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St. Martins Press

The 1981 mystery novel by Gary. K Wolf was the basis for the film, but the plots of the book and the film differ greatly. For one thing, the novel takes place in the world of comic strips rather than animation. Many of the characters are the same, but in the book, Eddie Valiant is investigating Roger's murder after the rabbit hired him to find out why the comics syndicate backed out on a deal for Roger to star in his own strip.

Roger's death was included in early drafts of the movie's climax, but the idea of killing off the lead toon was axed, along with the Sting song 'The Lazarus Heart' which was supposed to play over Roger's death scene.