Yeah, that’s right. I’ve read and am now writing about Captain Carrot! You might be asking yourself, “Why?”, or “There’s no way this can be good,” or, “Who?” Well I’ve been hunting this trade for a bit of time now, and now I finally have it sitting proudly on my shelf, and yes, I do mean proudly.
Before I get in to what I thought about the book, I feel that a preface needs to be set for why I so thoroughly hunted down the story. Remember in the end of Final Crisis when an odd looking bunny rabbit in a super hero costume appeared? I remember being in a comic store as people discussed their inherent dislike for Final Crisis, and one of the things they didn’t like was the oddity of Captain Carrot appearing at the end. I, on the other hand, decided that this was something that warranted further investigation, so when I got home I hopped online and found out why: due to a story called Captain Carrot and the Final Ark! I had originally assumed that Carrot appeared as he is the “Superman” of Earth-C-Minus, and all the Supermen were being assembled, so it was only natural Carrot could appear. But of course, the story goes a bit deeper in there. It’s not just that he was summoned, but that he was returned to his normal state of being after the events of Final Ark. Now, as far as me and comic nerdery goes, it’s never simple enough for me to just read about it on the internet and be satisfied. I have to read the story for myself.
And that’s exactly what I did.
Captain Carrot and the Final Ark! is a fun little story. Yeah, that’s right. Fun. This isn’t a comment I use as a legitimate review in comics, because usually I definite it as good or bad. But come on… this is called Captain Carrot. I’m not reading it because it’s the next life changing book for me. This isn’t friggin’ Planetary here! It’s Captain Carrot! And what has Captain Carrot always been about? Ridiculousness and fun! In Captain Carrot and the Final Ark!, the Zoo Crew has been disbanded due to the new President passing an anti-superhero act. After the shocking betrayal of Alley-Kat-Abra in the back up story written by Geoff Johns (included in the beginning of the trade, original from Johns’ run of Teen Titans), they’re essentially left in disarray, finally finding a reason to reunite at Sandy Eggo Comic Con. But how deep does the conspiracy go? Why would someone attack the Comic Con? And who is behind it at all?
I’ll spoil it: It’s Rash Al Paca, Starro the Conqueror (a giant evil starfish from Pluto), and in the end all the Zoo Crew escape thanks to the JLA (Justa Lotta Animals) and the New Dogs opening a Boom Tube to New Earth and rendering them all powerless and normal, where Zatanna takes Captain Carrot, now in plain ol’ rabbit form, to be part of her act. And this is where it linked into Final Crisis, as the Monitor was able to return Carrot to his true form in order to defeat the EEVVILLL Monitor, Mandraak.
Now, it should be noted that CCATFA was in actuality a Countdown tie-in, 100%. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the cover to issue 3 to the right. That being said, I’m pretty sure not even the biggest comic freaks I know read this. Which is fine. Everyone has their limits on how far their nerdery will allow. Unfortunately, those people did deprive them of quite a silly and amusing little book. There are some books that are meant to be taken in an absurdist manner which I don’t receive well (Final Crisis Aftermath: Run, for example), but this is just too crazy not to love. First off, right as you open the page you’re greeted by thousands of parodies of popular comic tropes from DC (like how about the comic company Birdigo?), or Rodney Rabbit “creating” the characters Krypto and Ace for his new comic? How about a fish vice president named Red Herring? The puns are forever in this book, people! RASH AL PACA is a villain! It’s amazing. It’s not a book you can read with any amounts of seriousness at all, but I promise that you’ll be giggling like a fool at all the silliness inside it.
But is it worth picking up? That’s a harder question to answer. I’ll be honest – most people don’t need this. I wanted it and I got it so I’m happy, but I can’t really think of anyone I know, including the other writers of this blog, who would be too enthused by having a Captain Carrot book on their shelf. And this is a good collection! You’ve got the Final Ark! as well as all the original issues of Zoo Crew that inspired it, along with the Geoff Johns back-up from Teen Titans. It’s a nice little package of material here, and it’s all in good fun. But do most people need this? Not really. And would most people really want to go out and buy it? No. And can I really argue the need for them to go grab it? Nope to that again. Look, this is ridiculous fun, but it’s most definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, and for the most part I can assume that this is no one’s real cup of tea except for me, and I prefer iced coffee anyway. So all in all, will anyone who is not me enjoy this? I really can’t tell you, but I’m going to go off the top of my head and say no.
That, in and of itself, is somewhat of a crying shame. Yeah, it’s Captain Carrot, and yeah, it’s goofy beyond belief, but this is one hell of a fun read. I laughed, I cried (not so much that one, really), but I found that I really enjoyed the book for the money that I spent on it. It’s just pure ridiculousness in it’s finest, and that’s something I don’t get from a lot of books. I love my serious genre defying and thought provoking reads, but every once in a while I do need something so completely off the wall to shake things up a bit, and this is a perfect example of that. I highly enjoyed Captain Carrot and the Final Ark! I like the artwork, done in a timely fashion by Scott Shaw!, who did the original comics back in the day. I like the storyline by Bill Morrison (a different Morrison does exist! Scary, I know), how it’s seemingly disconnected but then loops together at the end in it’s own insanity. I like the intro, and all the extra material in the book. This trade was 100% worth it for me, and it most definitely improves my shelf’s diversity if nothing more.
I recommend to you Captain Carrot and the Final Ark! with flying colors. Will you pick it up? Probably not. But I tried.
