Pappy's Tenth Anniversary Sunday Special Number 2: Peter Wheat #1 by Walt Kelly

We are celebrating Pappy’s tenth anniversary with a series of Sunday postings this month. Today Adventures of Peter Wheat #1, the first of a series of bread company giveaway comics by the masterful Walt Kelly.

To the best of my (admittedly leaky) memory I have never seen an actual paper issue of this series. I have the copies that kind souls have scanned and that I have downloaded from the Digital Comics Museum (thanks, guys!) They came out in the late 1940s and early '50s, the first 35 by Kelly, the rest of the series by Del Connel and artist Al Hubbard (whose work looked a lot like Kelly’s and is an artist I think is underrated).

Today we have the first one, published in 1948 for the Bakers Associates, Inc. by Dell, and it is all Kelly, front to back. If Kelly ever wrote about this project I haven’t read it, and I wonder if he was given carte blanche to create characters and storylines. It has the distinctive art Kelly is known for, but not the humor. This postwar comic is about an ongoing war between the good guys and the bad guys, and bad guys who sometimes act like good guys. It was aimed at children, after all. It takes place in miniature, in a forest setting, perfect for Kelly's facile imagination and drawing style.

Number 1286: Christmas with Peter Wheat

It’s Christmas Eve, and ol' Pappy wanted to put something in your stocking. So here's an episode of the Bakers Associates giveaway comic, Peter Wheat, done by the super-talented Walt Kelly.

Enjoy, and I’ll see you in a couple of days. Merry Christmas, all!

From The Adventures of Peter Wheat #29 (1949):

Postino's blog, Insomnia Notebook, posted a Walt Kelly classic that's close to my heart: "How Santa Got His Red Suit".

Number 999


Such a treat was Peter Wheat!


Pogo creator, Walt Kelly, created The Adventures of Peter Wheat for Bakers Associates, which gave away a 16-page comic book every couple of months beginning in 1948. That year was a busy time for Kelly, as he was art director of the short-lived New York Star newspaper, and developed Pogo as a newspaper comic strip. After the Star folded the Hall Syndicate took Pogo nationwide, and Kelly rose to new heights of fame.

Kelly drew (and presumably wrote) Peter Wheat until 1955, when he left the comic in the hands of Al Hubbard. Artwork on the comic seems somewhat rushed, but that's understandable considering what projects Kelly had going on at the time. It's still a charming comic book, designed for young readers.

This story is from The Adventures of Peter Wheat #7, 1948: