I feel compelled to read these, and similarly compelled to share my experience with you. You may consider it a warning.
Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit?
This is the second of the novels, written after the movie (which I also re-watched recently) by a few years.
I would totally believe it if someone said that this novel was the result of the author having been given an option to write a first pass on what became the beloved movie. As such it’s like a weird mix of elements from both.
The setting is more classic ‘film noir’ era with a focus on Hollywood as a setting. Roger is an actor, with a major part of the plot involving him competing with Clark Gable for the leading role in Gone with the Wind.
There’s a hefty dose of Contractual Obligations writing:
- Historical ‘Toon’ characters are occasionally referenced but I don’t think any get real character roles. In other words, it’s written to suggest that it is one thing to mention that Mickey Mouse exists and has a huge mansion, but having him show up and talk would cross a negotiated line.
- On the other hand, Real Life People (like the aforementioned Clark Gable) are mentioned and do get written in as actual characters to interact with.
- The movie is almost, but not quite, referenced and may have happened: Roger and Eddie have a history, he has a brother who died under circumstances not discussed, and even his girlfriend is referenced (but has kicked him out). I think ‘dip’ is referenced once or twice, but is not the ‘only’ way to kill Toons or implied to be new and rare as it is in the movie.
- On the other hand, there’s some awkward writing that suggests my theory that this was based on a treatment for the movie, then rewritten as a pseudo-sequel, possibly by an author who knew there was no chance they’d use this for a movie sequel. Eddie has another brother, and his family liked rhyming names: Eddie, Teddie (who is notably dead in the movie), and (new to this work) Freddie. Roger and Jessica are a happy-ish couple.
- A subset of the above is I feel like Eddie, at a minimum, has not become a better person as the movie implies. He’s an antisocial functional alcoholic who seems to destroy relationships. Perhaps less so than the versions even at the beginning of the movie, but more so than the ‘relaxed’ version t the end of the movie.
It remains extremely weird and odd. The author wouldn’t give up on the “They talk in speech balloons!” concept and continues to force in weird thoughts based around this like a toon lawyer who has his secretary reformat his speech into letters because it’s apparently easier than typing. I don’t think balloons have much relevance beyond some vague gags.
On the plus side it feels like there’s a lot less casual racism in this one! It may just be the passage of time, but it was for the best: The iconic noir detective characters are certainly flawed and damaged, but they’re generally supposed to have a good, if jaded, heart.
An interesting aspect is that both novels have a Plot Device that, to avoid spoilers for a decade-old novel, is practically a reference to movie Cool World. In other words, there’s ways for Toons to become Human and vice versa, albeit totally differently from book to book.
Aside: Cool World should have been the punk alternative to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? but was simply lacking in interest and appeal. It’s disappointing.
The title is inaccurate, as Roger does not die in this book: The whole concept of doppelgängers is absent. There’s a couple big ‘sequel hooks’ in the form of a macguffin stuffed in a cabinet and a letter stating that Roger agrees to stay away from Valiant after their misadventures.
I have one more in the series to read, and will do so in time: Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? which was released in 2013. It’s apparently another ‘noir era’ story, but I’m not sure if it’s a direct sequel to the previous book.
