What exactly are wayward rabbits, and why does Auntie Agatha have a home for them?

AUNTIE AGATHA’S HOME FOR WAYWARD RABBITS #1

Writer: Keith Giffen
Artist: Benjamin Roman
Colorist: Bryan Valenza and Beyond Colorlab
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 7, 2018

Julie’s Auntie Agatha keeps a home for dysfunctional anthropomorphic rabbits. Julie does most (if not all) of the work, and the rabbits are decidedly eccentric. Meet some of the residents and find out what’s going on with Auntie Agatha!

A GIRL AND HER RABBITS

With a title like Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #1, I was not sure what to expect from this book, but whatever I was expecting, that was not what I got. For starters, the rabbits are anthropomorphic and they do talk. Secondly, “wayward” doesn’t just mean capricious or difficult to control; some of these rabbits have serious issues.

It starts out prosaically enough. Julie wheels a wheelbarrow full of rabbit food out of the shed and puts carrots, lettuce, and cabbage into a food dish. A long-eared purple rabbit (Sawyer) complains. He feels that being fed rabbit food is racial profiling. Hanging out with him is a white and gray rabbit (Pope) who seems to communicate only in mangled quotes which are still somewhat apropos. There’s a discussion about how Sawyer could be eating rabbit pellets instead, and then he paraphrases some Shakespeare at Julie – he’s apparently been reading her homework. At this point, I had no idea what I was getting into here, but whatever it was, it was certainly surreal. Especially when Fritter, the OCD rabbit, wanders through.

Sawyer and Julie go off to the shed, which is full of sacks of rabbit pellets, and there’s an indication that Aunt Agatha, who ordered it all, might not be all there. Then the conversation turns to pointing out that the rabbit pellets contain ground up rabbits. A rat also shows up, lecturing about how other animal feeds do the same thing. So maybe this book is about animal rights as a theme? Although we are distracted from this by the rat (Loomis) who believes that cats are going to take over the world. Is anyone at Aunt Agatha’s house not odd in some way?

But then the story takes another sharp turn. A car pulls up at the house, and two burly women dressed in highly sensible clothes come to the door. They introduce themselves as Naomi and Raquel, and they have somewhat stilted speech patterns. They want to speak with Aunt Agatha. Julie tries to deflect them, and Raquel knocks her down and plants a foot on her chest. They hear someone in the next room, and go there.

Then Buster, the watchdog, comes in. He has a rabbit mask on. He’s been getting in touch with his inner rabbit rather than guarding. He and Julie get into an argument about whether he should have gone after the two women, and he finally agrees to go get some help instead. We end with the two women facing an unforeseen problem. Aunt Agatha is revealed – in a wheelchair, communicating through a computer screen, apparently quite incapacitated.

This is a strange, but still rather intriguing book. It wandered down several paths in turn, before heading off in a wildly different direction several times. I don’t know quite what to make of it; it’s not quite like anything I’ve read before. And there are still more wayward rabbits to meet. There is some humor, but a fair amount of darkness, so it does not seem as light and fluffy as the title might suggest.

NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS EXPECTING

The art in Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #1 is a study in contrasts. The backgrounds are pretty and pastoral, well defined with a nice variety of details. The characters are more cartoon-like. The facial style has eyes that are very large with very tiny pupils, which to me gives everyone a sort of crazy-bug-eyed look. I was a little taken aback at first, but I got more used to it.

Naomi and Raquel are surprisingly terrifying, despite their dress which could be described as conservative. They’re wearing suits, shirts with ties, flat shoes, and knee socks. They almost look nerdy in a way. But their glasses hide their eyes, and their faces are utterly expressionless, even when they slap Julie around, which really makes them feel thug-like. (Really? Thugs after an old lady who has a home for rabbits?)

BOTTOM LINE: RATHER WEIRD, BUT NOT A BAD READ

Auntie Agatha’s Home for Wayward Rabbits #1 is not your standard funny animal book. It meanders a little, but it does surprise. It is probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but it does have some surreal charm, and leaves you feeling like you don’t exactly know what’s going on yet.