Forest Protector
Well, at least the forest is okay.
I must apologize to all my non-American readers, Smokey the Bear will definitely not be familiar to you. I tried to give you the basic idea of what he’s about with that sign in panel 3 so it isn’t too confusing. Allow me to fill you in (briefly) on what he’s all about.
In the United States we’ve got some pretty nice forests. Not as many as we used to, and certainly not as many as we should, but there are some great National Parks and forest reserves around the country. Smokey, since the 1940’s when he was created, has been the poster child of the US Forestry Service’s initiative to curb and contain forest fires. He’s essentially just an anthropomorphic bear that wears a hat and pants and tells children that “only they can prevent forest fires”. He is, surprisingly, a very effective mascot and one that is pretty recognizable. We’ve had a lot of these sorts of things over the years, but Smokey has managed to stick around and remain relevant.
Anyway, that’s Smokey.
As for the Dragon, most of you should know what he’s all about. It’s kind of surprising that I haven’t done more strips about dragons…I’ll have to rectify that this year. It is, after all, the year of the Dragon in China in a few short weeks!
Dragons are one of those strange mythological creations that have been found all over the world. While there are differences in how each culture perceives them, many basic traits remain the same. Cultures across the world from Britain to China to Australia have all come up with their own dragons or dragon-like monsters. The destructive creature in today’s comic adheres more to the European tradition of the fire breathing, winged tyrant used so much in modern fantasy and medieval lore. The early versions of these particular beasts were often amalgamations of various animals considered inauspicious or just terrifying to medieval Europeans such as snakes and bats, though it has been posited that these myths grew out of the discovery of dinosaur bones in ancient times.
Europe has had a long tradition of dragon folklore from the Ancient Greeks to the Christian myth of St. George and the dragon. Where China and other Eastern countries have had a wider variation in the motivations of dragons, European countries have been fairly consistent in their depictions of these creatures as beings of pure destruction. When they aren’t killing people, they’re stealing maidens, poisoning or haunting precious sources of water, or destroying villages.
The modern conception of European dragons is probably best exemplified (and was first stabilized) by the Anglo-Saxon poem, Beowulf somewhere between the 8th and 11th centuries. After becoming king of the Geats, the aging hero Beowulf must combat a mighty dragon that has been brought to his kingdom when a slave steals a jewelled cup from its lair. The king and his thanes ride forth to defeat the monster, but when it rears its ugly head, all but the brave Wiglef flee in terror. Together, Beowulf and Wiglef defeat the dragon, but Beowulf’s life is lost in the process. In the tale, the dragon has all the modern elements we see in dragons today, wings, fire breath, a venomous bite, treasure hoarding, a curious and wrathful nature, a vengeful personality, and it also gives us the template for the enemy of these beasts: the brave dragonslayer. It’s a marvelous tale and if you’ve never read it before, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s the story that got me interested in folklore and mythology and it has been an inspiration (whether they know it or not) to all modern fantasy writers.
Oh and hey, happy 2012 everybody!
don’t worry, Smokey the bear is alive and well! Last time I went to the ranger station, they had a basket full of free Smokey paraphernalia. I loaded up on stickers for ALL MY FRIENDS
Even dragons obey Smokey the Bear.
Not familiar with Smoky at all. I assume it is relevant to the USA?
Smokey the Bear” is the mascot for Forest Fire awareness taught to most people in North America during elementary school, and has been around since 1944. Just about everything to do with Forest Fire’s has his image plastered to it, and The United States government even made a law in order to protect his image and name.
Happle Tea is actually in the process of getting sued right now because of this. The law specifically states: “No making Smokey appear in anachronistic clothing. Or shirts. Or we’ll sue your ass.”
OMW! I thought it was harsh here in South Africa. But seriously I cannot believe the cartoon char is protected under law.
I love the idea of having a mascot for the young ones. Here we have Zibi (an ostrich that disposes of his trash in a bin and NEVER litters) http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Pages/Zibitohelpinthefightagainstlitteringanddumping.aspx
This right here is what keeps me coming back to HT. Nice work!
@Carina: Yep, here in the USA our national park services have a mascot, Smoky the Bear. He appears on signs, TV, and the radio every so often to teach us about fire safety and implore us to protect our forests. His catchphrase is “Only YOU can prevent forest fires.”
He wears pants so that when he talks to children, no one mistakes him for Pedobear.
For 1/2 a second there I thought this was going to be a Skyrim Spoof. . . you amaze and surprise me 😀
haha As much as I like Skyrim, I think I have seen enough Skyrim comics on reddit to last me a lifetime…
First, Smokey stole the cup from the Dragons Cave and then sent the dragon to Beowulfs kingdom.
I’m a brazilian forestry engineer and we foresters are acquainted to Smokey the bear. Nice comic.
Here in Brazil we have the “Tamanduá Labareda” (Anteater Blaze), our forest fires mascot.
Boring as we are, us Swedes don’t have a mascot for this type of thing. Come to think of it we don’t really have all that many mascots at all. Some sports teams and companies (think fastfood etc) do but that’s about it. Kind of strange seeing how all wood-related industry is a damn big part of our industry. At least here in the Northern parts.. and I’m rambling.. yeah. Anyway, wish we had a Smokey too 🙂
I feel like any time smokey the bear is mentioned it’s important to note that preventing forest fires is not nearly important as not starting them, and in wild areas it is important to the natural order that large fires be a regular part of the ecosystem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_fires_of_1988
Indeed, and the precedence of dangerous forest fires have largely been blamed on Smokey the Bear because fires are not allowed to run their course due to fast public response, thus allowing a build up of fuel in systems that require a regular regiment of fires. No fires can mean a shift in plant species dominance and community structure as species that require fires to breed don’t receive them as regularly as nature would produce them. The entire natural ecosystem of mid-Florida (scrub) evolved around fire.
I took a forest ecology class this semester and fire ecology was definitely a hot topic. It’s incendiary nature has ignited many flame wars among scientists. I’m glad to see other people who know that Smokey, while an excellent and enduring creation of the US Ad Council, is not the whole truth about forest fires. Good to see it has sparked some curiosity and discussion.
Bear is actually his last name. It’s just Smokey Bear. “Smokey Bear’s name and image are protected by U.S. federal law, the Smokey Bear Act of 1952 (16 U.S.C. 580 (p-2); 18 U.S.C. 711).” (Wikipedia). My dad was a Forest Service guy, and he hated when people said Smokey the Bear.
You think he’s related to Yogi?
I grew up right near Yellowstone and Smokey was a very popular figure in that part of the country. When I was a kid I remember reading a comic the forest service had put out about the real Smokey that had survived the 1950 forest fire with his poor little bandaged paws. I think it’s awesome you decided to depict him in your comic, he’s always been a favorite of mine.
http://www.smokeybear.com/vault/story_main.asp
You’d be surprised how familiar foreign children are with American mascots- particularly if they’ve appeared on the Simpsons. I think it’s particularly in Australia, because we have minimal television culture of our own, but there’s so many American series we know more of your mascots than our own.
I actually owned a Smokey Bear book translated into Finnish when I was a child. 😀
http://www.antikvaari.fi/imagesproduct/1070_CCI23032011_000621052.bmp
Your Smokey the Bear jokes aren’t wasted on Canadians!
Hmmm…it says you change the toon twice a week. Guess I missed how to count those days. It is getting longer and longer between changes.
How sad. Your stuff is sooooo great. Especially the stuff using ancient Egypt 🙂
no i’m not american but I kno teh bear. it’s the infamous pedobear!