ARE WE DOWNHEARTED?!

Back in 1972, the New York Times ran some cartoons for the first time, and Pogo was one of them. Knowing how Kelly could capture politicians at their looniest, you have to wonder how wonderful it would be if Kelly could have taken on this year's looniest/saddest campaign ever. 

Wonderful, because that would mean Kelly was still with us. Sigh.

New York Times — 1972

That's What This Country's All About

I don't blame Owl for wondering just what Albert is doing to his unicorn. No other strip in the comic section came close to matching Kelly's Boorawp.

 July 4, 1971

Above, a close-up view of a sort-of complex panel made even MORE complex by having another partially seen Pogo marching behind Seminole Sam. It's the same pose as the seen Pogo, making it seem like it's maybe a paste-up? Anyone have access to a scan of the original art to see what that's all about?

Crazy Horse

Hit and run shenanigans, Kelly at high speed.

June 6, 1971

That Cronks Your Hippo-Critical Oaf!

Two cartoonists of the 20th century, no, let's make that three, gave us more pleasure per panel, consistently, than any other comic stripper. Let's see, that's Winsor McCay, Harold Foster, and of course Walt Kelly. 

Loving care crafted each panel that the medium did not require. Case in point, this panel, that feels completely believable in Kelly's whirled, yet is full of detailed whimsy—the whole setup bouncing through the air, the horse with exaggerated features, an alligator and an owl and a bug in relative sizes with human postures, wheels that shouldn't be rollable, lettering on the side of the van that isn't just a simple font and contains its own gag. Kelly gave us our money's worth almost every time!

Happy Sunday, Kelly Sunday y'all!

May 23, 1971

"The friends I have are the best in all the world!"

Hi guys! This is a Sweet Saturday post of some guy's work that has ripped off Walt Kelly's style, for a children's book no less! I tell you me, what some people won't do!

I . . . what? What's that? You mean? Oh. Oh. Well. That's completely different . . . never mind . . .

It seems that this lovely children's book work IS by Walt Kelly, using the pseudonym Tony Maclay.

Foolishness aside here, I've been searching used bookstores for years for this legendary side-step by Kelly. Never did find it. I saw a few black and white reproductions in fanzines and thought I'd never ever have the chance to see the book in color.  Well, that's where Whirled of Kelly was one of the best obsessions I've ever taken on, because thanks to it, I (and you) have friends-in-Kelly who are willing to share their rare Kelly items, such as "The Downy Duck" by Tony Maclay (psst, Walt Kelly).

Thank you and many handshakes to Richard Davidson, he of great Kelly knowledge, who has been sending over some lovely items, of which this is one. I did a few color edits, but these are really nice scans. Everyone, shake hands with Richard and convey your thanks!

Happy Sweet Saturday!

 Walt Kelly as Tony Maclay — The Downy Duck — 1946

Chumley Hit a Wangaroo

It may not be an Easter strip, but at least we've got a bunny in here with some special art.

Happy Easter, y'all.

April 12, 1970

Take a closer look at the labor of love that Kelly put into his work:

Fainted Out of Love

Lots of high-pitched emoting going on here.

Pooed Out

"Scurrilous lagamuffins, poltroons, spalpeens"—woosh, lotta name-callin' goin' on here.

Even if it is a case of mistaken identity, sorta grisly thinking them boys are eating bun's two heads.

Chasin' the Bun-Nappers

We're skipping past two Sundays now, cuz those two had nuttin to do with this storyline. But if ya gotta see em, I already posted em some time ago. They had somethin to do with Easter eggs that hatched into googley birds, or somethin like that.

Anyway, happy Sunday, Kelly Sunday!

ARNK

The horse keep on runnin' A-way, and Grundoon keep on sleepin'.

You folk out there keep on readin'?

My Dear Sir!

Happy Sunday, Kelly Sunday!

Blood! GACK!

Kelly's Pogo strip is jes' fine when 'nothin' is happening. But it's jes' finer when 'somethin' is happening. I love it when the strip has a storybook feeling.

And of course there's a deja vu thing here, cuz Albert went all googley-woogley some years before over the same Cock Robin lines in The Pogo Peek-a-Book.

Fierce Robins

Things startin' to pick up here.

Kelly could fit so much into any given panel and still make it look believable. Looking in closer on the panel below, the essence of Kelly is so apparent and . . . comforting.

Forward!

Kelly's latter day chaos at its finest.

During this era, no other cartoonist gave as much 'bang for the buck' as did Kelly.

Other than the green cow (which could have been deliberate for the moon reference . . . but not likely), no color notes this time.

A Bonafide Steal

From week to week, my newspaper would change formats on all the comics. You'd never know whether it'd be tabloid, 3 tier, or sometimes 2 tier, knocking off the whole top row. With this format, at least you got an extra panel than otherwise. In this case the one of Beauregard and Miggle striding along.

Color notes:

Now the brown of Howland and Beauregard is washed out.

Churchy is green again, but a different shade than all his years before.

Blue and green are dominant, not very harmoniously.

But, you know, everythin' startin' to come back to normalcy of sorts.

Miggle's Used Cow Lot

Looking at this strip, you might think that our arc is done. But no, we're sorta on a detour, sorta drivin' along without a map. 'At's okay, Kelly can take us wheremever he wants.

Color notes:

Well, it's lookin' a li'l more normal, but what the heck with Mr. Miggle's green gillfeathers and hands? Somebody's making executive decisions here.

Again, there's just so little harmony in the overall color palette.

The art is still really good—those cows are a hoot.

The Fee Rocial Kanang-Guru

Now pay attention to this segment of The Oldest Man in the World Contest. And next post I'll tell you why.