Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow

 

Would Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew have been more successful if they had an animated series? Could they be revived nowadays as an animated feature? League of Super Pets was a bit of a success. Maybe the world is ready for anthropomorphic superheroes.

 Apologies to Neal Adams for the Green Lantern no. 85 parody.

Get Hardy

 

I liked the dynamic between Spider-Man and Black Cat back when they were together. In a nice twist, she liked him as Spidey but not as Peter. Unlike past relationships where Spider-Man was the hindrance to Peter having a normal relationship with a woman, this time it was Peter who came between Spidey and Black Cat.

Shadows

After starting out the first issue of this series with the Shadow in his original guise as a pulp hero, by the second one he was in full superhero mode. Maybe the folks at Archie comics took inspiration from DC's Golden Age Sandman, who took a similar route?

That green and blue/purple suit is fugly, though.

Doc & Savage

The Hulk's look has varied over the decades, but my favorite is the one I grew up with... the Sal Buscema version. I remember Sal bouncing around a lot of Marvel comics from the 1960s to the 1980s, even up until the 1990s. I think The Incredible Hulk was his longest continuous stint. Which has me wondering... Does Sal Buscema hold the record for most comic pages drawn for Marvel?

Pretty Fly (For a White Gal)

This cover is a meta-comentary of sorts, because from what I know, Fly-Girl remains the property of Archie Comics, but her male counterpart, The Fly, is owned by Joe Simon's estate. Hopefully in the future Archie Comics can use the character again alongside the other Mighty Crusaders. Although because of recent disappointing (sales-wise) attempts at bringing back their superhero universe, they might not be too willing to pay license fees for a character that may not be a financial success.

Electric Bill

Beta Ray Bill is a case of not judging a book by its cover. His first appearance had him smashing the old Thor logo, and his monstrous appearance suggested that he'd be a villain. Although he was at odds with the Thunder God at first, his nobility shone through, and was deemed worthy of wielding Mjolnir. Readers even took to him favorably, and he remains one of the best secondary characters added to the Marvel Thor mythos.

Heavy Mettle

Yeah, this match-up wouldn't really be possible back then, since Magnus, Robot Fighter 4000 A.D. (the original Gold Key series) ended its run in 1977 and The Transformers debuted much later in 1984. But it's such a natural crossover, right? Since Magnus keeps getting revived every now and then, hopefully it happens in the future (pun intended).

And, yes, I know that Megatron is supposed to have his gun and back barrel protrusion on his right side, and I painted this one originally flipped to where Magnus is on the right side of the page. But when I was putting on the masthead, the layout looked better the other way around.

The Boys in Blue

I wasn't too keen on the idea of Superman having adventures in his teen years as Superboy. How long does that last in real time? Seven years? Yet his teen adventures seem endless, not to mention his time with the Legion of Super-Heroes. Heck, even the Legion had to grow up, and when DC wanted to keep them young, they just kept rebooting them.

A Nightmare on Yancy Street

 

Even though the Thing was my favorite FF member, I didn't mind when She-Hulk took over for a while. She meshed well with the rest of the team, no doubt due to John Byrne's excellent writing.

I don't think I've seen the Fantastic Four go up against Nightmare before, or even had much interactions with magical characters in their own title.

Hare vs. Hare Match

My first issue of Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew! was the title's last. The Changeling  (from the Teen Titans) was a guest star, and that made me pick up the book. I enjoyed it a lot, so I went scouring for back issues. A TPB collection would be most welcome, DC.

Oh, and Happy Easter to all!