Yogi Bear Weekend Comics, January 1965

The song says “Yogi Bear is smarter than the average bear.” Sometimes, the song is right. Some good examples can be found in the Yogi newspaper comics published on Sundays 50 years ago this month. And during the first two weeks, we get natives from the Jellystone Reservation who omit verbs when they talk.

As usual, you can click on each comic to make it bigger.


January 3rd features a little panel to open the top row for a change. Yogi’s in excellent form in the silhouette panel in the middle row.


An alarm clock isn’t going to get you across the snow, is it? I don’t understand the logic of the deal in the January 10th comic. Notice how the lead dog is glaring at Yogi in the opening panel. The doggie expressions are good in all the panels, especially the last one; the ring of dogs is a nice idea.
No one listens to Boo Boo, do they?


Fine use of perspectives in the final panel of the January 17th comic. Yogi up front confiding in us, the angry animals and the bad guys further behind. It’s my panel pick for the month. The lettering in the first and second panels of the last row is great, too. Yogi doesn’t need a conscience or a ranger in this comic, so they’re both absent.


January is Polar Bear Swim time, so I imagine that’s what triggered the January 24th comic where the ranger gets outsmarted again (though he likely doesn’t know it, seeing he’s not in the final panel. Ranger Smith is “Joe” again. The “Ranger General” in the top row even has a military general’s stars. I don’t understand why military titles are used by the U.S. Park Service in these Yogi comics. Yogi has only two lines of dialogue, but he rhymes in both of them.


Yogi packs his own pic-a-nic lunch in the January 31st comic. Shouldn’t he be hibernating? Oh, yeah, there wouldn’t be a comic for about five months if that were the case. Boo Boo comes up with an amazingly obvious observation in the opening panel.

If you want to get a look at the bottom two rows in colour, pop over to Mark Kausler’s blog. Check out Felix and Krazy Kat while you’re at it.