Revealed in the soliciations for DC’s March, Keith Giffen will be adding an updated version of Captain Carrot to the cast of his new series Threshold. Now called Captain K’Rot, this version of the character will apparently be “a borderline psychotic, booze swilling, whore-mongering rabbit”.
One of the top three intergalactic bunny rabbits of all time, the majority of DC fans had been wondering where Captain Carrot was in the New 52 relaunch. It may well have been the #1 question posed to Dan DiDio at conventions, causing the company to frantically lay a Stephanie Brown-shaped smoke trail across their plans for the burrowing hero, in the hope to distract people away from the floppy-eared protector of the galaxy.
But now, with the help of an apostrophe and some wonky phonetics, the character is returned, and presumably without that dratted hassle of having to pay the creators royalties for their original work. Any day now Marvel are going to announce they’re publishing a M’Arvelman series.
Captain Carrot’s creator Scott Shaw has responded to the redesign on his facebook page:
As long as it’s not really Captain Carrot, I don’t care. If anything, I’m kinda amused by their rather lame attempt to fit an ‘edgy’ funny animal into the ‘New 52′ universe. Somehow, it reminds me of Warner Bros. Animation’s terrible LOONATICS UNLEASHED SatAM cartoon series. Where’s Ch’p, Thunderbunny, Jaxxon, Bucky O’Hare, Rocket Raccoon and Howard the Duck when we need ‘em?
This is the worst idea you’ve ever had, DC. The good news is, there’s nothing you can do beyond this that will get worse. Because this was rock botoom.
Rock bottom?
How about ‘Mazing Man as creepy Collyer Brother, hoarding weird stuff, running a comics shop which is closed more often than open, with a supporting cast of characters that were too weird for Seinfeld?
Or Sugar and Spike as savant babies, running a crime ring from Midvale? (Actual profanity is encoded in their gibberish.)
Or Wally “Speedy” West running a meth lab in Blue Valley?
Or Supergirl having a love affair with Comet?
@Samuel Blanco: Even worse than the Tim Drake fiasco? Or hiring Liefeld? Or G.I Combat? Or Pink Lanterns? Or any of a hundred other things? I think this is pretty tame in comparison.
Is Rocket Raccoon even that popular that he needs a “rip-off”?
This is DC’s Guardians of the Galaxy with its own Rocket Racoon.
Kinda like when all those asteroid movies came out.
“the majority of DC fans had been wondering where Captain Carrot was in the New 52 relaunch.”
Really? The majority?
I suppose that would only have to amount to 50k odd people these days.
@Tim: I was thinking the same thing. “It may well have been the #1 question posed to Dan DiDio at conventions, causing the company to frantically lay a Stephanie Brown-shaped smoke trail across their plans for the burrowing hero, in the hope to distract people away from the floppy-eared protector of the galaxy.”
Really?
I truly hope this is a lame attempt at sarcasm.
And to think, some people say DC is out of ideas!
Giffen’s full quote/description for K’rot is here for those interested in context: http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2012/12/captain-carrot-hopping-into-new-52-as-thresholds-krot/
“One of the top three intergalactic bunny rabbits of all time”
Along with Bucky O’Hare and…?
Jax from early issues of Marvel’s Star Wars comic.
The character here is a joke, folks. Maybe funny, maybe not. But just a joke.
Dumb as DC’s move might be, nobody “truly hope this is a lame attempt at sarcasm”, it’s obvious enough in the article. They’re poking fun at DC’s turnaround of the character, I’d imagine, which they evidently hold for ill-considered, as everybody who commented does. I hope for the sake of Giffenand DC that he can make it a funny story, at least, because he’s a good writer anyway.
Keith Giffen is probably doing this as part Rocket Raccoon spoof, part grimdark New 52 redesigns spoof. After years of stuff like Ambush Bug how quickly people forget that making fun of edgy reimaginings and the industry in general is one of the things he likes to do.
If anyone is doing this as a lark, it’s Keith Giffen. I am all for the inclusion of more bunny rabbits in comics!
Yeah.. I trust Giffen doing as a lark… but are the DC offices in on the joke or do they take his crap 100% super serious and think a grim n gritty Captain Carrot is what comics needs? These are the schmucks who thought making Doctor Light a rapist and turning Justice League into a Watchmen knockoff was the direction the company shoud go.