Nutty Comics #5
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeNutty Comics #5 marks the first appearance of Rags Rabbit, the anthropomorphic funny-animal character who would become Harvey's most prominent pre-Casper star, eventually earning his own solo title. The issue also introduces his mischief-prone brother Pesty Rabbit alongside an ensemble of supporting characters — Nappie-Kin, Stinky Skunk, Jumpin' Jack, Barney Barracuda, and Goldie — who would recur across the short-lived Nutty Comics run. As one of Harvey's earliest sustained investments in original funny-animal storytelling, the issue represents the company's first steps toward the all-ages animal-comic identity it would refine over the next decade into Baby Huey, Casper, and beyond. The cover itself is a playful self-referential 'infinity' gag — Rags Rabbit depicted reading a comic book of himself — a meta-visual joke that was rare for the genre in 1946.
When Rags and Pesty sneak into the cockpit of a plane on display at the department store, their wild ride through the window kicks off a whirlwind adventure that lands Rags in trouble—only to be rescued by the store manager, who sees a golden opportunity. With sales soaring, the manager quickly promotes Rags to head of airplane sales, turning a chaotic flight into a career move.
Freddy, a newly inked character brought to life by a cartoonist, quickly finds his first friend in Nappie-Kin—a mischievous, invisible napkin companion born from a folded paper. Their first adventure together takes a wild turn when Nappie-Kin’s antics land Freddy in hot water with Officer Plotz, proving that even the most playful pranks can stir up trouble.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The Nutty Comics series was published under Harvey's Home Comics Inc. imprint, with Alfred Harvey serving as president and Leon Harvey as editor, assisted by Leon Jason for art and editorial preparation — an in-house team that oversaw much of Harvey's mid-1940s output. Rags Rabbit was the creation of Marty Taras, an animator and cartoonist whose later work would include Baby Huey, giving him a lasting if modest footprint in cartoon history. The series ran only seven issues before folding with a July 1947 cover date, but Rags's debut here was consequential enough that Harvey revived the character in his own title nearly five years later.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Rags Rabbit, created by animator/cartoonist Marty Taras, who later created Baby Huey.
- First appearance of Pesty Rabbit, Rags's younger brother and recurring co-star throughout the character's publication history.
- First appearances of Nappie-Kin (an invisible-friend character described as resembling Casper), Stinky Skunk, Jumpin' Jack, Barney Barracuda, and Goldie — all of whom recur in subsequent Nutty Comics issues.
- Published in 1946 by Home Comics Inc. (Harvey's publishing imprint); 48 pages, full color.
- The cover is a self-referential 'infinity' image depicting Rags Rabbit reading a comic book of himself, drawn by an unidentified artist.
- The issue contains a period advertisement for 'New Postwar Roller Derby Outdoor Skates,' noted as available for the first time in years due to wartime metal rationing — a snapshot of the immediate postwar consumer moment.
- Rags Rabbit went on to headline his own solo series from June 1951 through March 1954 (issues #11–18), and later resurfaced in Harvey Hits and as reprint filler in the Harvey Wiseguys digest (1987–1988).
- Nutty Comics ran only seven issues total, folding with a July 1947 cover date — making issue #5 part of the title's brief but character-rich final stretch.
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