Wanted: minor spoilers for Looney Tunes #258!
To the casual fan of Looney Tunes, entertainment begins and ends with Bugs Bunny, but while the malcontent rabbit is good for a chuckle, true connoisseurs of the classic animated series will name Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner as the true doyennes of animated chaos. Yes, Acme's most dedicated customer and his perennial quarry are the height of wordless slapstick, and while a new generation of fans may be enjoying the characters in their recently redesigned form, DC's Looney Tunes comic is reuniting the classic duo for hijinks in space.
Created in 1948 by animator Chuck Jones, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner have a classic comics relationship of over-eager predator and too-smart-to-catch prey, and yet something about the small touches they bring to this simple idea have always made them stand out. Perhaps it's Wile E. Coyote's sad-sack vulnerability, or the fact that Road Runner seems to take some sadistic pleasure in their interplay that the likes of Tom and Jerry never did, but there's a reason fans are still eager to see the two locked in eternal competition.
Looney Tunes #258 - from Ivan Cohen and Walter Carzon - takes the characters to space, where Wile E. Coyote begins the issue in a particularly sympathetic position. Not only are the pair competing for a position on a manned trip to Mars, but Road Runner actually makes the first move by tangling Wile E. Coyote in his space suit to get a head start on their "friendly" competition. Enjoy the preview pages from DC Comics, below:
Complete with their famous faux-Latin names, a solid reason to hate each other, and wordless protagonists, the comics expand on the incredibly popular cartoon episodes by bringing other characters further into the forefront, as well as - as the comic references in its opening panels - vastly increasing the scope of the trouble Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner can get into, and the damage they can wreak on the world around them.
Over the last few years, DC Comics have truly embraced the Looney Tunes, publishing plenty of new adventures and even pairing up their classic heroes with the cartoon misfits (the Batman and Elmer Fudd team-up was especially great.) But alongside experimentation, it's great to see DC sticking to the classic gags that made these characters so beloved in the first place. With news of Wile E. Coyote movie Coyote vs. Acme in the works, these characters aren't going anywhere soon, and fans of the cartoons and comics will be glad to hear it. Looney Tunes #258 is available now in stores and online.