A Job for Atomic Anthropomorphic Animals

Atomic Mouse had a healthy decade-long run, from 1953 to 1963.

During the 1950s, Charlton Comics’ bench was surprisingly deep in nuclear anthropomorphic super animals.

They published Atomic Mouse, Atomic Rabbit, Atomic Bunny (not necessarily the same character as Atomic Rabbit) and Atom the Cat — all black-costumed, caped, flying super-strong heroes (although the cat was, true to his species, pretty blasé about heroics).

This radioactive menagerie illustrated two things — that the ubiquitous word “atomic” was a synonym for “super” in the fifties, and that fly-by-night Charlton preferred to “borrow” established features (in this case, that 1940s animated amalgam of Superman and Mickey Mouse, Mighty Mouse).

Atomic Rabbit was one of three super-bunnies hopping around Charlton.

But the Atomic Mouse feature, thanks to the talented artist Al Fago, was, for a time, actually and accidentally superior to the licensed comic book adventures of Mighty Mouse.

Charlton’s foray into atomic animalism had a more complicated origin, too. When Fawcett’s Captain Marvel — sued by Superman and plagued by poor sales — finally gave up the ghost in 1953, the popular character was resurrected in England as “Marvelman” (now “Miracleman”).

During the 1940s, Fawcett had cleverly exploited the popularity of their lead character by creating a

Tom the Cat became Atom the Cat

Captain Marvel Jr., a Mary Marvel, three rather pointless Lieutenants Marvel, the powerless comic relief Uncle Marvel and, in 1942, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny.

Charlton acquired the rights to a few of Fawcett’s defunct characters, like Nyoka the Jungle Girl, and “Captain Marvel Bunny” was among those. Charlton subtracted the lightning bolt from Marvel Bunny’s suit, changing the character’s name to Magic Bunny and his magic word to “Alizam!” He evolved into “Happy the Magic Bunny,” becoming Charlton’s THIRD super rabbit.

An abundance of bunnies.

Happy the Magic Bunny outlived his inspiration, Fawcett's immensely popular Captain Marvel. Here's a 1957 story.