Martin L. Greim's Thunder Bunny first debuted in 1977. For almost a decade, Greim had self-published one of the first fanzines devoted to comic books. The 17 issues of Comic Crusader were heralded by comic collectors and creators alike. In 1977, Greim published a massive 150 page plus archive of original artwork that had appeared in the pages of Comic Crusader called Comic Crusader Storybook. New stories were also crafted just for this edition such as a Mister A. adventure by Steve Ditko and the origin of Thunder Bunny titled 'The Sound of Thunder', written by Greim with art and inks by Gene Day and Jerry Ordway. The character was inspired by the Golden Age funny animal superhero Atomic Mouse and Greim's love of Captain Marvel, of which he boasted a large collection of SHAZAM memorabilia. Thunder Bunny was also given the team-up treatment in a back cover pin-up with the Silver Surfer by Joe Sinnott.
Afterwards, Greim ceased publication of Comic Crusader. It appeared for a while that his dream of working and thriving in the comic book industry had come to a close. Then in 1981, Greim was invited by Charlton Comics to present his Thunder Bunny origin story to a mainstream audience. ' The Sound of Thunder' appeared in the 6th issue Charlton Bullseye; an anthology try-out series with a March, 1982 publication date. The character would appear again in issue #10 with Greim working on a second follow up. Unfortunately, low sales resulted in the cancellation of Charlton Bullseye, leaving Thunder Bunny without a home once more. But not for long.
In 1984, Greim was invited to bring Thunder Bunny to Archie Comics. The idea was for the character to join the Crusaders superhero team revival happening under the Red Circle imprint. The first issue was to introduce the character to new readers. Instead of reusing the origin story for a third time, Greim re-wrote the script with new artwork by Brian Buniak.
Thunder Bunny is the greatest hero of a long-dead planet of anthropomorphic animals. Before their civilization died, it was decided that they would channel Thunder Bunny's energy into a special battery. Once placed inside a spaceship, the battery would travel from planet to planet giving a portion of the hero's super powers to a single citizen before flying off to another world.
The earthling deemed worthy of empowerment was young Bobby Caswell. A mental image of Thunder Bunny was placed in Bobby's mind. Every time the boy visualized the hero while clapping his hands together, thunder would peal, transforming Bobby into a large pink bunny in a crimson and white suit complete with cape.
The shock of the transformation is also the greatest downfall for Bobby. In order to become human again, Bobby must visualize himself as human while slapping his hands together once more. However, the more Bobby remains in his rabbit form, he forgets what Bobby Caswell looked like; potentially trapping himself as Thunder Bunny indefinitely.
The first Red Circle issue featured a backup Thunder Bunny tale. Riffing off of the cancelled story that would have appeared in a future issue of Charlton Bullseye, Greim and Buniak send Bobby and a friend to a comic book convention where a group of costumes thugs are planning to steal a rare comic book up for auction. Summoning Thunder Bunny, Bobby must save a convention hall filled with comic book legends such as Jack Kirby and Neal Adams.
Though it's billed as the first of a new series, Red Circle's Thunder Bunny #1 was the only issue produced. Thunder Bunny did manage to team with many of the Crusaders in a trio of issues before the entire line was cancelled in 1985.
Greim found a final home for Thunder Bunny, signing with WaRP Graphics. A 12-issue series along with an annual was published from 1985-1987. Half of this series was published under WaRP's Apple Comics imprint. 1988's WaRP Graphics Annual #1 would be the final ever appearance of the character.
Martin L Greim died in 2017.
Completing this review completes Task #36 (Bought From Your Favorite LCS) of the 2025 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.