The Quarter Bin: Duck, It's A Rabbit!

Martinex1: George Orwell brought us Animal Farm.   The band Wall of Voodoo sang, "It's Animal Day."  And so it goes today for BitBA today, a thorough exploration of certain types of animal comic books and their covers. 

When I started researching this topic, I thought I would include every animal star I could think of from Lockjaw to Devil Dinosaur to Mickey Mouse to Captain Carrot.  But I quickly found that I had plenty for us to focus on just looking at RABBITS and DUCKS!  Holy cow, you would not believe how many books there are starring the various bunnies and fowl!

So let's begin a $1 Challenge - four books for your imaginary dollar!  Today we have a lot of books from the Golden Age of comics, but the trend definitely continues to modern day.  It seems ducks and rabbits must have captured our imagination as they are everywhere.   We have super-hero animals, funny animals, adventurous animals, and satirical animals. I am willing to bet there are many you have never heard of before today. While Bugs, Daffy, Donald, and Howard will be very recognizable.  Rags, Dippy, and Dopey may be less known.   I've also stretched the definition of the animal in a couple of instances, but it all fits the theme!

Take a gander and share your picks and pans! 

 

Animation Congregation: Bugs vs. Daffy

 


Redartz:  Greetings, everyone! For our first 'meeting' with the Animation Congregation, we shall consider two of the towering figures of the cartoon world- Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Bugs has been giving fits to Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam since his debut in 1940. Daffy actually predated Bugs by a few years, first appearing in 1937. These two wiseacres have led the Warner Brothers cartoon pack ever since, both becoming iconic characters in popular culture and sharing hundreds of Saturday mornings with us all.

Both Bugs and Daffy have appeared in countless cartoons on the strength of their own solo appeal. But some of their most memorable appearances have been those in which they appeared together. Usually those team-ups amounted to a mutual irritation fest. Take "Rabbit Seasoning" for example. A 1951 Chuck Jones gem, it begins with Daffy trying to get the best of Bugs by setting him up as a target for Elmer Fudd. All his preparations avail him naught, however- when Bug shows up, the battle of wits entails (incidentally, both combatants seem to have more ammunition in this battle than the third party, Elmer). A brief bit of the action:

Truly some classic stuff here! But my personal favorite teaming is one that really focused on Daffy- the brilliant "Duck Amuck". Another 1951 production from Chuck Jones (he was really firing on all cylinders that year), "Amuck" really showcases the animators' talents. Sound, setting, costume: all are fair game for chaotic creativity in this free-for-all. Running the gamut from full scenery to blank screen, it actually gives Daffy the chance to show his 'perfoming range' under the most challenging circumstances. Indeed, it is essentially a one-man (one duck?) show- the notoriously egocentric Duck should have loved it. However, (spoiler alert) his friend and adversary Bugs is revealed as the culprit behind all Daffy's onscreen travails. Once again, it seems Bugs has it over ol' Daffy (not that Daffy would EVER admit that).

By the way, both of these cartoons are among those in the great DVD set "Looney Tunes Golden Collection". One of the best video purchases I ever made; it offers several Saturday morning's worth of cartoon greatness. Indeed, reviewing these on the disc for this post was a case of 'homework' being a pleasure! 

So, if you had to pick: who would you count on for the biggest laughs- Bugs or Daffy? Is there a particular Bugs/Daffy donnybrook that really left you breathless? Which one was more successful at foiling Elmer's hunting excursions? Is it Duck Season or Rabbit Season?  Load up your ACME shotgun and take your best shot...