And The Rest...

The other members of the Amazing Zoo Crew:

Alley Kat Abra ( Felina Furr) is the Zoo Crew's resident magic caster. Like the other original Crew members, her powers were activated by a meteorite chunk, which is kind of a weird thing for power that turns out to be magical in nature. Ah well, comic book science has never been too precise, and funny animal comic book science even less so.

Fastback (Timmy Joe Terrapin) is the group's speedster. The Zoo Crew comics thrive on puns and the temptation to make the fastest animal on the team the slowest animal on earth was just too good to pass up. Fastback is also the group's most innocent member, with a southern "Aw shucks" personality and speech pattern that further contrasts with his lightning speed.

Yankee Poodle (Rova Barkitt) is the cynical smart talker at the opposite end of the spectrum. She's one of those super characters whose powers reside in her fingertips. The left hand shoots red stripes that draw objects towards her, while the right hand shoots blue stars that repel. Despite the American patriot look, Rova is not an overtly patriotic character. She's really more of a gossip hound at heart.

Rubber Duck (Byrd Rentals) comes from the rubber guy school of superheroes. Not much more to him than that, really.

American Eagle (Johnny Jingo) was the last addition to the team. An over the top right wing patriot, his only power seems to be that he is super annoying.

Little Cheese - The Micro Mouse!

The Zoo Crew was initially six members, but in their twelfth issue they met a new superhero, Little Cheese, the Micro Mouse. A size changing rodent in the tradition of diminutive heroes such as Doll Man and the Atom, Chester Cheese was also a teenager. This further distinguished him from the other Zoo Crewers, who were all 30-something adults.

Little Cheese's origin is given doses of Batman and Spider-Man by having him be the orphaned son of a scientist who was rubbed out by the local organized crime gang. Initially seeking revenge against his father's killers, Little Cheese is helped by the Zoo Crew to bring them to justice instead.

Little Cheese doesn't join the Zoo Crew in his premiere issue. Hot headed and impatient, he has too many personal issues to deal with. The issue ends with him by his father's graveside making strides towards his new life.

It would not be until the Zoo Crew's final issue that Little Cheese would be seen again, finally joining the team after a rousing adventure against the dimension hopping Gorilla Grodd!

Pig Iron - the swine of steel!

Probably the most popular character in the Zoo Crew series is Pig Iron. Conceptually he's an unikely mish mash of the Hulk, the Thing, Frankenstein's Monster and a cartoon pig. The pig in this case is one Peter Porkchops, a funny animal character who appeared in humor comics in the 1940s. Pig Iron is the only member of the Zoo Crew that was based on a pre existing character; although it could be argued PI's appearance and personality bore little resemblance to Peter Porkchop's. By turns shy, outgoing, looking for fights or trying to avoid them, Pig Iron is something of a manic depressive, usually minus the depressive part. He's every bit at home clobbering bad guys as he is relaxing at beach.
Pig Iron's coincidental resemble resemble to the Frankenstein Monster even lead to him trading blows with the real (funny animal) monster in a case of mistaken identity! Of course, there was no mistake over who would win in that skirmish.

Captain Carrot!

Funny animal superheroes have been around almost as long of the guys in tights themselves. In the 1980s DC published 20 issues of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!. Created by writer Roy Thomas and cartoonist Scott Shaw!, the Captain and his crew battled a wide assortment of anthropomorphic animal adversaries. Beautiful cartooning and outrageous animal-based puns were the order of the day.

Captain Carrot (Rodney Rabbit) was the glue that held this gang of happy misfit adventurers together. An artist and writer of superhero comics in his regular job, Rodney can truly be said to have jumped into his superheroing life with both feet first. A fair number of the plots actually turn on Rodney's knowledge of obscure pop culture to save the day.

Other members of the Zoo Crew will be featured here in the coming days.

30/30 - Space Stallion!

BraveStarr was the last cartoon produced by Filmation, running from 1987 to 1988 with 65 episodes and one feature film. Basically a western set in outer space, the show featured humans, aliens and large assortment of uplifted animal species. Marshal BraveStarr was the show's titular hero, but for my money the coolest character was his partner 30/30. A member of race of uplifted horse people, 30/30 not only provided backup, by switching to quadroped mode he also provided transportation, allowing BraveStarr to ride him like a conventional horse. Strong, quick tempered and ready to shot at almost anything, 30/30 was much more interesting to watch than the straight shooting marshal. Too bad the one toy they made of the character looked nothing like him.

Stargod Returns!

The editors at Marvel had decreed in 1981 that John Jameson should be "cured" of being the Man-Wolf, which happened in Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #3. Expect for a couple of lackluster runs as a supporting character in Captain America and Spider-Man, John spent the next two and half decades in comics limbo. But in 2004 writer Dan Slott brought John back as a romantic interest in She-Hulk. In 2006 Slott not only got John back into Man-Wolf form, he actually brought back the Stargod aspect of the character as well!

Man-Wolf

Our first entry is a personal favorite, the Man-Wolf from Marvel Comics.

Starting as a sympathetic villain in Amazing Spider-Man, the Man-Wolf reached his pinnacle when he became an heroic werewolf hero in Marvel Premiere.