'Atomic Mouse' (Americomics #4).
Martin Lawrence Greim, better known as Marty Greim, was one of the pioneers of comic fandom in the 1960s and 1970s. He subsequently became a writer for Archie Comics' short-lived superhero comic book line and several independent labels, most notably with his own creation 'Thunderbunny'.
Early life and fanzine activities
He was born in 1942 and lived most of his life in Massachusetts, where he worked at the Framingham district court, while working on comic books in his spare time. He was also one of the driving forces behind the 1970's Boston NewCon comics conventions, and wrote a popular column for The Buyers Guide For Comics Fandom. Greim published a well-received fanzine called Comic Crusader, of which 17 issues appeared between 1968 and 1973. The fanzine contained comic stories by Greim himself, but also work by Alan Hanley, Ron Foss, John G. Fantucchio as well as industry giants like Jim Steranko and Steve Ditko. A 'Comic Crusader Storybook' was published in 1977. He wrote stories with superhero characters like 'The Eclipse' (art by Gary Kato) and 'The Defender' (art by himself).
Thunderbunny
Martin Greim's best known creation was however 'Thunderbunny', a superhero comic about the young comic book fan Bobby Caswell, who can transform into a large pink humanoid rabbit with the ability to fly. He received his superpowers after making contact with a mysterious box containing the life essence of the last survivor of an anthropomorphic alien race. The character first appeared in several fan publications, and returned in mostly independent comic books in the 1980s, with scripts by Greim and art by Brian Buniak. Thunderbunny's first appearance in a professional publication was in Charlton Bullseye #6 and #10 in 1982. The character then became part of Red Circle Comics, the short-lived superhero line of Archie Comics. Five issues appeared in this first series, and the character furthermore made guest appearances in other comic books, such as 'Blue Ribbon Comics' #13 (1984), 'The All New Adventures of the Mighty Crusaders' #7 (1984) and 'Pep Comics' #393 (1984). Greim and Buniak made a second 'Thunderbunny' series of six issues at Wendy and Richard Pini's independent label WaRP Graphics from June 1985 to February 1986. Issues 7 through 12 were subsequently published under the Apple Comics imprint from April 1986 until November 1987. The later 'Thunderbunny' issues also featured stories drawn by Gary Kato and Donnie Jupiter. A 'Thunderbunny' newspaper comic drawn by Mike Machlan remained unpublished.
Final years and death
For Red Circle Comics, Greim furthermore wrote stories with 'The Original Shield', one of the early superhero characters of Archie Comics, created in 1940 by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick. The stories, pencilled by Dick Ayers, appeared in 'The New Crusaders' (1983-1984) and then in his own 4-issue comic book title (1984). Greim also worked on stories with classic Golden Age superheroes like 'The Black Terror' (created by Richard E. Hughes and Don Gabrielson in 1941) and 'Atomic Mouse' (created by Al Fago in 1953) for the 'Americomics' comic books by Bill Black's AC Comics. The first one was drawn by Rik Levins, while Greim provided the art for the latter himself. 'Atomic Mouse' was originally drawn for Charlton Comics, but the company disbanded before it saw print. Martin Gream wrote and drew the 10-page 'Donald Duck' story 'Big Feet!' for Gemstone Comics in 1986. His work was also featured in the compilation anthology 'Fandom's Finest Comics 2' (Hamster Press, 1998). Martin L. Greim spent his final years in Surprise, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) and passed away from heart failure at age 74 in April 2017.
Donald Duck - 'Big Feet!' (Donald Duck #249, 1986).