The ‘Roger Rabbit’ who was the predecessor of the Roger Rabbit appearing in the film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), was the creation of Gary K. Wolf – in his book, ‘Who Censored Roger Rabbit?’ (1981). But, there was an earlier incarnation of Roger Rabbit!
A 2-page comic story, ‘The Early Adventures of Roger Rabbit‘, appeared in the underground magazine, The Realist, in 1971, and was then reprinted in The Tortoise and the Hare underground comic published by Last Gasp in 1971. The comic story was the creation of Dan O’Neill, an underground cartoonist, creator of the comic strip, Odd Bodkins, and founder of the underground comics collective, The Air Pirates.
A two-issue comic series entitled, Air Pirate Funnies, included comic stories of satirical social and political comment. Many of the stories included parodies of Mickey Mouse and other copyrighted Disney characters. Disney sued O’Neill and other members of The Air Pirates cooperative for copyright infringement, trademark violation, business disparagement, unfair competition, and aggravated assault on Mickey Mouse. The case was in the U.S. Federal courts for 13 years and went up to the Supreme Court. The Air Pirates fought the law suit – promoting it as a free-speech and ‘fair use’ issue.
When Disney released Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988, O’Neill sued Disney, claiming that Disney had stolen his character. The suit was eventually dropped, but he made his case.
The link below provides more information about Dan O’Neill and The Air Pirates.