Boris the Bear

Last updated
Boris the Bear
Boris the bear01.jpg
Publisher Dark Horse Comics
Creative team
Creators James Dean Smith
Mike Richardson
Original publication
Date of publication1986–1991 (original run) 2007 (revival)
LanguageEnglish

Boris the Bear is a fictional comic book character featured in several comic book titles published between 1986 and 2008. [1] The series began as a response to the popularity of the wave of anthropomorphic animal titles that began with the publishing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1984. [2] That title, itself a parody of popular comic books at the time such as Daredevil , inspired numerous knock-offs and parodies like Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters , Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos, Mildy Microwaved Pre-Pubescent Kung Fu Gophers and Geriatric Gangrene Jujitsu Gerbils which led to what many refer to as the Black-and-White Boom of the mid-1980s. The Boris character started as bear who was tired of these comic books and decides to kill them in a hyper-violent style reminiscent of 1980s films such as Rambo . After the first issue, Boris the Bear continued to fight parodies of the Transformers, Marvel Comics, Swamp Thing, and Elfquest before moving on to more character-driven stories.

Contents

Publication history

Starting in July 1986 and created by James Dean Smith and written by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley, [1] Boris the Bear was the second title published by Dark Horse Comics. Telling the story of an anthropomorphic bear, who is soon revealed to be a robot, the book parodied many other comic book characters while also satirizing the comic book industry as a whole. Often extremely violent, the book was a black comedy that developed a cult following. The title also served as the introduction to Wacky Squirrel, created by Mike Richardson and Jim Bradrick, who gained his own popularity and went on to star in his own series and specials published by Dark Horse.

Early issues of Boris the Bear centered on parodies of industry trends at the time. For example, the first issue, titled Boris the Bear Slaughters the Teenage Radioactive Black Belt Mutant Ninja Critters features Boris disposing of characters resembling the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Usagi Yojimbo, Cerebus the Aardvark, the Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, Hamster Vice, and others in an extremely violent matter. The trend continued through the early issues of the title with Boris confronting or parodying characters resembling the Transformers, the heroes of the Marvel Universe, Swamp Thing, Batman, and Elfquest. It was not long before Boris even met the actual T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.

The popularity of Boris led to two early appearances in the third and fourth issues of the first volume of Dark Horse Presents as well as full color reprints of the first three issues of his own book, under the title, Boris the Bear Instant Color Classics. The character's popularity also led to parodies of Boris himself and “revenge” stories appearing in titles such as Blackthorne Publishing’s Laffin’ Gas, Slave Labor Graphics' Samurai Penguin and Eclipse Comics’ Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters .

In 1987, a disagreement with Dark Horse, over the direction of the title, convinced Smith to take Boris back from Dark Horse after the twelfth issue, and begin self-publishing the book under his own Nicotat Comics banner. The book picked up with the thirteenth issue, one month after the departure from Dark Horse. Nine months later, Nicotat introduced what was intended to be an ongoing second title, Boris’ Adventure Magazine. The original Boris continued to parody other comic books, although in a less vicious way, while also maturing into more of a somewhat serious adventure title. As the title changed and the book began shipping more and more infrequently, readership dropped and sales decreased. Eventually, despite Smith having the title plotted through the fortieth issue, Nicotat ended its run with the thirty-fourth issue in November, 1991.

In 1992, Boris briefly returned to Dark Horse with a short story in the sixty-fourth issue of Dark Horse Presents.

In July, 1996, Nicotat returned to the Boris character with a second issue of Boris’ Adventure Magazine. The title ran bi-monthly for two more issues, through November, 1996. Solicitations for the fifth and sixth issues were sent to retailers but the actual issues were never published. The book was officially canceled in 1997.

In April, 2007 James Dean Smith began self-publishing again under the name Oasis Comics. Smith handled writing, art, lettering, editing and production chores on a brand new Boris the Bear title that began with a new first issue. Boris The Bear: A Fall Into Spring Special followed in 2008. That same year, Smith announced that he was working on a Boris the Bear online comic strip, as well as a new one-shot comic book titled Boris the Bear: Pissed but neither of these projects materialized.

Related Research Articles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, commonly abbreviated as TMNT, is a media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers trained in ninjutsu who fight evil in New York City. Supporting characters include the turtles' sensei, a rat called Splinter, their human friends April O'Neil and Casey Jones, and enemies such as Baxter Stockman, Krang, and their archenemy, the Shredder.

<i>Usagi Yojimbo</i> Comic book series by Stan Sakai

Usagi Yojimbo is a comic book series created by Stan Sakai. It is set primarily at the beginning of the Edo period of Japanese history and features anthropomorphic animals replacing humans. The main character is a rabbit rōnin, Miyamoto Usagi, whom Sakai based partially on the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Usagi wanders the land on a musha shugyō, occasionally selling his services as a bodyguard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alternative comics</span> Independent comic publications

Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which in the past have dominated the American comic book industry. Alternative comic books span a wide range of genres, artistic styles, and subjects.

Comic book collecting is a hobby that treats comic books and related items as collectibles or artwork to be sought after and preserved. Though considerably more recent than the collecting of postage stamps (philately) or books (bibliophilia), it has a major following around the world today and is partially responsible for the increased interest in comics after the temporary slump experienced during the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Eastman</span> American comic book artist and writer

Kevin Brooks Eastman is an American comic book writer and artist best known for co-creating the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peter Laird. Eastman was also formerly the editor and publisher of the magazine Heavy Metal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Dringenberg</span> American comics artist

Mike Dringenberg is an American comics artist best known for his work on DC Comics/Vertigo's Sandman series with writer Neil Gaiman.

<i>Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters</i>

Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters is a creator-owned American funny-animal parody comic book series created by Don Chin. It was one of a number of parodies of Mirage Studios' hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, itself a parody of popular eighties comics such as Frank Miller's Daredevil and Ronin; others included Naive Inter-Dimensional Commando Koalas and Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Zulli</span> American artist

Michael Zulli is an American artist known for his work as an animal and wildlife illustrator and as a comic book illustrator.

<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures</i> American comic book series

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures is an American comic book series that was published from August 1988 to October 1995 by Archie Comics. The series, which was aimed at a younger audience than other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics at the time, ran for 72 issues. In addition, there were numerous annuals, specials, and miniseries.

<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i> (Mirage Studios) American comic book series

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) is a comic book series that was published by Mirage Studios between 1984 and 2014. Conceived by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, it was initially intended as a one-shot, but due to its popularity it became an ongoing series. The comic created the Turtles franchise of five television series, seven feature films, numerous video games, and a range of toys and merchandise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Brown (comics)</span>

Ryan Brown is a comic book writer and artist and toy designer best known for his work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the animated series Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa.

Stephen Murphy is an American comic book writer and editor known for his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. With Michael Zulli, he was co-creator of the critically acclaimed 1980s independent comic The Puma Blues.

This article lists major events in the field of comics during the 1980s.

Keith Champagne is an American comic artist, who has also moved into writing, and is known for his work at DC Comics.

Wing or Wings, in comics, may refer to:

Sophie Campbell is a comic writer and artist known for her indie comics such as Wet Moon and Shadoweyes, and for her art on the Jem and the Holograms comics, as well as IDW Publishing's ongoing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series. She primarily writes and draws characters who are adolescent or young adult women, including various races, body types, sexual orientations, and abilities. In 2019, she became the lead writer of IDW's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for which she designed the character Jennika.

The Image Universe (IU) is a fictional universe in which some of the stories published by Image Comics take place. It was introduced in the early years of the publisher, shared by the various creators who formed the Image partnership. The independent, creator-owned nature of their work led to limited interaction between their characters, and little coordination of the Image Universe as a shared setting, with the primary versions populated by a number of superheroes/villains, including Supreme, Invincible, Omni-Man, Spawn, Angela, Atom Eve, the Dragon, Gert, Bomb Queen, and Witchblade, as well as incarnations of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</i> (IDW Publishing) Ongoing American comic book series

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an ongoing American comic book series published by IDW Publishing. Debuting in August 2011, the series is part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles media franchise created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird and was the first new comic incarnation of the Turtles to debut after the franchise's sale to Nickelodeon in October 2009. It is the fifth comic book series in the franchise's publication history and serves as a reboot of the franchise's story and characters.

References

  1. 1 2 "Boris the Bear". Dark Horse Comics.
  2. ↑ Rovin, Jeff (1991). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals. Prentice Hall Press. p. 33. ISBN   0-13-275561-0 . Retrieved 8 April 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.