Notes on Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew #2

CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW No. 2
April 1982

Cover Credits

STORY

"The Macabre Menace of the Mammal Called Armordillo" (25 pages)

Credits

Feature Characters

Guest Star

Villains

Other Characters

Cameo Appearances

Synopsis

(Story continues from issue #1.) As Superman leaves for his home parallel universe of Earth-1, the individual heroes seem ready to go their separate ways, but Captain Carrot tries to convince the others to stay as a team. He successfully talks Rubberduck and Yankee Poodle into staying with the team, as well as Fastback and Alley-Kat-Abra, but a cantankerous Pig-Iron decides to head back to Piggsburgh. Destroying public property and getting into unwanted fights with Gnu York citizens in the process, the Swine of Steel ends up battling Captain Carrot after the team leader unsuccessfully tries to calm him down, and Pig-Iron casually tosses the subdued Captain away before causing even more damage to public property.

By pure coincidence, Captain Carrot lands on the side of the Wombat Communications building—where he works as the cartoonist behind the Just'a Lotta Animals comic-book—just as his super-powers disappear and his muscular frame shrinks back to Roger Rabbit's ordinary size. Despite his claim to be the heroic Captain Carrot, his co-workers do not believe him and inform him that his boss, Mr. Wombat, is docking his pay for being on a two-day coffee break. A somewhat dazed Roger, still dressed in his sagging Captain Carrot costume and believing his superhero days to be over, finds his way back to his office and eats his morning carrot from the window box there. Since the carrots in the window box are the ones that were irradiated by the meteor fragment, Roger regains his super-powers and leaps back into the fray as Captain Carrot.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team is attempting to subdue Pig-Iron when Captain Carrot returns, and, since Pig-Iron is unwilling to listen to them, they all attack him at once. Suddenly, he is abducted and taken up to an airship in the sky by a magnetic beam. There, the criminal leader of A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C.—Brother Hood—offers Pig-Iron (who has just shown himself to have criminal tendencies) a position as a super-villain in his organization but is initially rebuffed. Brother Hood then brings out Armordillo, a powerful and larger Southern character as tough as Pig-Iron, to change his mind. After a quick battle which Pig-Iron seems on the verge of losing, Captain Carrot bursts in to the airship to stop Armordillo's final blow against Pig-Iron. The Swine of Steel, now humbled by Cap's selflessness and angry as hell, fights Armordillo once more, this time knocking himout. The Zoo Crew members catch up to their would-be teammate just as Brother Hood vanishes and Pig-Iron kicks the rolled-up Armordillo out of the ship. The now-shamed Pig-Iron decides to join the newly-formed Zoo Crew, choosing the life of a hero rather than that of a villain, and all charges from his earlier rampage are dropped. (Story continues in issue #3.)

Annotations

COVER: The sight of Pig-Iron storming around angrily before a shocked Zoo Crew is reminiscent of a grumpy Thing in the Fantastic Four, an example of which can be seen on the covers of Fantastic Four #41 and #42. Pig-Iron was created in the mold of grumpy, blue collar bruisers like the Thing.

"Not just another funny animal comic!" was the unofficial slogan of the series.

"Armordillo" is a pun on armadillo and armor.

PAGE 1: Title: "THE MACABRE MENACE OF THE MAMMAL CALLED--ARMORDILLO!"

Credits: Roy Thomas, writer. Alfredo Alcala and Scott Shaw!, artists. Ben Oda, letterer. Carl Gafford, colorist. Dick Giordano, editor.

Pig-Iron thinks the humanoid Superman is ugly, Captain Carrot once again calls Superman "Supermax," and Alley-Kat Abra finds it hard to remember the term "human being."

It is never explained how Superman returns to the Earth-1 universe; presumably he was somehow able to do so under his own power.

PAGE 2: Panel 5: T Campbell notes that, "even Rova nearly admits that she's a gossip columnist, rather than a celebrity interviewer."

PAGE 3: Panel 4: Pig-Iron says, "all my life I've been just plain little Peter Porkchops, steelworker..." Of course, Peter Porkchops was never shown to have been a steelworker in any of his solo adventures, at least to my knowledge, but for that matter his job (if he had one) was never actually shown. In the series he was shown to be quite an ingenuitive fellow, though, able to mix chemicals well enough to create a cleaning fluid, once inherited Glurch Castle in England from an ancestor from King Arthur's time, Sir Glancelot Glurch, and owned a fishing boat called the Mary Lou. He also had a very different speech pattern before the accident which changed him into Pig-Iron. Before the accident his vocabulary and grammar was exemplary; after the accident he took to speaking like Ben Grimm (The Thing, of the Fantastic Four), becoming about as moody as him, too. For an example of what Peter Porkchops was like before he became Pig-Iron, just to see the drastic change in character, compare this page from Aquaman #1 (January-February, 1962), which was one of a series of one-page "stories" published in association with the National Social Welfare Assembly, coordinating organization for national health, welfare and recreation agencies of the U.S. This was was titled, ironically enough considering the content of this issue of CCAHAZC, "The Secret of the Happy Pig!". It should be noted that Pig-Iron's behavior in this issue is explained that the character (created by Scott Shaw!) was originally intended to be a villain, but Roy Thomas liked him so much they made him a hero and the sixth member.

PAGE 4: Panel 1: "A Chorus Lion" is a pun on the Broadway musical A Chorus Line, which opened in 1975 and ran until 1990.

The "Big Awful" is the first parodied nickname given in this series for the "Big Apple" (New York City).

Panel 4: The restaurant behind Pig-Iron is the "Cafe Fido," Fido being a common name of small, effete dogs.

Panel 5: Pig-Iron's phrase, "soft as a piglet's pantaloons," drew T Campbell to comment that, "Peter Porchops was a piglet, but I doubt he ever wore pantaloons, making the phrase 'soft as a piglet's pantaloons' rather an odd one. Still, it's better than 'soft as a piglet's pantyhose,' I guess."

PAGE 5: Panel 1: The police officer is a dog (a policedog).

Panel 3: Pig-Iron uses the expression, "In a pig's eye I am!"

PAGE 6: Panel 4: T Campbell notes from this panel that "Yankee Poodle has apparently withdrawn a small book from her costume, since it's never seen before or after this panel. She seems to be taking mental notes, and may be taking written ones as well."

PAGE 7: Panel 1: The sign on the corner indicates that the street they're on is "Bruteway," a pun on Broadway, the street in Manhattan most associated with great theater.

Panel 2: "Gnu York's Finest" is Earth-C's equivalent of "New York's Finest," the New York City Police Department.

PAGE 8: Panel 1: The police dog calls Pig-Iron a "glory-hog."

Panel 3: A sign for the major Manhattan street, "42nd Street," can be seen on the corner. A classic musical film called 42nd Street was released in 1933.

"Shermonk Tank" is a pun on Sherman Tank, a well-known U.S. tank in World War II.

Panel 4: "As he flies through the air with the greatest of ease" is a reference to the 1868 song by George Leybourne, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze.

PAGE 9: Panel 3: The "secretary-bird's" name is "Ms. Seuss," and she is a tribute to the classic children's book author and artist Dr. Seuss, looking like one of his typical characters. Also, a secretary bird is a bird of prey.

The calendar in the background says "March" and is a picture of a lion next to a sheep. (Issue #4's newspaper dates that issue as also being in March, on the 22nd in 1982.) Seth Finkelstein points out that this is "possibly a reference to the saying that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb."

"Gonna fly now...!" is part of the theme song from Rocky, titled Gonna Fly Now, which was composed in 1976 by Bill Conti with lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins.

Panel 8: Captain Carrot's muscles have shrunken to Roger Rabbit's size now that the effects of the radioactive carrot which gave him super-powers has worn off.

PAGE 10: Panel 1: Roger has been missing from work for only two days since he left with Superman, meaning that the super-powers he got from his irradiated carrots can last for two full days, although this may not be typical.

Panel 2: Roger's eyesight has returned to the point where he needs his glasses once more.

Panel 4: Roger doesn't notice that his co-workers are laughing behind his back.

Panel 6: "There's always one wise-antler in every crowd!" is a pun of the phrase, "There's always one wise-guy in every crowd"; Roger's referring to the deer in the elevator.

When a door catches his cape, Roger discovers why fewer super-heroes wear capes nowadays.

Panel 7: Roger's editor, "Duck G. Ordano," is a pun on Dick Giordano, the editor of CCAHAZC.

Panel 8: The scene with Just'a Lotta Animals and the alligator forcing them to row a slave-ship through space is an homage to the cover of Justice League of America #3 (March, 1961), "The Slave Ship of Space" as drawn by Murphy Anderson. The figures of the Crash, Green Lambkin, Batmouse, Aquaduck, Super-Squirrel, and Wonder Wabbit replace those of the Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. Kanjar Ro is represented by an alligator. A note attached to the drawing says, "Roger- You drew this same scene last year! Shape up or ship out! —D.O." As Brad Walker points out:

Alligator, definitely! This 'gator is a homage to Albert the Alligator from Pogo (where the characters went around in skiffs all the time). Later in the series the villain is changed to "Kanga Roo," a kan— oh, YOU know.

There's a red arrow on the side of the ship, and a sign above it saying, "No passing on right," as well as a sign on the back of the ship says, "I'd rather be skiing."

PAGE 11: Panel 1: Among the notes Roger's throwing out of his filing cabinet are a picture of Super-Squirrel, a picture of Wonder Wabbit, a note that reads, "Bill due," another note that reads, "Comic-Con," and another that reads something like, "Rag... What is your social security number —WUGG."

"No use crying over spilled milkweed!" pun of the phrase "No use crying over spilled milk."

Panel 5: Captain Carrot's right arm inflating to become muscular before the rest of the body, along with that which happens in Panels 6 to 9, is most likely an homage to the old Popeye cartoon, which had a very similar effect.

"Altered Steaks" is a pun on the 1980 Ken Russell film, Altered States, which starred William Hurt.

Panel 7: The other arm now suddenly becomes muscular as well.

Panel 8: The rocketing up to the ceiling under sheer power is very reminiscent of Popeye after having eaten some spinach.

PAGE 12: Panel 2: "Give my regards to Bruteway" is a pun of the 1904 George M. Cohan song, Give My Regards To Broadway.

PAGE 13: Panel 2: "Smoke-Eye and the Panda" is a pun of Smokey and the Bandit, the 1977 movie starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Field.

Panel 7: "Dean Marten" is a pun on Dean Martin and the marten, a small, carnivorous mammal similar to the weasel.

"Everybody needs somebody sometime" is from Dean Martin's song, Everybody Loves Somebody.

PAGE 14: Panel 4: "New Gerbil" is a pun on the state of New Jersey.

Panel 5: I wasn't sure if Fastback's expression "meadow-melons" is a reference to anything or not. Charles Williams points out that, "Most likely, 'meadow-melons' is the Earth-C version of 'meadow-muffins,' a rural slang term for cow droppings in a pasture, more commonly known as 'cow pies' or 'cow patties.'"

PAGE 15: Panel 9: "All-for-one, one-for-all" is a line ("All for one, and one for all!") from Alexandre Dumas's 1844 novel, The Three Musketeers.

PAGE 16: Panel 2: "Basketball Jones... I got a Basketball Jones...!" is from the 1973 song recorded by Cheech and Chong, Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces.

Panel 6: "The Dread Sea" is a pun on the Red Sea, which separates Africa from the Arabian Peninsula, and which in the Bible God gave Moses the power to part in order for the Hebrews to escape the Pharaoh.

Panel 7: "Call my baby lollipop—tell you why—!" comes from the 1958 song by the Chordettes, Lollipop.

PAGE 17: Panel 2: Captain Carrot remarks that his "eyesight's improved a lot" due to his change in diet, which is a reference to the urban legend that carrots are good for the eyes.

Panel 7: "Four-an'-twenty blackbirds" is a line from the nursery rhyme, Sing a Song of Sixpence.

Pig-Iron calls himself the "Porcine Powerhouse."

PAGE 19: Panel 1: "Brother Hood" is the leader of A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C. (now called A Corporation Recently Organized Solely To Instigate Crimes - see notes on first issue).

Panel 2: Brother Hood calls Pig-Iron a "Herculean hamhock."

Panel 4: Brother Hood likes to make shadow figures on the walls as he plans his organization's crimes. I'm not sure if that's a reference to anything other than the usual comic oddness of villainous types.

PAGE 20: Panel 2: "San Antoadio" is a pun on San Antonio, Texas.

Armordillo calls Brother Hood "Br'er Hood," as "br'er" is a contraction of brother in some Southern U.S. dialects. T Campbell adds: "'Br'er Hood' faintly evokes the Uncle Remus stories, with their Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear."

Panel 3: "The Lone-Stork State" is a pun on the Lone Star State, which is the official nickname of Texas.

"Armordillo" is of course a pun on armadillo and armor, and is the name of this issue's villain.

PAGE 21: Panel 5: Armordillo says, "Remember the Ala-mole," a reference to the 1836 Battle of the Alamo between Texans and Mexican soldiers, which followed Texas's declaration of independence from Mexico.

PAGE 23: Panel 4: "What in blazing briar-patches is that??" is likely a reference to the stories of Br'er Rabbit, from the first Uncle Remus volume, Legends of the Old Plantation (1881), by Joel Chandler Harris.

PAGE 25: Panel 7: The caption states that "the police drop charges" from Pig-Iron, prompting T Campbell to note:

Not like they had much choice in the matter, really. The difficulty of arresting Pig-Iron had been repeatedly pointed out; so were they really going to try arresting him now that he actually had FRIENDS backing him UP?

Still, you gotta wonder what the average Earth-C resident thought of these "heroes" at the end of #2. Both #1 AND #2 feature Zoo Crew members beating up ordinary citizens, and as Yankee Poodle and Captain Carrot agree, perception shapes reality...

TEXT PAGE: "TWO HERDS ARE BETTER THAN ONE! by Roy Thomas, writer"

Annotations

In the early 1960's Roy Thomas wrote "The Bestest League of America," for Alter Ego, an early comics fanzine. Click here for more info on the genesis of Alter Ego and the Bestest League, and click here for a page with an image from Alter Ego #1, featuring the Bestest League of America on the cover.

Harvey Kurtzman was an artist and editor at EC Comics in the 1950's and for the great early Mad comics.

The Pogo comic strip was created by Walt Kelly and first appeared in a comic book entitled Animal Comics #1 (December-January, 1941-42).

DC Comics Presents #34 (June, 1981), featured Superman and Captain Marvel teamed up against King Kull (not to be confused with Robert E. Howard's character), with the assistance of Hoppy the Marvel-Bunny, in a story called "The Beast-Man that Shouted 'Hate' at the Heart of the U.N.!" Seth Finkelstein notes that this title is "definitely a reference to a Harlan Ellison story: 'The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World.'

Gerry Conway was a prolific writer at Marvel and DC in the 1970's and 80's, and he is currently a writer and producer in television, most recently for Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Jenette Kahn was, until recently, the President and Editor-in-Chief of DC Comics, and was the Publisher at the time that this was published.

Joe Orlando was a legendary artist and editor at EC and DC Comics.

The distinctions between Earth-One, Earth-Two, Earth-Shazam, and others are explained in Wikipedia's entry on DC Comics's Multiverse.

George Herriman was the creator of Krazy Kat, a quirky comic strip which ran from 1913 until 1944.

Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse and the Walt Disney Company.

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera (now known as Cartoon Network Studios), were pioneering animators well known for Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Scooby-Doo, amongst many others.

Gardner F. Fox was a prolific comic-book and science fiction author who created many of the innovations of DC Comics' Silver Age characters and wrote several novels under various pen-names.

Scott Shaw! is an animator and cartoonist who co-created the Zoo Crew, and who now writes a weekday column, Oddball Comics, at Comic Book Resources.

Andrew (Andy) Helfer is an editor and a writer who went on to script some issues of DC's Atari Force and was the writer of The Shadow (late 1980s) series, among numerous other short stories and film novelizations.

Final Comments

Like last issue, this story lacked an overall theme and generally left a lot to be desired. As Roy Thomas comments in the letters page of issue #7, issue #2 was "rough-penciled by Alfredo Alcala as an emergency measure and dialogued in one long all-night session by Mr. T. a few hours before he and his bride Danette left for a month-long honeymoon in France." Even though Scott Shaw! "embellished, inked, and partly redrew Alfredo's issue," the style seemed altogether different from both issue #1 and the following issue #3. Given the haphazardness of the way this issue was put together, it seems as though there was a lack of planning involved in the series as a whole. Certainly most comic-book series nowadays are plotted out several months in advance, and fill-in issues such as this one tend to come about much later on. For the series to resort to what feels like a fill-in story in only the second issue could not have been good for the prospects of the series. I can only speculate on how things may have happened differently had the first two issues been a bit tighter and more consistent with the rest of the series. Ah well. C'est la vie.

Thanks to Brad Walker, Charles Williams, Seth Finkelstein, and T Campbell for information and/or comments provided on this page.

Relevant Web Sites

Seussville - Random House site for kids which includes interactive games, contests, and information on Dr. Seuss and his works.

Pogo's Website - The official website of Walt Kelly's Pogo.

America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets - According to Lii.org, this "collection of over 4,200 items contains images of the sheet and lyrics and is searchable by keyword or browsable by title, name, or publisher"—an appropriate link considering the numerous musical references in this issue.

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.

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