I started working in comics retail in September of 1988, so this marks my 30th anniversary slinging the ol’ funnybooks. I wrote a little thingie marking the occasion over at my store’s website.
We interrupt our series of Death of Superman posts to talk about one of the artists of Death of Superman.
Going back to Monday’s post, the amazingly-handled LouReedRichards has this to say in the comments:
“You mentioned Jon Bogdanove, which made me think of something I’ve wondered about for quite awhile.
“His art seems to be disliked by a large number of fans, at least that’s the impression I’ve always gotten from responses I’ve seen online.
“I’ve always enjoyed his work, it has a life and vitality to it that many artist seem incapable of achieving.
“I never followed him on a monthly series, but I’m always happily surprised when I run across his work.
“His work seems criminally underrated. Is this a misconception on my part?”
As some of you may recall from around this period of Superman comics, there were three (later four, with the additional of Man of Steel) monthly titles coming out, effectively making the Superman books a weekly, with a new issue every seven days. (A fifth quarterly title, Man of Tomorrow, was added to fill the occasional fifth week in a month that would sometimes pop up.)
Jon Bogdanove was the regular artist for that Man of Steel series (with Louise Simonson on writing chores), and of the different teams that worked on each book, his style was maybe the most…non-house style-ish of the bunch? Now, I didn’t dislike his work, but if you asked me early on which of the four books was my least favorite, I probably would have said Man of Steel, partially because it was the odd-man-out in terms of how it appeared, but mostly because I was a dummy who didn’t know how to respond to something outside my narrow expectations.
I was definitely wrong in my stance, but I have a sense was there were others who felt the same way, probably for similar reasons (style doesn’t match the other books, and also people being dummies). No specific evidence for this, other than maybe seeing other fan comments in the ‘zines or perhaps even the lettercolumns of the Super-books themselves.
Now I know I’ve poked some gentle fun at Bogdanove’s work on this site before, with this bonkers Superman promo poster, but let the record show that I did come out in support of the man’s work in a following post. And like I say in that second post, his art is fun, stylish and energetic.
I don’t have the old store’s sales figures for the Superman line to do any comparisons. Yes, I know, logically, if the four (or five) titles effectively functioned as one serialized weekly comic, they should all sell the same, but believe it or not, that’s not how it worked, least not at our shop. (Action was probably the lowest selling, since it’s the one that doesn’t have “Superman” in the actual title.) I don’t remember anyone in our comic saver service excluding any specific Super-title from their lists…if they got one, they got ’em all.
So to sum up…Bogdanove’s work was fine, just (for me) took some getting used to because it looked so different from the other people who were generating Superman content. Actually, you know what Superman artist Bogdanove’s unique and fluid artwork reminds me of?
Joe Shuster.
…I’d say that’s pretty good company to be in.
Is he underrated? Yeah, sure, probably. Lots of comics artists are. That’s practically the definition of “comics artist” 99% of the time. And it doesn’t surprise me his art is getting some static from online commentators…online people don’t like anything.
Maybe some people don’t care for his work…as I said in this long-ago post, that’s fine, not everything is for everybody. But you, LouReedRichards, you and I, we’re Jon Bogdanove-liking buddies, and rest assured there are plenty of other fans out there who love his work as well, on the Superman titles and elsewhere.
images from Superman: The Man of Steel #0 (October 1994) by Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove and Dennis Janke; Superman: The Man of Steel #6 (December `991) by Simonson, Bogdanove and Janke; Superman: The Man of Steel #9 (March 1992) by Simonson, Bogdanove and Janke; Superman #1 (Summer 1939), reprinted in Famous First Edition #C-61 (March 1979) by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Oh, and I found yet another Death of Superman thing while looking up stuff for today’s entry, but it can wait ’til next time.
Reader Allan asks:
“I actually would like to hear your thoughts on the whole Knightfall/Quest/End saga if you haven’t already done so.”
Thiis is of course asked in response to my last post, where I once again talked too much about the death of Superman and wrapped it up with a partial scan for Knightfall pogs…er, “Skycaps.”
For the uninitiated, the whole Knightfall/Quest/End/Epilogue/Sorta-Sequel/Constant-Visual-References-to-Bane-Breaking-Batman hoohar involved Batman, in an event not at all inspired by dollar signs appearing in DC’s eyes with an accompanying “ka-CHING” sound after the Death of Superman took off, getting his back broken by new baddie Bane (pictured in that giant scan above), and then being replaced by Cyborg Superman new sorta-goodie character Azrael while he recovered. And then the whole Knightquest and Knightsend thing was about Bruce Wayne continuing to recover and eventually attempting to reclaim the Batman identity from Azrael, who turned out to not be tempermentally suited for the job, as I recall.
Okay, I don’t honestly know if Doomsday moneymoneymoney goosed DC along into having a similar situation involving Batman, as that scan above came from the same solicitation catalog as all that “Death of Superman” promotional material I featured last time. Granted, that was just introducing the Bane character, and I haven’t any idea if “the breaking of the Bat” was a planned thing at this point, or even planned to be as big a thing as it turned out being, taking over the Batbooks for as long as it did.
But whatever the reason, ’twas the season for replacing superheroes, I suppose, and Classic Batman was knocked out of the picture and New Coke Batman stepped in and that was that. Now, as to what I personally think about it…
…Well, to be honest, I really don’t have the memories or experiences of even particularly the interest in maintaining an informal history of sorts of the Knightfall event, like I’ve been with Superman’s temporary demise. Now, I read at least all of Knightfall (where Bane plans out, and eventually succeeds in, the defeat of Batman), and probably most of the following Knightquest series, but I’m about 97% positive that I checked out before the concluding Knightsend issues of the Batman comics had proceeded too far along.
Now, don’t get me wrong on the “interest” part. I don’t mean “I’m not interested in talking about this,” what I’m trying to say is “I wasn’t that interested in Batman to keeps tabs on or revisit the story.” I’m not even sure I have any particular retailing memories of the Knightfall event. I know the Vengeance of Bane comics still sell. I know this specific issue featuring you-know-what still has significant demand. And this one cover featuring Catwoman is always popular for…reasons.
Basically, most of my thoughts and memories surrounding this event is more involved with the decades-later back issue market aftermath, as well as the current semi-popularity of the trade paperback collections. I can very easily remember events of the day when Superman #75 was released. Couldn’t tell you a thing about what happened when Batman #497 came out. I mean, I know it sold well, but that’s pretty much it. No crazy rumors about issues selling for hugely-inflated prices, or about people buying copies by the truckload, or anything like that.
It’s weird that I’m drawing such a blank on it, but that’s just what happens, I guess. Death of Superman sticks out because that was the first really big EVENT I had to deal with upon entering the high stakes world of comics retail. Well, sure, there was the “vote to kill Robin” weird-ass promotion DC did, which I got behind the counter for just in time…I remember getting calls and questions about that. But that wasn’t a patch on Death of Superman, which was such an unusual event that memories of that were burnt into my brain’s ROM files, while the Knightfall shenanigans were just more high-selling comics in a boom market that lived in my brain’s RAM for a bit, until it got flushed out by the next thing I had to deal with.
I am surprised that we haven’t seen DC have a go at one of their animated movie adaptations of the storyline, though if the current “Death of Superman” multi-film series does well, “Knightfall The Cartoon” may not be long after. There was an episode of one of the Batman animated series which featured Bane, picking up some elements from the comics, but that’s pretty much it. Oh, and the live action movies, of course, where he appeared as Poison Ivy’s henchman in one, and then there was that other lesser film he was in.
Hmmm…okay, I probably still have a few more points to cover about all this, but I’m calling it a post for today, I’ll be back Friday with more excessive typing. Thanks for reading it, folks!
I miss Bibbo.
Bibbo is, of course, the rough-hewn but good-hearted sailor who turns up in the Superman family of books shortly after the Byrne reboot in the mid-1980s. He was a semi-regular member of the supporting cast for quite a while, though his funnybook appearances have declined to a far more sporadic occurrence of late. However, he’s made it into DC’s newest attempt at adapting the “Death of Superman” to animation, in the aptly-named DVD/Blu-ray/digital release The Death of Superman.
Now, as compared to the original animated movie (discussed on this very website a mind-staggering eleven years ago), it hews much closer to the original comics, though seen through the lens of DC’s semi-New 52-ish continuity they’ve been painting onto these direct-to-home-video releases over the last few years. And this is probably the closest we’re going to get to whatever the New 52/Rebirth version of “Death of Superman” is, as it apparently existed in the new continuity (and was referenced in this interminable storyline that I don’t remember anything about aside from the terrible cover designs). Of course, now with the merging of the post-Byrne/pre-Flashpoint Superman with the New 52/Rebirth continuity, the original “Death of Superman” story is probably back in play, more or less, and…ugh, look, don’t get me started.
Anyway, this new cartoon corrects the main error of the original cartoon adaptation, in that Superman dies (um, SPOILER?) and is just straight up gone until the next movie eventually rolls around sometime in 2019, as opposed to his being gone for a few minutes in that first cartoon and then popping back up again. So yes, there will be at least the real world illusion of Superman being “gone” as we all patiently await the sequel. Not quite as effect as with the actual comic book event, where the Superman books continuied without any Superman in them, and even that brief hiatus in publishing his titles for that summer…quite the shocking turn of events after being used to weekly installments for the character.
We’ll also be getting, in that aforementioned sequel, the replacement Supermen (Steel, Superboy, Cyborg Superman, The Guy with the Weird Glasses), so it’s following the comics’ lead there as well. Also, this new movie had regular Lex Luthor, not Lex’s-brain-in-a-younger-clone-body-pretending-to-be-his-Australian-son Luthor which is a real strange artifact of weird subplotting at the time of the original event. (But still amusingly referenced in the film as a disguise worn by Luthoer.)
Speaking of strange artifacts, this costume just gets more and more dated:
…and with any luck maybe the payoff of the sequel will be Superman’s return to his classic costume. It’s so much of Its Time, and will only be remembered when people look back at this era of comics entertainment and say “man, remember that lame costume Superman was in? Who approved that idea?” It’s the Superman mullet of the modern day. Though it would be hilarious if the mullet shows up in the sequel. Would be comics-accurate, after all!
Despite all that, the costume isn’t that much of a distraction. Superman’s innate heroism shines through the story, and that’s the important bit. The movie is very action-packed, though with sufficient character moments to keep it from being entirely a brutal slugfest. And speaking of that, the cartoon certainly conveys just how brutal the battle is, and how outmatched all the rest of the Justice League is in their own attempts at slowing down Doomsday.
Overall, a nicely done film, I thought, and I look forward to the follow-up. But…in that one impact, where Superman slams into Doomsday with Lois Lane standing right there…I mean, that should’ve killed Lois, right? All those shockwaves they showeed and such? Lois was pretty much right there at the point of impact. …Anyway, nitpicking.
The special features are…okay, I guess. I think I was hoping for more background on the actual original event in the documentary, which you get a little of, but mostly it’s talk about the film and adaptation of the story elements from the original comics. Lots of Jon Bogdanove in there. And I suppose the doc on the first Doomsday DVD kinda covered the comics end of things sufficiently.
You also get a preview of the next movie, the one with all the faux Supermen in it, and you get a couple of Legion of Super-Heroes episodes from the TV series, featuring those weird redesigns I didn’t care for.
But enough about “Death of Superman,” let’s talk about…”Death of Superman,” as, due to a bit of fortuitous timing, my former boss Ralph brought me another box or three of old comics promo stuff from Long-Ago Times for me to poke through. And whaddya know, there’s some Death of Superman stuff located within. Such as, for example, these ads for t-shirts from Graphitti Designs (which you’ll have to click to enlarge in order to read ’em clearly):
Where was I? Behind the counter selling the darn comics, or managing the giant line of customers snaking through the store, that’s where I was.
“Wait, we still have regular ol’ Superman shirts to sell! Uh oh, how do we sell ’em?”
“DRAPE THEM IN BLACK.”
[slaps forehead] “Of course!”
Also click to embiggen this, so you can see the tastefully-muted Bloody S:
“The only card line to capture this incredible event…those bastards at Topps tried to get Superman’s death into their hockey cards, but NO GO, AMIGOS.”
While on the topic of tastefulness, here’s a slick provided by the publisher for our advertising convenience:
I wonder if the people I saw with that Bloody S tattooed on their arms still have ’em? (If I remember correctly, at least one celebrity Bloody-S-tattoo-haver had it covered up or removed.)
And here we go, the actual solicitation information from DC Comics for Superman #75, the actual Death issue…first, the blurb from the Coming Comics catalog cover for items releasing in January 1993:
One of the few instances where the publisher wasn’t kidding when they said “oh, yeah, actual real world media may be interested in this, so order lots.”
And here’s the issue’s solicitation itself:
I seem to remember ordering ten times our normal Superman numbers on this…”that should be more than enough,” we thought.
Oh, and here’s DC’s own t-shirt solicitation:
“QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED to however many millions our factories are phyiscally able to crank out.”
The event of course was so big, other publishers referenced it in their catalogs:
So there you go, more Death of Superman stuff than you can possibly stand, the latest installment in a long line of me talking about the same damn thing over and over again. But of course I’ll talk about it again when that second “Death of Superman” cartoon finally comes out, so get ready for that!
Besides, what else am I going to talk about?
I mean, honestly.
Sluggambit brings tidings of woe.
…Well, maybe just a little woe. I’m taking the rest of the week off from the site, but I’ll be back next Monday with more of that comical-type talk that all the kids are into. In the meantime, you can find me in the usual spots (my store, Twitter, Instagram, cage-dancing at the local discotheque) so I’ll never be too far away. Besides, I just watched the new Death of Superman animated movie, so I’ve got even more Death of Superman chatter ready to send your way.
Thanks for reading, pals, and I’ll see you on Monday.
(Special thanks to Twitter pal Doubting_Tom for the Sluggambit image. Who doesn’t love Sluggambit?)
Geeking out.
So I just spent a lot of my bloggin’ time going through issue after issue of Swamp Thing comics, scouring the letters pages for a specific missive. Alas, still haven’t found what I’m looking for, but I did come across this letter in Swamp Thing #72 (May 1988) inquiring after infamous DC character Brother Power the Geek and his possible connection to ol’ Swampy:
And that was the definitive answer until Swamp Thing Annual #5 (by Neil Gaiman, Richard Piers Rayner, et al.) in, um, 1989, guest-starring you-know-who:
…where said The Geek was runnin’ around and wreaking accidental havok and basically evidencing abilities similar to Swamp Thing’s. In fact, one of Earth’s previous plant elementals shows up to explain:
So there you have it, Mr. Letter Writer from 1988. That annual from the far-flung future of 1989 tells you that yes indeed, the process was in motion to create a Hippie Elemental but was interrupted. Ah well, these things happen.
Also, while looking through all these Swamp Thing comics, this particular idea came to mind, so of course I put it on Twitter:
I think we can all agree this is something that should happen.
That really is an awful thing to say about Age of Ultron, but I really don’t mean it that way.
Just gonna keep this one short, since I need my beauty sleep…and if you’ve ever seen me, you know that’s true. Anyhow, I picked up the Avengers: Infinity War Blu-ray Tuesday night, partially on a whim, partially because my girlfriend requires ownership of all the recent Spider-Man cinematic appearances, and partially because I never did get to go see this while it was in theaters and I figured watching it at home with having to deal with the sounds and smells of other people sharing a room with me would be a preferred experience. This was the first of the current spate of Marvel movies that I didn’t catch in its original theatrical run, which feels a little weird…that comic collector in me, needing to keep my “run” complete, I suppose. I mean, I was there for the very first Marvel movie (starring Howard T. Duck, my friends), I’d hate to miss the rest. Though I missed Ant-Man and the Wasp, so that’s two, I guess.
So, the movie. I enjoyed it! Certainly liked it more than the previous Avengers film, which I didn’t much care for when I caught it at the local moviehouse. Though, I have to admit, over the last couple of years, as I’ve seen bits and pieces of Age of Ultron on television, I find that I seem to appreciate it more in smaller segments rather than as a whole. …There’s probably no good way to say “the less of it I see, the more I like it,” but that’s kinda sorta the case here. Maybe one of these day, when I somehow squeeze an eighth day during one of my forthcoming weeks, I’ll give the whole movie another go, beginning to end.
Okay. SO. THIS MOVIE. THE “INFINITY WAR” ONE THAT I ACTUALLY JUST WATCHED. I heard a lot about how folks were impressed that they managed to get so many characters into so many action sequences in this film without it feeling too crowded or complicated and…well, yeah. I can’t disagree. My problem with the previous Avengers flick is that it felt like we’d seen it all before, that the novelty of seeing a pile of superheroes onscreen was no longer there, and we didn’t get anything to replace that novelty to keep interest up. Here, the sheer amount of characters and the configurations in which they were placed brought a freshness to the proceedings. Even when it’s “CGI VERSUS CGI,” I was still invested enough in the story to buy in. The various plotlines were clearly told, the fights easy to follow (always a problem in this “hold the camera up close and shake it around a lot” era of action moviemaking), and pretty much every character that appeared was given something of significance to do. No draggy spots, either…it managed to keep the pace up without ever feeling like it was too much.
My only real complaint was that Thanos’s head was too long. And maybe he should have been a darker purple. THIS IS WHY YOU’RE NOT GETTING A “BEST PICTURE” OSCAR, PEOPLE.
In conclusion, I liked it just fine. Obviously there’s going to be a giant “reset button” resolution in the next film, undoing the rather dramatic events of this one. And I fully expect Chekhov’s Hulk to be fired at someone next time ’round, too. But I think overall it was a good showcase for the various elements of Marvel’s film franchise…which is kind of the purpose of superhero team-ups anyway, to sell folks on other superheroes. Maybe I’ll try to catch the next one in an actual movie theater…NO PROMISES.
“BRIAAAAANNNNN!!!” [shakes fist]
So this Twitter discussion with Pal Andrew got me nostalgic, in a way, for my days of comic collecting just prior to my frequenting dens of iniquity, er, I mean, comic shops…well, okay, same difference. Anyway, I was thinking back to my comic buying progression, from occasional purchases from grocery stores and newsstands, to buying those three-packs of Star Wars comics at Toys ‘R’ Us, to digging through stacks of old comics at used bookstores, to making the rounds on my bicycle of all the local convenience stores and that one nearby grocery store.
It was one day in 1983, while going to one of those convenience stores that was a little farther afield trying to track down an issue of something or other, that I ran into a friend of mine from school. I told him what I was up to, and he said “oh, you should check out Ralph’s Comic Corner, it’s a comic book store in Ventura, they should have what you’re looking for,” and thus did my long association with that store begin, leading to my evenual employment there, and of course to opening up my own store. So, should anyone ever ask how I ended up in my current situation, you can blame old schoolmate Brian Lindquist, wherever he may be now.
Not to say that Ralph’s was my first-ever comic shop. I visited one in Simi Valley prior to that, after having seen an ad or a coupon or something cluing me into its existence. That was a slightly further trek to make than the relative closeness of Ventura, so we didn’t go to that store very often (I think ultimately only about a half-dozen times, at most, including that one time I met Chris Claremont).
But, as I was saying, before delving deep into the world of THE DIRECT MARKET and all its horrors, I had various places around town that I’d hit up for comics, some relatively close, some requiring a little more of a journey, and you’d have to check them most of them out on a pretty regular basis to make sure you were seeing all the newest releases. The aformentioned grocery store usually had a pretty good selection, and, especially during the summer, more than once I’d show up on New Arrival Day just a little too early only to see the uncut bundles of comics sitting in a cart, waiting for some probably overworked employee to finally find the time to open ’em up and toss them on the rack.
The one place that was more of a “last resort” was a convenience store that was a little farther away than the rest, so I didn’t go there too often, especially since they inexplicably charged tax on comics (something that periodicals weren’t subject to in Califoria at the time), and even worse, sometimes the comics would have a price sticker directly affixed to the front covers! Eep! On the other hand, that particular shop was the one place I ever saw the Superman Spectacular out in the wild, which is still one of my favorite Superman stories, so I can’t think of it with too much disdain.
The best place in town to get comics was a place deep in Oxnard called the Strand Newsstand, which had pretty much everything. Tons of magazines, lots of paperback books, the extensive porn wing, and, of course, multiple spinner racks of comical books. Once I started going there (and we went there weekly, both my dad and I), my need to circulate amongst the other convenience stories pretty much declined (though I’d still pop in once in a while to tide me over between Strand visits). The weird thing about this newsstand, which has me wondering about their distributor situation, is that they’d occasionally get stuff that primarily would go through the comic shop direct market. PC Comics, such as Groo and the Berni Wrightson Master of the Macabre, I found there. Fanzines like The Comic Reader. The first issue of Don Rosa’s Comics & Stories. The Comics Journal. And they seemed to get things a little bit earlier than my other funnybook sources, too.
Whatever the reason for their comic stocking advantages, this store became the place for me to get my regular comics fix…even after discovering Ralph’s Comic Corner, this place was still closer to us and I split my purchases between both shops. Eventually, I did more or less fully migrate over to just buying from Ralph’s, especially once I started seeking out back issues.
A lot of those places I used to buy from have since closed up shop, or stopped carrying comics…presumably for reasons unrelated to my no longer visiting them. It’s certainly a lot easier for me now to stay on top of gathering the comics I want to read, since all I have to do is wait for them to show up at my store after I order them. (I mean, theoretically, given the usual vagaries of our supplier.) Definitely more convenient, but somewhat…lacking in the mystery and excitement I used to feel traveling from shop to shop wondering what will be there, what new comic will I discover, what new stories will I hardly be able to wait to get home to read.
Yes, I know Tumbleweeds is done.
So Dave Carter of Earth sez in response to my last post, he sez
“I wonder if kids these days get exposed to Popeye like we did when we were young? I mainly learned the basics of Popeye mythology (Popeye, Olive, Swee’Pea, Bluto/Brutus, Wimpy, spinach, etc.) though the cartoon, which ran on a local UHF station. But I’m not aware of any way a kid these days would encounter Popeye unless it is purposely placed in front of them by an adult-type.”
…And yeah, that was something I was wondering about myself the other day. Well, in sort of a roundabout way, I suppose. I was wondering if we would ever see, arising from the newspaper funny pages, a strip that would achieve the near-universal recognition and/or influence of, like, Garfield, or Peanuts, or Dilbert, or even Popeye.
I mean, sure, it’s not like the strips can’t be found, and even if people don’t have newspaper subscriptions, which nowadays is more and more likely, the comics can always be found online at the various syndication websites. But there that requires readers to go and seek the strips out, versus the strips coming into your home every day with the latest copy of the Oxnard Press-Courier (or your local equivalent). Near effortless daily access for readers of all ages compared to a readership comprised of at least slightly tech-savvy folks (or at least with tech-savvy relatives to show ’em how to get the new Marvin)…there’s going to be some attrition.
And not to mention selection…the latter group won’t be getting the full page or two of every strip in the paper, where they’ll at least be aware of Tumbleweeds, probably spending the couple of seconds to read it even if they don’t like it. Instead they’d likely pick and choose which strips they want to follow…no inadvertently scanning over strips they didn’t want to read, no basic knowledge of the strips they don’t see.
I’m making a lot of assumptions here. My thesis here essentially boils down to “comic strips aren’t the universal experience they used to be,” which I don’t think can be too heavily argued against, even if the reasons for this are up for debate. Is there going to be another licensing juggernaut like Garfield that spawns out of the traditional newspaper strip format? Or even from web-only strips? Surely there will be some marketing success with other strips, but only if they make it into other media, and not nearly on the scale of a slothful orange cat or a neighborhood filled with neurotic children.
Anyway, we were talking about Popeye. Popeye, of course, was immensely popular nearly from the get-go, with his introduction in the comic strip in 1929, and the famous cartoons, and, inexplicably, the chicken restaurant (RIP that tie-in license, by the way). But now, in 2018, like Dave said above, it seems like the number of opportunties for kids to learn about Popeye are drastically reduced.
The comic strip runs reruns of old Bud Sagendorf dailies, while still producing new Sunday strips by Hy Eisman. I don’t know how many subscribing papers Popeye has, but it can’t be too many, possibly only a fraction of the number it held in its heyday. You know, like almost every other strip.
The cartoons, which seemed ubiquitous on TV in my youth, have been relegated to the specialty channels. Not sure how often they’re shown, or what the viewership is, but certainly the numbers are lower there too.
And I don’t know how many kids are stumbling across the Official YouTube Popeye Channel…maybe some, I’m sure. Oh, and don’t forget the popular attraction in Malta built around the still-standing sets for the 1980 Popeye movie that starred Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall.
I admit some bias…I don’t see Popeye on TV or in the paper or just by happenstance over the course of my day (well, yes, except at the store), so I’m assuming nobody does. When I see anything Popeye-related, it’s when I seek it out…like renting the archival DVDs of the original cartoons from Netflix, or watching, like I did very recently, that 1980 live action adaptation (short review: beautifully designed, wondefully cast, stupefyingly presented), or buying a specific issue off the eBay.
As it turns out, when I received that very Popeye comic in the mail at the shop, my niece (who used to be the 10-year-old niece I’d occasionally mention on this site and who is now my 21-year-old niece, in case you needed another shove towards the grave) happened to stop by to say hello. I said “hey, look what I got in the mail!” and she replied “hey, Popeye!” so she definitely knew who the character was. A while later, thinking about what Dave said, I asked her about how she knew about Popeye. Her reply was that, when she was younger, her dad’s parents would sometimes let her read her dad’s comics from when he was a kid, which included the adventures of our favorite gazookus which hates all palookas. And she would see Popeye cartoons on the very same cable network I’d linked above while pooh-poohing its viewership.
So, you know, it’s Popeye. He’s too tough to be forgotten, and he’ll find a way to connect with kids somehow. Maybe the audiences aren’t are huge and widespread as they once were, and it’s not as easy to just happen across any of his material, but he and Olive and Wimpy and Bluto (and Brutus) are all still hanging in there, waiting for that next child eventually to discover what E.C. Segar created for all of us so long ago.
I would absolutely wear Charlton-branded clothing if such a thing existed.
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:
Alas, ’twas not the case, which means this comic I talked about a while back still stands as the only definitive fictional biography of the one-eyed (or is he) sailor man.
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!
The Bluto/Brutus name mix-up is referenced:
…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.