BUGS BUNNY
That crazy rabbit who first became popular as the main character in short films shown at movie houses in the 1930s hopped to the printed page for comic book adventures in the 1940s. He has continuously been featured in comic books since his first appearance in Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies Comics #1 published by Dell Comics in 1941 and which had a 153 issue run through 1954. Bugs Bunny got his own comic book series from Western Publishing that ran from 1953 - 1983. At this time DC Comics began to incorporate Bugs Bunny into their publications as Warner Bros. owned both the rights to Looney Tunes characters and the comic book company. DC Comics is currently publishing a monthly Looney Tunes series full of adventures with Bugs Bunny and his friends as well as occasionally including that wacky wabbit in spin-offs and cameos with the other superheroes in their fantasy universe.
USAGI YOJIMBO
This comic book series by Stan Sakai is about a rabbit rōnin on a warrior's pilgrimage. Usagi Yojimbo has been nominated for 20 Eisner Awards ( the Oscar of the comic book industry) and won 5 awards for BEST LETTERING (1996/2012/2015/2018), BEST SERIALIZED STORY (1999) and TALENT DESERVING WIDER RECOGNITION (1996). The samurai bunny in these tales is based upon the famous Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi and has teamed up on a number of cross-over occasions with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In fact, Usagi Yojimbo recently was picked up by IDW Publishing, the comic company that also has the license for TMNT.
CAPTAIN CARROT
Multi-verses have become a popular story telling tool for comic books. It allows for different scenarios and spins on superhero stories from mainstream storylines. Captain Carrot is based in Earth-C of the DC Comics superhero universe. This is a dimension where this bunny is the world's greatest superhero and leads a team of animals known as the Zoo Crew. Captain Carrot has teamed up in cross-overs with heroes ranging from Batman to Donald Duck as well as had is own comic book series. A great hero for kids, and kids at heart, to enjoy! His stories are sure to give you a fuzzy feel good feeling.
HULK BUNNY
Speaking of multi-versus, the Bruce Banner of Marvel's Earth 8311 which is inhabited by sentient animals instead of people transforms into the HULK BUNNY when he gets angry. Hulk Bunny can be seen in the comic book and cartoon adventures of Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham.
JAXXON
Even Star Wars comic books have a bunny in them! Jaxxon the space bunny was introduced in Marvel Comics original Star Wars run in issue #8. This green-man sized rabbit looking alien teamed up with Han Solo on a number of missions until George Lucas intervened saying the character was to silly to be associated with the Star Wars brand. After not being seen since his 15 appearances in the 1970s era Star Wars comic books Jaxxon is back! He has recently been included in the pages of IDW Publishing's Star Wars Adventures series aimed for young readers. Shows you that you just can't keep a good bunny down!
THUNDERBUNNY
Thunderbunny is a 1980s comic book character that combines the traits of Bugs Bunny, Shazam, and Venom. The premise is
a human boy named Bobby Caswell who bonds with an alien artifact that turns him into a giant super-powered pink rabbit. Thunderbunny hopped among a few different publishers but just never took off with comic book readers.
BUCKY O'HARE
Created by Larry Hama (the guy behind G.I.JOE comic books, Bucky O'Hare was published by Continuity Comics in the mid-80s. The comic book series revolved around a ragtag crew of funny animal space swashbucklers led by a fearless bunny in a fight against the villainous Toadies. The comic book series inspired a television cartoon series, toy line and a video game that was available to play both at arcades and on the NES home gaming console. Jaxxon's creators must be envious!
There you have it! Seven of the best bunny rabbits to grace the pages of comic books. Happy Easter!
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