Bugs Bunny #46

  A Christmas themed cover does not a Christmas comic make. And that was the mistake I made when I paid $4 for this book. I'm very thrifty. I love to shop but I tried really hard to stretch my dollar. If it wasn't for dollar books, massive sales on comic book web sites, and the library, I my collection would be much, much smaller and my knowledge of comics would be greatly less. 
   But I came across this 1956 book a little while ago and I figured that I'd never come across such an old Christmas comic for such an affordable price ever again. What can I say, I'm addicted to holiday comics!
   Alas, this is NOT a Christmas or holiday comic book. Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it. Let's look at what's inside:

1. Bugs joins the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. But instead of being made a Mountie, he's been made to clean out the stables of the horses. So when a case of mistaken identity points to Elmer Fudd as an evil fur trapper, Bugs takes it upon himself to head a manhunt. Chaos naturally ensues.
2. In a one-page prose short story, a character named Pemrose Pig seeks to get his girlfriend, Petunia Pig, a birthday present. (I thought Porky Pig dated Petunia. Whose Pemrose?)
3. Lastly, Bugs and Elmer go on a skiing trip but problems quickly arise when the pair discover that they don't have any firewood to keep them warm. (I'm pretty sure you can figure out where this story was going.)

     And that's Bugs Bunny #46 in a nutshell. Other than the snow in the third story, there's very little winter hi-jinx much less anything to do with Christmas. My wife's family (who are half Jewish) would go so far as to say having the Pemrose and Petunia Pig story keeps this from being a Hanukkah comic as well! And yes, they have actually said this before in the past!!! 

     If I had spent only dollar or less on this, I might donate it to the reading program at my wife's work. But $4 is, to a collector like me, a lot of moolah. Plus, the book's staples are quite rusty and the cover is being held on mostly by sheer will power.

    I enjoyed the stories but I didn't like being duped by the cover. This is a prime example of how if you have doubts about a book, you should always ask the owner if you can examine it out of the bag. If they say no to your request, then it's a sign that the comic wasn't for you.

    Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.