Peter Rabbit, December 22, 1929

Peter Rabbit, December 22, 1929

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The Peter Rabbit most people know was created by Beatrix Potter in 1902, and was featured in a number of wonderful children's books by her. The Peter Rabbit in this comic strip, however, was created by Thornton Burgess in 1910 and is better known as Petter Cottontail. The comic strip ran from 1920 to 1948 and was written and illustrated by Harrison Cady. Cady also illustrated all of Burgess' children's stories. The two characters bear many remarkable similarities, though the main difference is that Potter's Peter Rabbit lives in England while the Burgess version clearly lives in the United States. The giveaway there is Jimmy Possum, who speaks in an unfortunate dialect and steals all of their Christmas goodies. Despite that, the comic strip is adorable and enjoyable to read. Hopefully next time Peter will keep a better watch on his goodie basket.