Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1982.
Synopsis for "The Coming of Bow-Zar the Barbarian!"
The Zoo Crew, returning to Byrd Rental' estate in Follywood, find Byrd's old friend, Ezra Hound, waiting there to talk with Byrd.
Ezra, the author of the "Bow-zar the Barkbarian" novels, is anxious to talk to Byrd. Not knowing that Rubberduck is in fact Byrd Rentals, Ezra decides to talk to the Crew about his problems. He has become bored with writing about Bow-zar and has decided to kill of his extremely popular character to allow himself to focus on his true love, poetry. However, since deciding to do so, he has been plagued by extremely vivid nightmares that Bow-zar is truly after him and wishes to kill him. Because of this, he hasn't been able to sleep in weeks.
Pig-Iron, hoping for an easy assignment, volunteers to be Ezra's "bodyguard" while he is sleeping. Ezra jumps at the opportunity, and Pig-Iron returns to his apartment with him. However, the rest of the Crew is afraid that Pig-Iron is not taking this seriously.
Just then, its revealed that somehow Ezra, instead of creating the character of Bow-zar from his imagination, had in fact been receiving images from far in the past and that Bow-zar was a very real barkbarian. Bow-zar feels that the image he sees of Ezra is of a wizard trying to kill him. He then uses his barkbarian powers to track Ezra and is pulled forward in time to present-day Follywood. He then tracks Ezra to his apartment just as Ezra and Pig-Iron arrive back there.
As the Crew had feared, Pig-Iron wasn't taking the assignment seriously and quickly falls asleep on the job. Bow-zar picks this moment to attack, and ignoring the sleeping metal pig on the sofa, chases Ezra from the apartment. Pig-Iron awakens to find Ezra missing and the apartment destroyed around him and falsely assumes that Ezra is mentally ill and believes himself to be Bow-zar and has gone off the deep end.
Ezra then calls the rest of the Crew in a panic and, using Alley-Cat's magic, they transport to the scene to find Ezra under attack by Bow-zar. Just then, Pig-Iron arrives and while trying to explain what he believes has happened, Bow-zar nearly flattens Pig-Iron with a massive punch. The Zoo Crew then find themselves chasing Bow-zar, who is chasing Ezra, through the streets of Follywood trying to keep him from killing anyone. At last, Bow-zar traps Ezra in a bank vault, but this also allows the crew to finally subdue him without hurting him or anyone else. They then explain what has occurred and Bow-zar, not being evil, agrees not to harm Ezra if he won't try to "kill him off" anymore. Ezra agrees and shakes hands with Bow-zar, but when they shake hands, they are both pulled back through time to Bow-zar's time period. It is revealed that Ezra was now able to write his poetry in relative peace without having to write new stories about Bow-zar by becoming Bow-zar's sidekick.
Appearing in "The Coming of Bow-Zar the Barbarian!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Arnie (First appearance)
- Ermine "Swiftly" LaFurr (First appearance)
- Ezra Hound (First appearance)
- Mister Sprockett (Final appearance)
Antagonists:
- Bow-Zar the Barkbarian (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-C
- Califurnia
- Follywood
Items:
- Magic Wanda
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Classified"
Appearing in "Classified"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- While the team has greatly improved their teamwork and learning to leverage each others' abilities, there are still personality tensions between members. Alley-Cat begins to voice her frustration at being called upon repeatedly to use her Magic Wanda to teleport the team anywhere. Yankee Poodle, having an abrasive Follywood reporter personality takes the opportunity to snipe at Alley-Cat, causing a minor verbal scuffle between the two of them.
- Mister Sprockett appeared last in Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #4. This is his final appearance to date.
Trivia
- Bow-Zar the Barkbarian is a lampoon of two characters popular in comic book fiction; Conan the Barbarian and Ka-Zar the Savage.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #1-20
- Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew: The Oz-Wonderland War #1-3
- Captain Carrot and the Final Ark #1-#3
- Teen Titans (Volume 3) #30-31