Albert and Pogo give some Christmas cheer today from Santa Claus Funnies #254, from 1949. At that time in the late ’40s Pogo and his Okefenokee pals had gotten a newspaper strip. The characters’ familiar appearances had finally been achieved by creator Walt Kelly, after a long period of development.
Just a reminder that there are only two more of Pappy’s postings before I slip off into retirement. I don’t mean to scuttle your otherwise pleasant holiday (depending on how you feel about this blog, that is), because I have a sense of nostalgia, both from Christmases past in my own life, and in the years since this blog has been appearing. I had a chance to show what I have loved all my life...comics!
Having said that, hoist your tankard of wassail; I shall raise my drink and across the miles we will all toast a “Merry Christmas!” together.
7 comments:
Happy Holidays Pappy!
Merry Christmas! I will be sorry when the blog ends, but I wish you a lovely retirement!
Retiring, as in bringing the blog to a close? I must have missed the announcement.
If so, sorry to see it go, but all things must end, etc.
Merry Christmas Pappy (and everybody)! Thanks for the one last Pogo, man. These never disappoint!
In the beginning, the comic strip Pogo was as agitated as the comic book. But the strip became calmer, though the characters still habitually spiralled into absurdity of one sort or of another.
I was lucky enough to encounter Pogo while Kelly was still alive, before it became history, and before it was bastardized in the alleged revival of 1989 through 1993. The most persistent effect of Pogo on me came from its verbal play. Decades later, I found myself saying or writing things taken from its vocabulary or modelled on its style.
Even as Fantagraphics has been reprinting the Pogo comic strips, Hermes has been reprinting the comic book stories. But the Hermes editions have been expensive and sometimes negligent.
Daniel, Mr Cavin, Gene, Will, Carla...I have been negligent in responding to comments, because it makes me feel somewhat depressed about quitting my blog. It means that there will likely not be any more comments for me to comment on. Fact is, you commenters are often much more insightful, knowledgeable and interesting than this commentee.
However, here are a couple of opinions about Pogo, because that was the subject of this Christmas posting. I liked the comic book Pogo more than the newspaper Pogo. I thought the comic book version funnier, more slapstick perhaps, than the newspaper Pogo. Some of it had to do with the age levels of readers they were meant to reach. I think Walt Kelly got caught up in the hip status his newspaper strip gave him. Kelly was adored by the college crowd for his liberal politics. So he did political satire. If a reader isn't familiar with American politics of the McCarthy era the strips don't have the same feel as they did during the early fifties. If Kelly were alive today he would be doing satire about Donald Trump.
As a collector with OCD I have all the Pogo reprint books, including the books with original material, along the lines of the Dell Comics, but for older readers. The volumes I recommend are Uncle Pogo's So-So Stories (1953) and The Pogo Stepmother Goose (1954), both published by Simon and Schuster.
Again, Kelly's ability to show comic action is unparalleled. So many panels of absurd action (usually Albert getting the bad end of things) in this. Just a beauty to read.
What's not a beauty is the end of this blog, but you shouldn't feel bad about it -- I've been reading for probably over a decade and this has been a great source of entertainment for me, so thank you for everything you've done!
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