This summer, my friend Denis and another friend of his (that I don’t know, named David) took a pilgrimage through the American Midwest, visiting sites connected to comics. From the photos and stories, it sounded like an amazing trip. They are both longtime comic geeks and have a great podcast about Superman called Supermansplaining – they have an episode about their trip.
One stop they made was in Chester, Illinois, the birthplace of comic strip artist E. C. Segar. His newspaper comic strip, Thimble Theatre, became enormously popular in the 1920s. This was an era when newspaper comic strips were among the few forms of shared entertainment available to most Americans. Readers loved following the exploits of the inventor O. G. Wotasnozzle, the savvy Castor Oyl, his sister Olive Oyl, and her boyfriend … Harold Hamgravy. Then, about a decade into the strip, a side character was introduced with the immortal words: “‘Ja think I’m a cowboy?”
Of course, it’s Popeye. He was introduced to captain a boat that Castor Oyl has bought to take Bernice, the good luck Whiffle Hen, with him as he seeks his fortune. Popeye was probably meant to only be a side character, but he completely took over the strip. Fans loved the Oyls, but they went crazy for Popeye. Soon, Popeye was animated on screens and on toy store shelves.
I got into E. C. Segar’s Popeye comic strip only within the past few years. Professionally, I’m a comics historian and curator, and I work for the Charles M. Schulz Museum, creating exhibitions about Peanuts and Schulz. So, when I read that Charles Schulz said, “Popeye is immortal,”1 it got my attention. Schulz loved Segar’s Popeye and praised it often. I had to check it out myself. Luckily, there are great collections of the strip available in reprints.
To my memory, Popeye had his girlfriend or wife, Olive Oyl (I was not totally sure on this), and there was a baby in the picture at some point, Sweetpea, and there was Wimpy, who liked hamburgers but all he ever said was something about paying you back next Tuesday, and then Popeye would get in a fight with Bluto, eat some spinach and eventually kick some ass. Pretty simple, pretty blah. But here’s Schulz, who reinvented newspaper comics, giving Segar’s Popeye the highest praise he can. I had to look into it. After all, I was sure I had never seen this original Popeye, but only much later incarnations.
Luckily, there are fabulous collections available if, like me, you want to check it out. Each of these volumes have great introductions, too, by people who know what’s up:
E.C. Segar’s Popeye Sundays Volume 1: Olive Oyl & Her Sweetie
E.C. Segar’s Popeye Sundays Volume 2: Wimpy & His Hamburgers
E.C. Segar’s Popeye Sundays Volume 3: The Sea Hag & Alice the Goon
E.C. Segar’s Popeye Sundays Volume 4: Swee’pea & Eugene the Jeep
The stories are funny, the drawings are funny, and the writing is good. Yes, it’s old, but it’s still amazing. Filled with laughs, fun, adventure, and action, I now see clearly why people still like Popeye so many years later.
So, after returning from his trip, when my friend Denis told me about a Popeye Fan Club based in Chester, Illinois, I perked up. Why hadn’t I heard of it sooner? For one thing, it’s very old school. Their website is very Internet 1.0 for those who remember the pre-social-media days of being online. They require you to send a check. There is no functioning online payment. And they print — let me say that again, nice and loud — PRINT a 32-page newsletter and mail it to you for $10 American Dollars, three times per year. No, that’s not $10 plus shipping per issue; that’s $10 for three thick, printed issues delivered to your mailbox within the continental United States. It’s such a treat to get a printed newsletter in the mail, and it brings back what are now fond memories of receiving such things in pre-Internet times. Back when you discovered your niche interests through word-of-mouth or by reading a newsletter or zine, you would mail away with a check, hoping it wasn’t a scam or had already dried up by the time you found out.
So, I sent a check through the USPS, following the instructions on the website, and I received a couple of back issues that I requested (and included payment for) and the latest issue of the club’s newsletter very quickly. All in all, a total and absolute delight.
I share this with you in the hopes that more people sign up. How they’ve kept such an enterprise afloat on $10 annual memberships, I have no idea. Maybe if there are a few more members in good standing, it’ll make it all a little easier and keep it running. CLICK HERE to see about joining up.
In my packet, I also received a membership card and a membership certificate, both of which surprised and charmed me to no end. I love being a literal “card-carrying member of the official Popeye fan club.” I think I’ll frame and hang the certificate in my office at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, though my wall space is already pretty full. I may need to make some hard choices.
Reading the newsletter, I vowed to write something worthy of publication for the club someday, and I will proudly add it to my media bio — Benjamin L. Clark, Eisner Award winning comics historian and museum curator. His work has been profiled in the Washington Post, NPR Morning Edition, CBS Sunday Morning, and the Official Popeye Fan Club Newsmagazine.
About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes and works as a museum curator.
