Animals can be heroes too. Who doesn’t love the feel good stories of animals saving each other or other species? So what’s cuter than an animal hero? An animal hero with powers! How do animals get powers? Let’s find out!
In a dimension similar to ours but where animals evolved into humanoids and tracked a similar history to our own world. They have a Linkidd Memorial in Waspington D.C. There’s a President Mallard Fillmore of the United Species of America. The animals lived there lives until a strange visitor from another dimension crashed in Follywood, Calfurnia, along with a strange meteorite that shattered in the atmosphere and went all across the planet.
These fragments would begin granting animals powers, some seeking to be heroes and others to become villains. The strange visitor was some sort of hairless ape calling himself Superman. Roger Rodney Rabbit was one of the first to discover his powers and decide to use them for good as Captain Carrot, having similar powers to Superman and seek to find the cause of this meteorite and human hero entering their world. As more animal heroes crawled out of the wood work, they would join forces and form the Zoo Crew.
It was finally figured out that Starro, an alien starfish that could possess people, was the culprit who caused Superman and the meteorite to crossover. The beam used to do this was also causing the animals of the planet to devolve into their ancestors, like their animal counterparts of Earth. While the Zoo Crew was new to team work with each other and their powers, they were able to stop Starro and help Superman return home.
While their visitor and invader were gone, the powers the heroes had gained were still with them. Realizing that the powers of other animals, less scrupulous than the Zoo Crew, were perfect for committing crimes, the team decided to stick together to help aide the world in its new powered threats. They would have their own dimensional crossovers, like meeting the JLA, Just’a Lotta Animals, to fight off threats to both realities.
Their adventures went on until the secret identity of team member, Little Cheese, was willingly revealed to the world. Thus began the dark era for the Zoo Crew. This action spurred the public to demand all heroes remove their masks and show who they were. This caused most of the Zoo Crew to go underground or retire. The only other hero to reveal their identity was Alley-Kat-Abra, who became a world famous stage magician with her powers.
Some were arrested for crimes they did not commit. Things only got worse when Chester Cheese, Little Cheese, was murdered. Captain Carrot was a suspect, things were only getting worse for the Zoo Crew. It would come to light it was actually Alley-Kat-Abra but not even the real one, she had been a magical duplicate made by one of the mystically inclined enemies of the team. It was too late, the damage was done, not only to the team itself, but to their public image, the world could no longer trust the Zoo Crew.
A Collar ID law was instated, demanding all heroes to be registered with the government and work for them. Worse still, Starro had returned and was now working with their own enemies to bring about the end of the world as revenge. The ice caps would melt the most of the team would lose their powers. The Just’a Lotta Animals would help them create an Ark to rescue the land animals from drowning in the flood and take them to their world but things got mixed up in the dimensional travel. The animals would be carried over to a different Earth, one where Superman was from. This caused the animals to turn from their humanoid sapient forms to be more like Earth animals. They would remain this way until the Final Crisis when they were able to be returned to humanoid form and the Zoo Crew were able to regain their powers.
There you have it! The Zoo Crew are some of the stranger denizens of the DC multiverse. What started as a silly adventure became a dark world of grim and grit. Sometimes comics can’t help themselves, even in parody. They would appear in video games and some TV but for the most part, they stick to comics. Where will the Zoo Crew end up next? We’ll have to wait to find out. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
New Teen Titans #16
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!
Captain Carrot and the Final Ark
Final Crisis #7
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
