The Raving Rabbids: The Comic Books

Alright! I will soon be discussing the Raving Rabbids’ TV show. However, first, let me dwell a bit on the Raving Rabbids comic books, published in France.The books were written by Thitaume and, up to Book 9, drawn by Pujol (because French and Belgian comic book writers/artists absolutely HAVE to have a one-word pen name, for some reason), and published by Les Deux Royaumes.There are English editions of the books available, though some gags have been changed.

I could see that front page as a jump scare in a FNAF-style
"Keep the bunnies away from you" Rabbids horror game.

That one time, the fourth wall resisted.

The books contain a lot of gags without any text (not counting the Rabbid language). Many, many, MANY pages actually play with meta-humor, and it’s not uncommon to see page spreads or punch lines about breaking the fourth wall. Or the comic squares. They take full advantage of the fact that this is a book, and multiple gags rely on that to work.

One book contains the best description for a Raving Rabbid that anyone could ever hope to write (I translated it for your benefit). Also note that it’s phrased as a game show question because that particular page had Rabbids watching the show and then copying it. “I am a part of the family of long-eared lagomorphs and only speak using terms such as ‘Bada’ or ‘Bwaaah’. Utterly dumb, I tend to imitate what I see in an absurd and unpredictable fashion. When an idea pops in my head, the consequences can be terrible. Who am I?”

Then the two Rabbids mimic the concept of a game show…

I know the answer to that one! It's "Badabwaaah", isn't it?

Perfect, isn’t it?

Another brilliant element of the comic book: Did you know Rabbids were genderless? I mean, they seem to default as an all-male species, mostly because they behave so often like rude, dumb boys. And yet, the books frequently feature Rabbids who choose their own gender, usually by mimicking the tertiary characteristics of the gender they desire to be: A wig of hair, eyelashes and fruits or sport balls placed strategically at the front of the shirt. The writers get quite a bit of mileage from these jokes, too. See this gag strip of a plastic surgeon Rabbid having to close his business because a fruit shop opened next door and the female Rabbids buy watermelons to replace their original fruits.

Oh, and the Rabbids comic book have probably the riskiest joke I have ever seen in any media with kids as their target demographic. Although it’s cleverly hidden as a Rabbid-centric parody. One who knows the reference would instantly go “OH MY GOD, THEY ACTUALLY WENT THERE”. I refer to one of the paintings on this page. Explaining this joke would ruin it.

Oh, and I guess the main joke is funny too.

There were 10 books published in the series. The last one came out in stores not even a month ago, drawn by Thomas Priou instead of Pujol. Some of the later books have themes or ongoing storylines: Book 7 is about fashion, Book 8 has a Rabbid stealing panels off pages (that’s pretty Meta), and Book 9 follows a hypnotist who trades minds with a Rabbid and tries to turn them both back to normal. The comic also features recurring Rabbids with their own gags, whether it’s the Sherlock Holmes one, the cleaning bunny, the Waldo bunny who never finds a good place to hide…

That’s about all I need to say about the comics: Smarter than you’d think, a lot of interesting twists, a lot of media awareness as well. I encourage you to look up some of the pages, as there’s a surprising lot of adult jokes, and if that’s your sort of thing, you could enjoy reading through those.