Written and Illustrated by E.C. Segar
Introductions by Sergio Ponchione and Cathy Malkasian
Published by Fantagraphics Books
Fifteen years ago, Fantagraphics began their second and most successful attempt at reprinting Elzie Segar’s run on his most enduring creation, Popeye.
In a series of six beautifully designed oversized hardbacks with die-cut covers, scholarly texts by the likes of Bill Blackbeard and Jules Feiffer, and P-O-P-E-Y-E cleverly spelled out on the spines, readers were treated for the first time to a complete collection of all of the delightful daily and Sunday continuities with the legendary one-eyed sailor man and his pals and gal. The books were roundly lauded and applauded and deserved to stay in print, to become staples in libraries across the country.
Fifteen years wasn’t that long ago. I guess my question is…Why is Fantagraphics launching a new series with Popeye Vol 1: Olive Oyl and Her Sweety now rather than just bringing their previously pretty perfect reprint set back in new printings?
This new series is only offering the Sundays and there is no text info at all for those who’d like a little background. Newly added are a couple of seemingly random Popeye tribute strips, a pointless one by Cathy Malkasian, as well as a lovely, poignant, translated one from Sergio Ponchione.
Neither really have a place that I can see in a book of Segar reprints. Wanna do a Popeye tribute comic or book? I’d buy it. But why shoehorn these strips in here?
The actual Thimble Theatre strips, of course, are more than worth the price of admission as they are literally some of the very best story strips the medium has ever offered. By the time Popeye appeared, the strip was already a decade old and Segar was already at a peak in his storytelling and that most definitely shows.
So, no.
Can’t fault the bulk of the material here…but I can’t bring myself to recommend this book, either. If you want Segar’s Popeye, search out the previous sextet of volumes, not this.
