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.
- An EC Tease: Cracking Open a Crypt of CoversFantagraphic’s upcoming The Crypt of Covers: The Complete EC Covers Compendium is a monster. A pre-review unwrapping today at PanelsandProse.com.
- Review: Star Wars, The Marvel+TASCHEN WayMarvel’s 1977-79 comic book adaptation/extension of George Lucas’s universe get supersized in this TASCHEN reprint. But how does it hold up at such magnification?
- Shock Treatment: EC’s Opposite Direction ComicsUnlike many previous reprints of EC Comics, Fantagraphics organized its “Artists’ Library” not by title but generally by artist. Better still, a black and white format highlights beautifully the line and ink work by legends… Read more: Shock Treatment: EC’s Opposite Direction Comics
- Zeitgeist Funnies: The Paranoid Style…Of 1898We often forget that the first generation of newspaper cartoonists were newspapermen. Pioneers of the “funnies,” like R.F. (Yellow Kid) Outcault, Rudolph (Katzenjammer Kids) Dirks, F.B. (Happy Hooligan) Opper, Jimmy (Little Jimmy) Swinnerton, Winsor (Little… Read more: Zeitgeist Funnies: The Paranoid Style…Of 1898
- Radical Physics: Milt Gross In MotionOne of the basic joys of comics is every artist inventing their own physics. The distinctive cartoonists, at least, use line weight and figure shapes, action and reaction to create physical rules to govern their… Read more: Radical Physics: Milt Gross In Motion
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