Bizzarro Comic Tales #4
Wow! Vegans beware...It's still pretty amazing that this Popeye comic by the great SEGAR(!) from October 1933 actually saw print, but it did. While the list of comic strip don'ts back then was a long and curious one, (ie: female skin showing, snakes, dirty socks) there was no real provision against depictions of animal cruelty. Oddly enough though, this Wimpy episode reportedly received the most mail of any strip that featured him...and amazingly all of it was positive! (Segar, worried about a backlash, had already written a letter of apology --then didn't even have to use it) Times sure have changed. Today you couldn't get a strip like this by the censors in a million years...and you'd have to be crazy to try! (In fact I'll actually be kinda surprised if I don't hear something weird back from running it today...but here goes...)
Prepare to be stunned --and no peeking at the end!
King Features Syndicate. Thanks to Bud Sagendorf for the image!
posted by C. Martin Croker at 4:54 PM
8 Comments:
Far out. Popeye was a little short sighted, eh, but still had a big enough heart to offer Wimpy a free burger. I kinda identify with Wimpy at the moment. "Remember the working man?"
11:07 PM
Well, "ya gots ta do what ya gots ta do," you know?
1:00 PM
Even when you see it coming, that last panel is something.
2:25 PM
That one part layin' there looks like the cows Wango! I guess ya wouldn't wanna eat THAT! Oh, wait, cows don't have no Wangos. Nevermind.
5:02 PM
I guess Dave's comment explains why he doesn't have a show on the Food Network.
9:44 PM
...an' lot more than that!! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!
11:44 PM
I saw this years ago in a book called "Popeye: the First 50 years" by former Segar assistant Bud Sagendorf (Bud took over Popeye in the 50's and drew the strip himself until the mid 80's.) According to Sagendorf, this strip almost didn't run. The editors at King Features syndicate were conflicted. Each editor took it to his boss and said "Should we run this?" This went on untill they asked William Randolph Hearst himself. It is said he looked at the strip, read it, and laughed. "It's funny!" he said. "Run it!"
Popeye is one of the greatest comic strips of all time.
2:14 AM
In the animated cartoons, Popeye would punch the attacking bull, sending it flying straight up into the air, invariably falling to earth as an attractively displayed presentation of steaks, roasts, and a string of sausages!
1:11 AM
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