Hoppy the Marvel Bunny

Hoppy the Marvel Bunny
Excerpt from the cover of Fawcett's Funny Animals #23 (Oct. 1944) Cover artist unconfirmed
Publication information
Publisher	Fawcett Comics / Charlton Comics / DC Comics
First appearance	Fawcett's Funny Animals #1 (Dec. 1942)
Created by	Chad Grothkopf
In-story information
Alter ego	Hoppy
Species	Rabbit
Team affiliations	Marvel Family
Notable aliases	Captain Marvel Bunny
Abilities	Super-strength, speed and stamina Physical and magical invulnerability Flight
Hoppy the Marvel Bunny
Series publication information
Publisher	Fawcett Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Superhero, Funny animal
Publication date	Dec. 1945 – Sept. 1947
Number of issues	15
Main character(s)	Hoppy the Marvel Bunny

Hoppy the Marvel Bunny is a fictional comic book superhero and funny animal originally published by Fawcett Comics as a spin-off of Captain Marvel. He was created by Chad Grothkopf (1914–2005), and debuted in Fawcett's Funny Animals #1 (Dec. 1942). Hoppy later became a property of DC Comics, and has made periodic appearances in Captain Marvel-related stories.

Hoppy debuted in Fawcett's Funny Animals #1, and appears in nearly every issue of that comic's run. He also starred in his own 15-issue series, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny (Dec. 1945 – Sept. 1947), which featured several Hoppy stories per issue, along with stories featuring his old co-stars from Fawcett's Funny Animals.

For a span of five issues (#49–54, May–Oct. 1947), Hoppy made no appearances in Fawcett's Funny Animals; these issues featured Billy the Kid and Oscar as the lead feature. Beginning with #55, Hoppy returned as the main feature. In Fawcett's Funny Animals #69 (Feb. 1951), the Captain Marvel Bunny stories were dropped, to be replaced by stories with just Hoppy. There was no further mention of his career as Captain Marvel Bunny. In issue #80 the word "Fawcett's" was dropped from the title, making the remaining issues simply Funny Animals. The final issue of Funny Animals was #83 (1953).

After Fawcett cancelled Funny Animals, the rights to many of its characters were purchased by Charlton Comics. Charlton resumed publication of "Funny Animals" with #84 and continued the series to #91 (February 1956). Hoppy also appeared in Charlton's Atomic Mouse, though these stories appear to be edited reprints from Fawcett's Funny Animals. For these reprints, Charlton removed the lightning bolt from Marvel Bunny's suit and recolored the costume, changing his name to Magic Bunny and his magic word to "Alizam!". He is alternately referred to in various Charlton books as "Hoppy", "Happy", "Happy the Magic Bunny" and, according to one source, "Speedy".

After the Fawcett characters were purchased by DC Comics, Hoppy returned in DC Comics Presents #34 (June 1981). Hoppy has turned up sporadically since, primarily in the The Oz-Wonderland War #2, in The Power of Shazam! #29, and in Tiny Titans #15.