In early 20th Century theater and film, the “sissy” was the dreaded antithesis of two-fisted pulp hyper-masculinity, at best, and at worst was a stereotypical euphemism for what was unspoken in general culture, homosexuality. Wimpy, the dandyish, appetite-driven counterpoint to Popeye’s principled violence, is of course Popeye’s best tutor for all things “sissy.” To make this sexual dynamic even weirder we have Popeye’s Pappy bewildered by his prancing progeny. It reads like an unintended burlesque of Popeye “coming out”. Per a previous post, These dailies precede Popeye deceiving the underground demons to come up and fight.
It is important to note that this gender-bending sequence was followed immediately by another adventure cycle involving Popeye getting the crap beaten out of him in a land of highly muscled women. And this is all happening right after E.C. Segar’s death in October 1938. The strip was being continued unsigned by assistants for the time being.
- McDougall’s Trolley Launches the Sunday ComicsThis Walt McDougall comic should be more famous than it seems to be. On March 21, 1893, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World published the first true color comics supplement of the modern era. It was… Read more: McDougall’s Trolley Launches the Sunday Comics
- Thimble Theatre Before Popeye: E.C. Segar, American HumoristPopeye’s impact on E.C. Segar’s Thimble Theatre in 1929 was so enormous that the previous decade of the strip’s life soon became a footnote to comics history. But, of course, Segar’s legendary storytelling skills in… Read more: Thimble Theatre Before Popeye: E.C. Segar, American Humorist
- The United States of Snark: Tad Dorgan’s Indoor SportsThomas Aloysius “Tad” Dorgan (1877-1929) was a master of the miniscule moment. His wildly popular Indoor Sports single panel strip (1913-1929) captured, and mercilessly chided, the small stuff: judging the new boyfriend, or the new… Read more: The United States of Snark: Tad Dorgan’s Indoor Sports
- Deep Cuts: Quick Takes on Our Golden Age of Comic Strip CuriositiesAbout 10,000 different comic strip series emerged in American newspapers during the medium’s first 75 years, Jerry Robinson estimated in his 1974 history. I guess it all depends on what you count. Holtz’s magisterial 2012… Read more: Deep Cuts: Quick Takes on Our Golden Age of Comic Strip Curiosities
- The Bungles Are UsMisanthropic and petty, scheming and nagging, reviled by their neighbors and barely tolerable to themselves, The Bungle Family was the quintessential domestic comic strip of the 1920s. Critical historians like Bill Blackbeard, Rick Marshall and… Read more: The Bungles Are Us
Panels & Prose 