Animaniacs: American Red Cross 1995 special issue
Cover
Drawn by: Allen Helbig
The Warners are heading in to the Emergency World theme park for a day of fun. The entrance is shaped like a huge bear trap, with huge red warning lights at the top of the facade. Unlike the commercially available comics, the cover art continues onto the back cover, where we see Dr. Scratchansniff riding a roller-coaster past a tornado and getting hit on the head by large hailstones.
Yakko says, "Emergency World! Be prepared for fun!" Dot: "I'm prepared for safety!" Wakko: "I'm prepared for food!" (He is, too; he's eating a large tub of popcorn.) Dr. Scratchansniff says, "I'm prepared to go home!"
Signs along the park fence: "Emergency World We'll prepare you for: Earthquakes! Tornadoes! Snowstorms! And much more!", "Be safe! Be prepared!", and "All disasters! All the time!"
The Warner Bros. Animation logo is in the lower left corner; the American Red Cross logo is in the lower right corner; and there's a banner across the upper left corner that says "Watch the Animaniacs on the...Kids' WB!" This is American Red Cross publication number 5064, according to the back cover.
Credits
Synopsis
Today is Emergency Preparedness Day. Dr. Scratchansniff has promised to teach the Warners what to do in emergency situations...but when they try to hold him to it, he demurs because they make his head hurt when he tries to teach them anything at all. Yakko says they're just going to take a little ride, and they jump into the next panel.
They arrive in front of Happy Fluffy Bunny Land, a cute place (but not as cute as Dot, of course.) Yakko complains, and of course it's the wrong panel, so the artist repaints it, and they're at the entrance to Emergency World after all. They go in and are greeted by the host and some cute chorus girls. The host tries to get the Warners to follow him, but they object, since they don't follow strangers who don't know their secret code word. As it turns out, though, he does, and they board the ride. Everyone puts on their safety belts, with Wakko helping Scratchy, and they start their trip.
The first stop is winter storms. They experience a heavy snowfall, learn from it, and then thaw out Scratchy who has gotten himself frozen in a block of ice. Next comes thunderstorms and lightning; they learn how to avoid getting struck and what to do in a storm, and help Scratchy who gets hit by a falling tree. Thunderstorms can cause tornadoes, of course, so that's the next stop - and just in time for a tornado to hit. The Warners find a basement to hide in, but Scratchy doesn't, so he gets clobbered by flying debris.
The next stop is a house that's not ready for a hurricane on the outside, but is on the inside. They get there just in time, because one hits with a WHAM. It's too late for them to take the best precaution against a hurricane - leave before it hits - but they try anyway and get flooded back into the house for their trouble. By this time, Scratchy has had enough. He's scared and wants to go home. The Warners tell him it's OK to be scared, and Wakko pulls Scratchy's teddy bear out of his gag bag.
Scratchy gets it just in time for the last part of the trip: an earthquake rocks the park. They all protect themselves from the earthquake, but have to leave in a hurry when the house catches on fire from an exploding stove. They make it out safely, and after it's all over, the brothers want to do it again, and drag Scratchy along.
Did You Notice...
Today's ambassador of cuteness in Happy Fluffy Bunny Land is Elmyra.- Plucky Duck has a cameo, complete with Groucho eyebrows and glasses.
- In the basement, Yakko's filing his gloves (Warners don't have fingernails, silly). There's an upside-down box, too.
- The Jones house belongs to one C. M. Jones...better known as Chuck Jones, long-time director of Looney Tunes cartoons.
- Wakko's gag bag has a bat in it, which looks suspiciously like the Batman logo as it flies off.
- Mister Teddy does the same things as everyone else during the earthquake.
- The Acme Giant Fire Extinguisher doesn't put out Jones' mailbox.
Technical nits
Sternecky has unusual trouble with the Warners' eyes, especially the eyelids, on page 1 as Yakko catches up with Scratchy and on page 12 as Wakko pulls Hello Nurse out of his gag bag.- Wakko's tail looks like it's coming out of his pocket. (page 6)
- Dot and Wakko give each other five with only four fingers. (page 6)
Unlike the commercial comics, there is no outside advertising in this one. There are, however, three one-page items:
- Inside front cover
- A poster for Kids' WB, with the characters from the series (clockwise from top): Pinky and the Brain, Freakazoid!, the Warners, Bugs Bunny, Granny, Sylvester and Tweety, Earthworm Jim, and Adventure Man, all painting on different parts of the poster. All of the characters are somewhat off-model. The first printing of this issue has no border around the page, while second and subsequent printings have a blue border. The change was needed because the first version cut off the left side of the picture at the vertical part of the K in the Kids' WB logo, and the right side at Dot's nose; the damage to the KWB logo was deemed unacceptable.
- Inside back cover
- The Animaniacs shield logo, and the following credits:
The following people contributed to the creation and design of this very special publication, and should be acknowledged for their efforts.
Barbara Brogliatti, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Television Publicity, Warner Bros.
Cathy Cruse, Director, Publicity, Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Michael Harkavy, Vice President, Warner Bros. Worldwide Publishing
Katie Main, Manager, Magazines, Warner Bros. Worldwide Publishing
Leslie Hill Powers, Promotions & Advertising Associate, American Red Cross
Rocky Lopes, Associate for Community Disaster Education, American Red Cross
Jean MacCurdy, President, Warner Bros. Animation
Tom Ruegger, Executive Producer, Warner Bros. Animation
Christopher Keenan, Director of Programming, Warner Bros. Animation
Peter Hastings & Rusty Mills, Producers of "Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs"
Comic Book Creative Team
Bobbi & David Cody Weiss, Writers
Neal Sternecky, Penciller
Scott McRae, Inker
Bob Pinaha, Letterer
Jo Meuginot, Colorist
Allen Helbig, Cover Artist
Disaster preparedness information courtesy of the American Red Cross.
- The Animaniacs Emergency Procedures Pinup Page
- A one-page reference to all the procedures covered in the story. Included are things to do in case of earthquake, hurricane, thunderstorms and lightning, tornado, winter storm, flood, and fire. This one alone is worth getting the book for. I wouldn't cut along the dotted line provided, though - it's a row of Dot's heads...
Jay Maynard, jmaynard@phoenix.net
Last updated 1 July 1996