Number 1389: Enter Albert and Pogo

Any ardent Pogo fan can tell you Walt Kelly’s familiar character did not spring forth from his creator’s forehead fully formed. Rather he was developed over time. As you can see in this, the first appearance of both Albert Alligator and Pogo Possum in Animal Comics #1 (1942), they were hardly recognizable as to what they would someday become. No matter. The Kelly humor is here, and while the Pogo characters went through an evolution, Kelly was as talented in his beginnings as he was at the end of his career, which came with his death in 1973.

I’m also showing another Kelly strip from the same issue of Animal Comics. “Muzzy and Ginger,” is a more typical funny animal strip.

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Number 1182: “Chilluns ought to be seed and not hearn!”

I like to think if there's an afterlife, perhaps Walt Kelly and Lewis Carroll are talking to each other in their own funny versions of the English language.

Other Kelly Pogo postings on this blog include “Floyd the Flea is lost at sea!” from Pappy's #756, “A couple of miles of jollity,” from Pappy's #567, and “Cinderola and the Three Bears” from Pappy's #483.

From Pogo #2 (1950), by Walt Kelly:

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Number 756

"Floyd the flea is lost at sea!"


Time for another dee-light, a treat from Walt Kelly. Presenting "How Come That Showboat?" f'rom Pogo Possum #1, 1949.

We showed the first story from this issue in Pappy's #674.

Also, above's a pitcher'a ol' Walt, his own natural born self!

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While we're highlighting Walt Kelly and Pogo today, it's a good opportunity to slip in a recommendation for yet another great comics compilation from Craig Yoe, just released: The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics, a treasure chest of rare comic book art, much by some of the underappreciated geniuses of the industry.

That's not to say all the artists are underappreciated. There's a Carl Barks story (Barney Bear and Benny the Burro), and a Walt Kelly tale from Fairy Tale Parade. Basil Wolverton shows up and even, yes! Jack Kirby with a couple of rare funny animal strips. But Yoe has reached down into that treasure chest for the nuggets of gold hiding under the rest of the booty (I promise, I will give up this pirate metaphor right now). John Stanley and Harvey Kurtzman are shown, represented by strips that are anything but typical of their later work. Basil Wolverton is shown with a strip very representative of what we love about Basil. Artists whose names aren't quite as well known by comics fans are Ha-Ha and Giggle artists Dan Gordon, Ken Hultgren and Jack Bradbury, New Yorker and children's book artist/author Syd Hoff with a 1950 comic book story compiled from his "Tuffy" strips. Other talents include Jim Tyer, Vince Fago, Otto Messmer, Howard Post, Jules Feiffer, Andre LeBlanc; more artists than I can list here. Yoe's eye for great cartooning is impeccable, and since virtually all of these cartoonists are now gone, their work must be made available to a new generation of comic fans.

As far as I can tell, Craig Yoe is working on a four-foot shelf of beautiful, sturdy and permanent books of comic art, mainly comprised of stories and artists we don't see all the time. Nothing like these stories he reprints is being done right now. The artists of that time came from a background of animation, the Depression, World War II, and the hardscrabble life of working anonymously, yet still putting in their best work. In what was considered a disposable medium, none of the artists expected people who weren't then even born to be looking at the work decades later with nostalgia and awe.

Highly recommended.

The Golden Collection of Klassic Krazy Kool Kids Komics, edited by Craig Yoe. IDW, Publisher, 2010. 8 3/4" x 11 1/4", 304 pages. Laminated board covers. $34.95. Available from Amazon.com, and Bud Plant.

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Number 567


A Couple of Miles of Jollity


It's the end of July. I'm stepping on my tongue; it's scorching, dog days. It's a good time to wrap up the month with some relief, a cool and breezy story by the master, Walt Kelly, from Pogo #8, 1953.

See you-uns in August!

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