THE CARROT PATCH c/o DC COMICS, INC., 75 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10015
A CARROTGRAM FROM THE CAPTAIN & CO.: While the great majority of letters which pour into Dynamic DC's offices continue to be wildly favorable toward CAPTAIN CARROT, we wanted to wait till next issue with letters on our third issue, in favor of printing the following missive almost en toto. We think you'll see why when you've finished perusing it...
Dear Roy and Scott:
What can I say? Feelings a little mixed yet (for me, that's normal), but by and large, I like it! The Zoo Crew is strong stuff as an object for fictional "suspension of disbelief"—but the concept does somehow grow on you, at least the way you guys are handling it. The idea of a world inhabited by more than one intelligent native species (inhabiting the same environment—not two different ones, like land and sea) is certainly not impossible, although probably not quite as common as one-sapient-species worlds.
The idea of a world (let alone the culture—oh brother!) that would support over fifty different sapient races—including members of different species of birds, mammals, and reptiles—almost defies belief. But in an endlless and infinite set of worlds, ages, and universes, "almost" has a lot of territory to cover!
The idea is not impossible (though probably not the result of a natural selection, but rather some outside artificial intervention in their prehistory)! The cultural friction involved in the developing of civilization makes one wince; but some have theorized that man might not have been quite so narrow in his views if he could have shared dominion with another intelligent species (not all encounters would have been unfriendly).
So, for me at least, the only remaining problems are:
(A) What about non-intelligent animal species? The variety of intelligent races on Earth-C is almost staggering, but still there must be some "lower animals." (After all, even on our world, man is only one member of the primates, though only he has developed fully rational intelligence.)
(B) The "animal-pun" names at times seem to get a little heavy, but still—allowing for place-names and advertising logos just on our world, perhaps it's not so punnish as some names might seem at first!
(C) Just wanted to mention, as regarding the girls: I think they're both cute (in fact, pretty).
As regarding both her profession and her powers, I think Rova (Yankee Poodle) Barkitt deserves ten stars, all gold. And Felina (Alley-Kat-Abra) Furr is the "cat's meow." I think she probably has some of that magic that girls have always had; that doesn't have to depend on any magic wand. (P.S.: Are all her powers centered in her "Magic Wanda," or is it perhaps-needed focus of her powers?)
And finally—Why did I have to be born a stupid, ugly, human on "Earth-Prime," instead of on Earth-T (Tezuka), Earth-D (Disney), Earth-T/R (Terrytoons—Mighty Mouse's little girlfriends were real "knockouts"), or some other universe?
What? You say I didn't mention "Earth-C" when I was talking of alternate worlds I'd prefer living on? Tsk-tsk. Well, maybe I wouldn't mind it—if I could choose the species I'd be belonging to!
Anyway, I think you've got a hot item here. It was amusing to find out that one of the Zoo Crew was a comic-book character I remember from my childhood—Peter Porkchops! (It might also be amusing if, from time to time, he'd change back and forth without warning—no, not quite like another hero withh green skin, but it'd add an element of both luck and vulnerability.)
With an "Amazing Animal" world, there are three ways you can play it: The first way is "funny" (like "Tom and Jerry"); the second is more-or-less serious (like "Mighty Mouse" or the Disney characters); the third—which you've been trying so far—is sort of a 50/50 mix, but watch out! This is the most difficult type of all! If done carefully, it can be a hit (some examples are the Warner Brothers cartoons such as Bugs Bunny, or the recent TV special "The Devil and Daniel Mouse"); but if the mix is not plausible, or if the "reality-plausibility" of the art does not match the seriousness of the story (a weakness in the general visual rendering of Earth-C), then all it comes across as is low-grade camp—too serious to be funny, too funny to be serious.
Earth-C and the Zoo Crew are not perfect... but they've got promise! Rotsa ruck!
Fred Lee Cain
613 Huntoon
Topeka, Kansas 66612We printed a long chunk of your even longer letter, Fred, because it suggests precisely the kind of thinking which first Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, and later artist Scott Shaw! as well, went through in the formation of the series. And it's an on-going process, since, despite the strip's outer similarities to others, it seems to us that nothing quite like CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW has ever been done before. It's a bit like this, a bit like that—but to date, Roy and Scott haven't run across anything yet in their perusal of comics old and new which is quite the blend they want to achieve.
The Saturday-morning-influenced art, of course, is on purpose: even if you consider it a weakness, Roy certainly doesn't. But of course, in the long run, everything about the series—concept, story, art, the whole magilla—is fair game for any reader to criticize according to his own preconceptions of what a funny-animal super-hero series "should" be. All Roy knows is that when he started out to write the first issues of CAPTAIN CARROT, he had one idea of how he'd write it; by the end of the second or third issue, he realized that he'd deviated tremendously from that style. Issue #2, for instance, 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, turned out quite different from #s 1 and 3. Some people liked #1 better; others preferred #2. Scott Shaw!'s contribution to both was heavily felt, however, since he embellished, inked, and partly redrew Alfredo's issue. (He had to; when Alfredo started drawing #2, only two or three drawings existed of any of the Zoo Crew besides Captain Carrot himself! It was an heroic job by the Filipino-born fantasist, and both Roy and Scott will be eternally grateful!)
But mainly, we printed your letter so that your fellow Zoophiles (that's a three-syllable word, b'way) would be able to comment on the various points it raises. For instance, you put your finger almost precisely on the reason there are so many puns on Earth-C; we're sure the inhabitants of the United Species of America, that multi-specied melting pot, would look equally askance at the place and personal names on our wondrous world. In fact, if Superman (in ish #1) had verbally commented on the "punnish" nature of those names, we're dead certain he'd have received nothing but a set of blank stares! Think about it... and let us know what you think!
—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.
