Artist Transition in 1982

Between two issues: November and December 1982

Written by Adam

Depending on your age, you may have not been around or subscribed to Ranger Rick when perhaps the first major change in the magazine's history occurred. In 1982 when it was decided that Ranger Rick Raccoon and the rest of the gang in Deep Green Wood needed a new look from the style that had been around since 1967 from the creative mind of Lorin Thompson, the first of two artistic transitions occurred.

Young rangers who received the November issue, saw nothing different. It was like any other Ranger Rick issue from years before. One sad note, is Ranger Rick's story (called Ranger Rick and his Friends at the time). Dubbed, "Adventure #162: Sammy's Dream Machine" it was little more than an advertisement for a contest at the time. Sammy Squirrel had invented a machine that made acorn butter, kind of like how you can create peanut butter from peanuts. Aside from Sammy getting stuck in the machine, there was no real adventure to be had. Additionally, at only one and a half pages long, its perhaps the shortest adventure story written for Ranger Rick. Lorin Thompson only had to draw one picture for the story, and he did what he could with what little was given apparently, and chose to show Sammy explaining his machine to Rick, Becky, Ollie, and Odora. Again, a disappointment perhaps for some expecting more.

Did they ever get more the following month.

In the December 1982 issue, the Ranger Rick and his Friends article was the final piece of the entire magazine, closing out the year. Why put the story at the end? Why not sooner? As the cliche goes, sometimes the best is saved for last. Upon turning to the story, young readers would notice something very different from issues past - Rick and the gang looked different - very different than they had previously. Additionally, the story was uniquely written in rhyme by editor Sallie Luther, where the residents of Deep Green Wood discuss what sort of present Ranger Rick might want for Christmas. Let's be honest, unless you're a whiz at poetry, I'd like to see anyone do any better than Luther did with the story because what was created for the Christmas season was downright amazing. Readers also got to see the first artistic renditions of Alton Langford, who would continue drawing Ranger Rick and the rest of the Deep Green Wood inhabitants for seventeen years.

Lorin Thompson's First Drawing of Rick (1967) Alton Langford's First Drawing of Rick (1982)

So of course, it begs the question, why change at all?

According to Donna Miller, design director for Ranger Rick since the 1970s, the reason an artist change was sought was because editors of the magazine felt that Lorin Thompson's work resembled a lot of the work Disney had been doing years earlier, and they wanted something new. They all agreed that Lorin Thompson's artwork was truly beautiful (and indeed it is!) but felt a creative change was necessary all the same. Executive editor, Robert Dunne brought in Alton Langford to take over drawing the adventure stories because he had an amazing knowledge of wildlife and added his own unique detail and charm to the characters.

Basically, its a change many magazines go through...trying something different creatively, and in the process, someone usually loses out. For any art or long running publication, this is a fact of the industry.

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Character Images from the November - December transition period. All drawings are by Lorin Thompson and Alton Langford, used with permission.