Review by Karl Verhoven

Winnie the Pooh and his cast are commonly associated with classic children’s literature via the novels of A. A. Milne, and animation, yet he’s also been a Disney comics standby. Despite a seven year run in his own comic, since 1984 he’s been welcomed more in Europe than the USA. David Gerstein’s lovingly curated collection spans 1977 to 2007 and encompasses movie adaptations, short gag strips, newspaper strips and material produced for comics, presenting a broad overview.

The collection opens with Didier Le Bornec’s 1998 adaptation of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the 1977 movie introducing the Hundred Acre Wood cast to American audiences. Le Bornec obviously has the film as reference, but capturing the delightful personalities is nonetheless no simple task and it’s achieved with a bumbling Winnie the Pooh, a hyperactive Tigger and the calming presence of Christopher Robin. It’s the most pure cartooning in the entire book.

It’s followed by a selection of stories from the 1970s, written by Jim Fanning, Don Ferguson and Vic Lockman with art from Pete Alvarado, Carlos Grangel, Sparky Moore and Rubén Torreira. Gerstein’s section introduction would have it that they’re similar in tone to Milne’s short stories, which isn’t the case. They’re more frenetic, with the writers by and large concocting standard comedy misunderstandings and fitting the characters into them instead of devising plots stemming from the characters. Fanning is the exception. Winnie the Pooh saying “I’m inspecting the snow very closely Piglet” could be a situation devised by Milne along with the dialogue. The most distinctive artist is Carlos Valenti, bringing considerable atmosphere to Fanning’s story of a rainy day, but it’s his sole contribution and the sample art from Rubén Torreira is more representative of the era.

Purists might object to the introduction of inefficient knight Sir Brian to the American material, apparently at the insistence of editor Sylvan Byck. Despite being sourced from a Milne poem, Sir Brian brings nothing necessary, and he and his accompanying dragon, not a Milne creation, are stock comedy characters.

As the other two sections have been introduced, it’s strange the late 1970s material leads straight into stories first published in Finland without any explanation. Kari Korhonen both writes and draws ‘The Best Piglet Around’, but thereafter provides scripts for more distinctive artist Fernando Güell. These are weak stories that look charming, but are derivative by design with plots resembling better known work.

The characters are timeless and connect with new generations, and youngsters reading this will be unconcerned with critical commentary in the face of so much delightful art. The Tiggerific Comic Collection follows in time for Christmas 2026.