Super Rabbit!

 

cover artist unknown

I didn't know Super Rabbit existed until I stumbled upon one of his stories recently. (And may I say that I love it that my life is such that I occasionally stumble across obscure stories? It's my superpower and I don't know why my wife isn't more impressed by it.)

Super Rabbit was created by cartoonist Ernie Hart, with first adventure appearing in Marvel's Comedy Comics #14 in 1943, then jumping over to All Surprise Comic later that year. The story we're looking at is from All Surprise #8 (Fall 1945--writer and artist unknown). It's an indication of how popular Superman was that parodies such as this one were showing up within a few years of the Man of Steel's first appearance.

Super Rabbit, by the way, is not the first super-powered rabbit. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny beat him to this honor by appearing five months before Super Rabbit. 

Super Rabbit's secret identity is Waffles, who is sometimes a newspaper boy and sometimes a shoe-shine boy (Or is that newspaper rabbit and shoe-shine rabbit? I'm uncertain of the proper nomenclature for a world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.) Waffles has a magic ring which he can rub to turn into Super Rabbit.

[Thanks to Don Markstein's Toonopedia entry for most of this background information.)

Poor Waffles is having a hard time getting shoe-shine customers, leaving him unable to afford a new alarm clock. But he soldiers on, moving to a different neighborhood and soon earning himself a big tip from a customer who appreciates his enthusiasm. Waffles buys his alarm clock, but his joy is short-lived. A crook steals the clock.

It turns out that a villian named Tick Tock is stealing every clock in town, figuring he can then force anyone who wants to know the time to pay him for this information. 

Waffles, in the meantime, has transformed into Super Rabbit. He catches Tick Tock and his gang trying to rob the local clock store and lays into them. But a bump on his one weak point--the top of his head--knocks him out. Tick Tock and his gang get away with all the remaining clocks in town.

Super Rabbit wakes up and begins to search the town with his super vision. At first, he can't find the bad guys. But then his super hearing picks up Tick Tock's triumphant laughter from underneath the streets. Now that the bad guys are located, they are soon subdued. The day is saved and everyone once again knows what time it is.

Super Rabbit was Marvel's most popular funny animal story and this story shows why. It's a simple but clever story with fun character designs and an appealing protagonist. Heck, it's impossible not to like a character named Waffles.

In the late 1950s, a publisher named Israel Waldman began putting out comic books consisting of unauthorized reprints. This included a Super Rabbit tale. This wasn't very ethical of Mr. Waldman, but it does mean there's a copy of this story online for us to enjoy. You can find it HERE. 

Next week, we'll return once again to the War That Time Forgot.