Thunder Bunny #1 (2025 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

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.

The Complete Web (Gwandanaland Comics #1137)

I bought this book by mistake. No, I didn't accidentally pick it up or drunkenly one-click it on Amazon. Instead, I mistook it for another of Archie's Red Circle heroes when I bought it. But I was pleasantly surprised by it's quality!

In 1959 Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were freelancing for Archie where they created a character called The Fly. Clad in green and yellow spandex, often illustrated on covers that bore a spider-web motif and of course a Red Circle Hero; when I found this book, I thought I was getting my hands on an affordable collection of one of my favorite artists' forgotten works. But instead of starring The Fly, this book stars an earlier character called The Web!

Created in 1942, The Web was a war-time hero, often battling Nazi saboteurs and Japanese spies. Created in part by John Cassone, along with an unknown co-creator, the Web was just a physically fit man in a green/yellow costume with webs dangling from his armpits, much like Spider-Man in his Ditko days. There were no super-bug powers or anything like that. His name represented the web of justice that was to ensnare all who worshiped evil! A professor of criminology by day known as John Raymond, our hero is motivated by his brother who turned to a life of crime and is implied to have later died while imprisoned.

Featuring the talents of Bob Montana, Irv Novick and others, the writing was melodramatic, sensationalized and finger pointing evidence of why parents freaked out about violence in comics! There's a level of death, torture and sadism that you would not see in a Silver Age comic. I think if these 12 stories hadn't been publishein the pages of Zip Comics during World War II, these issues would have been standout examples in early comic book history of ultra-violence and racism. But this is pre-Code comicdom. It was still an industry much like the Wild West. The Web was a dime-a-dozen characterization of anti-Hitler and anti-Japanese propaganda. There's at least 2 scenes in which Hitler is portrayed as being in a homosexual relationship with some of his underlings while almost every Japanese character in these books has sharp fangs and long claw-like fingernails. The only difference between this Batman clone and those dozens of other imitators from Second World War is that the Web has at least made a couple returns over the year's with Archie's frequent reboots of the Red Circle heroes. 

The material in this book is definitely dated. Normally, I'd be torn as to whether to continue owning this book or not. However, I view myself as a semi-pro comic book historian and I am a fan of the Red Circle heroes. It might not have been the yellow and green superhero I was hoping for. But I was entertained by this time capsule of pro-American comics that came about as an almost immediate reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Probably not the kind of material a more modern comic book reader would favor. Though this is a book from Gwandanaland Comics with definite historical value if only to show how far we've come and how much more work there is to accomplish!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

The Mighty Crusaders, Vol. 1

I'm a big fan of MLJ/Archie's Red Circle line of heroes. They're just so darn difficult to find. Their golden and silver age books are ultra rare and too expensive for my wallet. The bronze age titles weren't massive sellers and so there's not a lot of those issues floating around. In the 90s, DC had the rights to them and touted them as !mpact Comics, only to be brought down once more by poor sales. (I'm doing pretty good at collecting these ubiquitous dollar bin floppies.) Then there's the modern age stuff. Why didn't anybody tell me that there was modern day Red Circle books out there?

Under the imprint Dark Circle, Ian Flynn and Kelsey Shannon linked together every incarnation of the Red Circle heroes in this 4-issue miniseries from 2017. It's been a couple of years after the last version of the Mighty Crusaders disbanded after the colossal battle with longtime Crusaders enemy, the Brain Emperor. Friends died in the conflict. Public support for heroes waned. Communities rebuilt. But now with the return of a second generation of super-villains, Joe Higgins, now referred to as the Broken Shield believes that the time for another incarceration of the Mighty Crusaders has come.

Unfortunately, this new group is far from a cohesive unit. Their leader, the latest to carry the name of the Shield, Victoria Adams, is too much of a loner and has trouble delegating to her teammates during a crisis. It doesn't help that legacy hero, the Fly, undermines the struggling new leader's every command. It also doesn't help that Higgins added another legacy, the over-confident Web to the lineup without the Shield's knowledge. Old-timer Steel Sterling is secretly battling the effects of time. Former Crusaders leader the Comet is with the team. However, the nightmares of that climatic fight with the Brain Emperor have left the hero's confidence rattled. Then there's the wild cards: Jaguar and Darkling. The Jaguar is teetering on the edge of insanity as the ancient god that shares her body is demanding sacrifice while the mysterious Darkling, the most powerful of all the Crusaders, is only on the team to prevent her from becoming a villain.

This book also comes with an exclusive short-story about the Mighty Crusaders predecessors, the New Crusaders. Also written by Ian Flynn, this story is supposed to bridge the reader between the two more recent superhero teams. I probably would have liked this story if not for Flynn himself. In this book's foreword, Flynn warns readers that the new team might have connections with the New Crusaders that left them confused. Thus the inclusion of the prequel story. Well, I actually felt like the main story didn't need the extra tale and that short was more confusing and unnecessary than Ian Flynn intended. Possibly even worse, that clunky short had an unintended consequence; it's put me off from wanting to read New Crusaders: Dark Tomorrow. 

Kelsey Shannon's art was so lively and animated. In fact, it looked like the storyboards that you might see for a cartoon show. There's been rumors of a Mighty Crusaders cartoon series since the 80s. I've pretty much given up hope on that project. So if Shannon's artwork is as close as we'll ever get to seeing the Red Circle heroes on the tube, I'm fine with that.

A very good opening salvo. I love that these guys can't seem to get along! I'm excited to see what's on store in volume 2. I just don't know where to find it. I found this book on a total lark at Ollie's and I didn't see any other similar books. Well, it turns out that's because there is no volume 2. Despite a promise of more story and this book being labeled 'Volume 1', these guys just didn't catch on and were quickly shelved. The Red Circle guys just can't catch a break!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.