A review by brucefarrar
Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Vol. 1: Through the Wild Blue Wonder by Walt Kelly

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.