''Fox Bunny Funny'' is a

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

Andy Hartzell Andy Hartzell is a cartoonist who lives in Oakland, California. In 1995, he was awarded a Xeric Grant to publish his book ''Bread & Circuses''. In 2007, Hartzell published '' Fox Bunny Funny'', which was reviewed favorably by ''The New York Times ...

. The book was published in June 2007 by

Top Shelf Productions Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, originally owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock and a small staff. Now an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf is based in Marietta, Georgia. Top Shelf pub ...

. Through its use of anthropomorphic animals drawn in black and white without the use of word bubbles or text, it conveys themes of desire, violence, identity crises and psychological distress.

Plot

''Fox Bunny Funny'' is set in a world of

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

es and

bunnies Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit specie ...

. The

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the novel is a young unnamed fox.

Chapter One

The story begins as the protagonist rides his bike to a butcher shop. The butcher chops some meat off of a bunny for him. When paying for the meat, the cashier tries to look into the protagonist's bag, but it is pulled away quickly. He leaves the butcher shop and rides on his bike again. On his way back, the protagonist runs into another group of young foxes riding on bikes. They lead him to a movie theater, where they point to a poster for a film showing a strong fox standing on top of a pile of dead bunnies. The protagonist refuses to see the movie, so the other kids push him over and begin throwing his belongings back and forth. The protagonist quickly steals back the bag, and sets off on his bike once more. Upon returning home, he removes the meat from his bag, and hides the rest of the contents behind some bushes. After giving the meat to his mom for their dinner, the protagonist watches as his younger sibling plays a video game involving chasing down and eating bunnies. The protagonist tries to play the game, but lets the bunny get away to eat a carrot. Their mom announces that dinner is ready. At dinner, the protagonist's younger sibling eats his food voraciously and the protagonist excuses himself from the table. As he goes upstairs, the protagonist grabs his bag from the bushes outside. Following dinner, the protagonist's mother gets a call from a neighbor who seems very alarmed. The mother goes upstairs to find the protagonist jumping up and down in a bunny costume.

Chapter Two

Chapter Two begins with the protagonist's family dropping him off at a camp to indoctrinate him in the ways of being a "proper" fox. The protagonist learns how to shoot a gun for hunting bunnies, and earns the praise of his fellow campers. The campers are driven to a town where bunnies live so they can hunt them. The protagonist is sickened by the hunting, so he leaves the others and finds a bunny church with no one inside. He falls asleep on a pew, dreaming that a group of bunnies lift him above their hands, and he becomes a bunny himself. When he wakes, a group of bunnies are eating carrots in the church. They give him a carrot, and they all begin hopping around with him. Meanwhile, the other fox campers walk up to the church to find the protagonist playing with bunnies. Realizing he has been caught, the protagonist turns and devours all of the bunnies.

Chapter Three

Some years later, the protagonist is visited by a bunny in the night. He chases after the bunny with his gun, but is unable to catch him. Outside his house, a silhouetted face is painted on his house, one ear resembling a fox and one ear resembling a bunny. The protagonist follows the bunny to the top of a cliff, and falls into a river below. The river flows into a dark tunnel, and leads to a ladder. He climbs the ladder, and discovers a world filled with foxes and bunnies that are friendly. The protagonist collapses in the street, and an ambulance drives him to a hospital. He is carted into a surgery room with an audience. Following the surgery, the protagonist is covered in bandages. After taking off the bandages, he discovers he has been turned into a bunny. The audience begins clapping as he cries in joy.

Style and themes

Drawn entirely in simply black and white graphics, ''Fox Bunny Funny'' caused reviewers to draw references to "Rwandan genocide, Nazi Germany, the consumer economy, animal rights, and gay and lesbian identity issues". The lack of

speech Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses Phonetics, phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if ...

or thought bubbles in the novel creates a theme of "oppression" or "search for self". The final chapter of the novel changes format: from six panels per page to large double-page images of the "funny" society to change the rhythm. The integrated fox-bunny society is still enamored with violence but in the form of fantasy, drawing a political allegory. The

endpaper The endpapers or end-papers of a book (also known as the endsheets) are the pages that consist of a double-size sheet folded, with one half pasted against an inside cover (the pastedown), and the other serving as the first free page (the free end ...

of the book consists of tiled fox and bunny faces, drawing a reference to

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...

. Francisca Goldsmith of

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...

wrote that the protagonist's desire to be a bunny is a comparison to

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...

Reception

''Fox Bunny Funny'' was praised for its ability to convey an entire narrative without using any text. A

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

reviewer called Hartzell's design sense "clever and nuanced". Also pointed out were "wicked comedic details" such as fox ears on top of cars, a written language consisting of paw prints, and the bunny's religion consisting of "acceptance of suffering and death in the hope of divine vengeance". Francisca Goldsmith of Booklist called ''Fox Bunny Funny'' "a must for libraries supporting

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

collections".

References

{{reflist 2007 graphic novels Pantomime comics Fictional foxes Comics about rabbits and hares Comics about foxes Comics about animals Comics characters introduced in 2007