So to recap: the DC multiverse so far includes Victorian Batman, Commie Superman, gods and devils, presidents and criminals, and that's all been pretty weird. Fantastical and colourful and fun, in the way the best superhero comics are, but still pretty weird. Bordering on the ridiculous, you might say. Well, no we're past the halfway mark on this list we feel safe in telling you that you ain't seen nothing yet. B-b-b-baby. Because all of that's rather odd, but it's odd in a comic book-y way; the idea of multiple dimensions featuring alternate versions of established characters is a trope of genre fiction, seen in Dostoevsky novels and that Star Trek episode where evil Spock and Kirk have goatees. You know what's really weird? One of those Infinite Earths that really pushes the boundaries and stretches credulity? Well then you want the citizens of Earth-26, better known as Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew! Who are all animals, if the picture above and the name didn't give it away. This is a different planet populated by anthropomorphic animals who look suspiciously like those animated characters owned by DC's parent company Warner Bros, lead by their Superman analogue Captain Carrot, a Bugs Bunny type who gained his powers through eating a "cosmic carrot". Ahem. His team includes the hulking porkster Iron-Pig, the patriotic Yankee Poodle and feline magician Alley-Kat-Abra, and if you can't handle those puns, then you probably won't want to know that their planet is otherwise identical to ours, only the countries are all called things like Gnu York and Waspington, DC. Originally intended as one-off joke characters, they got lodged in readers' hearts and minds and have appeared multiple times since, with Carrot one of the main characters of Multiversity.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
