Out Of The Looney Bin!

What an absolutely delightful comic book is Superman and Bugs Bunny is. . This special slipped by me when it first dropped some weeks ago, but when I stumbled across the awesome Steve Rude cover above I knew I had to have it. I eagerly collected up the original four-part series by Mark Evanier and artist Joe Staton when it first came out (gasp) nearly twenty years ago, but having it in all in a beautiful 100-page package was too cool. I'm a Joe Staton fan and will glom onto any project he's a part of most of the time, but this one was ideal for his particular skills. He's a dandy artist who is able to sit inside the confines of the superhero universes and also produce delightful broader more bigfooted artwork. This project was the perfect vehicle for his talents. Aided by inkers Tom Palmer and Mike DeCarlo (who are listed as finishers on this project) the two took Staton's art and make it at once distinctive but still cohesive, no small challenge when working with characters which are so divergent as these.

The series is actually a crossover (when crossovers were king) between the myriad characters of the Looney Tunes universe and the stalwarts of the Justice League of America. When this was produced, the League was comprised of Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Green Arrow (Connor Hawke), Aquaman (with a hook), Plastic Man, and Martian Manhunter. It's a visual feast but aside from that it's a really funny comic book. I don't always laugh when I read "funny" comics, but I did when I read this one again after all these years.  Evanier does a grand job of capturing the lines and cadences of the Looney Tuners to a tee and that plays off the more stern JLAers perfectly. The scenes with Green Arrow and the singing Frog are invariably hilarious.

You owe it to yourself to get this one. I don't know if the new crossovers which prompted this reprint are any good, but I do know this one is an absolute delight.

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