Notes on Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew #6

CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW No. 6
August 1982

Cover Credits

FIRST STORY

"The Bunny from Beyond!" (18 pages)

Credits

Feature Characters

Villains

Guest Appearance

Supporting Characters

Other Characters

Cameo Appearance

Synopsis

(Story continues from issue #5.) After just defeating the giant alien egg-yolk, the Zoo Crew hears from a TV news report that Baron Von Vermin, the ambassador from San Salamander, had donated a number of eggs for the annual Easter egg hunt at the White House and that more yolk-monsters had come out of them; yolk-monsters were also hatching in other parts of the world as well, all as part of Von Vermin's plan of revenge for Ratzi Verminy's defeat in the Second Weird War.

The Zoo Crew transport back to Waspington, D.C. and rescue the citizens there while trying to defeat the giant yolks. Oklahoma Bones, Jr. recognizes Baron Von Vermin, and he and the team manage to get the Baron to reveal the location of the cocoon holding the alien bunny, which turns out to be Easter Bunny Island. The team finds the cocoon (which has carrots growing out of its sides) in an extinct volcano on the island, and they soon free the "bunny from beyond" who quickly causes the yolk-monsters to disappear due to his alien powers being vastly increased on Earth (which explains why the alien bunnies had not gotten rid of the yolk-monsters like this in the first place). After turning Baron Von Vermin into stone, the bunny from beyond proclaims his name to be Ralf-124C4U and announces his intention to conquer the world, following up this threat by defeating and imprisoning the Zoo Crew after a terse battle.

The Zoo Crew members are each imprisoned in specially-made restraints, but, when Captain Carrot's powers wear off, he is easily able to escape in Roger Rabbit's skinny frame. Roger grabs the carrots that the alien bunny had taken from him (they were very similar to the ones which grew on his cocoon and which provided him with an energy source) and uses them to transform back into Captain Carrot. He then ties Ralf-124C4U's ears together, and, when the alien bunny uses his powers, the feedback causes him to vaporize along with the building and the restraints that he had created with his mind, freeing the Zoo Crew once again. (Story continues in part in the second story in this issue.)

Annotations

COVER: The slogan above the title's logo reads, "THE WORLD'S TWELFTH GREATEST COMIC MAGAZINE!!" This is a parody of the slogan seen on the covers of the Fantastic Four comic-book since 1962: "THE WORLD'S GREATEST COMIC MAGAZINE!"

The "Furry Arms" is a pun on a typical name of a hotel, many of which are named the "(Something) Arms."

PAGE 1: Title: "THE BUNNY FROM BEYOND!"

Credits: Roy Thomas, writer. Scott Shaw!, penciller. Al Gordon, inker. A. Kawecki, letterer. Zuiko, colorist. Dave Manak, editor.

The two figures seen at the bottom left corner of the page could be existing characters. The dog's name is "Ruff," so this could be an homage to the Ruff and Reddy animated television show by Hanna-Barbera; the dog in this panel looks quite different from the one in the show, although the cat's coloration is the same.

PAGE 2: Panel 1: The name on the front of a video-cassette recorder says, "Phony," which is a pun on Sony, the Japanese electronics manufacturer.

"Tom Snide-Hair" is a pun on Tom Snyder, the former talk show host.

Panel 2: Tom makes reference to his being "canceled already," which, as of 1982, was true.

"Waspington, D.C." is the new pun on Washington, D.C., replacing "Wartington, D.C.," which was used earlier in the series.

Panel 4: "San Salamander" is now the name where Baron Von Vermin resides. Last issue, it was called "San Salvador," which is the name of the capital city of El Salvador.

Panel 5: T Campbell comments on the depiction of the yolk-monsters in this issue:

Slight change in the way the yolk-monsters are rendered. Last issue's yolk-monster was mostly mindless, just driven to feed like a giant amoeba. Fastback said "it ain't even got a brain." But this time around, the yolks double as eyes, and give off hateful stares. They're still not college graduates, but they do seem to be getting smarter. That can't be good.

Another critical question is how the eggs got so big, so fast. They're not quite as unstoppable as the first egg the Zoo Crew fought, but they're sure a lot bigger than it was when it hatched. Either there was heavy rainfall in Waspington D. C. just before the hunt, or else... or else the Zoo Crew did NOT arrive in time to save absolutely everyone...

PAGE 3: Panel 3: "Transportation claws" is a pun on the term "transportation clause."

Alley-Kat Abra complains about having only being useful to the team as transportation, even though her magic powers make her potentially the most powerful member of the team, as T Campbell notes:

This was a common problem in Silver Age superhero books; the allegedly MOST powerful member was often so thoroughly hobbled by "exceptions" or "weaknesses" that made him actually the LEAST powerful member. If Abra performed at full capacity all the time, and without any strange villain immunities, she'd make the rest of the Zoo Crew look redundant, instead of the other way around.

Panel 4: Captain Carrot hits the nail on the head when he calls the spats between Alley-Kat Abra and Yankee Poodle "cat-and-dog fights."

PAGE 4: Panel 1: "Beezoo Theatre" is a pun on the Bijou Theatres, another historical theatre chain.

Panel 2: "Art Porkwald" is a pun on Art Buchwald, the political humor columnist. The phrase which begins, "I am not now, nor have I ever been..." is a reference to the McCarthyism of the late 1940s and early 1950s (named after Senator Joseph McCarthy), in which numerous people were blacklisted for being associated with the Communist Party and thus also subversives according to McCarthyism. The phrase continues with, "...a member of the Communist Party," and was a typical denial at the special Senate hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Panel 3: "Dixiecat" is a pun on the Democratic Party. And as mentioned in the notes for the Preview issue, it's also a pun on the word "Dixiecrat," which was a dissident Southern Democrat who opposed the civil rights movement (although it is not known how this holds true as far as the national party goes, especially on a world like Earth-C which is populated not by different races, but by different species altogether).

PAGE 6: Panel 2: "What's up, Doc?" is Bugs Bunny's famous catchphrase.

PAGE 7: Panel 1: "Der Furor" is a pun on "Der Führer," which was what the German people called Adolf Hitler during the Nazi Party's regime. "Fodderland" is a pun on "Fatherland," the nickname for Germany itself.

Panel 7: Alley-Kat-Abra says, "One of these days, Poodle...!" to Yankee Poodle, a hollow threat reminiscent of Jackie Gleason's famous line from the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners: "One of these days, Alice, one of these days...Pow! Right in the kisser!"

PAGE 8: Panel 1: The map of Easter Bunny Island indicates that it is literally shaped like the head of a bunny, long ears and all.

Panel 2: "Sherlox" is a pun on "Sherlock" (Sherlock Holmes), the Great Detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 19th century.

PAGE 10: Panel 1: Pig-Iron says, "Well, I'm a doubtin' tomcat!" The original term is "doubting Thomas" after Thomas the Apostle, who doubted the resurrection of Jesus and placed his finger in the wound on Jesus' side before he would believe it had happened.

Panel 4: "Loondon" is a pun on London, England.

Panel 6: "Parrots" is a pun on Paris, France (although in another issue Paris is called "Purris"). "Eyefull Tower" is a pun the Eiffel Tower, Paris' famous landmark.

Panel 7: "Tele-pathetic powers" is a parody of the term "telepathic powers" or "telepathy."

Panel 9: "Master rat-race" is a play on words, combining the "master race" (which the Teutonic or Aryan race was so-called by the Nazis) with the "rat-race" of everyday life in our high-paced civilization.

PAGE 11: Panel 5: The term "rabbitoid" is to (anthropomorphic) rabbit as humanoid is to human.

PAGE 12: Panel 2: The name "Ralf-124C4U" is a name in homage of an early science fiction novel. Scott Shaw! and Don Markstein were helpful for providing information on this one. Scott Shaw! said:

"Ralph 124C41+" was created by Hugo Gernsback, who created AMAZING STORIES. It's a play on the phrase "Ralph one to forsee for one, plus."

Don Markstein added:

Ralph 124C41+ was the title of a novel by Hugo Gernsback, who later (by about 15 years or so) founded Amazing Stories, the first magazine devoted exclusively to science fiction (a phrase Gernsback coined, by the way).

I tried reading it two or three decades ago (when it briefly flickered in and out of print again), but it was dreadful. In fact, I would go so far as to say it was amazingly dreadful. It does, tho, have the oddball distinction of containing the first printed use of the word "television."

Gernsback actually developed "Ralph 124C 41" as a pen name in 1911, beginning a sequence of events that ended in that early science fiction novel of almost the same name in 1925. You can read a review of the novel here.

"Beetlejuice" is a pun on Betelgeuse, the red giant star which is one of the brightest stars in the constellation Orion. (Incidentally, Beetlejuice later became the title of a 1988 film directed by Tim Burton which starred Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, among others.)

Panel 5: Peter Panda, a DC Comics funny animal, can be seen here. He starred in his own self-titled series from 1953 to 1958.

PAGE 13: T Campbell comments on the layout of this page: "A very interesting layout here, where the central panel can be read at two different 'points' in the page's overall narrative."

PAGE 15: Panel 1: This panel's depiction of Captain Carrot, who is known to use super-bunny hops rather than actual flight, causes T Campbell to question, "Again, not to beat a dead hor— rabbi— issue, here, but how is the Captain flying?"

Panels 1–5: The way Captain Carrot fights back against Ralf-124C4U's energy mind-blasts with his fists is reminiscent of the way Superman combatted powerful rays in the early 1940s Superman cartoons by Fleischer Studios.

Panel 8: Ralf-124C4U's motivations for capturing the Zoo Crew rather than just killing them outright ("—till I decide how best to dispose of you.") prompted T Campbell to comment:

Not like he can just KILL them, after all.

I know, I know. That's just not how this kind of story works. Still, we know he CAN kill people, given what happened to bad old von Vermin.

Another nagging question: the Bunny from Beyond eliminated the egg-yolks... the HUNDREDS of egg-yolks... by frowning really hard. He estimates 6.3 seconds to conquer the entire planet. But fighting the Zoo Crew "tired" him?

Maybe his abilities to use energy are far in excess of his abilities to gather more energy. He'd have something in common with our people, then.

Ralf-124C4U has disabled the entire Zoo Crew, according to their individual powers, as seen in the following panels:

PAGE 16: Panel 1: Pig-Iron is disabled by four powerful magnets holding him in mid-air. "Stuck by magnets! How humiliatin'! Me—the idol of dozens!" As Brad Walker points out, this is a spoof on Ben Grimm (the Thing)'s calling himself "The Idol of Thousands" from time to time. Scott Shaw! was, of course, highly influenced by Jack Kirby's character when he created Pig-Iron.

Panel 2: Yankee Poodle's magnetically-powered paws are held up to her temples, meaning that if she uses her powers she'll blow her own head off.

Panel 3: Fastback's chamber is full of slippery banana peels, nullifying his speed powers.

Panel 4: Alley-Kat Abra is being bombarded by disco music and bright lights, disrupting her concentration and thus not allowing her to use her magic powers.

"Gen-Zebra Convention" is a pun on the Geneva Convention, which is an international convention held every few years among participating countries which primarily provide for the humane treatment of prisoners and wounded persons in wartime.

Panel 5: Rubberduck is caught under a shower of starch, keeping him from stretching any part of his body.

Panel 6: Captain Carrot is held by restraints created to fit his ample frame, but as he turns back into the skinny Roger Rabbit, he easily slips out of them.

"Rabbitoid" is a pun on humanoid.

PAGE 17: Panel 4: Fastback refers to Captain Carrot as their "fearless leader," which was the name of a villain on The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show.

PAGE 18: Panel 3: "Encyclopedia Brutannica" is a pun on the Encyclopędia Britannica, one of the world's foremost encyclopedias.

Panel 9: Oklahoma Bones, Jr.'s last appearance in the series prompted T Campbell to note:

Shame Oklahoma Bones didn't stick around as an occasional advisor. He could have provided some useful data on the Wuz-Wolf legend, given the Crew historical perspective when they were stranded in separate eras, and helped the Zoo Crew in the artifact hunt that was THE OZ-WONDERLAND WAR. In some ways, he recalls another rodent with father issues who DID join the Zoo Crew... Little Cheese.
LETTERS PAGE: "The Carrot Patch"

This issue's letter page consisted of several relatively short notes either praising or disparaging the series; the following is one of the latter:

"Not just another funny-animal comic? Want to bet? CAPTAIN CARROT was just another funny-animal comic, except that it wasn't funny. People, nobody laughs at puns about animals, especially puns on the level of "Bark Avenue" and "Alley-Kat-Abra."

Michael Pickens
Utica, Ohio

T Campbell notes from this letter:

I always found it interesting that Michael Pickens, who wrote a succint "IT STINKS" in a previous letter column, stuck around to provide a second criticism. Mine not to reason why...

Apparently it was Scott, not Roy, who suggested Pig-Iron be Peter Porkchops, and Danette Thomas who suggested Captain Carrot be a cartoonist.

SECOND STORY

"Captain Carrot Faces the Tunneling Terror, Digger o' Doom!" (7 pages)

Credits

Feature Character

Villain

Other Characters

Synopsis

(Story continues in part from the first story in this issue.) Captain Carrot hops over the Gnu York skyline back to the Wombat Communications building where he works as a cartoonist, unaware of the events occurring in that building. Melvin McMole (the building's janitor), having forgotten to clean the executive board room, walks in as a meeting is being held, and, blinded by the bright lights, he accidentally stabs Mr. Wombat's foot with a garbage picker and is promptly fired. Melvin becomes enraged as he realizes how rude Mr. Wombat had been and goes to Roger Rabbit's studio in the hopes that the friendly cartoonist can calm him down. He sees the batch of carrots growing on his window-sill and decides to help himself to one, becoming immediately transformed into the hulking "Digger O'Doom" as he names himself.

Meanwhile, Captain Carrot returns to his office and discovers one of his carrots missing. The Wombat Building then begins to shake itself to pieces, and, as Captain Carrot tries to keep the building from collapsing, Digger O'Doom attacks him, and the two fight until Digger's powers disappear, turning him back into Melvin McMole who is promptly arrested. Captain Carrot then hurries back to his office to in order to beat his deadline by drawing super-fast, but, just as he is about to use them, his powers wear off.

Annotations

PAGE 1: Panel 1: Title: "Captain Carrot FACES THE TUNNELING TERROR, DIGGER O'DOOM!"

Credits: 'A truly "underground comic" story by: Roy Thomas, plotter. Scott Shaw!, scripter. Mike Sekowsky, penciller. Scott Shaw! & Chad, inker. Annette Kawecki, letterer. Ziuko, colorist. Dave Manak, editor.'

T Campbell comments on this story:

The chronology here is a little confused. I think the early scenes with Melvin McMole take place the previous night... after all, McMole is about to leave for the day when he is fired, and breaks into Roger's carrot supply not long after that. This would explain why Digger O' Doom's charge wears off at roughly the same time Captain Carrot's does...

PAGE 2: Panel 1: Captain Carrot makes reference to the previous story as happening shortly before this one.

"Pupeye the Sailor-Dog" is a pun on the cartoon character Popeye, the Sailor-Man.

Someone refers to Captain Carrot as "Captain Cabbage."

Panel 2: "Dave Dove" may or may not be a reference to an existing personality. The "eye in the sky," which employs news helicopters for the purposes of keeping track of traffic and special news situations, is fairly common nowadays.

PAGE 3: Panel 1: "Zhlug" could be a word of some type, possibly a variation on the Yiddish slang word "zhlob" which means a rude and crude person.

Panel 2: "Schlep" is a Yiddish word which means, according to the Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, "to proceed or move slowly, tediously, or awkwardly."

Panel 3: "All My Chinchillas" is a pun on All My Children, the long-running daytime "soap opera" television show which has been on the air since 1970.

Panel 4: The head of Wombat Communications, Mr. Wombat (called "W. W." here), makes his first appearance after having been mentioned in issue #2. Wombat's name is based after the founders of Warner Bros, and Wombat himself may be based specifically on Jack Warner, the longest-lived of the Warner brothers who was known as "J. L." (for Jacob Leonard).

Panel 5: One of the Wombat Communications executives is "Swinestein," a pig whom W. W. calls a "clumsy boar."

PAGE 4: Panels 8–11: The meek Melvin McMole's transformation into the hulking Digger O'Doom is obviously influenced first by Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It's interesting to note that Roger Rabbit's transformation into the heroic Captain Carrot is more akin to that of such heroes as Popeye, the original Blue Beetle, and Hourman, each of whom ingested a certain agent of change, while the angry Melvin McMole's transformation turns him into a beast. It may be speculated that the irradiated carrots have a quality which enhances the inner qualities of whomever ingests them. Roger Rabbit, a superhero cartoonist, naturally wished to be like the heroes he drew and wrote about and already had a hero's heart before he got the body to match. Melvin McMole, on the other hand, had an embittered heart which turned him into the monster bent on revenge that he already was within.

PAGE 5: Panel 5: "Great Caesar's goat!" is a pun on "Great Caesar's ghost!" the catch phrase of Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet in the Superman comics.

Panel 7: The name California is used instead of the correct Califurnia (the Earth-C name).

PAGE 6: Panel 8: "Jack LaLoon" is a pun on Jack LaLanne, one of the world's premier health enthusiasts now in his 80's but still going strong.

Thanks to Don Markstein, Scott Shaw!, Brad Walker, and T Campbell for information and/or comments provided on this page.

Relevant Web Sites

Hugo Gernsback's Forecast Science Fiction E-zine - An online magazine which seems to have been discontinued since 1998, but which does have the first three chapters of Ralph 124C 41+ available as an e-text. If anyone knows of a complete e-text available on the web, please let me know. In any case, the book is still available at your local library or bookstore. It's been in and out of print for years:

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson - The complete e-text available for free download, provided by Project Gutenberg.

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