Who Censored Roger Rabbit?
First edition cover
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| Author | Gary K. Wolf |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Mystery Novel |
| Publisher | St. Martin’s Press |
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Publication date
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1981 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 214 pp (paperback edition) |
| ISBN | (paperback edition) |
| OCLC | 7573568 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3573.O483 W5 |
| Followed by | Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? |
Who Censored Roger Rabbit? is a mystery novel written by Gary K. Wolf in 1981, later adapted into the critically acclaimed film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).
Eddie Valiant is a hard-boiled private eye, and Roger Rabbit is a second-banana cartoon character. The rabbit hires Valiant to find out why his employers, the DeGreasy Brothers, the owners of a cartoon syndicate, have reneged on a promise to give Roger his own strip. Soon after, Roger is mysteriously murdered in his home. His speech balloon, found on the crime scene, indicates his murder was a way of "censoring" the star, who apparently had just heard someone explain the source of his success. Valiant's search for the killer takes him to a variety of suspects, including Roger's widow Jessica Rabbit and his former co-star Baby Herman. Roger's duplicate, who is used as a stunt double, has only a few days to live.
The different covers used for the book give different impressions. The first is darker in tone and only shows a shadowed Roger from the back, while Valiant's face is unshaven. It focused on the two in a close-up with a black background. A later edition showed a cleanshaven Valiant while Roger's face was brightly shown. It was panned out and showed the city during day in the background. It also showed a speech bubble coming from Roger saying "Help! I'm stuck in a mystery of double-crossers, steamy broads, and killer cream pies." Both show author Gary K. Wolf modeling as Valiant.
Although the book features many of the same characters used in the film, some of their characteristics, as well as the basic plot, are significantly different. The novel is set in the present day and in a strange universe in which real humans and cartoon characters co-exist. The cartoons of the novel are primarily comic strip characters, as opposed to animated cartoon stars, with famous strip characters making cameos, such as Dick Tracy, Snoopy, Dagwood and Blondie Bumstead, Beetle Bailey, and Hägar the Horrible. Strips are produced by photographing cartoon characters. In this version, "toon" characters speak in word balloons which appear above their heads as they talk. Although some characters have learned to suppress this and speak vocally, the use of word balloons forms several important plot points.
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