Notes on Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew #7

CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW No. 7
September 1982

Cover Credits

FIRST STORY

"The Coming of Bow-Zar the Barkbarian!" (18 pages)

Credits

Feature Characters

Villain

Other Characters

Synopsis

The Zoo Crew is passing through downtown Follywood, Califurnia on their way to Byrd Rentals' house in Beaverly Hills, when Byrd's agent—Ermine "Swiftly" LaFurr—runs up to them in a desperate attempt to sign them up to as his next "stars"; he is, of course, rebuffed by the team. Arriving at Byrd's pad, the Crew encounters Byrd's friend Ezra Hound, a "sword-and-saucery" writer and creator of Bow-Zar the Barkbarian. Ezra explains that he has become tired of the character and wants to kill him off so he can get back to writing poetry. Unfortunately for him, ever since he began Bow-Zar's last story, he has been haunted by nightmares in which the Barkbarian is trying to kill him off. Pig-Iron "volunteers" to be Ezra's bodyguard (albeit for a hundred dollars an hour) so the writer can get some sleep without any further worrying.

Meanwhile, a "zillion years ago," Bow-Zar the Barkbarian is himself haunted by a "nameless magician" (Ezra Hound) who is trying to destroy him. He thus uses his undefined "Barkbarian powers" to track the sorcerer down in order to destroy him, arriving in the middle of Beaverly Hills, Califurnia in the 20th century. Bow-Zar is unfamiliar with the 20th century, however, and while attempting to rescue a damsel who wants to cavort with him, he destroys a Furrari in the belief that it is a dragon with a peasant in its open maw. After this distraction he sets about tracking down Ezra Hound once more, scaling the apartment building where Ezra and Pig-Iron are. He breaks in while Pig-Iron is sound asleep (he seems to be a very sound sleeper) and chases after Ezra. When Pig-Iron finally wakes and sees all the destruction in Ezra's apartment and beyond, he naturally assumes that Ezra's gone nuts and is tearing up Beaverly Hills under the insane belief that he is Bow-Zar the Barkbarian.

On the run, Ezra calls Byrd's place from a pay phone asking for the Zoo Crew to rescue him. The Zoo Crew shows up immediately (thanks to Abra's Magic Wanda) and Bow-Zar begins to fight them, believing the team to be the masked minions of this magician (Ezra). The fight takes Bow-Zar, Pig-Iron, and the rest of the Zoo Crew through a few Follywood sets (including the shooting of Canine the Barkin' Barbarian). Bow-Zar then climbs atop a MacDarnold's sign-pole in order to look for Ezra once more. He mistakes a nearby news helicopter for a flying dragon and "rescues" the passengers by tossing them out of it, wrecking the helicopter in the process (the Zoo Crew, of course, come to the passengers' rescue).

Finally, Bow-Zar chases Ezra Hound into a bank, where the writer runs into an open bank vault for protection, but to no avail. Bow-Zar is about to slay the sword-and-saucery writer when the Zoo Crew finally stops and subdues him, bringing Bow-Zar back to Ezra's apartment. The misunderstanding is cleared up as everything is carefully explained to Bow-Zar that his and Ezra's "destinies got all tangled up." However, as the two shake hands and agree not to destroy each other, they both suddenly disappear. Just then, "Swiftly" LaFurr, who has been trying to sign up the Barkbarian throughout the story, breaks in demanding to see his "star," so a fed-up Zoo Crew grants his wish, making LaFurr "see stars." The end of the story brings us back to Bow-Zar's time, where Ezra Hound has settled in as Bow-Zar's weapons-bearer, occasionally finding the time to write really bad poetry.

Annotations

COVER: "Sword-And-Sorcery at its furriest!" slogan above the logo. The scene looks like a gloomy dungeon out of a typical sword-and-sorcery-type story, and on the bottom right corner is a bleached skull of some anthropomorphic animal with three horns atop its head.

The name "BOW-ZAR the Barkbarian" is a double- (or quintuple-) barrelled joke. "Bouser" is a common name for a dog, sort of like "Fido," but it is also another word for "boozer," a person who is often drunk on alcohol. As well, as Seth Finkelstein notes, "Bow-Zar is also a reference in terms of spelling to 'Ka-Zar,' a Tarzan-style hero, who also sometimes appeared the same magazine as Conan."

"Barkbarian" is of course a pun on Barbarian. The World Book Encyclopedia's entry on Barbarian states:

Barbarian is a word used to describe an uncivilized or uncultivated person. It comes from the Greek word bárbaros, which at first meant simply a person who spoke a language the ancient Greeks could not understand. But soon the word also came to mean non-Greek or foreigner. Later, the Romans applied the Latin word barbarus to such peoples as the Goths, Vandals, and Huns, who lived outside the Roman Empire. Many of these "barbarians" entered the empire either peacefully or by force during the A.D. 300's and 400's, and contributed to its destruction.

In anthropology, the word barbarian may refer to groups of people that have achieved a settled agricultural life, but have no cities or art, and cannot read or write.

The skull Bow-Zar wears on a necklace is that of a mouse, with stylized ears like that of Mickey Mouse.

PAGE 1: A sign saying "Follywood and Wine" can be seen in the background. The "Catipol Records" building can be seen at the other corner, a pun on Capitol Records. The corner of Hollywood and Vine was well-known for the Capitol Records building, a famous Hollywood landmark.

This issue's guest penciller is Stan Goldberg, best known as one of the main comics artists for Archie Comics for whom he has drawn many stories featuring Archie Andrews and the gang over the years. T Campbell notes, however, that:

While Stan Goldberg was an able cartoonist, CAPTAIN CARROT was a difficult series to get just right, and there are a few noticeable inconsistencies. On these [first two] pages, it looks like Magic Wanda is levitating and Abra is simply holding on to "her," and Yankee Poodle is floating and scattering a few stars and stripes behind her instead of building her usual stripe-bridge.

It should be noted that Roy Thomas, who co-wrote this issue with Scott Shaw!, was an authority on Conan the Barbarian and adapted many Robert E. Howard stories to comic-book format and wrote Marvel Comics' Conan series for several years.

PAGE 2: Panel 1: The sign on the tour bus reads: "Follywood Star-Hunters" and "You name 'em—we'll track 'em down!" The sign on the sidewalk likewise reads: "Map of the stars' homes" and in small print: "also which ones will let you use their bathroom." Real-world Hollywood is, of course, full of fans hoping to catch a glimpse of a celebrity as well as those entrepreneurial sorts hoping to cash in on those desires.

Yankee Poodle, hearing a couple of the people in the bus referring to Captain Carrot and herself as "Captain Cabbage" and the "Star-Spangled Pooch," remarks that "the names of the Zoo Crew [members] are hardly a bunch of household words yet." The Star-Spangled Kid is a DC Comics character dating back to the 1940s. I couldn't find any information on any characters named "Captain Cabbage."

Panel 3: The character "Ermine 'Swiftly' LaFurr" parodies typical Hollywood agents in general (an ermine is a kind of weasel, appropriately enough), but this punnish name is based on a real, legendary Hollywood agent named Irving "Swifty" Lazar. A play based on the life of the "super-agent" opened in 1999 under the name Swifty. Thanks to Seth Finkelstein and Mrrutsala for the info.

Panel 5: A name appearing to be that of famous western/action actor "John Wayne" (or the Earth-C equivalent) appears on the sidewalk that Fastback is running backwards past, as he is probably while passing in front of the Earth-C version of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the famous Hollywood landmark which has the footprints and handprints of many celebrities.

Panel 6: Swiftly LaFurr refers to Pig-Iron as "Hog-Wild," an expression which could have easily been the character's name.

Panel 7: "Aukstralia" is Earth-C's Australia.

PAGE 3: Panel 1: "Gnu York" is Earth-C's New York.

Panel 2: The famous "Follywood" sign can be glimpsed in the distance.

"Ezra Hound" is loosely based on Ezra Pound (1885–1972) an influential American poet and critic, best known for his Cantos, who had never (as far as I know) written a sword-and-sorcery epic in his life. Despite the name, Ezra Hound is, according to Scott Shaw!, mostly "based on downbeat 'Conan' author Robert E. Howard."

Panel 4: "Terrier Del Fuego" is Earth-C's Tierra del Fuego (which means Land of Fire), a group of islands at the southern tip of South America.

Panel 6: "Sword-and-saucery" is an Earth-C literary genre which has much akin with our own "Swords-and-sorcery" (a term first used by Fritz Leiber in 1960— thanks to Erik Sieurin for the spelling correction) literary genre.

"Bow-Zar the Barkbarian" is obviously based on the previously-mentioned Conan the Barbarian, the adventure character created by pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard, who first appeared in a 1932 issue of Weird Tales, as well as other Sword and Sorcery heroes.

PAGE 4: Panel 1: "Truman Coyote" is Earth-C's Truman Capote, a famous mystery writer best known for his novel, In Cold Blood.

Panel 4: Ezra Hound's remarks, "Ever since I started this last story [to kill off the character], I've been having dreams—nightmares—in which Bow-Zar's chasing me—trying to kill me off, literally." This brings to mind the statements Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan, King Kull, and Solomon Kane) made about the character being not so much his creation as a character that quite literally took over his head. According to this webpage at the Sony Pictures Classics website, Howard stated about Conan that, "He simply stalked full grown out of oblivion and set me at work recording the saga of his adventures." Some rumors claim that Howard was a psychopath who wrote the stories Conan wanted him because the barbarian threatened to kill him if he did not, but those who knew him tell a different tale. In any event, Robert E. Howard ended his life in 1936 after hearing that his hospitalized mother would never come out of her coma.

Panel 5: "Snakespeare" is Earth-C's William Shakespeare.

PAGE 5: Panel 1: Bow-Zar is stated to have lived a "zillion years ago," but this is probably nothing more than funnybook hyperbole. Bow-Zar's time may be the Earth-C equivalent of Conan's Hyborian Age, which was set in the years 20,000 BC to 12,000 BC; Conan the Barbarian himself appeared on the scene near the end of the Hyborian Age.

Note the little "tweety birds" floating around the heads of Bow-Zar's unconscious enemies. This was a typical effect from the animated shorts from the 1930s and '40s.

Panel 3: Among Bow-Zar's defeated enemies are "the Raiders of Oaklamb—the Vikings of Minnimousa—the Stealers of Pittsbird." These are, of course, spoofs on the names of three National Football League teams, the Oakland Raiders, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It may be supposed that "Oaklamb" is Earth-C's Oakland, California and "Minnimousa" Earth-C's state of Minnesota, but the fact that "Pittsbird" should represent Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is problematical, since the Preview issue has already shown that Earth-C's Pittsburgh is called "Piggsburgh" and is the home of Pig-Iron.

PAGE 6: Panel 1: The sound effect used here—"Plop!"—was also the name of a DC Comics humor series in the 1970s.

Bow-Zar remarks, "By the Great Bone!" This is probably just an Earth-C Barkbarian expression, but it could be a reference to something else.

Panel 2: Bow-Zar makes reference to another enemy, the "Dolphins of M'yami," which is, of course, a spoof on the name of the NFL Football team, the Miami Dolphins.

Panel 3: "The eastern spirit Kolli" is Earth-C for Kali (which means "the black one"), a many-armed Hindu goddess of destruction and transformation.

Panel 4: "Bruce Springsteed" is the Earth-C bovine counterpart of legendary rock and roller Bruce Springsteen.

PAGE 7: Panel 3: A "Furrari" is the Earth-C equivalent of Ferrari, an Italian sports car manufacturer. Ferraris were particularly popular in the '70s and '80s.

Panel 6: Bow-Zar here refers to the land of "Barkbaria." There was never a land of "Barbaria" in reality, since, as noted above, the word barbarian came from the Greek word bárbaros, which means foreigner.

PAGE 8: Panel 1: The phrase "major minor poet" has, believe it or not, been applied to several artists over the years.

Panel 3: A "heffalump" is a fictional animal from "Chapter 5: In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump" in A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh. It is usually assumed that a heffalump is an elephant, although James Milne (no relation to the famous Pooh author) disagrees in "What's a Pooh?: An Essay by James Milne" (originally from this webpage, which seems to be down—here is Google's current cached version of that page); the following section is reproduced here in full:

In Which James Explains what a Heffalump Is...

Unfortunately, the sketches of E.H. Shepard have led many people to erroneously assume that a Heffalump is, in fact, an elephant. I maintain that it is so fearsome a beast, Shepard was reluctant to include it in his sketches, for fear that children would be unable to fall asleep at night, plagued with nightmares.

In the story, "In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump", we see two supposed sketches of the horrible Heffalump: one where Pooh is dreaming about it, and the other where Piglet is dreaming about it. And in both of those sketches, we see an elephant. Given the closeness of the words "elephant" and "Heffalump", one might guess that they are referring to the same thing, especially given those sketches. But several things stand out. First off, Pooh says that Heffalumps love honey. Now, how many of us have seen an elephant eating honey. Not many. "But the elephant is holding a jar of honey!" you argue. I'll explain that in a bit.

Now, in Piglet's dream, we see Piglet being chased, apparently by the elephant. And in his dream, Piglet is pondering just how fierce a Heffalump is. But you'll notice, he's wondering if it's Very Fierce to a bear as well. He's trying to establish just how fierce the Heffalump is and compares it against a bear. And of course, he decides that it would be Very Fierce to a bear as well as a pig. So, what's the next logical step? Pick an animal even larger than a bear, of course. And he picked an elephant. And he obviously decides that a Heffalump would be Very Fierce to an elephant as well, because in his dream, we see the elephant running away from the Heffalump, right behind poor Piglet.

Now, going back to Pooh's dream... Pooh is just as smart as Piglet, and probably would have come to the same conclusion as Piglet concerning elephants and Heffalumps. Now, perhaps Heffalumps aren't very tall creatures. Pooh keeps his honey up on shelves. It might be necessary for a Heffalump to coerce a larger creature into helping it get the honey. And since we have already established that elephants would be terrified of Heffalumps, it would be pretty easy to force one into helping it get the honey.

Obviously, a creature that could terrify not only a pig and a bear, but also an elephant, would also terrify little children as well, and I believe that it is for this reason that E.H. Shepard elected not to include a sketch of the creature.

Well, enough of my ramblings for the day. I need to sit down with the books before I come up with any other thought-provoking thots.

Panel 4: Pig-Iron's dream of a saw sawing an iron beam is a slight variation on the old cartoon shorthand for snoring, usually a saw sawing a wooden log.

PAGE 9: Panel 1: The term "Mongrel hordes" is Earth-C for "Mongol hordes."

PAGE 10: Panel 4: "Zero Wolf" is Earth-C for Nero Wolfe, a popular fictional consulting detective in the mystery series by Rex Stout.

Panel 5: The video game Rubberduck is playing is called "Pak-Rat," the Earth-C equivalent of Pac-Man. Pac-Man was, of course, one of the most popular video games of the '80s.

Panel 7: "Fairfox and Smellrose" is Earth-C for Fairfax Avenue and Melrose Avenue, two well-known and trendy areas next to each other in Los Angeles. Melrose Place was, of course, immortalized in the 1990s by a television show of the same name (which would have been called Smellrose Place on Earth-C, I suppose).

PAGE 11: Panel 7: Fastback mispronounces "strategy" as "stragedy." Mrrutsala notes that "the mispronunciation of strategy as 'stragedy' was often used by Bugs Bunny."

PAGE 12: Panels 6–7: On Bow-Zar's pause from his battle with Pig-Iron to destroy Alley-Kat Abra's magically-created bulldozer, T Campbell notes that "Bow-Zar hates metal monsters even more than he hates his enemies, and even goes so far as to 'save' Pig-Iron from a bulldozer. He probably assumes Pig-Iron is just wearing really good body armor."

PAGE 13: Panel 1: Sprockett, the film director from issue #4, makes a one-panel appearance here and refers to that issue's Swamp Meat movie. According to him, the events of issue #4 only happened "last week."

"Canine the Barkin' Barbarian" is Earth-C for Conan the Barbarian, this time referring to the 1982 film of that name, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and helped to propel him to stardom. Schwarzenegger's Earth-C counterpart, called "Arnie-baby" by Sprockett (and looking a little out of shape), appears here as a canine, but his full name is not given.

Panel 2: Arnie says, "If that's the way Sword-and-Saucery heroes act—I'm going back to body-building before it's too late!" Arnold Schwarzenegger was, of course, a former Mr. Universe.

PAGE 14: Panel 4: "MacDarnold's" (first mentioned in issue #4) is the Earth-C equivalent of McDonald's, the premier fast-food chain. The slogan seen on the sign here, "Over 6 zillion sold—some of them even eaten!" is a parody of McDonald's old slogan, which was "# million/billion served" (whatever the number happened to be at the time). In more recent years, however, this slogan has been replaced by "Billions and Billions served." The last part of the MacDarnold's slogan is a more or less accurate comment on the quality (or lack thereof) of McDonald's burgers. There also appears to be a clown figure standing in front of the restaurant's doors; this clown is, of course, an homage to Ronald McDonald, the fun-loving clown who has served for so long as the McDonald's Restaurant mascot. Mrrutsala adds that "MacDarnold's specifically represents Mad Comics' parody [of Mickey Mouse, called] 'Mickey Rodent' where Donald Duck was called 'Darnold'." See a panel from that story by Will Elder in Mad #19 here.

PAGE 15: Panel 4: T Campbell notes an incorrect depiction of Yankee Poodle's magnetic powers: "Again, Yankee Poodle's powers are tricky...here, it should be a spray of blue stars, with no stripes, as on Page 13. (Not to pick on Stan too much. The OZ-WONDERLAND WAR would get the pencils right, but the coloring wrong.)"

PAGE 16: Panel 2: Note the appearance of the two barbarian fans which Bow-Zar passes by: one is a biker type and the other is a bespectacled, nerdy type. Roy Thomas would, I'm sure, be familiar with Conan fans.

Panel 4: The bulldog with the hangdog face wearing the derby hat in this panel looks somewhat familiar, though he may just have the appearance of a typical British bulldog seen in numerous cartoons.

The secretary's name is here seen as "Miss Quack."

Panel 6: "Oso Safe Co." is a cute pun (oh so safe). Both Mrrutsala and T Campbell note that Oso Safes were the actual brand used in Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comics drawn by Carl Barks.

PAGE 17: Panels 7–9: On the Zoo Crew's eager willingness to attack Ermine "Swifty" LaFurr, T Campbell notes that:

This is probably the most out-of-character moment in the Crew's publishing history, and ironically enough, it's written by Roy. To be fair to him, most agents in Hollywood are considered to be a form of life much lower than a weasel.

PAGE 18: Panel 1: Bow-Zar demands his "Hackenstabber #4-Iron." A 4-iron is a type of golf club. On page 17, panel 5, Ezra Hound and Bow-Zar shake hands in friendship, yet Bow-Zar's treatment of Ezra as a servant (or caddy) in this panel prompts T Campbell to note: "I guess Bow-Zar's definition of 'friendship' is different from our modern, civilized definition."

Panel 2: Ezra Hound appears to be the Barkbarian equivalent of a golf caddy, as he keeps Bow-Zar's weapons in a golf bag.

"Roses are red, Violence is blue..." Many U.S. Valentine's Day cards and poems have traditionally begun with "Roses are red, Violets are blue," and continued with a personal message. Many variations on these lines have been made into jokes. (IE: "Roses are red, Violets are blue. Some poems rhyme, But not this one.")

LETTERS PAGE: "The Carrot Patch"

A long letter by one Fred Lee Cain of Topeka, Kansas is reprinted here.

Tezuka Osamu (or Osamu Tezuka) was the creator of Astro Boy and is known as "the father of Manga."

Disney, of course, is the world's most famous animated film company.

Terrytoons is best known for Mighty Mouse, as well as Heckle and Jeckle, Tom Terrific, and many other cartoon characters.

Those Amazing Animals was a documentary-type animal show in the same genre as That's Incredible.

The Warner Brothers cartoons, such as Bugs Bunny, the most famous of them all, were much edgier than Disney in their humor.

The Devil and Daniel Mouse was a 1978 Halloween television special (loosely based on the story entitled "The Devil and Daniel Webster"), by the Nelvana animation studio, which had a good rock soundtrack.

SECOND STORY

"Captain Carrot's Facts-File" (7 pages)

Credits

Feature Characters

Villains

Synopsis

This is not a story. It is an introduction to the origins and abilities of the individual members of the Zoo Crew which contains several flashbacks of unseen adventures which the individual Zoo Crew members participated in.

Annotations

PAGE 1: The members of the Zoo Crew are referred to as "Zoo Crew-ers."

T Campbell notes that:

"Their 50 cents' worth" is a play on the old phrase "their two cents' worth," from an age when comics actually cost four bits.

This "FACTS-FILE" idea was a precursor to THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE, which came out shortly thereafter, and in turn inspired DC's own WHO'S WHO. But actually, this kind of thing goes back as far as SUPERMAN #1, where they devoted a page to explaining the Man of Steel's powers and how he got them.

PAGE 2: Panel 1: "Hare-culean" is a pun on Herculean, meaning that Hare-cules is Earth-C's Hercules.

This appears to be the first time Captain Carrot's alter ego is called Roger Rodney Rabbit. As mentioned in the notes for the Preview issue, when Captain Carrot was given a secret identity, his creators gave him the name "Roger Rabbit," having been unaware of Gary K. Wolf's book, Who Censored Roger Rabbit? (later made into a Disney film under the name Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) Rather than tempt any legal situations, they slyly added "Rodney" as his middle name here and began calling him by this middle name in subsequent issues until his first name was almost forgotten.

Panel 2: The "Beaverly Hills Diet" is the Earth-C equivalent of the Beverly Hills Diet, created by Judy Mazel. According to Answers.com:

The Beverly Hills Diet is a 35-day diet plan based on the premise that certain kinds of foods should not be eaten together. The creator of the diet plan, Judy Mazel, recommends that fruit always be eaten by itself, and that carbohydrates and protein should never be eaten together in order for food to be properly digested and not stored as body fat. During the first 10 days of the diet, only fruit is permitted. On day 11 carbohydrates and butter are added; on day 19, protein is added.

Panel 7: The caption and accompanying panel depicts Captain Carrot's "extra-powerful jaws! (Cap actually can bite off as much as he can chew!)" T Campbell comments on this obscure super-power:

This is the only time we see the Captain's super-overbite in action, and it's easy to see why. The power's a little creepy when you think about it. And since they've already billed Pig-Iron as the omnivore of the team, the Captain could probably bite off far MORE than he could chew, or digest properly.

PAGE 3: Panel 1: The following is a veiled reference to the Incredible Hulk:

Easily the mightiest member of the team, this Porcine Powerhouse was recently quoted, "Heck, it's better 'n' bein' th' puny little wimp I use'ta be...an' I didn't turn green, or sumpthin' corny like that!"
Panel 2: Pig-Iron is here referred to as the "Blockbustin' Boar."

Panel 3: Pig-Iron is here called "Ol' Rivet-head."

Panel 4: The sandwich Pig-Iron is eating looks to be nuts and bolts on whitebread.

PAGE 4: Panel 4: Abra's cry as she Judo-throws a crook, "HAIII-YAAH!" probably sounds similar to that of the Muppets' Miss Piggy.

Panels 1–5: The list of Alley-Kat Abra's powers would grow, as T Campbell notes: "The very next issue, Alley-Kat-Abra's powers would be revised upwards, allowing her the ability to create 'objects of pure mystic force.'"

PAGE 5: Panel 1: "Any which way he can" is a reference to the film, Any Which Way You Can (a sequel to Every Which Way But Loose), starring Clint Eastwood, whose Earth-C equivalent is here called "Squint Beastwood."

Panel 5: Rubberduck is called the "Ductile Duck."

PAGE 6: Panel 2: Fastback is called the "Supersonic Slowpoke."

Panel 4: Fastback is called a "good old boy," a term for a rural U.S. Southerner which was once described by Jimmy Carter's little brother Billy, according to this page, as "someone who drives around in a pickup truck, drinking beer and putting the cans in a bag."

Panel 5: Fastback is here called the "High-Speed Hillbilly."

PAGE 7: Panel 1: Yankee Poodle is here called the "Pedigreed Patriot."

Panels 2–3: The depiction of Yankee Poodle's magnetic powers of repulsion (in her right hand) and attraction (in her left hand) is accompanied by the caption in panel 3 which says: "Got it? Good! ('Cause sometimes, even we get it all mixed up!)" T Campbell comments that this is "a smiling acknowledgement to a typo in #6, where Yankee Poodle says 'Either my right will get you... the one that attracts... or my left, which repels!'"

Panel 4: Yankee Poodle is called the "Powerful Poochie."

Final Comments

This issue was obviously a labor of love for Roy Thomas, a longtime scripter of Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian series, who was later called at one point to help write a script for a film based on the character (although Roy's involvement was early on and had nothing to do with the finished product). In this story Roy was able to parody many of the Sword and Sorcery clichés prevalent in the genre. This issue also seems to be a fan favorite (and probably my favorite of the early issues), the character of Bow-Zar the Barkbarian appealing to many readers. It was also nice seeing Stan's pencils as a change of pace both for him and the book.

Interestingly, this issue marks the 5th consecutive issue which uses a Hollywood tie-in: issue #3 was an homage to the monster movies of The Giant Claw (1957), King Kong (1933), and Godzilla (1954); issue #4 tied in to Swamp Thing (1982); issue #5 and 6 capitalized on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); and this issue tied in with Conan the Barbarian (1982). Future issues continued this Hollywood connection: issues #9 & 10 parodied The Wolf Man (1941); issue #16 had Earth-C's equivalents of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Steven Spielberg; issue #17 saw the filming of Earth-C's version of The Cannonball Run (1981) and paid homage to Frankenstein (1931) and House of Frankenstein (1944); and The Oz-Wonderland War 3-issue miniseries paid homage to the novels of L. Frank Baum and Lewis Carroll as well as the film adaptations of same.

Thanks to Seth Finkelstein, Erik Sieurin, Mrrutsala, T Campbell, and Scott Shaw! for information and/or comments provided on this page.

Relevant Web Sites

CONAN Official Website - The official Conan website has information on the character in various multimedia.

Hyborian Age of Conan the Barbarian - A fan website with pages on Conan, King Kull, and other Sword and Sorcery characters.

Conan the Barbarian at AmraTheLion.com - Another informative fansite on Conan.

The Robert E. Howard United Press Association - A website billing itself as one "cateering to Howard scholars."

Wikisource's Robert E. Howard page - Several essays, letters, novels, poetry, short stories are reprinted here.

Oddball Comics, September 04, 2003, Issue #864 of 1103 - Scott Shaw!'s article on this issue, which includes scans of the individual pages of Captain Carrot's Facts-File.

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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Email me at: the_time_trust_2000 @ yahoo.com

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