E. C. Segar (1894–1938)

Pat and I went to a big show of comic art a few years ago that included original stuff by E.C. Segar. I liked them so much that I asked him to get me this collection, and over the years he got me all six volumes. In 1919 the strip, Thimble Theatre, featured Ham Gravy and Olive Oyl, then Olive's brother Castor was added and most of the 1920s stories were about his get rich quick schemes. When he needed to take his luck-bestowing African Whiffle Hen to an island casino in order to win show more millions, he hired Popeye to sail the boat, and the latter was such a colorful character that he took over the strip.
I finally started reading and it's hilarious. The humor is surreal and dry, absurd and charming. I'm loving it, and haven't forgotten that Popeye on TV cartoons was one of my first childhood crushes. show less

Muy buena selección. Las páginas no llegan al nivel de las protagonizadas por Popeye, pero muestran un gran nivel, especialmente las del periodo 1928-1930 y la larga aventura en el desierto, donde Segar crea excelentes páginas y da grandes ejemplos del humor surrealista que caracterizaba su obra.

The first years of the Sunday "Thimble Theatre", featuring Popeye the Sailor Man, with a "Sappo" strip at the top. Introduces Popeye, Olive Oyl, Sappo and Castor Oyl. I actually find the strip rather unpleasant and amateurish. The art is poor, the humor is weak or based on Popeye's shifting violence and generosity, and the people swing between kindness to the weak, and gratuitous violence and cruelty. Lord knows how the strip was so popular for so long, unless it mirrored the readers' own show more flaws and foibles. Foreword by Jules Feiffer. show less

Being a nice selection of Popeye strips with some other extraneous illustrations and running historical commentary. This is a good start for Popeye fans, though since this came out, there have been some more complete runs published. This has considerable information that they lack, though.