Hare Transplant

Years ago Bugs Bunny and his pals kicked out the Spelunkers (and other animatronic folks) so they could settle in at Six Flags.  But that wasn't his first trip to Texas.  In one of his earliest animated shorts, he headed out to the Lone Star state with a belly full of carrots and an ax to grind.

The 1943 cartoon short "Super-Rabbit" was an early entry in the Bugs Bunny pantheon and, as you probably guessed, is a parody of iconic superhero Superman.  (And, yes, it involves Texas).

Instead of being a strange visitor from another world, Bugs gets his powers from a a batch of specially irradiated carrots created by your standard mad scientist.  After chowing down on his first super power inducing snack, he immediately decides how and where to use his newfound powers.

It's understandable that a rabbit-hating hunter like Cottontail Smith might not be beloved in the rabbit community but Bugs was walking around with this newspaper clipping in his pocket.  So it's clear he's been waiting for an opportunity to enact some old school justice...Texas Justice!

And so with his new powers and costume, Bugs heads to Texas to match wits with a rabbit hunter...which would eventually become one of his trademarks.  We may never know why Elmer Fudd eventually rose to villainous infamy while Cottontail Smith faded into obscurity since this seems to be Smith's only appearance.

There's some online speculation that he was based on Lyndon B. Johnson but I'm not convinced.  LBJ would have been in the House of Representatives at the time and I'm not sure if he infamous enough to warrant a cartoon parody just yet.

 

Deepinaharta, TX looks to be in either the west Texas area or, more likely, the panhandle region.  The buttes and rock columns in the background are reminiscent of sights like the"Lighthouse" that you can see at Palo Duro State Park (after a little bit of a hike).

And that's pretty much where the Texas connection ends.  There's your usual Looney Tunes shenanigans with vague west Texas scenery in the background as Bugs makes a fool out of Cottontail and his horse for the rest of the cartoon.  But it ends on a patriotic note:

Bugs hops into the phone booth for one last change and emerges as "a real super man."  As a newly enlisted Marine, Bugs marches past his foes and into the war effort.  And that's way this one ends. 

So the next time you head to Six Flags and see your old pal Bugs's face all over the place, just remember he's no tourist...he's been here for awhile.

Texas Marvels

 Previously:

Peter & Frank Do Dallas    - -    The X-Men Visit the State Fair   - -  Tom Landry: The Comic Book

Houston Heroes  - -  Spidey Visits Dallas  - -  Check Please

As you can see above, it's not uncommon for this blog to highlight comic book issues that take place in, or feature, the great state of Texas.  But sometimes there's not enough in the issue to warrant a full blown blog entry.  So here's a couple of quick hits from our pals at Marvel:

We start with Frank Castle, the Punisher.  He visited the Lone Star state awhile back with his pal Spider-Man but this time he's going to have to eat his barbecue by himself.  But that's okay, that's the way he likes it.  There's a reason they call it a "One Man War on Crime."   And this time...it's gonna be a massacre:

When he hears about a bad hombre in Houston who's pulling the old S & L scam in Houston, Frank decides it's time to head south to dish out some punishment.  Unfortunately, he and his sidekick have a fairly limited understanding of Texas geography:

Well, as you can imagine, with the Punisher there's always plenty of bang bang punch punch.  Suffice it to say, the bad guys were thoroughly punished.   Our next stop takes us to Big D for less violence and more moodiness.

This issue of X-Men took a break from the usual action packed melodrama for some non-action packed melodrama.  The main story primarily takes place while Storm (from the movies) convalesces in home/offices of Forge (not from the movies).  And where might that be?  The fictional Eagle Plaza in the non-fictional city of Dallas:

Most of the story takes place indoors but occasionally you get a peak at the skyline.  Most comic book artists skimp on skylines and just add one or two recognizable buildings in.  So when you see a comic story taking place in Dallas, you can be sure that, at the very least, you'll get a few shots of Reunion Tower:

And sometimes that can be enough.  We head east for our next stop but there's a little bit of a set up.  You remember the movie Logan's Run, right?  Well, as happens from time to time, it got a comic book adaption from Marvel.

You may remember that we covered how the film was shot in the North Texas area and it made use of unique settings like the Fort Worth Water Gardens.  Here's what they normally look like:

And here's what it looks like in the movie:

And, you guessed it, here's what it looked like in the comic:

So there's a quick trip around Texas via the funny book pages.  You never know when your town will be the backdrop for a vigilante dispensing justice or a sci-fi struggle.  So be careful out there.