Looney Tunes: November 1998
Cover
Bugs Bunny is standing behind Taz and holding the Devil's jowls open giving us a view of his teeth. Bugs is saying, "Look Ma-- no cavities!!"
(While there is a Taz story in this issue, there is no Bugs Bunny in any of the stories. The cover doesn't have any relation to the comic, besides Taz, and I get the impression this cover belongs in elementary schools or dentist's offices with entirely different contents...PN)
Credits
Synopsis
Taz, carefully crated, is delivered to a University lab. The deliverers don't stay around long as Taz breaks out. The Devil mistakes some lab equipment for a video game and gets so dazed by the encounter that he becomes the victim of a very unusual chemical spill. This makes for quite a transformation.
Just he starts to recover, Professor Webster's lab assistant arrives and mistakes Taz for the doctor. She quickly gets a suit, well a labcoat anyway, on him and drags him off for the doctor's presentation. A good presentation will bring a grant.
Meanwhile the real doctor Webster races to make it in time. Mistaken for the Tasmanian Devil, he becomes the target of a tranquilizer dart. He gets to the presentation, but in a cage.
Taz speaks his usual, uh, Taz-speak at the presentation, which gets the audience rather upset. The lab assistant, in love with the professor, comes to his defense. The real professor is quite naturally ranting and giving the appearance of a wild beast, while the transformation really takes hold of Taz and he becomes.. eloquent!
Some time later, Dr. Webster has found his caged life to a nice peaceful break from his work, and his assistant. Taz, however, is frantically working on reversing the formula as he's trying to escape a lovestruck assistant.
Did You Notice...
The title is a play on the story of The Devil and Daniel Webster in which a man sells his soul.- Page 1: I Fooled U's sign boasts "Over 1 billion graduated" much as McDonald's boasts of how many orders they've served. This is quite a boast, too, considering the world population is under 6 billion as of this writing.
- Page 1: Deliveryman Bob's asking the about the 'Nutty Professor' refers to the 1963 Jerry Lewis film The Nutty Professor, which was redone as an Eddie Murphy vehicle in 1996.
- Page 1: The sign outside the laboratory advertises, "Atomic Class Night - Bring your own bomb."
- Page 1: Two of the books in the lab are Cooking with Atoms and Biology for Idiots.
- Page 2: Speedy Gonzales is the lab mouse.
- Page 6: Nice touch: the tranquilized professor has his thumb in his mouth.
- Page 7: Notice the comment about the equation on the blackboard in the first panel.
- Page 7: Stockholm? Could Taz, well Dr. Webster really, be in the running for a Nobel?
Technical Nits
Credits
Synopsis
Granny has just unpacked and set up fancy new birdcage for Tweety. This cage, the Robocoop, is another measure to protect Tweety from Sylvester. Granny has to leave before opening another box and Sylvester sets to work trying to get to Tweety.
The cat has his work cut out for him, too. He discovers, the hard way, that the cage can electrify its bars. Armed with insulating gloves he next finds that it has mechanical arms. One more try and he discovers the built-in laser defenses, which curiously seem to affect only cats and not walls or furniture.
Finally it dawns on Sylvester that he's up against a machine and this machine has one vulnerability: It's plugged into a wall socket. With the aid of a fishpole and a good cast, the Robocoop is soon unplugged. All is not well for the cat, as that triggers a backup system: a robot dog.
Did You Notice...
- The title plays off of the 1987 film RoboCop, or its sequels.
- Page 12: Acme Express's motto is "We break delivery records - and your merchandise."
Technical Nits
I suppose having the Robocoop cord where it is makes it easier for Granny and for the plot, but a better design would have it powered like a ceiling light fixture.- Page 12: There are three boxes, one opened, shown here. Yet later it seems only two were sent, one with the Robocoop itself and one with the backup system. Also on page 15 Granny refers only to "that other box."
- Page 15: Granny's glasses are missing in the second panel.
- Page 16: Aren't electrified cage bars a risk for the bird?
Credits
Synopsis
Pepe strolls through a park in Paris, his aroma playing havoc with others, and ends up seeing Penelope on the street just after the cat's latest encounter with white paint. Pepe quickly and overwhelmingly introduces himself. But when she gets a whiff, she instantly flees, ducking into a lingerie store.
Pepe enters as well, seeking his latest love. Alas he checks a changing area and finds other customers and is thrown out - twice. The skunk has a solution however. He dresses up as a lady. This doesn't solve his problem as Penelope still runs away from him. And he gets a new problem: the Frenchman who was nearby through the story now chases after Pepe.
Did You Notice...
- Page 26: The man is gargling with 'La Scope.'
- Page 31: Pepe uses a cartoon device here: the 'body pocket.'
- Page 32: The end with Pepe cross-dressed, as well as the title, is from La Cage aux Folles.
Technical Nits
- The canopy has a variable number of sections through the story.
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Last updated 25 April 2001