Notes on Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew #3

CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW No. 3
May 1982

Cover Credits

STORY

"And Now...A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C." (26 pages)
Chapter 1: (Untitled)
Chapter 2: "Fly the Fiendly Skies"
Chapter 3: "See America Furred"
Chapter 4: "Don't Make Waves"
Chapter 5: "Pterror on the Ptomaine"

Credits

Feature Characters

Villains

Guest Appearances

Supporting Characters

Other Characters

Cameo Appearances

Synopsis

(Story continues from issue #2.) At a ceremony in Wartington, D.C., Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew are awarded with a commemorative plaque by President Mallard Fillmore for their actions in halting the devolution ray created by Starro. Brother Hood, leader of A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C., interrupts the ceremony by announcing from the Abraham Linkidd Memorial that three of his special operatives have been sent out to conquer the U.S.A. by land, air, and sea, also conveniently providing the locations where they will attack. The Zoo Crew splits up to stop these menaces: Captain Carrot and Alley-Kat Abra fly across the country via an airplane which is attacked by a huge buzzard called "Jailhouse Roc," whom they subdue after a battle. Fastback and Yankee Poodle travel by bus across the country and eventually come across "Kongaroo," a giant Australian kangaroo who was capturing all vehicles passing by and throwing them on a huge junk heap; he is defeated by the two heroes who trick him into falling down a canyon. Rubberduck and Pig-Iron, meanwhile, travel on the open ocean by cruise liner, and their boat is attacked by Frogzilla, a monster-sized frog who shrinks back to his normal size when they knock him unconscious. Back in Wartington, the reunited Zoo Crew are attacked by the Abraham Linkidd Memorial itself, which they soon discover is Brother Hood's secret hiding spot. Brother Hood is revealed to be President Fillmore's criminal brother, "Feathers" Fillmore.

Annotations

COVER: "Frogzilla" is obviously a pun on Godzilla, the infamous irradiated lizard who originated in Japanese monster movies.

PAGE 1: Panel 1: T Campbell comments on the opening panels and this issue in general:

This issue is most notable for the amount of fun that Roy Thomas crams into its narration. After a dozen years in the funnybook writing biz, Roy had a lot of insight about such conventions as "chapter titles" (a gimmick used frequently in the comics of the day) and the avant-garde "opening sequence" (a gimmick that has since "gone mainstream").

Panel 2: The caption mentions Will Eisner (the comic-book artist and writer, as well as the creator of the Spirit, who has been one of the greatest influences in the comics world), Harvey Kurtzman (cartoonist and one-time editor of Mad), and Doonesbury, a political comic-strip.

PAGE 2: Panel 4: The race between Captain Carrot (a rabbit) and Fastback (a turtle) is a parallel of the story from Aesop's Fables which Cap mentions, "The Tortoise and the Hare," and Seth Finkelstein notes that it may also be an homage to the classic Superman-Flash races.

Panel 6: "Hamtrack" is a pun on Amtrak, the American train and transportation company.

Panel 8: Pig-Iron refers to himself as the "Mammal of Metal."

PAGE 3: Panel 1: The portrayal of President Mallard Fillmore in this series is that of an ordinary bureaucrat with an uninspiring lack of leadership skills. T Campbell asserts that "Mallard Fillmore isn't meant to represent Millard Fillmore specifically, but rather every president whom history views as somewhat unremarkable, like Fillmore, Chester Arthur, and Lyndon B. Johnson."

Panel 2: Rubberduck's comment anticipates the Zoo Crew's headquarters, which is introduced in issue #8. As T Campbell notes:

The conversation here is interesting: Byrd drops the line, "if we ever GET a headquarters," and five issues later, the government is giving them one. In other words, Byrd may have planted the idea in Fillmore's mind, right here. The moral of this story? Don't be afraid to ask for help!

PAGE 4: Panel 1 & 2: "The Linkidd Memorial" and "Abraham Linkidd" of course is a pun on the Washington monument called the Lincoln Memorial, which is named for the 16th President of the U.S.A., Abraham Lincoln.

Panel 4: T Campbell notes from this panel that:

Brother Hood is lying like a rug here, and being quite clever about it, too. He declares that three of his operatives are out to conquer the entire country, and lets the Zoo Crew know where they are. But when they get there, Jailhouse Roc and Kongaroo immediately switch from being terrorists to being BOUNTY HUNTERS. (Even Frogzilla implies that the Zoo Crew is more important to him than the Lust Boat, though Dodo is more important than either.) The United Species is only Hood's LONG-TERM goal. Today, his primary target is the Crew.

Panel 6: Pig-Iron says, "Let's go, Byrd! There's too much dialogue around here for me, anyway!" Rubberduck responds, "You could say that again... if there was room!" This could be an in-joke on Roy Thomas' tendency to fill a comic-panel with as much dialogue as he could fit into it.

PAGE 5: Panel 1: Title: "Chapter II: FLY THE FIENDLY SKIES" is a parody of "fly the friendly skies with United Airlines," which was at one time the slogan of United Airlines.

"Apaloosa Mountains" is a pun on the Appalachian Mountains, the second largest mountain system in North America, which extends across the eastern seaboard between central Alabama and the Gaspé Peninsula in New Brunswick. And, as Michael Norwitz notes, "an appaloosa is a type of horse.

Panel 2: "Airedale Airlines" could be a pun on a real company name, using the airedale terrier, but I am unaware of what that might be.

"Boaring 727" is a pun on a Boeing 727 (or the Jumbo Jet), a commercial passenger plane manufactured by the Boeing Company.

Panel 3: Dizzy Dog (a DC Comics funny animal—I'm not sure where his first appearance was) can be seen as one of the plane's passengers.

Among the other passengers can be seen what appears to be a dog-like figure in a business suit sitting in front of Dizzy, smoking a pipe, who I thought might be a funny animal version of a real-life person. Michael Norwitz states (I believe correctly) that, "the dog with the pipe on the airplane has the face of 'Bob' from the Church of the Subgenius, more or less." Charles Williams adds:

I've always believed that the pipe-bearing dog was a parody on the pop-art icon of a stylized handsome male face with a pipe clenched in the corner of his mouth.  This image has been connected in the past with the new wave music group Devo, and was undoubtedly the model for the character Professor Utonium on "The Powerpuff Girls" cartoon show on Cartoon Network.

Sitting in the seat in front of Bob is a fox who looks like Fauntleroy J. Fox, from The Fox and the Crow comic-book series which DC published from the 1940's to the 1960's and which originated in a cartoon short released by Columbia Pictures in 1941, influenced by the fable by Aesop, "The Fox and the Grapes."

In the seat in front of Felina Furr is a bear who looks similar to Boo-Boo from the Yogi Bear cartoon, although we can see nothing of him from below his nose. Click here to see a picture of Boo-Boo and judge for yourself. Considering the number of cameos already found in this panel alone, it possible that some of the other figures, if not all, may also be from various sources.

"Animalkind" is of course Earth-C's term for "mankind."

PAGE 6: Panel 2: The Just'a Lotta Animals, consisting of Super-Squirrel, Wonder Wabbit, Batmouse, Green Lambkin, Aquaduck, and the Crash is again seen as Roger attempts to plot his next issue.

Panel 3: "The Awful Clawfull" is a reference to a real monster movie. Steve Crow points out that:

"The Awful Clawful" is almost certainly a reference to "The Giant Claw," a truly awful '57 flick featuring a giant bird with an "anti-matter shield" that might charitably be described as looking like one of those dunking-bird toys. Purportedly no one told the actors what the F/X was supposed to look like, so they had to act horrified against a blank projection screen without knowing what the finished product would look like. Several of them have since claimed to be embarrassed at how dumb they look trying to be truly terrified at the cruddy looking giant bird.

Indeed, the giant bird in this film bears a close resemblance to the huge buzzard called "Jailhouse Roc" as seen in the panel below.

Panel 4: The moose and the flying squirrel co-piloting the plane is an obvious allusion to The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show, the famous animated series made in the 1960's.

Panel 5: The blue dog in this panel looks like Huckleberry Hound from The Huckleberry Hound Show, which began in 1958 and which was also the first appearance of Yogi Bear.

Panel 7: Captain Carrot never seems to land after his initial leap out of the plane, prompting T Campbell to say:

I'd sure like to know exactly how the Captain is staying airborne, given that they're MILES above the Apaloosa Mountains, and I'm pretty sure even HE can't jump THAT high. And it's only one issue after the "wish I could fly instead of just jump" sequence. Maybe Felina is throwing a little extra levitation his way?

PAGE 7: Panel 1: "Jailhouse Roc" is a pun on the rock and roll song Jailhouse Rock by the legendary Elvis Presley (whom the character resembles, at least with his slicked-back hairstyle). Jailhouse Rock was also a 1957 movie which starred Presley and which is considered by many to be his best film. A Roc (also spelled Rukh) is a mythical bird of gigantic size popularized in the west by the story of Sindbad the Sailor.

PAGE 8: Panel 2: "Beaknik" is a pun on the term "Beatnik," which was a popular term for the so-called "Beat Generation" exemplified by Jack Kerouac and others.

PAGE 9: Panel 2: Significantly, Alley-Kat Abra places a coating of salt on Jailhouse Roc's tail. According to an urban legend, a bird can be caught by sprinkling salt onto its tail. The origin of this urban legend probably originated with the idea that, if a person was close enough to put salt on a bird's tail in the first place, the person could just as easily catch the bird with his hands. Eventually this analogy turned into the false belief that salt on a bird's tail would prevent it from moving.

Panel 3: I'm not sure exactly when the term "greasy kid stuff" came into being, but it's used in this context as the petroleum gel used to slick hair back in a "greaser" look, popular in the 1950's. Charles Williams states:

I'm also unsure when the phrase "greasy kid stuff" was coined, but roughly around the time that CCAHAZC first hit the stands, a popular TV hair care commercial (don't ask me to recall the brand or the specific product) used it, in reference to the product:  "And that's not greasy kid's stuff!"
PAGE 10: Panel 1: Title, "Chapter III: FASTBACK and YANKEE POODLE SEE AMERICA FURRED!" This could be a reference to the 1930 film See America Thirst.

"Tony Furkins" is a pun on Anthony Perkins, the actor best known for his role in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller Psycho.

Panel 2: Rova Barkitt uses the phrase "For pelican's sake" in place of "For Pete's sake."

Fastback's full name, originally just "Timmy the Terrapin," is expanded here for the first time to "Timmy Joe Terrapin."

Panel 4: The "Okey-Dokey Swamp" where Timmy Joe grew up is a pun of the Okefenokee Swamp, which is located in the southern part of Georgia and the northern part of Florida. It's also the location of the otherwise fictional Pogo comic strip.

PAGE 11: Panel 2: Bo Bunny, another DC funny animal (I don't know where he first appeared), can be seen in the crowd on the bus.

"Marlin Brando" is a pun on Marlon Brando, the actor known for his roles in A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, Last Tango in Paris, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and Superman: The Movie, among others.

"Liz Whaler" is a pun on Elizabeth Taylor, the renowned actress and brunette beauty known for her many roles since her youth in the 1940's.

Panel 3: "Robert Redfox" is Earth-C's Robert Redford.

"Elkvis" is a pun on Elvis Presley, of course.

"Sally Fieldmouse" is a pun on the actress Sally Field, known both for her dramatic and comical work.

"Star Warts" is a pun on Star Wars, the film and series based on the original 1977 film by writer, producer, and director George Lucas.

Panel 4: The sign above the bus driver says, "Do not talk to or feed the driver."

Panel 5: A sign on the side of the road says, "Use Puma Shave." Charles Williams notes that:

"Puma Shave" is a parody of the shaving cream brand Burma Shave, made famous for rhyming advertisements printed on roadside signs. Each line of the rhyme was printed on a separate sign, so that drivers would read them as they progressed down the road.

"It Happened All Night" with "Stork Gable" and "Claudette Coldbear" is a pun on the 1934 film, It Happened One Night, which starred Clark Cable and Claudette Colbert.

Rova's increasing irritation over Timmy Joe's antics causes her to "slow burn," or gradually become more and more frustrated and angry.

PAGE 12: Panel 1: The gas station in the background has a sign that says, "Good cats."

"Kongaroo" is a pun on King Kong, first seen in the classic 1933 film.

Panel 2: The "Cornadian border" is Earth-C's name for the border between the U.S.A. and Canada (Cornada). Cornada is also a Spanish word which, according to this CliffNotes site on Yahoo!, means "goring" (the context is possibly that of a bull fight).

Panel 5: Fastback uses the phrase "faster'n a speeding bulldog," which is an Earth-C variation of "faster than a speeding bullet," the opening line of The Adventures of Superman radio play which ran from 1940 to 1951.

PAGE 13: Panel 1: Fastback continues the above phrase with "as powerful as a loco motive."

PAGE 14: Panel 3: A sign reads "Coyote Canyon, National Monument." Coyote Canyon appears to be an existing canyon somewhere in Utah, though this has yet to be confirmed.

Panel 6: "I've got a bad feeling about this" is a classic line from Star Wars, which is used four times in the original trilogy of films.

The method of Kongaroo's disposal (falling off a cliffside) is also reminiscent of the Road Runner cartoons, where Wile E. Coyote often ended up falling off a cliff.

PAGE 15: Panel 1: Title, "Chapter IV: RUBBERDUCK and PIG-IRON DON'T MAKE WAVES." "Don't make waves" is a common enough saying, but in keeping with the movie theme from the last chapter, it may also be a reference to the 1967 film, Don't Make Waves, which starred Tony Curtis.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), as the footnote says, was a "Thoreau-going" 19th-century philosopher, which is a reference to Henry David Thoreau, who is (according to Wikipedia), "an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, pacifist, tax resister and philosopher who is famous for Walden, on simple living amongst nature, and Civil Disobedience, on resistance to civil government."

Panel 2: In the foreground can be seen "Pointer X. Toxin," "star of stage, screen, and underground comix." Pointer was a creation of Scott Shaw's, based directly on the infamous gonzo journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, author of the 1971 autobiographical novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (later made into a 1998 film). Pointer here plans a sequel called "Beer and Loafing on the High Seas," indicating that the original Earth-C version was probably titled, Beer and Loathing in Las Vegas, with "Las Vegas" replaced by the name its counterpart has on Earth-C. Creator Scott Shaw! states in his Oddball Comics column for 9 January 9 2001:

This obscure character lives on as partial inspiration for my (nearly as obscure) creation, funny animal Gonzo journalist, "Dr. Pointer Toxin," who has appeared in QUACK! (Star*Reach), COCAINE COMIX (Last Gasp), WILD ANIMALS (Pacific), FEAR AND LAUGHTER (Kitchen Sink) and other underground "comix."

Scott Shaw has also stated on the Comic Book Resources message boards:

Yes, that was Pointer Toxin in a CAPTAIN CARROT cameo. I even edited an entire comic of Thompson-based stories called FEAR AND LAUGHTER, published by Kitchen Sink in the late 70's (before Trudeau's "Uncle Duke" ever appeared, I might point out.) It had an incredible roster of talent, including Wm. Stout, Dave Stevens, John Pound, Carol Lay, Rick Geary, Bill Wray, Bob Foster and many others, including myself. It's obscure, but well worth seeking out!

Check out page one from Pointer S. Toxin's first appearance in Fear and Laughter, broken into three smaller files, here: one, two, three

The "S.S. Lust Boat" is obviously a pun on the boat from the 1970's TV series, The Love Boat.

PAGE 16: Panel 2: "The Longest Yarn" is Earth-C's version of the Burt Reynolds 1974 prison football movie, The Longest Yard.

Panel 4: The contrast between Byrd Rentals's concern about his secret identity and his lack of proper care in protecting that secret identity amuses T Campbell, who notes:

Rule #1 in superhero comics: Secret identities are IMPENETRABLE. "Gee, Byrd Rentals is hanging around with Pig-Iron... and Rubberduck is also a duck, with the same weight, height, build, feather color, eye color, and speech mannerisms. And I don't think I've ever seen them in the same place twice. What a coincidence!"

The Earth-C version of Isaac Washington, the character played by Ted Lange on Love Boat ("Ted Lange as your bartender") is seen here as a black bear.

Panel 5: The Captain of the S.S. Lust Boat is none other than Dunbar Dodo, one half of The Dodo and the Frog, a DC funny animal comic strip which first appeared in Funny Stuff #18 (February 1947), then graduated into its own series when Funny Stuff became The Dodo and the Frog with issue #80 (October 1954); the series ended with issue #92 (November 1957).

Dodo's dialogue here ("Yoo hoo! Byrd Rentals, world-famous movie-star type person!") is reminiscent of Jerry Lewis's regular, geeky, comedic character from several movies.

PAGE 17: Panel 4: When Pig-Iron falls off the ship, someone shouts, "Hog overboard!!!"

PAGE 18: Panel 1: As Pig-Iron sinks rapidly downward under the water, Rubberduck thinks, "Hmmm... he must not be 99% pure. Well, who is, these days?" Brad Walker says of this:

Reference to an old ad tag line for Ivory Soap: "99 and 44/100 PURE—IT FLOATS!" (In comics, Superman once gathered ivory tusks to pay his income tax (!) when Bizarro flew by and used his duplicator ray to change the tusks to Ivory Soap. "Ivory Soap better anyway! It floats!") A parallel could also be drawn between Pig-Iron not being 99 and 44/100 pure and Rubberduck not being without sin, but I'm outta time...
Panel 2: "Davy Loan-Shark's Locker" is a pun on Davy Jones' Locker, an old nautical term for the deadly bottom of the sea.

"Calabearas County" is a pun on Calaveras County, California.

PAGE 19: Panel 5: "Goatliath" is a pun on Goliath, the giant Philistine whom David felled with a slingshot in the Old Testament.

Rubberduck states, "And I'm not even without sin, as they say." This is a reference to the Gospel of John in a passage which states (according to the New American Standard Bible) that Jesus said to a crowd prepared to stone a woman for adultery, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:7)

Panel 7: Frogzilla is revealed as the other half of the Dodo and the Frog team, J. Fenimore Frog, who was named after J. Fenimore Cooper, 19th-century author of The Last of the Mohicans.

PAGE 20: Panel 1: Title, "Final Chapter: PTERROR ON THE PTOMAINE," may be a reference to a specific or general title. "Ptomaine" is a pun on the Potomac River which runs through Washington, D.C. This pun may be a statement about the dirty politics in Washington, since the definition of ptomaine is, according to the Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, "any of various organic bases which are formed by the action of putrefactive bacteria on nitrogenous matter and some of which are poisonous." Wikipedia places ptomaines in its list of discredited substances as "alkaloids found in decaying matter thought to cause food poisoning."

Panel 2: "Hubert H. Hangdog" is a pun on Hubert Horatio Humphrey (1911–1978), the unpopular Democratic Vice-President during the Lyndon B. Johnson Administration who lost the 1968 presidential election to Richard M. Nixon.

Hangdog says, "H-how should I know the Zoo Crew's whereabouts, Mr. President? Am I a zoo-keeper?" This is yet another Biblical reference, this one to the story of the brothers Cain and Abel in the Book of Genesis, in which Cain is questioned by God about his brother Abel's whereabouts after Cain murdered him. Cain replies, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

"Never choose your running mate under a total eclipse" may just be a reference to Humphrey's unpopularity and/or bad luck, even with President Johnson himself during his administration.

The painting on the wall in the Oval Office appears to a portrait of a portly, 19th century humanoid pig.

Panel 3: T Campbell comments that "'Negativistic nabobs' is a phrase borrowed from Spiro Agnew," the disgraced U.S. Vice President in Richard Nixon's Administration who resigned in 1973. T Campbell also notes that "Spiro Agnew's original phrase was 'nattering nabobs of negativism.'"

PAGE 21: Panel 2: "Aukstralia" is a pun on the country and continent of Australia.

PAGE 23: Title, "AND NOW...A.C.R.O.S.T.I.C.!"

Credits: Roy Thomas, writer. Scott Shaw, penciller. Bob Smith, inker. Carl Gafford, colorist. Ben Oda, Letterer. Dave Manak, editor.

PAGE 25: Panel 1: "Henry Fawnda" is a pun on respected actor Henry Fonda.

Panels 1–6: Brother Hood's mask in this sequence of panels prompted T Campbell to comment:

Brother Hood's mask is a remarkable thing. Not only is it glued on tight (perhaps he takes meals intravenously while working?), but it somehow creates the impression that there's the head of a fox under there, instead of a duck. This is actually quite clever, but I'd love to know how "Feathers" flattened his bill when he wore the thing.

More to the point, Brother Hood's speech pattern is COMPLETELY different before and after the battle of the Ptomaine, and we already know that Brother Hood likes to use stand-ins for his dirty work, including a hologram so advanced that it casts shadows.

And "Feathers" really seems only marginally more competent than Mallard Fillmore. Hardly the type to come up with a plan to divide and conquer the Zoo Crew... a plan that really, all things being equal, could have worked.

Can you see where I'm going with all this?

Did we REALLY catch Brother Hood here, or just a conveniently brainwashed patsy?

Only John F. Kenneldy's assassins know for sure.

PAGE 26: Panel 2: The scene which Roger pictures as he plots the next issue of Just'a Lotta Animals is the same one from The Brave and the Bold #29 (May, 1960), "Challenge of the Weapons Master!" The robot in this picture, however, is wearing Mickey Mouse ears. Xotar, the Weapons Master, is pictured here as a duck.

Panel 3: "Wartington, D.C." is a pun on Washington, D.C., capital of the U.S.A. It would later be changed to "Waspington."

Panel 4: "April 23, 1923" could be an arbitrary date, or the date of a real-world event, I'm not sure.

"Alfred E. Newgator" is most probably a pun on the name Alfred E. Neuman, the mascot character of Mad magazine.

Panel 8: Caption says, "It will take a Heap of action by the Zoo Crew, as well as the wisdom of Solomon, Grundy though he might have been, to get them safely through the Swamp, Things being how they are..." "It" was a short story by Theodore Sturgeon, published in 1940, which was the template for all swamp monster stories that came afterwards, inspiring the following characters' creations, among others: The Heap was a swamp monster hero who first appeared in Hillman Comics' Air Fighters Comics #3. Solomon Grundy is both a nursery rhyme and a DC Comics villain (with a similar origin to the "Mudd" character) based on the nursery rhyme. And of course, the Swamp Thing was a DC Comics character who had his own long-running titles since the 1970's.

"HIS NAME IS... MUDD!" is a reference to a common threat or insult ("Your name is mud!").

Thanks to Scott Shaw!, Jess Nevins, Charles Williams, Michael Norwitz, Brad Walker, Josh Marquart, Seth Finkelstein, Steve Crow, and T Campbell for information and/or comments provided on this page.

Relevant Web Sites

Stomp Tokyo Video Reviews - A site which reviews bad movies, B-movies, cult films, and more, particularly those which focus on monsters.

Barry's Temple of Godzilla - A site devoted to the Japanese monster movie character and all its incarnations.

King Kong - The Eighth Wonder of the World - A good King Kong site with information on the 1933 film as well as the 2005 remake.

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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