Pogo (Comic Strip) - Sampling, 1942-1973 {WebComixFan}

"POGO" Comic Strip

"Pogo" by Walt Kelly was one of the most popular newspaper comic strips of the 1950s and '60s. It combines sophisticated wit and slapstick physical comedy in a heady mix of allegory, literary whimsy, puns and wordplay, lushly detailed artwork and broad burlesque humor. The same series of strips can often be enjoyed on different levels by both young children and savvy adults. Early versions of Pogo Possum and Albert Alligator first appeared in issue #1 of Dell's "Animal Comics" comic book in 1942. By 1949, Pogo had his own comic book title, which ran until 1954, and was also featured in a nationally-syndicated daily comic strip, which was published until 1975. "Pogo" is set in the Georgia section of the Okefenokee Swamp. The strip's characters are sardonic reflections of human nature: often venal, greedy, confrontational, selfish and stupid, but portrayed good-naturedly and rendered harmless by their own bumbling ineptitude and overall innocence. They're also self-aware of their comic strip surroundings, and often lean against or strike matches on the panel borders, break the fourth wall, or make tongue-in-cheek "inside" comments about the nature of comic strips in general. The strip is notable for its distinctive and whimsical use of language. The predominant vernacular in "Pogo," sometimes referred to as "swamp-speak," is essentially a rural southern U.S. dialect laced with nonstop malapropisms, fractured grammar, "creative" spelling and mangled polysyllables. Kelly used "Pogo" to comment on the human condition, and often, this drifted into politics. Pogo was a reluctant candidate for president (although he never campaigned) in 1952 and 1956. (The phrase "I Go Pogo," originally a parody of Dwight D. Eisenhower's iconic campaign slogan "I Like Ike," appeared on giveaway promotional lapel pins featuring Pogo.) Perhaps the most famous example of the strip's satirical edge came into being in May of 1953, when Kelly introduced into the strip a wildcat named "Simple J. Malarkey," an obvious caricature of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who was then at the height of his power and influence.

The CBR files in this torrent present a roughly chronological sampling of "Pogo" comics and comic strips. The first three (#01-#03) present some of the early Pogo stories from Dell's "Animal Comics" and other comic books (1942-1949). The next 17 (#04-#20) present the full run of "Pogo" comic books (1949-1954). The next eight files (#21-#28) present "excerpts" from the "Pogo" newspaper comic strip (1948-1973). Perhaps most notably, these files include all of the daily strips from the beginning of 1951 through the middle of 1953, the period during which the political content of "Pogo" really became prominent, which covers Pogo's first run for president and the introduction of Simple J. Malarkey. As well, the files also include almost all of the Sunday strips from 1968 to 1972. The next four files in the torrent (#29-#32) are scans of some of the Pogo books published during the 1950s: "Uncle Pogo So-So Stories," "The Pogo Stepmother Goose," "The Pogo Peek-a-Book," and "Pogo's Sunday Punch." Finally, the last file (#33) collects miscellaneous material that really didn't fit anywhere else.

I obtained the scans of the "Pogo" comic books, "The Pogo Stepmother Goose" and "Pogo's Sunday Punch" from older, anonymously-uploaded torrents. I found the scans of the older comic book stories on the Web site of "The Digital Comic Museum" (digitalcomicmuseum.com). Color scans of Sunday newspaper strips, as well as some of the miscellaneous material, was downloaded from Thomas Haller Buchanan's "Whirled of Kelly" blog (whirledofkelly.blogspot.com). Finally, most of the daily strips included in the torrent, as well as "Uncle Pogo So-So Stories" and "The Pogo Peek-a-Book," I scanned myself, from various print volumes in my possession.