So anyway, I came across a picture of this cover somewhere online and decided right then and there I had to have it:
Now, I may have mentioned at some point that I’m a fan of the Charlton Comics era of Popeye comics, from the late ’60s into the ’70s, and I tend to keep ’em for myself on the rare occasion one happens my way in a collection. However, this issue, I just couldn’t wait for the tides to drop one on my shores…I sailed out into the internets and netted my very own copy.
What I was hoping for was what was seemingly implied on the cover…”the story of Popeye” as in “the life story” with at least several pages devoted to his adventures when he looked like this:
What we actually get in this here funnybook is a little more literal delivery on the cover blurb, in which the actual origins of Popeye in the comic strips is explained:
…and briefly mentions the supporting characters;
…but it sort of glosses over the fact that Popeye had appeared in a strip that had already been running about ten years by the time he showed up. And that Olive wasn’t just “there at the beginning” of Popeye’s introduction, but preceding his appearance entirely. Darn your lackadaisical scholarship, nearly-50-year-old Charlton comic!
…though the name “Bluto” isn’t actually mentioned, but I’m sure a kid interested enough in Popeye to read comics about him probably knew it from the original cartoons.
After another page covering more characters and relationships (such as Wimpy, and the Jeep), we get this great full-page splash of artist George Wildman drawing himself surrounded by the various denizens of this series of Popeye:
…wearing of course the official Charlton Comics work shirt issued to all employees of the company at the time. Writer Joe Gill even gets a namecheck for himself in there, which is a nice reminder that this comic wasn’t the one-man show I’d assumed. And that’s pretty much it for “The Story of Popeye,” as the next three pages are a short…um, well, Popeye story where Brutus abducts Olive and Popeye goes to the rescue and there’s fisticuffs and mayhem and it’s pretty much just a small, simple quintessential example of what Pipeye, Peepeye, Poopeye and Pupeye’s uncle is all about.
Again, that last splash is a wonderful drawing…I’ve written before about how the Charlton Popeye will, despite its apparent simplicity, occasionally surprise you with its artistry. I was hoping there would be some eventual comprehensive reprinting of this run, like the recently concluded IDW series featuring the Bud Sagendorf comics, but I guess there just isn’t enough money in it. That’s a shame, because the world could always use more recovery of classic cartooning, and not just have it relegated to the forgotten back issue bins and dusty attics of history where only oddballs like me can appreciate it.
from Popeye #108 (June 1971) by Joe Gill and George Wildman
Wow, there’s like room for almost another cover in there. Wonder what happened…artist drew pic at the wrong dimensions? Didn’t want to lose the mini-Dino insert at the edge of the cover (necessary for easy rack identification if comics were overlapped on newsstands)? Given that it was Charlton, just plain nobody cared? Who knows? But it certainly grabbed my attention, so that cover definitely did its job and who am I to question it?
So the Great Gazoo is, well, showing off to Fred and Barney about how he knows what life is going to be like in the future of the Flinstoneverse. Well, yes, we all know that the Flintsoneverse eventually evolves into, and crosses over with, the Jetsonverse, and that at some point the Flintstones and the Rubbles travel through time to visit the 1964 World’s Fair, so Fred and Barney should be no strangers to time travel. But when Gazoo offers them a peek into tomorrow, Barney chickens out and settles for asking Fred to get him a present:
Or perhaps Barney didn’t trust that rickety ol’ time travel machine. Or Barney recalls those other time travel adventures and figures enough’s enough…assuming this story takes place after those stories, and that anyone remembers anything about whatever time travel adventures they did have…man, I don’t know. Time travel is complicated.
Anyway, Fred and the Great Gazoo zip into the 20th century, and Fred sees things like airplanes and cars and boats and supermarkets and dancing and other things I’m pretty sure existed back in Fred’s time, only not quite as dinosaur and / or foot-powered. However, I find Fred’s reaction to this particular future invention to be somewhat realistic:
And then Fred wonders about this other modern innovation:
Well, despite the fact that Fred obviously didn’t care for all that smoke, when it came time to pick a little gift to bring back to the past and share with Barney, guess what Fred chose?
Hmmm…that’s not quite the attitude Fred and Barney had about smoking early on!
Of course, modern days smokes are probably a little more potent, and likely too overwhelming for caveman lungs. You may want to consult a scientist for further information about this topic…the topic, of course, being smoking cavemen, time-traveling aliens, and, um, man and dinosaurs coexisting, which really doesn’t come up in this story, but let’s face it, that needs some explaining.
That face in the second panel looks very familiar to me, for some reason. No, no, not because I used to hang with guy…I’m just suspecting there was some photo-referencing going on.
Anyway, thank you for enjoying Charlton Comics week…sort of an unannounced Low Content Mode for the site, I realize, but I needed a brief bit of time off. Back to normal next week…I hope!
