Thunderbunny: bunny of mystery!
From Charlton Bullseye #6 - Thunderbunny (1982)
"You will never forget the image of the hero just projected into your mind"
At first I was just going through every Charlton Bullseye's issues looking for appearances of Nightshade, the occult character friends with old-school Captain Atom (when he was not a retconned hot mess at DC), but then I found him, the bizarre bunny figure I'd never heard of before: Thunderbunny (issues #6 & #10). The stories check three of my main interests: non-human creatures, weird concepts taken somewhat seriously and bizarre peculiar art.
While this page is mostly humorous, a clear parody/homage to Captain Marvel (or to Hoppy, the marvel bunny if you will), there's so much I enjoy in it – the very human reaction of saying "ahh-abba-ahh" when confronted by the image of a giant rabbit-man; the penultimate panel with the anatomically correct shadow of a man with bunny ears in a magic girl mid-transformation; the completely random "remember me at easter!" catchphrase...
It wasn't until the next dramatic appearance of Thunderbunny in Charlton Bullseye #10 (1982) that I completely fell for his rabbit charm.
In the story Golden Boy, an old hero just released from being kept in suspended animation by the villainous The Keeper, tries to stop a robbery, but is out of touch with modern weapons and is hit by a laser, this turns him into the old man he should've been if not frozen in time, he's about to be zapped again when Thunderbunny, the alien moniker of Bobby Caswell, a comic book and golden age heroes fan, saves Golden Boy! Bunny is very respectful of Golden Boy and is aware of the legacy the other left, which is surprisingly touching and it expands the world of our Bunny hero.
From Thunder Bunny #1 (Archie comics, 1984)
Despite the reference to Captain Marvel, who's magical in nature, Thunderbunny is essentially a science-fiction hero, the champion of his people that unfortunately could not save them from their dying planet. He then transferred all his energy to a box as a gift to another planet, the legacy of his people, according to Dr. Bar-ko. And that's where I'm currently at. Each story (from Charlton to Archie) expands a little bit of the Thunderbunny mythos and Bobby's personality, hinting at the possibility of interesting developments (like Bobby being trapped in the form of Thunderbunny, unable to change back). I can only say that I look forward to reading his 12 issue series, I wonder if the character can hold his own in a longer format.
The editorial history of Thunderbunny is complicated, despite being published by Charlton, the character was creator-owned by Martin L. Greim who didn't sold the property to DC when they offered to buy it. Later he would publish one issue under Archie comics, later settling for a longer run on WaRP comics. Funny thing is that, despite his resemblance to Captain Carrot, the DC super-rabbit created by Roy Thomas, Thunderbunny was created in 1977 while Carrot first saw publication five years later, in 1982. And yeah, I know what you're thinking: what about Hoppy? And yes, they are all pre-dated by Hoppy, the Marvel Bunny (1942).
And that's all for now, but rest assured that this is not the last time I talk about Thunderbunny on this blog.
