Noah BEARS All: A Dozen Random Facts About Pooh vs Bambi
, by Noah Mitchell, 13 min reading time
Hello. Hi. 
I don't want to waste your time, so I'll cut right to the chase. A lot went into making our new Pooh vs Bambi comic book series. Each 22 page issue is jam-packed with so much content that the staples on the spine can hardly hold 'em together! We crammed so much stuff in there that the folks at Now and Zen personally asked me to type up a little featurette that delves into some of the different references, deep-cuts and homages that were included.
Truth be told, I think they were just tired of listening to me ramble around the office, and figured this would shut me up.
So, without any further delay, here is a bunch of stuff that you may or may not have caught while reading the first two issues. In case you HAVEN'T read #1 and #2 yet, first of all, what have you been doing?? Go read 'em right now! I'll wait...
Otherwise, please be advised, there are some LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!
1) Bumblebee Soldiers
Bumblebees are a staple of the original Winnie the Pooh series. Sometimes, you’ll just see the ‘lil bastards flying around in the margins of a page. The very first story in A.A. Milne's very first book follows the famous bear as he attempts to infiltrate a beehive, hoping to steal a small smackerel of their delicious golden honey. The first issue of our comic book series starts off the in exact same way. Well, maybe not in the exact same way, but you get the picture.
2) Pooh’s House
E.H. Shepard’s original illustrations for Winnie the Pooh depict his house as a large oak tree. It’s got an old-fashioned doorbell outfront, and a sign hung above the entryway that says “Mr. Sanders.” According to Milne, Mr. Sanders was the original tenant of Pooh’s home, and the sign is a remnant of his residency. In our comic book, everything is very much the same, however, the doorbell is now part of a trip alarm system, and Mr. Sanders' sign has been converted into graffiti.
3) Six Pines
When we catch-up with Pooh after years of inactivity, he’s found hiding away in the outskirts of a small town called Six Pines (as subtly indicated by the name of the bakery, “Six Pines Baguettes”). Six Pines is a location in Milne’s original novel; a small area within the Hundred Acre Woods. If I’m not mistaken, it also serves as the setting for the first story that features both Winnie the Pooh and Piglet together. I thought then that this would be an appropriate place for our versions of the characters to meet as well.
4) Pooh Quotes
There are a number of lines in the comic that act as an homage to the source material. Pooh's “Oh Bother” and Christopher Robin’s “Silly Old Bear” are two obvious examples, but there were some deep cuts that got intermixed with the text too. Towards the end of our comic, Pooh calls himself a “bear of no brain at all”. This is something Pooh actually says in the original books when he is putting himself down.
Another featured quote is when Bambi says “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?” If you type this phrase out in your Google search bar, the internet will tell you that it was said by A. A. Milne. However, that sentence does not appear ANYWHERE in his Winnie the Pooh series. In fact, there is a serious question as to whether or not it was even said by Milne to begin with. Out of all the characters, I think having Bambi be the one to deliver this line pushes it even further away from its point of origin, proudly continuing its legacy of bastardization.
5) Pooh and Rush
Personally, I never cared for Rush. I always favored the likes of Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath, incorrectly assuming that Geddy Lee and his fellow bandmembers did not have the necessary levels of chutzpah that I was looking for in my rock and rollers. However, after hearing the song “Working Man” for the first time ever, I went on to listen to the entirety of their 1974 debut album. I could not have been more wrong about them. 1974 is a certified SMASH. No Skips! I began my deep dive into their full discography around the same time that I started writing Pooh vs Bambi. I like to say that Pooh and I found Rush together.
The band is referenced twice in the first issue. On Page 13, Pooh is heard singing Working Man. I chose this song in particular because of the lyrics:
The second Rush easter egg can be found buried in the bottom of Pooh’s bug-out bag. Mixed in with his emergency hooch and the collected trinkets of his former life, we see a Walkman with a copy of Rush’s 1974 on cassette. I do have a full backstory written that explains how Pooh came to be in possession of this tape, and why he carries it around with him. However, that’s a tale for another time.
6) Predator Handshake
I watched A LOT of 80’s action movies to prepare for this book. When the Daves approached me with the story, it was always their intention to have it play out like a classic, shoot-em-up blockbuster. Personally, I’d say that Commando, Rambo, and Predator were big influences on me; Predator especially. There is a panel on Page 4 that’s a clear homage to the manly handshake shared between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers (RIP). I really wanted to sell the idea that these two he-men characters were brothers in arms, and what better way to show that than by recreating the hardest handshake ever seen in cinema? “You sonofabitch…”
Interestingly enough, that’s not the only movie this panel is referencing. If we wanted to get specific, this frame is also a nod to a movie that I made with my friends in high school: Jack Slate 3.5. There were several installments in our wonderfully low budget film franchise, but 3.5 in particular has a scene where our protagonist shakes hands with a colleague before discussing the possibility of a pincer strike. If my friends read this comic, I hope they catch the reference.
7) Piglet's Last Name
Did you know that Piglet has a last name? It's true. In Milne's original book, Piglet's property is depicted as having a broken sign in the front lawn that reads "Trespassers Will". Some unsuspecting readers might think that this is a sign made to discourage unwanted visitors, but as Piglet explains, it is actually the name of his grandfather, Trespassers William. This served as the basis for OUR Piglet's human name and lineage. I had originally intended for Trespassers himself to be mentioned in Issue #2, but we had to scrap the idea at the last minute. Who knows, maybe we might see him at some point in the future?
8) Pooh Sticks
Issue #2 starts with a flashback of Pooh and Bambi during the early days of their military career. To kill time, Bambi invents a game that involves both friends throwing a stick off of a bridge into a flowing stream This game is actually called Pooh Sticks, and it appears within Milne's original stories. Our heroes don't get a chance to finish their game, however; we never see who wins. I like to think that, when they meet up again years later, Pooh and Bambi's confrontation is an extension of this unresolved exhibition. But that's just me. 
9) The Animal’s Origins
On Page 6 of Issue #1, when Bambi is showing Pooh the contents of the manilla envelope, we can see that the photographs of them as babies are accompanied by the names of the places they were taken from. You’ll notice that Pooh was taken from the Queens Zoo in New York. My fiancé lived in the Flushing neighborhood for a while, and we went to the zoo there once on a date. We met some very nice seals and penguins, but I digress. Fun Fact: Pooh and Company have a permanent residency at the New York Public Library.
Bambi was taken from Zoo America, which is located in Hershey, Pennsylvania. This is the zoo that I used to visit with my family when I was a kid. It’s connected to Hershey Park, which is where I worked every summer in high school.
Eeyore is taken from a place called Aker Farms in New Jersey. This was a Dave Wohl contribution. I don’t know if Aker is a real place, or just a play on the name Hundred Acre Woods. Either way, I’m happy that our depressed and dismal donkey is from Jersey. It gives us a good representation of the surrounding tri-state area.
10) Music
I have playlists (that I won’t be sharing, sorry) for each of the main characters. It helps me when writing. Pooh’s playlist, as you can probably guess, is very Rush heavy. However, it also has a number of other tracks with tasty guitar licks. The way I see it, that’s Pooh’s real honey. He’s always out sniffing for songs with sweet solos and savory licks.Bambi’s playlist, on the other hand, is a lot of Public Enemy and N.W.A. Where Pooh is Rock, Bambi is Rap. It’s that simple. And SPOILER ALERT, their whole confrontation essentially boils down to the RUN DMC/Aerosmith music video.
Piglet’s playlist is in a world of its own. It’s got a lot of crazy electronic stuff with very, very specific sub-genres. However, let it be known that her favorite group is, and always will be, The Prodigy.
Roo’s music tastes are touched on briefly in Issue #3, and you’ll see that they are very different when compared to his mother’s (an act of subtle rebellion). Kanga is into Glam rock and Prog rock, respectively: Pink Floyd, T. Rex, Yes, and King Crimson to name just a few artists. Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Duke…
11) David Bowie
There are enough David Bowie nods to warrant an article of their own, so I’ll keep my mouth shut. However, I will take a moment to thank Jordi Tarragona for giving Kanga a Bowie t-shirt to wear. It depicts the Pierrot character from his album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), which I think is appropriate considering the type of inhabitants that Kanga keeps on her island.
BTW, Roo's shirt here is also a reference to something, but I'll let y'all figure that one out for yourselves. If ya know, ya know.
12) THE TEAM
Speaking of Jordi, he’s an incredible asset to the team, and his artwork is out of this world. It blows my mind that we can send him the craziest, goofiest ideas and he is able to bring them to life so perfectly. Suffice to say, the books would not kick nearly as much ass without his involvement. If you like his work, you can see more of it in some of these other titles:
A special shout out to our other resident Jordi, Mr. Perez, who helped out on Issue #3. He and Tarragona worked together just recently on Cinderella: Murder For All Seasons. He and I also collaborated on a short story in the GFT 2024 Valentine's Day Special.
Of course, Pooh vs Bambi would not exist without the brilliant top brass here at Zenescope Entertainment. Joe Brusha, Dave Franchini, and David Wohl built this story from the ground up. So much of their creativity went into the development of this series, and if you want to check out more of their content, here are some of my favorite things that they’ve written.
Pooh vs Bambi #1 - #3 can be purchased online, and found wherever quality comic books are sold. Hope you like 'em! Thanks for reading!
Comments
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Congrats on your first mini-series! I always enjoy learning about the creative processes that people use. I’m sure it must have been a real drag to have to watch all those action movies!