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Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Volume 1: Through the Wild Blue Wonder by Walt Kelly
professorfate's review
4.0
My dad was a huge fan of "Pogo". During the holidays, he would always be singing a Pogo-ized carol, like "Deck us all with Tom and Charlie...". Pogo was before my time, so I had never read it. I have been on a comic-strip tear for a while now, reading treasuries of "Pearls Before Swine", "FoxTrot" and most recently "Krazy Kat". When I saw that Fantagraphics was putting out compilations of "Pogo," I thought I'd try it. And I enjoyed this volume.
Since the comic strip (or at least the ones in this volume) were from 1949 and 1950, I didn't get all of the references (I will admit, though, that I got a lot more than I thought I would). Fortunately, there is a section in the back that explains them.
I've already got volume 2, and I'm sure I'll be reading it at some point.
Since the comic strip (or at least the ones in this volume) were from 1949 and 1950, I didn't get all of the references (I will admit, though, that I got a lot more than I thought I would). Fortunately, there is a section in the back that explains them.
I've already got volume 2, and I'm sure I'll be reading it at some point.
dantastic's review
4.0
After reading The Complete Calvin and Hobbes and Bone in recent years, I decided to give Walt Kelly's Pogo a shot after seeing Bill Watterson and Jeff Smith mention him as a prominent influence. Right out of the gate, I saw what they were talking about. I can see Calvin and the smaller Bone cousins in Pogo and both Hobbes and Smiley Bone have Albert the Alligator in their ancestry.
Kelly's art is far more detailed than a funny animal strip needed to be and the storylines are much more involved and flow from one to the next like so much swamp water. The stories have surprisingly dark moments too, like like Albert drinking the tadpole Pogo was babysitting and Albert going on trial for possibly eating a puppy.
Kelly spared no expense in coming up with characters. Pogo, Albert the Alligator, the Rackety-Coons, Howlan Owl, and Porky Pine just scratch the surface. The strip is written in an exaggerated southern dialect, which is a double edged sword. It gives Pogo's Okefenokee Swamp a sense of place but it also makes for some slower reading at times. Of course, Kelly probably didn't intend for the strip to be consumed the way I did, in huge eyefuls at a time.
While I can see why the strip was so influential, it hadn't hit its prime yet as of this volume. The stories are fairly pedestrian, lacking a lot of the political satire that is coming down the pipe in future volumes. I've got the second volume and plan to read it soon but I'm going to knock out some other things first.
Through the Wild Blue Wonder is an enjoyable look at one of the most influential newspaper strips in its embryonic form. Four out of five swallowed tadpoles.
Kelly's art is far more detailed than a funny animal strip needed to be and the storylines are much more involved and flow from one to the next like so much swamp water. The stories have surprisingly dark moments too, like like Albert drinking the tadpole Pogo was babysitting and Albert going on trial for possibly eating a puppy.
Kelly spared no expense in coming up with characters. Pogo, Albert the Alligator, the Rackety-Coons, Howlan Owl, and Porky Pine just scratch the surface. The strip is written in an exaggerated southern dialect, which is a double edged sword. It gives Pogo's Okefenokee Swamp a sense of place but it also makes for some slower reading at times. Of course, Kelly probably didn't intend for the strip to be consumed the way I did, in huge eyefuls at a time.
While I can see why the strip was so influential, it hadn't hit its prime yet as of this volume. The stories are fairly pedestrian, lacking a lot of the political satire that is coming down the pipe in future volumes. I've got the second volume and plan to read it soon but I'm going to knock out some other things first.
Through the Wild Blue Wonder is an enjoyable look at one of the most influential newspaper strips in its embryonic form. Four out of five swallowed tadpoles.
vondrake's review
5.0
The first years of the Pogo comic strip. I just love Walt Kelly’s cute drawing style, and the writing is funny and charming. The world was a different place in 1950, so to have these comics be just as good to read today is a great feat.
wingedpotato's review
5.0
Walt Kelley was a true genius, and these strips, rough as they are, are still better than 90% of any other comic strip series. A dense, entertaining read!
nex3's review against another edition
3.0
I learned two things about Pogo from this book. First, it's way better when it's doing political satire rather than generically inoffensive newspaper comic fare. Second, the newspaper it debuted in is the spiritual successor to the socialist magazine after which my mother was named.
tallblackguy's review against another edition
5.0
An absolute joy to read, and the strips that date before the "official" start give us a view of progression. One of the top 3 comic strips of all time.
brucefarrar's review against another edition
5.0
This collection of the first two years (starting in the New York Star in 1948 and then as a syndicated strip in 1949 through the end of 1950) of Pogo’s publication as a newspaper comic strip shows why the antics of the animal inhabitants of the Okefenokee Swamp became so popular so quickly and remained so until their creator’s death in 1973. Kelly’s lively draftsmanship and superb brush strokes combined with the careful composition of the panels are visual masterpieces of the cartoonist’s art. The dialog and storylines, filled with gentle humor delivered in an exaggerated rural southern accent, a plethora of malapropisms are all served up with keen wit, interspersed with broad slapstick gags and pointed political satire.
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