Send your letters c/o DC Comics, 6th Floor, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10019.
Be here next time for A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C., the astonishing Armordillo, and inevitable Who's-in-Charge-Here hassle, won't you?
—Roy Thomas.
All characters, insignias, and images are Copyright 2006 DC Comics. I make no claim whatsoever on these copyrighted characters, and these annotations are done purely for fun, for no profit whatsoever.The annotations, however, are mine and mine alone. This means that permission is required in order to reproduce, in full or in part, any part of these annotations.
