Christmas With Ranger Rick

Written by Adam

Christmas with Ranger Rick....sometimes during the month of December, the editors of Ranger Rick magazine would create holiday-themed images involving Rick and the gang. I don't recall the stories or pages ever explicitly stating "Christmas" but rather as a general holiday, though we all are pretty aware of what holiday falls around late December. On that note, here are various photos of Ranger Rick and the gang during the holiday season. Additionally, I've also posted another "Same Story, Different Artist" article after the images, to commemorate the similarities and differences Lorin Thompson and Alton Langford made when illustrating Lee Stowell Cullen's take on Dicken's classic, A Christmas Carol.

Images are © The National Wildlife Federation, 1967-1996, used with permission.

Drawings are by Lorin Thompson and Alton Langford, where applicable.

Originally, posted on the Ranger Rick twitter account (https://twitter.com/RangerRickMag), these cards from the 1960s show what Rick and friends looked like before there was a magazine. Cards were one of the first products offered by NWF with Ranger Rick characters on them. The artist is uncredited/unknown.

Offhand, I forget which issue this came from. Lorin Thompson had drawn a large tree and added illustrations of Ranger Rick, Ollie Otter, and his rendition of Wise Old Owl to the picture.

From 1981, this small insert in the magazine allowed readers to create their own Christmas ornaments using the faces of Ranger Rick and Sammy Squirrel. These were simply paper cutouts that you would tie a string to the top and hang on the tree. I'm not sure how well the paper held up over years if someone actually did this year after year.

Artist Lorin Thompson created a huge panorama for the December issue (of 1976 if memory serves me correctly). The "Guess Who Came" caption was for readers to try and name all the new characters Rick and the gang had met during the previous year of adventures. Despite the part saying, turn to page 35 for the answers, alas, my copy had page 35 missing, and I don't know all the characters except for the main cast. Its not a very late 70s issue because Wally Wolf and Bobby Beaver are still a part of the gang in this picture.

From December of 1979, Zelda, Sammy, and Ollie made a huge "Snow Rick". I'd love to know how they colored it.

From the December 1980 issue, the gang wishes you a happy holidays! (scanner isn't quite big enough to get the whole picture)

A gift from Boomer - a new hat!

Boomer Badger and Cubby Bear wrap non-environmentally friendly gifts for their friends.

From the same story, Boomer and Cubby trip over their large piles of presents.

From the 1990 issue where the gang meet Alton Langford, the artist, the portrait of Rick and Scarlett he drew for them to take back home.

Merry Christmas 1995 from the gang in Deep Green Wood.

The first and only appearance of Gloria Gray Fox: December 1996.

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Now, onto the rendition of "Same Story, Different Artist" only this time, the story is based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Editor, Lee Stowell Cullen in the December of 1981, wrote "Adventure #153 - The Visitors" to show that even Ranger Rick can get in a rotten mood sometimes! He was angry that Shady Pond was a mess once again, and said it was of little use to clean it up again because it always gets messed up. He went to his den to read A Christmas Carol, and fell into dreamland where he meets three spirits: the ghost of Clean, Clean Past, the ghost of Polluted Present, and the ghost of Beautiful Future.

Let's take a look at how Lorin Thompson drew the images in the December 1981 issue, and how Alton Langford did the same for the December 1988 issue.

In seven years time, Rick, must've made some money to upgrade the lighting in his tree den to have a lamp. Otherwise, the same idea was conceived from both artists. When I interviewed Alton Langford earlier this year, he mentioned that he was often told what it is he should draw, so its not a big surprise to see that all three images from the story are similar in appearance with each of the artists' traits.

Both images above showcase how Thompson and Langford illustrated the Ghost of Polluted Present. (text has been digitally removed to focus on the images only)

The major difference between the two artist's renditions is how they conceive the Ghost of Polluted Present to be. Thompson saw the ghost as one who has suffered due to the pollution, not demonstrating that he is actually pleased with the direction of things. When Langford illustrated the ghost, I see a resemblance of death in the face of the ghost, where the pollution has made the ghost who he is. Whether there is any direct sign of suffering is anyone's guess; you do not gather such emotion from the latter picture.

Both images above showcase how Thompson and Langford illustrated the Ghost of Beautiful Future. (text has been digitally removed to focus on the images only)

This is actually an interesting comparison. I'll personally state I like the way Thompson illustrated this image because of one thing: this ghost of the future and the one of the present look as if they could be one and the same. In essence, if pollution is removed so that a healthier lifestyle can be lead, in turn the person appears healthier, less ill, and more interested in what is going on. Whether or not any young readers saw a similar connection to the two again, is left to their own interpretation of the story and its corresponding images, but I think that's powerful to show such a connection. Langford's rendition of the ghost of the future reminds me of Casper the Friendly Ghost with the bubbly and smiley face, which I suppose isn't a bad place to draw inspiration from when you're trying to present a hopeful future to readers. Final observation--Rick must've visited the future on a Sunday or holiday or something....no smoke at all from the factories, though we pretty well know even with pollution controls and scrubbers with modern technology, there still is pollutants released, even with pretty green space. To show none at all is rather idealistic, given our power needs of the 21st century. It does have to come from somewhere.

So there you have it!

Hope you enjoyed reading about Ranger Rick around Christmastime!