Four Color #88
Four Color #88 — titled 'Bugs Bunny's Great Adventure' on its indicia — stands as one of the earliest standalone Bugs Bunny showcase comics of the Golden Age, predating the character's dedicated solo title by several years. Dell retroactively counted the Bugs Bunny issues of the Four Color run as the opening installments of the eventual Bugs Bunny series, making this issue a de facto early chapter in one of the longest-running funny-animal franchises in American comics. It also gathers a remarkable cross-section of the Looney Tunes supporting cast — Porky, Petunia, Elmer, Sniffles, Beaky Buzzard, and Cicero Pig — onto a single platform, demonstrating how Dell and Western Publishing were actively expanding the Warner Bros. cartoon universe into print and cementing character relationships (such as Cicero as Porky's nephew and Petunia's cousin) that existed nowhere in the animated films. Carl Buettner's artwork, which contemporaries credited with raising the visual standard for Warner Bros. comic illustration, gives the issue an added craft distinction within the Dell Golden Age catalog.
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Dell's Four Color series was a rotating anthology of one-shots, each issue carrying a different title to match its licensed feature rather than a consistent series identity; the numbering was the only thread holding it together across hundreds of issues. Four Color #88 was produced under the Western Publishing / Dell arrangement that licensed Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, and both the cover and interior art are attributed to Carl Buettner, a Minneapolis-born artist who had shifted from pulp illustration to children's comics and was simultaneously drawing a Bugs Bunny newspaper strip in the mid-1940s. Because Dell did not print publication dates on early Four Color issues, the precise cover date is debated — the Grand Comics Database places it in September 1945, while some retailer databases list November 1945.
Trivia · 8 facts
- The issue's indicia title is 'Bugs Bunny's Great Adventure, No. 88,' published under Dell's Four Color series (1942 second series).
- Both the cover and the interior stories are credited to artist Carl Buettner, who was simultaneously drawing a Bugs Bunny newspaper comic strip (1944–1947) and was regarded as a key figure in establishing the visual grammar for Warner Bros. comic-book characters.
- The lead story sends Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig on a rocket voyage to Saturn, where they are captured by rabbit-like natives and put to work in carrot fields — an early example of sci-fi comedy plotting in a licensed funny-animal comic.
- A second story features Bugs and Porky hunting for Captain Kiddney's buried treasure on Squid Island, showcasing the adventure-comedy hybrid format Dell used throughout the Four Color Looney Tunes issues.
- The issue is 36 pages, printed in full color, and originally sold at the standard Golden Age cover price.
- Dell retroactively counted all Bugs Bunny appearances in the Four Color series as issues #1–27 of the eventual dedicated Bugs Bunny title, placing FC #88 within that foundational sequence.
- The supporting cast indexed in this issue — including Cicero Pig (the comics-exclusive nephew of Porky, adapted from the animated character 'Pinky'), Petunia Pig, Beaky Buzzard, and Sniffles — reflects how the Dell/Western Publishing comics were actively expanding the Looney Tunes cast beyond what appeared in Warner Bros. theatrical shorts.
- The Grand Comics Database dates the issue to September 1945; some retailer and collector databases list November 1945, a discrepancy arising from Dell's practice of omitting publication dates from early Four Color issues.
Cast · 7 characters
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Bugs and Porky find a map to Captain Kiddney's treasure, which is on Squid Island. The island is now underwater, so the pair have to rent a boat and diving equipment to search for the treasure.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).